Policy & Compliance
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September 16, 2025
Dr.'s COVID Falsehoods Are Free Speech, Wash. Panel Says
A Washington state appeals court unanimously ruled Tuesday that the Washington Medical Commission overstepped its authority by punishing a doctor for COVID-19 falsehoods he published to his blog, but affirmed the commission's decision to discipline him for prescribing ivermectin to COVID-19 patients.
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September 16, 2025
Harborview Nurses In Ga. Score Collective Status In OT Suit
A pair of nurses who worked at Harborview Health Systems' facility in Rome, Georgia, brought enough evidence to show they and other similarly situated nurses were subjected to pay practices that shorted them on overtime wages to proceed as a collective action, a New York magistrate judge said Tuesday.
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September 16, 2025
Merck Says Vaccine Case 'Poor Vehicle' For Antitrust Review
Merck & Co. told the U.S. Supreme Court to reject a bid from physicians looking to revive antitrust claims over submissions the pharmaceutical giant made to federal regulators concerning its mumps vaccine, arguing that the case is "an exceptionally poor vehicle" for review.
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September 16, 2025
FTC Ends Director Overlap In Healthcare Space
The Federal Trade Commission said three members of Sevita Health's board of directors resigned after enforcers flagged an overlap with the board of a competing provider of specialty healthcare for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
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September 16, 2025
Oregon Joins Expansion Of '5NP' Acupuncture Practice
Oregon has joined a number of states that have enacted laws that make it easier for people to get a "five needle" therapy with a raft of mental health benefits, including reduced substance withdrawal symptoms.
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September 16, 2025
The Limits On Blue States' Push For Vaccine Policy Control
Democratic-run states are changing vaccine policies as HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other Trump health officials move to restrict vaccine access, creating a new policy patchwork. Those state efforts can only go so far, healthcare experts say.
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September 16, 2025
Pharma Tests Drug Price Policies In Court: 3 Cases To Know
Two circuit courts issued notable rulings over the past week upholding laws aimed at lowering prescription drug prices. Elsewhere, insulin makers are seeking a panel rehearing in a proposed class action targeting discount programs. Here, Law360 Healthcare Authority looks at three key drug pricing cases you may have missed.
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September 16, 2025
Wash. Justices Scrutinize Minimum Wage 'Live In' Exclusion
Washington Supreme Court justices on Tuesday pushed counsel for an adult family home on the stance that its "live in" workers are adequately protected by existing laws and regulations, pointing to testimony its employees are always on call and sometimes at risk of physical assault by residents.
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September 16, 2025
Ill. Hospital Nonprofit Must Face Tobacco Fee Suit
An Illinois federal judge refused to toss the bulk of a proposed class action from an Illinois hospital worker who claimed a fee on the employee health plans of tobacco users was discriminatory and breached fiduciary duties under benefits law, finding most allegations sufficiently backed up to survive dismissal.
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September 16, 2025
DC Circ. Asked To Look At ADA Injunction In Segregation Case
Washington, D.C., wants the D.C. Circuit to narrow an injunction commanding the district to help people in Medicaid-funded nursing homes move out of those facilities and into less restrictive forms of care, as the litigation approaches its 15th birthday.
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September 16, 2025
$50B Rural Health Fund: A Primer
The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will use a newly created $50 billion rural health fund to entice states to take unhealthy foods out of their food-stamp programs, expand telehealth and embrace other Trump administration priorities.
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September 16, 2025
Calif. Healthcare Bills: 4 You Need To Know
Golden State lawmakers passed a flurry of healthcare bills this legislative session, including measures meant to ease prior authorization requirements on providers and increase oversight of PBMs and PE-backed transactions. Healthcare Authority looks at four bills now on the governor's desk.
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September 16, 2025
CVS Caremark Takes $290M Overbilling Judgment To 3rd Circ.
