Policy & Compliance
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October 30, 2025
Surgical Co. Gets Tobacco Fee ERISA Suit Kicked To Texas
A proposed class action alleging that a surgical center operator discriminated against workers who use tobacco by making them pay more for health coverage belongs in Texas, a Kentucky federal judge said, ruling that the business doesn't have enough connection to Kentucky.
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October 29, 2025
DOJ Subpoena Called 'Pressure' To Ax Gender-Affirming Care
The U.S. Department of Justice issued a subpoena to intimidate a telehealth organization into ending gender-affirming medical care, a Seattle federal judge said in a ruling that found the agency is using the guise of an investigation to further the Trump administration's stated goal of eliminating transgender and gender-diverse patients' access to healthcare.
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October 29, 2025
Healthcare Workers Trade HCA For Subsidiaries In Wage Deal
A respiratory therapist has reached a tentative deal in a proposed collective action against a healthcare facility operator accused of manipulating workers' time sheets to pay them less overtime wages, North Carolina federal court records show.
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October 29, 2025
FDA Unveils Plan To Speed Biosimilar Drugs To Market
The Trump administration on Wednesday said it plans to slash the cost of biologics by shortening the time required to bring a biosimilar drug to market and making it easier for patients to switch to the cheaper products.
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October 29, 2025
3 Pharmaceutical Firms Will Pay $4M To Tribes In Opioid MDL
Indivior, Sun Pharmaceuticals and Zydus Pharmaceuticals have inked deals to compensate tribes for their role in the opioid crisis, according to stipulated dismissals entered on Wednesday in Ohio federal court.
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October 28, 2025
Off-Label Prescribing Was Common, Novo Nordisk Tells Jury
A whistleblower suing drugmaker Novo Nordisk for allegedly defrauding Washington state's Medicaid system acknowledged from the witness stand Tuesday that she previously prescribed hemophilia drugs for off-label use in her own practice — despite concerns she raised in her lawsuit about other doctors' off-label prescription of Novo Nordisk's drug NovoSeven.
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October 28, 2025
4 Emergency Medical Care Rulings You Don't Want To Miss
Following a Michigan appellate court's recent finding that evidence brought in a wrongful death suit against paramedics was enough to get around immunity protections, Law360 Healthcare Authority looks at significant rulings affecting emergency medical care in 2025.
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October 28, 2025
Home Health Aide Says Cos. Shaved Time Off Pay
Home health care companies failed to pay aides for the hours they worked by failing to properly calculate their overtime, while also having a "problematic clocking system" that led to time-shaving issues, a suit filed in New York federal court on Tuesday claims.
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October 28, 2025
High Court Medicaid Ruling Adds To Safety-Net Hospital Pain
Earlier this year, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson raised a warning about the future of the nation's safety-net hospitals in a case focused on "disproportionate share" Medicaid payments. Funding cuts at issue in the case are now hitting hospitals.
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October 28, 2025
Akin Beats Malpractice Claim Over Alleged IP Theft Plot
A Third Circuit panel on Tuesday refused to revive a malpractice claim against Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP lodged in a lawsuit that accused attorneys of manipulating patent litigation to steal a former Cornell University graduate student's DNA sequencing intellectual property.
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October 28, 2025
HHS Can't Yet Yank Sex Ed Grants Over 'Gender Ideology' Info
An Oregon federal judge has halted the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' plans to revoke federal funding for teen sexual health education programs that included "gender ideology," agreeing with states that this is likely a case of executive overreach.
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October 28, 2025
4th Circ. Overturns Landmark W.Va. Opioid Verdict
The Fourth Circuit on Tuesday overturned a key ruling by a West Virginia judge in the first federal bellwether in multidistrict opioid litigation that went in favor of the country's three biggest drug distributors, finding that the oversupply of opioids can create a public nuisance.
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October 28, 2025
Wash. Hospital System Can't Undo $230M Wage Suit Loss
A hospital system can't undo a $230 million judgment against it because it didn't sufficiently counter evidence that its default rounding system was unlawful and assumed caregivers wouldn't take a second meal break, a Washington state appeals panel ruled.
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October 28, 2025
Tylenol Autism Warning May Face Legal, Free Speech Hurdles
The Trump administration’s plan to add an autism warning to Tylenol's labeling could generate procedural and First Amendment challenges. Legal experts expect federal officials’ own words will be used against them.
