Policy & Compliance

  • May 20, 2025

    J&J Workers Reassert Drug Costs Resulted In Concrete Harm

    Johnson & Johnson workers are urging a New Jersey federal court to maintain their proposed class claims that the company botched the management of prescription drug costs in its employee healthcare plan by allowing excessive pharmacy costs, asserting that company mismanagement resulted in concrete harm.

  • May 20, 2025

    As Trump Pushes Coal, Miners Fear Health Protection Erosion

    A court order restoring a coal miner "black lung" screening program hasn't ended concerns among health and legal advocates that the Trump administration is neglecting miners as it pushes coal production.

  • May 20, 2025

    Doctor's Disability Bias Claim Too Late, Mass. Court Says

    A former Brigham and Women's Hospital anesthesiologist and Harvard Medical School faculty member is time-barred from pursuing disability bias claims for actions by the hospital that he was aware of as early as 2006, an intermediate Massachusetts appellate court has concluded.

  • May 20, 2025

    Genital Mutilation Expert On DOJ Anti-Trans Care Enforcement

    A recent memo from the U.S. Department of Justice marks a turning point as the first time U.S. government officials, publicly and at the national level, have conflated female genital mutilation with gender-affirming therapies and surgeries.

  • May 20, 2025

    Manners, Experts And A Plan: Immigration Agents In Hospitals

    As the Trump administration increases deportation efforts, hospitals and medical staff may find themselves caught between federal immigration agents pressing pointed questions about patients or medical records and privacy laws designed to prevent probing eyes.

  • May 19, 2025

    Feds Get Early Win In Drugmakers' Suit Over 340B Rebates

    A D.C. federal judge awarded an early win to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Friday on claims it illegally blocked drugmakers' efforts to implement rebates instead of discounts in a decades-old drug pricing program, finding the agency has the authority to pre-approve the price reduction models.

  • May 19, 2025

    9th Circ. Backs Family's Win In Suit Over Denied Benefits

    The Ninth Circuit declined to upend a guild member's win in his lawsuit challenging his healthcare plan's decision to deny coverage for his son's mental health treatments, but said a lower court was wrong to award the family additional damages on their breach of fiduciary duty claim.

  • May 19, 2025

    Doc Loses 4th Circ. Fight Over $5.5M Order After FCA Deal

    A North Carolina district court was right to reject a doctor and his wife's request to overturn or modify a $5.5 million judgment against them for allegedly hiding assets after settling a previous False Claims Act case with the government, the Fourth Circuit ruled Monday.

  • May 19, 2025

    5th Circ. Affirms Masculinity Gibe Can't Sustain Gay Bias Suit

    The Fifth Circuit backed a hospice company's win over a former nurse who said a supervisor failed to take action when a colleague insulted him for being gay, saying the coworker's offensive comment wasn't enough to sustain a bias case.

  • May 16, 2025

    Fla. Gov. Says He Will Veto Bill To Expand Death Damages

    Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has said he will veto a bill recently passed by Florida lawmakers to repeal a statute limiting pain-and-suffering damages in fatal medical malpractice cases, saying a veto will prevent a flood of lawsuits against healthcare providers.

  • May 16, 2025

    Biotech Co. Hit With Investor Suits Over Cancer Drug Launch

    Cancer treatment company Iovance Biotherapeutics has been hit with two proposed shareholder class actions accusing the company of misleading the public about the success of its commercial rollout of an FDA-approved skin cancer treatment.

  • May 16, 2025

    HHS Says Pain Clinic's Delay Hurts $11M Bill Challenge

    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Friday fought a pain clinic's bid in North Carolina federal court for a pretrial win in the clinic's suit challenging $11 million in overpayments for urine drug screening tests, saying the clinic waited too long to bring evidence that the testing was justified.