CVS's pharmacy benefits manager will appeal a judgment against the company that was recently increased from $95 million to $290 million in a suit alleging it overbilled Medicare Part D-sponsored drugs, according to a notice of appeal filed in Pennsylvania federal court.
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September 16, 2025
WellSpan Health Elevates Atty To Legal Chief
Regional healthcare provider WellSpan Health has tapped one of the company's in-house attorneys to lead its law department in its south central Pennsylvania headquarters.
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September 16, 2025
For Cahill Atty, Rare Disease Pro Bono Work Is Personal
John MacGregor of Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP didn't have any experience in healthcare law before taking on a pro bono client that supports people with a rare form of epilepsy. MacGregor's son is one of them.
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September 16, 2025
HHS OIG Senior Counsel Joins Polsinelli As Shareholder
A former senior counsel in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Counsel to the Inspector General, who spent more than a decade in private practice before his most-recent six years in public service, has joined Polsinelli PC.
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September 15, 2025
Mich. Says HHS Can't Justify $195M Medicaid Clawback
The state of Michigan urged a federal judge to find that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services cannot catch a payday for its yearslong delay in affirming a decision to disallow $195 million in Medicaid payments to two state-operated psychiatric hospitals, arguing that the delay runs afoul of federal law and the department's own policies.
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September 15, 2025
Stewart Says New Policies Seek Fairness For Patent Owners
Acting U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Coke Morgan Stewart said Monday the numerous changes to patent reviews she has implemented are intended to provide "more balance and fairness" for patent owners, and bring the reviews "back to how they were originally intended."
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September 15, 2025
Corcept Can't Escape Teva's Mifepristone Antitrust Suit
Corcept Therapeutics must face most of Teva Pharmaceuticals' lawsuit alleging it suppressed generic competition for its brand-name medication used to treat a rare cortisol disorder, a California federal judge ruled, saying the claims are not time-barred and Teva has adequately alleged unlawful monopolization.
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September 15, 2025
Mich. Ordered To Clarify Stance On Clinic's Trans Care Policy
A federal magistrate judge on Monday ordered Michigan civil rights enforcers to clarify in discovery responses whether a Christian medical clinic's opposition to gender-affirming care violates the state's antidiscrimination law.
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September 12, 2025
AbbVie Can't Halt Miss. Discount Drug Law, 5th Circ. Says
AbbVie and other pharmaceutical manufacturers that participate in Medicaid cannot preliminarily block a Mississippi law barring their interference with the distribution of discounted prescriptions to pharmacies serving low-income patients, the Fifth Circuit ruled Friday, saying the drugmakers haven't shown that the statute likely effectuates a taking of their property.
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September 12, 2025
Ex-Conn. Assistant AG Faces DQ Bid In Price-Fixing Case
Drug companies accused of fixing prices for generics are seeking to disqualify former Connecticut Assistant Attorney General Joseph Nielsen and his law firm from representing insurers in a multidistrict litigation, arguing Nielsen had access to confidential information as a government attorney that he could unfairly use against them now.
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September 11, 2025
States Push Conn. Court To Ban Generic Drug Price-Fixing
A court order is necessary to prevent pharmaceutical companies and their executives from illegally fixing the prices of generic drugs, a coalition of state enforcers have told a Connecticut federal judge, arguing there is a "reasonable expectation" that the allegedly anticompetitive behavior at the center of multidistrict litigation will happen again.
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September 11, 2025
Medicare Drug Pricing Plan Survives Novartis' 3rd Circ. Appeal
The Third Circuit ruled Thursday that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' ability to negotiate "maximum fair prices" with drugmakers doesn't violate their constitutional rights, rejecting an argument by Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. that the practice amounted to a raw deal for the pharmaceutical industry.
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September 11, 2025
Expert's AI Hallucinations Blamed On Attys' 'Willful Blindness'
Utah anesthesiologists facing a False Claims Act fraudulent billing suit doubled down Wednesday on their bid to sanction and disqualify the whistleblower's counsel for not catching an expert witness report with numerous AI-generated fabrications, arguing the errors were so obvious that the failure to catch them constitutes "willful blindness."
