Digital Health & Technology

  • June 20, 2023

    Epstein Becker Grows Health Care Practice In Dallas, Memphis

    Epstein Becker Green has hired a trio of former Butler Snow LLP attorneys, including the firm's former intellectual property practice head as health care and life sciences members in its Memphis, Tennessee, and Dallas offices.

  • June 20, 2023

    AI-Focused Spinal Imaging Co. Hits Ch. 11 After Layoffs

    Troubled AI spinal imaging and treatment company Surgalign has filed for Chapter 11 protection in Texas bankruptcy court, with plans to sell its medical hardware business to biotechnology company Xtnant.

  • June 16, 2023

    Ascension Health Hit With Biometric Privacy Claims In Illinois

    Ascension, one of the largest private health care systems in the United States, was sued in Illinois state court Thursday by a proposed class of employees of a Chicago hospital who claim it violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act by requiring them to scan their fingerprints for a medicine dispensing system without first securing their informed written consent.

  • June 16, 2023

    Medical Device Co. Escapes Ex-Worker's ERISA Suit

    An Indiana federal judge nixed a former medical device company employee's proposed class action alleging it allowed its retirement plan's record-keeper to saddle plan participants with excessive fees, ruling Friday that he failed to put forward enough information to keep his claims afloat.

  • June 16, 2023

    Immunomedics Attys Win $12M Fee In $40M Data Scandal Deal

    Attorneys who represented a proposed class of investors in pharmaceutical company Immunomedics Inc. will receive nearly $12 million as their fee.

  • June 15, 2023

    Florida Dental Provider Faces Lawsuits Over Data Breach

    Patients of a Florida-based dental insurance provider brought a proposed class action lawsuit alleging negligence over a ransomware data breach that leaked the private information of more than 8.9 million people on the dark web, saying they face a lifetime risk of having their identities stolen.

  • June 09, 2023

    Reed Smith Adds 2 Attorneys With HHS Background

    Reed Smith LLP has brought on two seasoned health care attorneys from Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP with experience at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General, the firm confirmed to Law360 on Friday.

  • June 08, 2023

    FTC's Health Privacy Efforts Raise Specter Of Litigation

    The Federal Trade Commission is moving to step up its already aggressive policing of how health apps use and share sensitive personal information, but unresolved questions over the scope of the agency's authority is likely to spark challenges that could sharply curtail these efforts.

  • June 08, 2023

    Harvard Health Plan Faces Class Action In Hack Affecting 2.5M

    A Massachusetts-based health care provider and insurer skimped on data security, then sat on information about a data breach affecting more than 2.5 million patients and providers for nearly two months, a proposed class action filed Wednesday alleges.

  • June 05, 2023

    Broker Seeks Early Win In Coverage Row With Health Network

    A health care network's breach of contract and negligence suit against its former insurance broker should be dropped, the broker told a North Carolina federal court, asserting that the claims are premature since the underlying insurance dispute and putative data breach class action remain pending.

  • June 02, 2023

    Judge Calls Apple's Conduct In Smartwatch Row 'Careless'

    A federal judge in California on Friday ripped Apple's failure to preserve emails from a former top executive in its health division as "irresponsible and careless, and perhaps even grossly negligent," a day after a Silicon Valley medical device startup tried to draw the attention of a federal appeals court to alleged misconduct at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

  • May 31, 2023

    Gov't Contracts Of The Month: Moon Landing And VA Records

    Law360 highlights significant contracts from May 2023, including long-pending and over-budget projects such as NASA's purchase of Blue Origin's $3.4 billion lunar lander and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' renewal of a troubled $10 billion record systems project.

  • May 30, 2023

    Data Of Nearly 9 Million People Swiped In Dental Insurer Hack

    Nearly nine million people's personal medical data and Social Security numbers were stolen in a cyberattack earlier this year on one of the largest dental insurers in the U.S., new filings with state regulators show.

  • May 24, 2023

    On Deck In JPML: FTX, Cheer Abuse, T-Mobile

    The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation on Thursday will consider whether to centralize sprawling fallout from the collapse of crypto exchange FTX, as well as claims of hearing loss from the drug Tepezza and allegedly exploding solar panel systems.

  • May 23, 2023

    Nurse Targets Chicago Hospitals Over Biometric Cabinets

    A Chicago health system and two of its hospitals have been hit with biometric privacy claims by a nurse who says she and others were unlawfully required to scan their fingerprints to access a medicine cabinet without first providing informed consent.

  • May 23, 2023

    Health Care Pro Departs Jones Day For Mintz In San Francisco

    Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo PC has continued its San Francisco expansion by adding a partner from Jones Day as a member of its health law practice.

  • May 22, 2023

    Patient Wants Pa. Health Co. Nude Photo Leak Suit Alive

    A patient accusing Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley Health Network of negligently allowing ransomware attackers to steal and publish her nude photos has asked a federal judge to keep her lawsuit alive, claiming that the hospital should have bolstered its defenses after acquiring a company that had suffered a prior data breach.

