Policy & Compliance

  • September 20, 2024

    3 Atty Takeaways On Mental Health Parity Final Rules

    Federal agencies' recently finalized rules for how employer health plans must analyze their coverage of mental health and substance use disorder treatments imposes significant new reporting and disclosure requirements, although regulators backed off more sweeping proposed network design changes. Here are attorneys' three key takeaways from the final mental health parity rules — what made it in, what's out and what to watch for next.

  • September 20, 2024

    Green Groups Can't Bar Housing Project, SC Judge Says

    A South Carolina federal judge on Thursday denied conservation groups' push to block a 9,000-unit housing development on the Cainhoy Peninsula near Charleston, ruling they've not shown they're likely to succeed in a case challenging federal reviews and approvals.

  • September 20, 2024

    FTC Accuses Drug Middlemen Of Raising Insulin Prices

    The Federal Trade Commission on Friday accused the three largest pharmacy benefits managers, Caremark Rx, Express Scripts and OptumRx, of artificially inflating insulin prices by relying on unfair rebate schemes that hurt competition.

  • September 19, 2024

    Ga. Appeals Court Says Hospital Must Get Certificate Of Need

    The Georgia Court of Appeals for the second time has said that a Georgia hospital must obtain a new certificate of need from the state to convert its long-term care beds to short-stay acute care beds, following guidance issued by the state's justices earlier this year.

  • September 19, 2024

    Teamsters Unit Escapes Hospital Worker's Wage Suit

    A Massachusetts federal judge tossed a hospital worker's claims that a Teamsters unit failed to properly represent her when she didn't receive as big a pay bump under a new collective bargaining agreement as expected, saying the union showed it did what it could to advocate for her.

  • September 18, 2024

    7th Circ. Questions Nixing $183M Eli Lilly Drug Rebate Verdict

    A Seventh Circuit judge seemed unsure Wednesday whether to disturb a $183 million verdict against Eli Lilly in a false claims case targeting more than a decade of drug rebate miscalculations, questioning whether the company skipped checking legal guidance before calling its price reporting requirements unclear.

  • September 18, 2024

    Health AI Co. Says Texas AG 'Misrepresents' Compliance Deal

    The Texas attorney general's Wednesday announcement of a compliance agreement with a healthcare-focused artificial intelligence company has sparked backlash from the company, which accused the state prosecutor of "dangerously" misrepresenting their agreement.

  • September 18, 2024

    Ex-Amgen Rep Wasn't Original Whistleblower, Judge Says

    A Brooklyn federal judge tossed a former Amgen sales representative's whistleblower suit on Wednesday, saying many elements of his allegations of a kickback scheme had been disclosed in news reports and civil lawsuits prior to his filing.

  • September 17, 2024

    North Carolina Panel Orders Redo In Hospital Beds Battle

    A Tar Heel State administrative court erred when it used the state health department's failure to hold a public hearing as a basis to yank the department's approval of the University of North Carolina's application to enhance its hospital's services, an appeals court ruled Tuesday, in a setback for Duke University's healthcare unit.

  • September 17, 2024

    Texas Fertility Clinic Hid 'Catastrophic' Lab Issue, Couples Say

    Five couples accused a Houston fertility institute of hiding "catastrophic" laboratory issues that affected patients' embryos, saying in a lawsuit that the entity instead injected multiple hopeful mothers with "dead or dying" eggs.

  • September 17, 2024

    Henrietta Lacks' Family Still Seeks Justice For 'Immortal' Cells

    Seven decades have passed since a doctor at a Baltimore hospital took, without permission, a sample of cells from a Black woman suffering from cervical cancer. While the durable strain of human cells known as "HeLa" has fueled a handful of lawsuits against drug companies accused of profiting from stolen genetic material, more are likely on the way.

  • September 17, 2024

    Brooklyn Feds Unveil Whistleblower Nonprosecution Plan

    The Brooklyn U.S. Attorney's Office on Tuesday announced an initiative to reward corporate whistleblowers with nonprosecution deals amid a broader effort by federal prosecutors to encourage voluntary disclosure of criminal activity.

  • September 17, 2024

    Express Scripts Blasts 'Biased' FTC Drug Middlemen Report

    The Federal Trade Commission defamed Express Scripts and violated its constitutional rights with an inaccurate report that ripped the role pharmacy benefit managers play as middlemen between drugmakers and insurers, according to a lawsuit lodged Tuesday in Missouri federal court.

  • September 17, 2024

    Blumenauer Pushes House Speaker To Put Pot Bill To Vote

    U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., on Monday urged House Speaker Mike Johnson to bring bipartisan cannabis legislation to a vote following revelations that Richard Nixon admitted privately that marijuana was "not particularly dangerous" while he publicly waged the war on drugs.

  • September 16, 2024

    5th Circ. Judge Chides High Court Calls in Abortion Pill Case

    U.S. Circuit Judge James C. Ho on Monday threw shade at the U.S. Supreme Court and the Biden administration over what he described as side-switching on federal conscience laws for doctors.

  • September 16, 2024

    NC High Court Snapshot: Tax Fights And A Health Care Spat

    Regulatory battles will take center stage when the North Carolina Supreme Court returns from summer break this week for a September argument lineup featuring appeals by Phillip Morris, Duke University's hospital and two Boost Mobile dealers.

  • September 16, 2024

    Nebraska Medical Cannabis Initiatives Will Be On Nov. Ballot

    Initiatives to legalize medical marijuana in Nebraska will appear on the ballot come November, despite some evidence of fraud in the signature-collecting petition process, according to state election officials.

  • September 13, 2024

    The 2024 Regional Powerhouses

    The law firms on Law360's list of 2024 Regional Powerhouses reflected the local peculiarities of their states while often representing clients in deals and cases that captured national attention.

