Policy & Compliance
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March 14, 2025
Ga. Panel Says COVID-Era Legal Shield Blocks Amputee's Suit
A divided Georgia Court of Appeals on Friday said a trial court should have dismissed a wrongful amputation suit against a Marietta hospital, holding that the patient who lost his right leg after being admitted for COVID-19 symptoms could not beat the legal immunity granted to the hospital by a pandemic-era state law.
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March 14, 2025
Md. Judge Joins Calif. In Reversing Federal Workers' Firing
A Maryland federal judge has ordered the reinstatement of thousands of probationary employees who were abruptly fired from 18 federal agencies, saying the Trump administration's lack of required notice left states "scrambling" to pick up the pieces.
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March 14, 2025
NC Ex-Doctor Gets 2.5 Years For Drug Test Billing Scheme
A 72-year-old doctor in North Carolina was sentenced Friday to two and a half years in prison and ordered to hand over $2 million in restitution for a fraudulent billing scheme involving medically unnecessary drug tests, prosecutors said.
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March 14, 2025
FTC Urges 8th Circ. Not To Pause Insulin Pricing Case
The Federal Trade Commission has urged the Eighth Circuit not to pause its in-house case accusing Caremark Rx, Express Scripts and OptumRx of artificially inflating insulin prices, telling the appeals court the pharmacy benefit managers have no chance of winning on their constitutional claims.
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March 14, 2025
Dr. Oz Pledges 'Upcoding' Crackdown If Confirmed At CMS
Dr. Mehmet Oz told lawmakers he would combat rising healthcare costs by showing there's a "new sheriff in town" opposed to so-called upcoding by Medicare Advantage plans, as he sought support Friday for his nomination to lead the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
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March 14, 2025
Sutter Health Reaches $4.3M Deal To End Retirement Suit
Nonprofit healthcare system Sutter Health will pay $4.3 million to settle a class action from workers alleging their employee retirement plan was saddled with excessive fees and poorly performing investments, according to filings in California federal court.
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March 14, 2025
Feds Say North Carolina Cardiologist Owes $7.9M In Taxes
A North Carolina cardiologist owes the federal government $7.9 million in taxes, fees and interest, according to a new civil complaint brought against him by the tax division of the U.S. Department of Justice seeking to hold him liable for the purportedly unpaid sum.
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March 13, 2025
Colo. Says Its Abortion 'Reversal' Ban Doesn't Discriminate
The Colorado Medical Board and Colorado Board of Nursing have urged a federal court to leave in place a state law banning the use of medication to "reverse" the abortion pill, arguing that it merely regulates "substandard ineffective medical practices" and doesn't discriminate against religious health providers.
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March 13, 2025
Ohio Health Insurer Wins $24M Verdict ln Racketeering Case
An Ohio jury has awarded Medical Mutual of Ohio more than $24 million in damages, after the insurer accused its rivals FrontPath Health Coalition and HealthScope Benefits of undercutting the bidding process for healthcare contracts with the city of Toledo.
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March 13, 2025
NY AG James Pitches Bill To Expand Consumer Protection Law
New York Attorney General Letitia James on Thursday announced聽legislation that would expand the state's ban on deceptive business practices to also protect against unfair and abusive practices, an idea backed by Biden-era Federal Trade Commission and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau heads.
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March 13, 2025
Calif. AG Appealing State Limits On Pay-For-Delay Ban
California enforcers are appealing to the Ninth Circuit after a lower court found that a new state law restricting "reverse payment" settlements between brand-name and generic-drug makers cannot be used to regulate deals that were struck outside the state.
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March 13, 2025
PBMs Tell FTC 5-Month Delay Too Long For In-House Insulin Trial
The nation's "Big Three" pharmacy benefit managers say they want to get to trial in the Federal Trade Commission's administrative suit against them sooner rather than later, arguing that the agency's request for a five-month delay would be too long, but they're open to a three-week postponement.
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March 13, 2025
HHS Calls Back Terminated Attys Clearing Medicare Appeals
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday moved to reinstate about 15 attorneys who were cut loose in recent weeks, restoring staff many in the agency saw as critical to clearing a backlog of Medicare appeals.