  • May 16, 2025

    Feds Want Ex-McKinsey Exec To Serve Time For Obstruction

    Prosecutors urged a Virginia federal judge Thursday to sentence a disbarred, former senior McKinsey & Co. partner to one year in prison for obstructing an investigation into the consulting giant's work with opioid-manufacturer Purdue Pharma, while defense counsel pushed for probation so that he can return to his home in Thailand.

  • May 16, 2025

    23 States Win Order Halting Billions In HHS Public Health Cuts

    A Rhode Island federal judge on Friday barred the Trump administration from cutting off billions of dollars in funding to state public health programs, determining the abrupt grant terminations likely violated congressional authority over spending.

  • May 16, 2025

    Trucking Co. Worker Says Tobacco Surcharge Violates ERISA

    An employee of Marten Transport Ltd. is suing the trucking company in Wisconsin federal court, alleging that a tobacco surcharge in its health plan violates federal antidiscrimination law.

  • May 16, 2025

    Surgical Center Operator Inks $15M Deal Over Data Breach

    Shields Health Group Inc., which runs dozens of MRI and surgical centers around New England, has agreed to pay around $15 million to resolve claims in a proposed class action stemming from a data breach that compromised the personal information of over 2 million people.

  • May 16, 2025

    Trump Admin Settles Vaccine Contract Info Suit For $10K

    The Trump administration has reached a $10,000 settlement with a consumer advocacy group over allegedly withholding information about the government's billion-dollar contracts with companies that developed and manufactured the COVID-19 vaccine, including Pfizer and Moderna.

  • May 15, 2025

    Ex-CEO Cops To Conspiracy Charge In $212M Fraud Case

    A New Jersey-based former CEO of a medical billing company has pled guilty to conspiring to commit securities fraud in connection with government claims he was part of a $212.5 million scheme to inflate the value of his company to defraud potential investors in a go-private transaction.

  • May 15, 2025

    Feds Freeze Parity Enforcement As Agencies Rethink Regs

    Federal agencies said Thursday they will hold off on enforcing a rule requiring employer group health plans to analyze how they restrict coverage for mental health and substance use disorder treatments, citing ongoing litigation aimed at blocking the policy and broader plans to reevaluate enforcement priorities.

  • May 14, 2025

    Mont. Court Blocks 'Ideological' Transgender Youth Care Ban

    A Montana judge on Tuesday struck down a state statute that banned gender-affirming care for minors, holding that the state's interest is "ideological rather than medical" and violates the constitutional rights of transgender youth seeking gender-affirming care and of healthcare professionals who provide it.

  • May 14, 2025

    9th Circ. Doubts Wash. Anti-Vaxxers' Stance In Med Board Suit

    A Ninth Circuit judge expressed skepticism on Wednesday that the federal appellate court could revive Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s suit against the Washington Medical Commission for initiating disciplinary proceedings against physicians who publicly aired anti-vaccination views, pointing out that federal courts generally "don't interfere" with ongoing state litigation.

  • May 14, 2025

    Sage Therapeutics Brass Sued Over Drug Candidate Claims

    The top brass of Sage Therapeutics Inc. have been hit with a shareholder derivative suit in New York federal court alleging they misled investors about the safety, efficacy, durability and commercial prospects of three of the company's drug candidates and overstated their likelihood to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

  • May 14, 2025

    Houston Midwife Says AG Has No Evidence To Close Clinics

    A Houston-area midwife who was arrested earlier this year on a charge of providing an illegal abortion is arguing to a state appellate court that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton "came nowhere close to meeting the state's burden" in his bid to shut down her clinics.

  • May 14, 2025

    RFK Jr. Defends HHS Cuts, Pledges To 'Spend Smarter'

    In his first appearance on Capitol Hill since his confirmation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday characterized a massive reorganization and reductions in workforce as practical moves to optimize the sprawling agency.

