Policy & Compliance
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August 15, 2025
Wholesalers Want Final OK For $51M AstraZeneca Settlement
Drug wholesalers asked a Delaware federal judge Thursday for the final stamp of approval on a combined $51.4 million in settlements AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP and Handa Pharmaceuticals LLC agreed to pay to resolve allegations AstraZeneca paid off generic-drug makers, including Handa, to protect its brand antipsychotic Seroquel XR.
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August 15, 2025
AbbVie's Key RICO Claims In Drug Cost Fraud Suit Survive
An Illinois federal judge on Friday ruled that AbbVie could move ahead with the bulk of its racketeering, tortious interference and fraud claims against a behind-the-scenes healthcare company that the drugmaker alleges colluded with pharmacy benefit managers to fraudulently obtain drugs meant for patients in AbbVie's charitable programs.
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August 15, 2025
Home Chain Got OT Math Wrong For 1,000 Nurses, Court Told
A group of nursing homes operating as one company left shift differentials and bonus pay out of certified nursing assistants' overtime math, a former employee alleged in a suit in Mississippi federal court, saying the violations affected more than 1,000 workers.
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August 15, 2025
1st Wrongful Death Suit Filed In Deadly Mass. Rest Home Fire
The first of what are expected to be multiple wrongful death lawsuits stemming from a July 13 fire that killed 10 elderly and disabled residents of a Fall River, Massachusetts, assisted living facility was filed late Thursday in state court.
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August 14, 2025
OptumRx Flags Email Accidentally Sent To Opioid MDL Parties
UnitedHealth subsidiary OptumRx Inc. is seeking a ban on secret communications with the Ohio federal judge overseeing sprawling national opioid litigation after the court-appointed special master accidentally sent the company an email, intended for the judge, celebrating a "gambit" that prevented objections to his decision.
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August 14, 2025
Calif. Justices Say No Arb. For Nursing Home Death Claim
The California Supreme Court on Thursday reversed a decision sending to arbitration a wrongful death claim by parents who allege their son was neglected at the 24-hour skilled nursing facility he was admitted to.
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August 14, 2025
Fired Nurse Accused Of Stealing Drugs Can't Revive Bias Suit
The Seventh Circuit declined Thursday to reinstate a fired Salvadoran nurse's suit claiming she was accused of stealing and using opioids at work out of bias for her nationality, stating she failed to put forward evidence that her national origin drove concerns rather than her sluggish behavior.
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August 14, 2025
20 States Win Injunction Against ICE's Use Of Medicaid Data
A California federal judge has blocked the federal government from using Medicaid information from 20 states for immigration enforcement purposes, marking a partial victory for the coalition of states challenging a new data-sharing arrangement between the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Homeland Security.
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August 14, 2025
Conn. Lab To Pay $1.25M In False Claims Settlement
A Connecticut reference laboratory and its operators have struck a deal with federal and state authorities to settle False Claims Act allegations for more than $1.25 million after they allegedly sought payments for medically unnecessary drug tests, federal prosecutors said.
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August 14, 2025
AP Says DOJ Can't Turn Info Sharing Into Views Suppression
The Associated Press, The Washington Post, Reuters and the BBC hit back Wednesday on Justice Department efforts to back a lawsuit from the anti-vaccine group once tied to Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., alleging they colluded with social media platforms to censor rivals.
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August 14, 2025
AGs' Dermatology Price-Fixing Case Not A Copy, Judge Says
A nationwide antitrust enforcement action alleging that pharmaceutical companies fixed prices of generic dermatology drugs can proceed despite the defendants' contention that it's virtually the same as two others that were filed first, a Connecticut federal judge has ruled.
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August 13, 2025
Trump Axes Biden Competition Order And Eases Rocket Regs
President Donald Trump on Wednesday evening revoked an expansive Biden-era executive order that aimed to boost competition across the U.S. economy, lower prices for consumers and increase pay for workers, while issuing his own order to ease regulations on the commercial space industry to boost American rocket launches.
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August 13, 2025
High Court's Trans Ruling Doesn't Change Insurer's ACA Loss
A Washington federal judge has reaffirmed his finding that Premera Blue Cross' coverage policy for gender-affirming chest surgery violates the Affordable Care Act, rejecting the insurer's bid for a redo following the Supreme Court's decision in U.S. v. Skrmetti.