  • September 13, 2024

    Doctor Charged In DOJ Fraud Suit Gets 6 Months Probation

    One of the defendants accused in a healthcare fraud suit that ended in a mistrial in 2022 was sentenced Thursday to six months of probation after pleading guilty in June to one count of aiding and abetting the conversion of public money in connection with the alleged fraud.

  • September 13, 2024

    Neb. Court Allows Competing Abortion Measures On Ballot

    Nebraska's top court agreed on Friday to let two competing — and sharply contested — abortion initiatives on the November ballot.

  • September 13, 2024

    Mass. Justices Say Benefits Don't Accrue Under Leave Law

    Massachusetts' top court ruled Friday that the state's Paid Family and Medical Leave Act doesn't allow a group of state troopers to accrue certain benefits while on leave.

  • September 12, 2024

    ND Judge Finds 'Fundamental Right' To Abortion, Strikes Ban

    Women in North Dakota have a "fundamental right" to abortion access pre-viability, a state judge ruled Thursday in a decision overturning a near-total state ban.

  • September 11, 2024

    Gender Care Hearing Centers On Ohio Bill Of Rights

    Questions about potential conflicts between an Ohio gender care ban and a right to healthcare "freedom" enshrined in the state constitution dominated much of a Wednesday hearing in a state appellate court.

  • September 10, 2024

    Missouri High Court Puts Abortion Rights Back on Nov. Ballot

    Missourians will have a chance to vote this year on a constitutional amendment enshrining the right to abortion access following a Tuesday ruling by the state's highest court.

  • September 10, 2024

    42 AGs Back Call For Social Media Warning Label Law

    A bipartisan group of 42 attorneys general urged Congress on Tuesday to introduce warning labels on social media platforms in a bid to tackle risks posed to young people's mental health.

Expert Analysis

  • Preparing Law Students For A New, AI-Assisted Legal World

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    As artificial intelligence rapidly transforms the legal landscape, law schools must integrate technology and curricula that address AI’s innate challenges — from ethics to data security — to help students stay ahead of the curve, say Daniel Garrie at Law & Forensics, Ryan Abbott at JAMS and Karen Silverman at Cantellus Group.

  • ESG Around The World: South Korea

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    Numerous ESG trends have materialized in South Korea in the past three years, with impacts ranging from greenwashing prevention and carbon neutrality measures to workplace harassment and board diversity initiatives, say Chang Wook Min and Hyun Chan Jung at Jipyong.

  • General Counsel Need Data Literacy To Keep Up With AI

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    With the rise of accessible and powerful generative artificial intelligence solutions, it is imperative for general counsel to understand the use and application of data for myriad important activities, from evaluating the e-discovery process to monitoring compliance analytics and more, says Colin Levy at Malbek.

  • A Look At Healthcare Timelines Set By Biden's AI Order

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    President Joe Biden's artificial intelligence executive order establishes standards for using AI in the healthcare industry, including a number of staggered deadlines that should help coordinate a more unified federal approach to AI governance, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • A Look At Successful Bid Protests In FY 2023

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    Attorneys at Sheppard Mullin look beyond the statistics in the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s recent annual report on bid protests, sharing their insights about nine categories of sustained protests, gained from reading every fiscal year 2023 decision in which the protester had a positive result.

  • Navigating Discovery Of Generative AI Information

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    As generative artificial intelligence tools become increasingly ubiquitous, companies must make sure to preserve generative AI data when there is reasonable expectation of litigation, and to include transcripts in litigation hold notices, as they may be relevant to discovery requests, say Nick Peterson and Corey Hauser at Wiley.

  • FDA's Lab-Developed Test Rule May Bring Historic Challenges

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    If finalized, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's proposed rule for regulating laboratory-developed tests will provoke some of the most interesting legal challenges that the agency has faced in decades, with outcomes that will likely reverberate across the agency's product centers, says Stacy Amin at MoFo.

  • Finding Focus: Strategies For Attorneys With ADHD

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    Given the prevalence of ADHD among attorneys, it is imperative that the legal community gain a better understanding of how ADHD affects well-being, and that resources and strategies exist for attorneys with this disability to manage their symptoms and achieve success, say Casey Dixon at Dixon Life Coaching and Krista Larson at Stinson.

  • AI Use May Trigger False Claims Act's Public Disclosure Bar

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    The likely use of publicly available artificial intelligence tools to detect government fraud by combing through large data sets will raise complex questions about a False Claims Act provision that prohibits the filing of claims based on previously disclosed information, say Nick Peterson and Spencer Brooks at Wiley Rein.

  • Beware Privacy Risks In Training AI Models With Health Data

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    Because data used to train artificial intelligence models may be protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act or other regulations, users of these models should conduct proper diligence to avoid costly compliance failures, say Neha Matta and Barbara Bennett at Frost Brown.

  • Unpacking GAO's FY 2023 Bid Protest Report

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    The U.S. Government Accountability Office's recent bid protest report reflects an increase in sustained protests, illustrating that disappointed offerors may see little reason to refrain from seeking corrective action — but there is more to the story, say Aron Beezley and Patrick Quigley at Bradley Arant.

  • White House AI Order Balances Innovation And Regulation

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    President Joe Biden’s recently issued executive order on artificial intelligence lays out a sprawling list of directives aimed at establishing standards for safety, security and privacy protection, and may help strike the balance between the freedom to innovate and the need to impose regulation in this rapidly evolving space, say Kristen Logan and Martin Zoltick at Rothwell Figg.

  • Reading Between The Lines Of HHS' National Lab Opinion

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    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General recently rejected a national laboratory's request to pay a referring lab to process specimens, but the request might have been an attempt to exploit the OIG's advisory opinion process for a competitive advantage, says Mary Kohler at Kohler Health Law.