  • May 13, 2025

    Healthcare Hires: Ex-DOJ, Fresenius Attys On The Move

    An ex-federal prosecutor who led healthcare fraud investigations in Texas has joined Hicks Thomas LLP, and an attorney with in-house experience at Fresenius Medical Care and GE Healthcare joined King & Spalding LLP in its government investigations practice. Here, Law360 Healthcare Authority looks at the week's most notable lateral hires in the healthcare industry.

Expert Analysis

  • A Look At Drug Price Negotiation Program's Ongoing Impact

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    More than two years after the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act and the rapid implementation of the drug price negotiation program, attorneys at Ropes & Gray discuss how the IRA has influenced licensing strategies, and how maximum fair prices under the law have economically affected certain drugs.

  • Preparing For A Possible End To The Subminimum Wage

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    The U.S. Department of Labor's proposed rule to end the subminimum wage for employees with disabilities may significantly affect the community-based rehabilitation and training programs that employ these workers, so certified programs should be especially vigilant about compliance during this period of evaluation and scrutiny, say attorneys at Jackson Lewis.

  • Drug Pricing Policy Trends To Expect In 2025 And Beyond

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    Though 2025 may bring more of the same in the realm of drug pricing policy, business as usual entails a sustained, high level of legal and policy developments across at least six major areas, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • Top 10 Healthcare And Life Sciences Issues To Watch In 2025

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    Under the new Trump administration, this coming year may benefit some healthcare and life sciences stakeholders, while creating new challenges for others amid an increasingly complex regulatory environment, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • 4 Keys To Litigating In An Active Regulatory Environment

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    For companies facing litigation influenced by government regulatory action — a recent trend that a politically charged atmosphere will exacerbate — there are a few principles that can help to align litigation strategy with broader public positioning in the regulatory and oversight context, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.

  • How Views On Healthcare Price Transparency Are Changing

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    Regulators' attitudes toward price transparency regulation have shifted over the past several years in ways that may seem contradictory, and research into detailed rate information published by hospitals and health plans has yielded mixed results, says Matthew List at Charles River Associates.

  • EEOC Wearable Tech Guidance Highlights Monitoring Scrutiny

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    The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's recent fact sheet on wearable technologies cautions against potential issues with federal anti-discrimination laws and demonstrates growing concern from regulators and legislators about intrusive technologies in the workplace, say attorneys at Littler.

  • Navigating The Potential End Of GLP-1 Drug Shortages

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    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's determination of whether GLP-1 products are in shortage may affect how compounders provide these products and spur a range of litigation including patent disputes and unfair competition suits, say attorneys at Goodwin.

  • Politicized OIGs Could Target Federal Employees, Contractors

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    After President Donald Trump fired nearly 20 inspectors general last week, it’s worth exploring how the administration could use Offices of Inspectors General to target federal employees and contractors, why it would be difficult to fight this effort, and one possible bulwark against the politicization of these watchdogs, says Sara Kropf at Kropf Moseley.

  • Takeaways From DOJ Fraud Section's 2024 Year In Review

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    Attorneys at Paul Weiss highlight notable developments in the U.S. Department of Justice Fraud Section’s recently released annual report, and discuss what the second Trump administration could mean for enforcement in the year to come.

  • IVF Suits Highlight Need For Better Legal Frameworks

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    The high number of in vitro fertilization embryo losses underscores the need for more cohesive legal and regulatory guidance related to human errors, property versus personhood, and liability, says Jeff Korek at Gersowitz Libo.

  • Takeaways From FDA's Updated Confirmatory Trial Guidance

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    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's latest draft guidance about accelerated drug approval indicates the FDA's intent to address the significant lag time between accelerated approval and full approval of drugs and may help motivate the industry to complete confirmatory trials, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • A Look At FDA's Plans To Establish New OTC Drug Category

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    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's recently finalized rule, creating a new over-the-counter pathway for drugs when patients satisfy certain conditions, may be useful for off-patent drugs with established safety records, though switching to OTC comes with additional costs and considerations, say attorneys at Skadden.

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