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March 13, 2025
9th Circ. Ends Idaho Abortion Law Row After Mutual Dismissal
A Ninth Circuit panel has dropped an appeal from Idaho claiming the state's strict abortion ban doesn't conflict with a federal law protecting emergency abortions, after the Trump administration announced its decision to drop the Biden-era legal challenge.聽
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March 13, 2025
Days Into New Role, FDA's Top Lawyer Is Out
The top lawyer of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration resigned just two days after she was selected for the role, according to a Thursday announcement by the agency on social media site X.
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March 13, 2025
Lacking Votes, White House Pulls Weldon Nomination At CDC
The White House pulled Dr. Dave Weldon's nomination to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday after support among GOP lawmakers wavered, and it became clear he didn't have the votes to clear a Senate committee.
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March 12, 2025
GOP Senators Take Aim At CFPB Medical Debt Rule
Republican senators have introduced a measure to overturn the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent rule banning medical debt from credit reports, one of the latest Biden-era regulations to be targeted for legislative repeal.
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March 12, 2025
Cancer Cause Or Red Herring? Jury Weighs Plant Bellwether
A medical sterilization company told a Colorado jury Wednesday that four women can't get millions in damages based on the "possibility" that emissions from a sterilization plant caused their cancer, at the close of a six-week trial in which the plaintiffs argued the company should be punished for its negligence.
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March 12, 2025
黑料大事记 Cheat Sheet: Novartis' Fight Over Generic Entresto
Novartis has led a wide-ranging litigation campaign to block generic versions of its bestselling cardiovascular drug Entresto that has involved multidistrict litigation, trips to several circuit courts and cases against the federal government. Here, 黑料大事记 breaks down how the various cases intersect and what's still playing out.
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March 12, 2025
Women Attys, AGs Urge Justices To Protect Provider Choice
Women attorney groups and a group of state attorneys general urged the U.S. Supreme Court to reject South Carolina's attempt to stop Medicaid patients from seeing Planned Parenthood healthcare providers, saying in an amicus brief Wednesday that patients have a right to choose their healthcare providers and have a private right of action to enforce that right.
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March 12, 2025
SEC Says Ex-Allarity Execs Concealed Doomed FDA Approval
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued three former executives of clinical-stage pharmaceutical company Allarity Therapeutics Inc. in Massachusetts federal court, alleging Wednesday that they schemed to conceal from the public that the company's new drug application for its flagship drug had no chance of gaining regulatory approval.
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March 12, 2025
Trump Admin Seeks To End ACA Access For 'Dreamers'
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday proposed a regulation that would do away with the Biden administration's rule allowing recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals to qualify for Affordable Care Act coverage.
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March 12, 2025
Judge Says Hospital Orgs.' Input Not Needed In Multiplan MDL
The Illinois federal judge handling multidistrict litigation targeting Multiplan's out-of-network reimbursement rates has rejected two hospital organizations' bid to weigh in as he considers whether he should dismiss the case. 聽
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March 12, 2025
NC Organ Procurer Sues CMS Over Hospital Waiver
A North Carolina-based organ procurement organization told a federal court Wednesday that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has violated federal law by giving a waiver to a hospital to work with another organ procurement service from a different region.聽
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March 12, 2025
HHS To Eliminate 6 Regional Offices For Legal Staff
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said Tuesday it will close six out of 10 regional offices where attorneys for the agency work.

HHS Comment Reversal Sets Stage For Quick Policy Changes
The sudden reversal at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services of a longstanding commitment to robust public engagement clears the way for fast-paced changes to Medicaid and other massive programs, putting more pressure on compliance officers and sending more lobbying work behind closed doors.

HHS Cuts Hit Attys Tackling Medicare Appeals Backlog
The Department of Health and Human Services is terminating more than a dozen attorneys charged with reducing a massive backlog of Medicare appeals at an internal administrative board. The cuts may slow an already cumbersome administrative process.

