Policy & Compliance
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February 21, 2025
Drugmakers Slam 'Untimely' Claims In Employers' Antitrust Suit
Pharmaceutical companies targeted by sweeping antitrust lawsuits from major employers, including Target, Lowe's and American Airlines, have asked a Pennsylvania federal judge to trim conspiracy claims from a lawsuit accusing them of orchestrating illegal agreements for price-fixing and customer allocation, arguing the allegation was unsupported and untimely.
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February 21, 2025
Watchdog Says DOL Struggles To Enforce Mental Health Law
Workers with mental health conditions and substance use disorders are at higher risk of not receiving treatment or having to pay out of pocket for care that should be covered because of the U.S. Department of Labor's limited ability to enforce federal mental health parity laws, an agency watchdog said Friday.
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February 21, 2025
Wash. Health System Says Nurse Must Arbitrate Wage Claims
A Washington-based healthcare system facing a proposed class and collective wage action in Seattle federal court contends the plaintiff nurse agreed to arbitrate any claims with the third-party staffing agencies he contracted with to work at its facilities.
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February 21, 2025
LGBTQ+ Health Orgs Aim To Halt Trump DEI, Gender Orders
Three executive orders by President Donald Trump barring federal contractors from pushing "gender ideology" and diversity-related programs violate the U.S. Constitution, a group of nonprofit LGBTQ+ organizations told a California federal court.
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February 21, 2025
NIH Research Cuts Stay On Hold As Judge Mulls Objections
A Boston federal judge on Friday extended her hold on a Trump administration proposal to slash reimbursements from the National Institutes of Health for research grant costs, a move colleges, hospitals and other institutions have said would wreak havoc on scientific research.
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February 20, 2025
COVID Fraud Drove Record FCA Caseload, Gov't Officials Say
Federal officials said that the record-setting number of whistleblower False Claims Act cases filed in 2024 was likely driven by COVID-19-related fraud, with the use of data mining having an outsized role in those cases.
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February 20, 2025
Boston, Other Cities And MassBio Back Challenge To NIH Cuts
The city of Boston and 44 other cities, counties and elected officials around the country and, separately, the life sciences industry group Massachusetts Biotechnology Council asked a Massachusetts federal judge on Thursday to extend a temporary restraining order blocking steep cuts to National Institutes of Health reimbursement for research projects.
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February 20, 2025
Feds Say DC Judge Can't Bar 'Hypothetical' Spending Freezes
A Justice Department attorney argued before a D.C. federal judge Thursday that there is no basis to continue blocking the Trump administration from implementing a blanket suspension on federal spending, saying the court cannot bar "hypothetical" future freezes.
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February 20, 2025
Dems Seek Answers, Reversals For 'Reckless' VA Cuts
Democrats in Congress asked Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins to justify how firing 1,000-plus VA employees could possibly benefit veterans, and they called on him to reverse the cuts, stating that they are causing negative impacts.
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February 20, 2025
AmerisourceBergen Strikes Settlement In 401(k) Fee Suit
AmerisourceBergen and a proposed class of workers who alleged their employee 401(k) plan was saddled with excessive recordkeeping and administrative costs have struck a settlement deal to resolve the dispute, according to a filing in Kentucky federal court.
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February 20, 2025
HHS Rescinds Guidance On Gender-Affirming Care For Minors
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday rescinded guidance for health plans and insurers on complying with the Affordable Care Act's nondiscrimination provisions with regard to gender-affirming care for minors, which President Donald Trump called on the agency to do in a January executive order.
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February 20, 2025
DOJ Official Flags 'Aggressive' FCA Approach Under Trump
A senior U.S. Department of Justice official said Thursday that the Trump administration's focus on government efficiency will include "aggressively" enforcing the False Claims Act, including a strong focus on FCA enforcement of foreign trade issues amid recently imposed tariffs.
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February 20, 2025
Drug Buyers Get OK On $275M Sandoz Antitrust Settlement
Swiss drugmaker Sandoz and its subsidiaries will pay consumers, insurers and other "end payer plaintiffs" $275 million to settle class action claims that it conspired with other companies to fix the price of certain generic drugs, under a deal that got preliminary approval from a Pennsylvania federal court Wednesday.
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February 19, 2025
Contractors' Group Asks DC Judge To Halt Gutting Of USAID
A group representing U.S. citizen personal services contractors working for the U.S. Agency for International Development is the latest to ask a federal judge to step in and block the Trump administration's push to gut the agency and its operations.
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February 19, 2025
Judge Probes Vagueness In Suit Over Trump's Anti-DEI Orders
A Baltimore federal judge on Wednesday pressed a U.S. Department of Justice attorney to spell out what would constitute so-called illegal DEI under Trump administration executive orders that aim to root out diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the public and private sectors.
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February 19, 2025
Michigan Expert Defends State's Abortion Counseling Law
Michigan kicked off its defense of a waiting period and mandatory counseling requirements for abortions Wednesday with a physician's testimony that abortion seekers should receive information about parenting and adoption before undergoing the procedure.
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February 19, 2025
Judge Won't Halt PBM Case Over Attack On FTC Independence
A Missouri federal judge refused to temporarily block the Federal Trade Commission's in-house case accusing pharmacy benefits managers of artificially inflating insulin prices through unfair rebate schemes, rejecting the PBMs' claims that the Trump administration's attempt to eliminate safeguards protecting FTC members from at-will presidential removal favors their attempt to stop the case.