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August 13, 2025
8th Circ. Revives Ark. Ban On Youth Gender-Affirming Care
A split Eighth Circuit en banc panel revived an Arkansas state law banning gender-affirming care for minors, finding that a district court erred in blocking the law because it does not discriminate based on sex but instead classifies based only on age and medical procedure.
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August 13, 2025
Texas Woman Says Marine Laced Her Drink With Abortion Pills
A Texas woman has filed a wrongful death lawsuit in federal court alleging a Marine pilot with whom she had an intimate relationship tricked her into taking abortion pills by putting them in her drink, causing her to lose her pregnancy.
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August 13, 2025
Wash. Agencies Must Give Up Docs In Medicaid Fraud Case
A Washington federal judge has ordered the state attorney general's office to hand over certain records to a hospital system accused of overbilling Medicaid in connection to a neurosurgeon's fraud scheme, rejecting the argument that the documents at issue belong to other state agencies that must be subpoenaed.
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August 13, 2025
Pa. Judge Ends Employers' Expanded Birth Control Exemptions
A Pennsylvania federal judge on Wednesday struck down rules set by the first Trump administration enabling employers to refuse coverage of employees' contraceptives on moral and religious grounds, holding that the government failed to provide a good reason for the broadening of exemptions.
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August 12, 2025
Loper Bright Neutered In 6th Circ., Tenn. Tells Supreme Court
There is "growing confusion among the circuits" regarding the U.S. Supreme Court's rejection of judicial deference to regulators, as evidenced by a Sixth Circuit ruling that negates much of the high court's Loper Bright ruling, Tennessee told the justices in a new petition.
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August 12, 2025
States Push Anti-mRNA Bills Amid Growing Public Distrust
Public distrust was a key motivator for the federal government's decision to cut contracts developing messenger RNA vaccines. The sentiment is apparent in state legislatures considering a slew of vaccine-related bills.
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August 12, 2025
Docs Take NJ Telemedicine Restrictions Fight To 3rd Circ.
A group of doctors and patients have appealed the dismissal of their challenge to a New Jersey law that says out-of-state doctors can't practice telemedicine with Garden State patients unless they're licensed there, telling the Third Circuit that the rule deprives people of potentially life-saving consultation.
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August 12, 2025
New Barriers To Health Safety Net Spark Questions, Litigation
Federal health officials' reinterpretation of a decades-old social welfare law is expected to boot thousands of noncitizens from safety net programs. It has also prompted a wave of enforcement questions from healthcare providers and legal pushback.
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August 12, 2025
Worker's Flu Shot Ruling Goes Too Far, 5th Circ. Dissent Says
A Fifth Circuit judge on Monday said a woman briefly suspended from Texas Children's Hospital over her refusal to get a flu vaccine should be able to pursue her religious discrimination suit even though the hospital ultimately accommodated her beliefs.
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August 12, 2025
Sentara Health Must Face Trimmed Stable Value Fund Suit
A Virginia federal court refused to toss a proposed class action alleging healthcare not-for-profit Sentara Health mismanaged an employee retirement plan, finding workers had sufficiently backed up claims that a stable value fund in the plan underperformed and their employer's investment management process was lacking.
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August 12, 2025
Antitrust Actions, Drug Pricing And More
A federal appeals court revived an antitrust suit against drugmakers, the Federal Trade Commission challenged a heart valve company acquisition, a patient's privacy lawsuit against an urgent care clinic was allowed to proceed, and a Texas federal court upheld Medicare's drug price negotiation program. Here, Law360 Healthcare Authority looks at those and other healthcare litigation developments you may have missed over the past week.
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August 12, 2025
NJ Is Key Battleground In Fight Over Newborn Blood Tests
Newborn blood screening, a cornerstone of modern public health, is the focus of a debate over patient privacy, parental consent and what happens to the samples after initial tests are complete. A New Jersey court recently weighed in.

Religious Liberty Claims Spread In Abortion Ban Challenges
With the U.S. Supreme Court expanding religious protections, a groundswell of lawsuits challenging state abortion bans on free-exercise grounds has emerged.