CDC Layoffs Provoke Legal Questions, Worker Anxiety
Workers and experts with insight into the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have described the roughly 750 layoffs at the agency as chaotic and confusing, and question Trump's legal authority to unilaterally change the agency. They are also concerned it will impact the agency鈥檚 ability to investigate disease outbreaks.
Expert Analysis
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What's At Stake In High Court Transgender Care Suit
The outcome of U.S. v. Skrmetti will have critical implications for the rights of transgender youth and their access to gender-affirming care, and will likely affect other areas of law and policy involving transgender individuals, including education, employment, healthcare and civil rights, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.
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6 Laws Transforming Calif.'s Health Regulatory Framework
Attorneys at Hooper Lundy discuss a number of new California laws that raise pressing issues for independent physicians and small practice groups, ranging from the use of artificial intelligence to wage standards for healthcare employees.
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Anticipating Calif. Oversight Of PE Participation In Healthcare
A new bill recently introduced in the California Senate revives last year's attempt to increase oversight of healthcare transactions involving private equity groups and hedge funds, meaning that attorneys may soon need to assess the compliance status of existing management relationships and consider modifying contract terms, says Andrew Demetriou at Husch Blackwell.
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Considering The Future Of AI Regulation On Health Sector
As Texas looks to become the next state to pass a comprehensive law regulating artificial intelligence, the healthcare industry should consider how AI regulation will continue to evolve in the U.S. and how industry members can keep up with compliance considerations, say attorneys at Kirkland & Ellis.
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What To Expect From 'Make America Healthy Again' Actions
The Make America Healthy Again Commission recently established by President Donald Trump and chaired by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will potentially bring energy and attention to important public health topics, and stakeholders should be aware of pathways for sharing their input and proactively informing proceedings, says Nicholas Manetto at Faegre Drinker.
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How Citizen Petitions Have Affected Drug Competition
In light of recent citizen petitions and proposed legislation regulating such petitions, Omar Robles at Managing Health analyzes the statistics of the extent to which citizen petitions have been filed, and to what extent they have delayed competition in prescription pharmaceuticals.
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Drug Kickback Ruling Will Make FCA Liability Harder To Prove
The First Circuit's ruling in聽U.S. v. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, requiring the government to prove聽but-for causation to establish False Claims Act liability based on violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute, raises the bar for FCA enforcement and deepens a circuit split that the U.S. Supreme Court may need to resolve, say attorneys at Baker Donelson.
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Assessing PE Risk After Mass. False Claims Act Amendments
A law recently passed in Massachusetts amends the commonwealth's False Claims Act by dramatically expanding potential liability for private equity firms and investors, underscoring the importance of robust diligence and risk assessments for private equity firms conducting transactions in the commonwealth, say attorneys at Gibson Dunn.
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What Trump Actions Mean For Federal Research Funding
New guidance from the National Institutes of Health represents a massive policy shift regarding federal funding for researchers at institutions of higher education, contributing to a perfect storm of significant resource shortfalls in upcoming years, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.
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A Look At Healthcare Transaction Oversight In Oregon
Understanding Oregon's enforcement authority and its impact on proposed transactions last year provides a road map to the state's plans to strengthen its processes this year, though enforcement could be challenged by ongoing litigation, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.
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Rethinking 'No Comment' For Clients Facing Public Crises
鈥淣o comment鈥 is no longer a cost-free or even a viable public communications strategy for companies in crisis, and counsel must tailor their guidance based on a variety of competing factors to help clients emerge successfully, says Robert Bowers at Moore & Van Allen.
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High Court Must Acknowledge US History Of Anti-Trans Laws
Despite Justice Amy Coney Barrett's claim to the contrary during oral arguments in U.S. v. Skrmetti, U.S. governments at every level have systematically discriminated against transgender people, and the U.S. Supreme Court must consider this historical context in upcoming cases about transgender issues, says Paisley Currah at the City University of New York.
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The Fate Of Biden-Era Clinical Study Guidance Under Trump
Draft guidance about the study of sex and gender differences in medical product development issued by the outgoing Biden administration currently faces significant uncertainty and litigation potential due to the Trump administration's executive orders and other actions, say attorneys at聽Arnold & Porter.