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February 19, 2025
LA Gardasil Trial Against Merck Bagged After 3 Weeks
A Los Angeles state court trial over the alleged dangers of Merck & Co. Inc.'s human papillomavirus vaccine Gardasil was abruptly called off after three weeks of testimony, with a new panel of jurors slated to hear the case next fall instead.
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February 19, 2025
Local 11 Must Pay Health Fund's Atty Fees In Sanctions Fight
An Illinois federal judge on Tuesday granted attorneys' fees in connection with work to file a sanctions motion against a union local in a federal benefits lawsuit against their multiemployer union health fund but reduced the total grant to about half of what was requested.
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February 19, 2025
Feds Urge Justices To Undo 5th Circ. Preventive Care Ruling
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and other federal agencies urged the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a Fifth Circuit decision that members of a task force setting preventive services coverage requirements under the Affordable Care Act were unconstitutionally appointed, arguing the HHS secretary retained sufficient oversight.
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February 18, 2025
1st Circ. Backs Strict View Of Kickback Law In Blow To FCA
In an eagerly awaited ruling, the First Circuit on Tuesday said a major avenue for False Claims Act enforcement requires proof that kickbacks directly changed treatment decisions, a holding that creates a lopsided circuit split as well as significant challenges for the U.S. Department of Justice and the plaintiffs bar.
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February 18, 2025
Health Net Pays $11.25M To Settle Cybersecurity FCA Claims
Health Net and its parent Centene Corp. have reached an $11.25 million False Claims Act settlement to resolve allegations that the health plan administrator falsely certified compliance with cybersecurity requirements under a U.S. Department of Defense contract.
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February 18, 2025
Michigan's Top Doc Calls Informed Consent Law 'Cruel'
Michigan's chief medical executive testified that making abortion seekers review parenting information before terminating a pregnancy is manipulative and even harmful during a trial over the viability of several Michigan laws regulating abortion care.
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February 18, 2025
Utah Trans Care Law Stirs Legal Doubt On Informed Consent
Language in a new Utah law that allows minors receiving gender-affirming care to later revoke informed consent and retroactively sue clinicians could undermine treatment for patients and spill over into other forms of healthcare, researchers say.
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February 18, 2025
Trump Issues Order Calling For Expanded IVF Access
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday giving his administration 90 days to develop policy recommendations designed to protect access to in vitro fertilization and sharply reduce out-of-pocket costs for IVF treatment.
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Trump's Sweeping Healthcare Cuts Sow Confusion, Concern
In recent days, the Trump administration has started to fire thousands of federal health employees, kicking off what is expected to be the first of a series of terminations set to shape the future of healthcare in the U.S.
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Trump's Anti-DEI Push Poses New FCA Risks For Healthcare
President Donald Trump's order restricting diversity, equity and inclusion programs threatens to ratchet up the False Claims Act risk facing the healthcare industry. Hospitals and research groups have questions about who's covered and what is or isn't permissible under Trump's anti-DEI push.
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Trump Trans Care Order Raises New Legal Risks For Providers
President Donald Trump's executive order restricting gender-affirming care for minors is likely to ignite lasting legal conflicts over the limits of presidential power and whether the policy is discriminatory. In the meantime, hospitals are wrestling with what care they can offer families right now and what comes next for those already undergoing treatment.
Expert Analysis
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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 Arnold & Porter.
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10 Issues To Watch In Aerospace And Defense Contracting
This year, in addition to evergreen developments driven by national security priorities, disruptive new technologies and competition with rival powers, federal contractors will see significant disruptions driven by the new administration’s efforts to reduce government spending, regulation and the size of the federal workforce, say attorneys at Thompson Hine.
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Dispelling 10 Myths About Health Provider-Based Compliance
Congress appears intent on requiring hospitals to submit provider-based attestations for all off-campus outpatient hospital locations, so now is the time for hospitals to prepare for this change by understanding common misconceptions about provider-based status and proactively correct noncompliance, say attorneys at McDermott.
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A Look At HHS' New Opinion On Patient Assistance Programs
A recent advisory opinion from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General follows a recent trend of blessing patient assistance program arrangements that implicate the Anti-Kickback Statute, as long as they are structured with appropriate safeguards to minimize the risk of fraud and abuse, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.
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2 Anti-Kickback Developments Hold Lessons For Biopharma
The U.S. Department of Justice's Anti-Kickback Statute settlement with QOL Medical and a favorable advisory opinion from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services provide a study in contrasts, but there are tips for biopharma manufacturers trying to navigate the vast compliance space between them, says Mary Kohler at Kohler Health Law.
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Tips For Pharma-Biotech Overlap Reporting In New HSR Form
While there’s no secret recipe for reporting overlaps to the Federal Trade Commission in the new Hart-Scott-Rodino Act form, there are several layers of considerations for all pharma-biotech companies and counsel to reflect on internally before reporting on any deal, say attorneys at A&O Shearman.
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A Look At Drug Price Negotiation Program's Ongoing Impact
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.
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Preparing For A Possible End To The Subminimum Wage
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.
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Drug Pricing Policy Trends To Expect In 2025 And Beyond
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.
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Top 10 Healthcare And Life Sciences Issues To Watch In 2025
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.
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4 Keys To Litigating In An Active Regulatory Environment
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.
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How Views On Healthcare Price Transparency Are Changing
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.
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EEOC Wearable Tech Guidance Highlights Monitoring Scrutiny
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.