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October 28, 2025
Minn. Hospital Noncompetes Face Test In State AG Probe
A Minnesota investigation could help answer key questions for doctors and employers about a 2023 state ban on noncompete provisions: When do changes to employment contracts amount to a new contract?
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October 28, 2025
Texas Accuses Tylenol Makers Of Hiding Autism Danger
The Texas Attorney General's Office on Tuesday sued the makers of Tylenol, alleging they hid the risk that the drug could lead to autism while marketing acetaminophen as the safest pain relief option for pregnant women and young children.
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October 27, 2025
Teva To Pay $35M In Suit Over Delayed Generic Inhalers
Teva Pharmaceuticals will pay $35 million to resolve claims from a coalition of union healthcare funds that say the company schemed to delay generic competition for its QVAR asthma inhalers, according to a motion for preliminary injunction filed in Massachusetts federal court.
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October 27, 2025
CVS Let 401(k) Get Bogged Down With High Fees, Suit Says
CVS costs workers millions in retirement savings and violated federal benefits law by failing to rein in excessive administrative fees in its $27 billion 401(k) plan, a former pharmacist said in a proposed class action filed in New York federal court.
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October 27, 2025
AbbVie Defends Challenge Of Colorado's Discount Drug Law
AbbVie defended its lawsuit challenging a Colorado law it says conflicts with federal law by forcing manufacturers to sell drugs at steep discounts to Walgreens, CVS and other pharmacy chains, telling a federal judge that the state compels the biotech company to sell more discounted drugs than federal law requires.
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October 27, 2025
Temp Agency Placed Unqualified Nursing Aides, Charges Say
A Massachusetts temporary staffing agency sent unqualified nursing aides into at least four healthcare facilities by misrepresenting their credentials, and it allowed one of them to use the identity of a former employee, the state's attorney general alleged in an indictment announced Monday.
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October 27, 2025
Judge Tosses Eli Lilly Suit Over Telehealth Weight Loss Drugs
A California federal court has dismissed a lawsuit from Eli Lilly against a telehealth company and related entities over the compounding of its popular weight loss drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound, saying the pharmaceutical giant's complaint failed to plausibly allege claims under the Lanham Act and the state's false advertising and consumer protection laws.
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October 27, 2025
Ex-Magellan CEO Avoids Prison Over Faulty Lead Tests
The former CEO of Magellan Diagnostics was sentenced in Massachusetts federal court Monday to a year of home confinement for failing to alert regulators to a problem in the company's lead-testing devices that resulted in inaccurately low lead levels being detected in blood samples.
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October 24, 2025
USAA Defends Medical Reimbursement Cuts In Coverage Row
Two USAA units sought to toss two insureds' proposed class action accusing the companies of under-reimbursing their medical providers via claim handling software, telling a Washington federal court "there is no admissible evidence that plaintiffs' treatments were medically necessary and related to their auto accidents."
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October 24, 2025
Generic-Drug Makers Want Conn. Price Cap Blocked During Suit
A trade group for generic and biosimilar drugmakers is asking a Connecticut federal judge to block the state's new drug price cap during the pendency of its challenge, saying it illegally controls prices on sales made outside the state.
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October 24, 2025
Paramedics Can't Use Mich. Law To Escape Negligence Suit
Evidence suggesting paramedics may have forged a patient's signature declining hospital transport for COVID-19 care and purported statements that responders didn't bring him in because hospitals were full are enough to overcome a state law that gives immunity to emergency responders, a Michigan appellate panel has determined.
Expert Analysis
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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.
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A Look At Key 5th Circ. White Collar Rulings So Far This Year
In the first half of 2025, the Fifth Circuit has decided numerous cases of particular import to white collar practitioners, which collectively underscore the critical importance of meticulous recordbuilding, procedural compliance and strategic litigation choices at every stage of a case, says Joe Magliolo at Jackson Walker.
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What US Medicine Onshoring Means For Indian Life Sciences
Despite the Trump administration's latest moves to onshore essential medicine manufacturing, India will likely remain an indispensable component of the U.S. drug supply chain, but Indian manufacturers should prepare for stricter compliance checks, says Jashaswi Ghosh at Holon Law Partners.