Expert Analysis
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Health Tech Regulatory Trends To Watch In 2025
With an upcoming change in administration and the release of some long-awaited rules, the healthcare industry should prepare for shifting trends, including a growing focus on health data and interest in technology-enabled delivery of healthcare, say attorneys at Orrick.
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10 Noteworthy CFPB Developments From 2024
In a banner year for consumer finance regulation, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau made significant strides in its efforts to rein in Big Tech and nonbank financial firms, including via rules regarding open banking, credit card late fees, and buy now, pay later products, say attorneys at Wiley.
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The Future Of GLP-1 Policy After Drug Shortage Ends
If and when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration determines that GLP-1 RA drugs are no longer in short supply, regulators will face questions of how to balance access to GLP-1 RAs with statutory and policy considerations applicable to compounded drugs, say attorneys at Skadden.
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Top 10 Whistleblowing And Retaliation Events Of 2024
From a Florida federal court’s ruling that the False Claims Act’s qui tam provision is unconstitutional to a record-breaking number of whistleblower tips filed with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, employers saw significant developments in the federal and state whistleblower landscapes this year, say attorneys at Proskauer.
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How White Collar Defense Attys Can Use Summary Witnesses
Few criminal defense attorneys have successfully utilized summary witnesses in the past, but several recent success stories show that it can be a worthwhile trial tactic to help juries understand the complex decision-making at issue, says Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.
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Nutraceutical Patent Insights As Market Heats Up
Companies entering the expanding nutraceutical market and seeking patents to protect their innovations should evaluate successful nutraceutical claim language and common patent challenges in this field, say attorneys at Sterne Kessler.
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How White Collar Attys Can Use Mythic Archetypes At Trial
A careful reading of a classic screenwriting guide shows that fairy tales and white collar trials actually have a lot in common, and defense attorneys would do well to tell a hero’s journey at trial, relying on universal character archetypes to connect with the jury, says Jack Sharman at Lightfoot Franklin.
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What 2024 Election Means For Drugs, Medicare And Medicaid
With Republicans running the White House, U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate, the incoming administration is likely to provide pathways — through new initiatives and others returning from Trump's previous presidency — for a range of potential changes to drug pricing, Medicare and Medicaid, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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Justices Mull Sex-Based Classification In Trans Law Case
After the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in U.S. v. Skrmetti this week, it appears that the fate of the Tennessee law at the center of the case — a law banning gender-affirming healthcare for transgender adolescents — will hinge on whether the majority read the statute as imposing a sex-based classification, says Alexandra Crandall at Dickinson Wright.
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Key Takeaways From FDA's Latest Social Media Warnings
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's latest untitled letter concerning a drug company's social media promotion provides lessons for how companies should navigate risk presentation, FDA labeling requirements and superiority claims, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.
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Rank-And-File DOJ Attorneys Will Keep Calm And Carry On
Career prosecutors at the U.S. Department of Justice often pride themselves on their ability to remain apolitical in order to ensure consistency and keep the department’s mission afloat, and the incoming Trump administration is unlikely to upend this tradition, says Michael Landman at Bird Marella.
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Unpacking Arguments From High Court's Rural Hospital Case
During oral arguments in Advocate v. Becerra, the U.S. Supreme Court justices focused questions on the meaning of being "entitled to" supplementary security income assistance, and there's reason for optimism that the likely split decision will break in favor of hospitals, say attorneys at King & Spalding.
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Health Policy Predictions For Trump's Second Administration
As President-elect Donald Trump's nominations for health policy and enforcement heads work their way through the confirmation process, healthcare organizations can look at nominee backgrounds, campaign statements and actions from Trump's previous presidency to predict incoming priorities, say attorneys at McDermott.