'Shocked' By Eye-Watering Fines, Fed. Judges Redo FCA Math
District courts handling big-dollar False Claims Act cases are increasingly wrestling with the Eighth Amendment ban on excessive fines as more defendants go to trial and face whopping jury verdicts. An order last month in a New York case reducing an FCA penalty was the third of its kind in 18 months.

Organ Procurement's Dilemma: How Do You Diagnose Death?
A Kentucky man nearly had his organs removed for donation despite showing signs of life. Now a federal investigation is putting a spotlight on how doctors diagnose death prior to organ transplants.
Expert Analysis
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Unpacking Ore. Law's Limits On PE Healthcare Investment
A recent Oregon law imposes significant restrictions on nonphysicians owning or controlling medical practices, but newly enacted amendments provide some additional flexibility in certain ownership arrangements without scuttling the law's intent of addressing concerns about the rise of private equity investment in healthcare, say attorneys at Debevoise.
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Criminal Healthcare Fraud Takeaways From 4th Circ. Reversal
After the Fourth Circuit reversed a doctor’s postconviction acquittal in U.S. v. Elfenbein last month, defense attorneys should consider three strategies when handling complex criminal healthcare matters, says Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.
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AG Watch: Texas Embraces The MAHA Movement
Attorneys at Kelley Drye examine Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's actions related to the federal Make America Healthy Again movement, and how these actions hinge on representations or omissions by the target companies as opposed to specific analyses of the potential health risks.
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How States Are Regulating Health Insurers' AI Usage
The absence of a federal artificial intelligence framework positions states as key regulators of health insurers’ AI use, making it important for payors and service providers to understand the range of state AI legislation being passed in California and elsewhere, and consider implementing an AI-focused compliance infrastructure, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.
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HHS Plan To Cut Immigrant Benefits Spurs Provider Questions
A recent notice from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services identifying new federal public benefit programs for which nonqualified aliens are not eligible may have a major impact on entities that participate in these programs — but many questions remain unanswered, say attorneys at Foley.
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Noncompete Forecast Shows Tough Weather For Employers
Several new state noncompete laws signal rough conditions for employers, particularly in the healthcare sector, so employers must account for employees' geographic circumstances as they cannot rely solely on choice-of-law clauses, say lawyers at McDermott.
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Previewing State Efforts To Regulate Mental Health Chatbots
New York, Nevada and Utah have all recently enacted laws regulating the use of artificial intelligence to deliver mental health services, offering early insights into how other states may regulate this area, say attorneys at Goodwin.
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How DOJ's New Data Security Rules Leave HIPAA In The Dust
The U.S. Department of Justice's recently effective data security requirements carry profound implications for how healthcare providers collect, store, share and use data — and approach vendor oversight — that go far beyond the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, say attorneys at Nelson Mullins.
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Texas Med Spas Must Prepare For 2 New State Laws
Two new laws in Texas — regulating elective intravenous therapy and reforming healthcare noncompetes — mark a pivotal shift in the regulatory framework for medical spas in the state, which must proactively adapt their operations and contractual practices, says Brad Cook at Munsch Hardt.
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DOJ-HHS Collab Crystallizes Focus On Health Enforcement
The recently announced partnership between the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to combat False Claims Act violations, following a multiyear trend of high-dollar DOJ recoveries, signals a long-term enforcement horizon with major implications for healthcare entities and whistleblowers, say attorneys at RJO.
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How The Healthline Privacy Settlement Redefines Ad Tech Use
The Healthline settlement is the first time California has drawn a clear line in the sand around how website tracking must function in practice, so if your site uses tracking technologies, especially around sensitive content like health or finance, regulators are inspecting your website's back end, not just its banner, say attorneys at Baker Donelson.
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How Sweeping Budget Bill Shakes Up Health Industry
With the recently passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act marking one of the most significant overhauls of federal health policy since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, providers, managed care organizations and life sciences companies must now shift focus from policy review to implementation planning, say advisers at Holland & Knight.
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New DOJ Penalty Policy Could Spell Trouble For Cos.
In light of the U.S. Department of Justice’s recently published guidance making victim relief a core condition of coordinated resolution crediting, companies facing parallel investigations must carefully calibrate their negotiation strategies to minimize the risk of duplicative penalties, say attorneys at Debevoise.