  • May 22, 2023

    Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

    Delaware's Chancery Court was tough last week for former executives of SeaWorld, VMware and Momentus, who all saw their lawsuits for alleged unpaid benefits dismissed. The court also rejected an attempt from Warner Bros. Discovery to shift legal fees and a request by Fox Corp. to keep court documents under wraps. Here's your wrap of weekly news out of Delaware's Chancery Court.

  • May 19, 2023

    Tort Report: Spectrum Deal To End $1B Verdict Appeal

    Cable TV and internet giant Spectrum's pending deal to end an appeal of a $1.1 billion wrongful death award and a $96 million trucking crash verdict in Michigan lead Law360's Tort Report, which compiles recent personal injury and medical malpractice news that may have flown under the radar.

  • May 19, 2023

    Ohio Health System Agrees To Pay $1.75M In Data Breach Suit

    An Ohio health care system has agreed to pay $1.75 million to settle class action claims that it failed to protect more than 216,000 patients' personal and medical information from being illegally accessed during a 2021 data breach, according to federal court filings.

  • May 17, 2023

    Aetna Sued After Russian Hack Stole Data Of 3M Customers

    Health insurer Aetna has been hit with a proposed class action alleging that the company's outdated security measures allowed Russian hackers to access sensitive personal information in a breach targeting multiple health care providers and over 3 million customer records.

  • May 16, 2023

    EyeMed Cuts $2.5M Multistate Deal Over Data Breach

    Vision insurance company EyeMed has agreed to pay $2.5 million to officials in Oregon, New Jersey, Florida and Pennsylvania to end a probe into whether its allegedly lax data security led to a 2020 hack that compromised the data of more than two million people.

  • May 15, 2023

    Mass. Hospital To Pay $1M To End Kronos Data Breach Claims

    The University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center will pay $1.2 million to settle a data breach class action and federal wage lawsuit tied to a 2021 hack of workforce management company Kronos Inc. that took the hospital's payroll processing system offline for more than a month.

  • May 11, 2023

    NC Suit Over Health Care Co.'s Data Breach Migrates To Fla.

    A proposed class action against a health care provider accused of letting hackers steal patients' personal information is being transferred from North Carolina to Florida, the named plaintiff's attorney confirmed Thursday after a joint dismissal stipulation was filed in the Tar Heel State venue.

  • May 10, 2023

    FCA Chases 'Shrewder' Kickbacks As 50-Year Hunt Intensifies

    When sophisticated drug and device companies have confronted deadly diseases and daunting approval standards, they've hired the brightest scientific and legal minds — or bribed prescribers with cash, liquor, steaks, vacations and lap dances. The latter approach undergirds a landmark law that has been fueling litigation for 50 years and enters its next half-century chasing a new generation of camouflaged kickbacks.

Expert Analysis

  • How New Kickback Rules Benefit Health Care Industry: Part 1

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    Recently finalized U.S. Department of Health and Human Services rules, implementing changes to the Anti-Kickback Statute and Stark Law, advance the health care industry's transition to value-based care by removing obstacles to innovative cost-sharing arrangements, say Karen Lovitch and Rachel Yount at Mintz.

  • COVID-19 Vaccines Unlikely To Create Litigation Opportunities

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    Although COVID-19 vaccines are on the horizon, litigation opportunities may be limited due to the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act's significant liability protections for not only vaccine manufacturers, but also virtually all entities in the supply chain, say Eric Kraus and Jennifer Shah at Phillips Lytle.

  • Overcoming Immunity Of Foreign Gov't Cyberattack Sponsors

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    To combat the emerging threat of foreign state-sponsored cyberattacks on U.S. businesses and citizens, litigants need to creatively argue for exceptions to immunity under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act for foreign governments, say Jerry Goldman and Bruce Strong at Anderson Kill.

  • The State Of Consumer Class Actions Amid COVID-19

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    While the pandemic has slowed the filing of consumer class actions, they remain a significant part of the litigation landscape — with false labeling claims remaining particularly popular, likely because they are easy to file and frequently survive motions to dismiss, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • Anticipating The Biden Administration's Health Care Agenda

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    The Biden administration is unlikely to successfully push sweeping and partisan health care legislation in the next two years, but it will be able to reverse a litany of Trump administration policies pertaining to the Affordable Care Act, reproductive health care and more, say Nick Manetto and Ilisa Halpern Paul at Faegre Drinker.

  • What Biden Presidency May Mean For Data Privacy Litigation

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    The administration of President-elect Joe Biden will likely bring major changes to data privacy law and attendant litigation, including federal legislation that could preempt state laws, renegotiation of conditions for EU data transfers to the U.S., and increased Federal Trade Commission enforcement activity, say attorneys at Squire Patton.

  • 5 Tips For In-House Counsel Anticipating Cyber Class Actions

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    In light of a 270% increase in data breaches this year, and the attendant class actions, in-house counsel can prepare to efficiently manage litigation by focusing on certain initial steps, ranging from multidistrict litigation strategy to insurance best practices, say David McDowell and Nancy Thomas at MoFo.

  • Where Data Privacy And CFPB Are Headed Under Biden

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    Data privacy is likely to be a key area of legislative and enforcement focus for President-elect Joe Biden, and consumer financial protection is expected to be an immediate priority due to the economic impact of the pandemic, with the most drastic shift likely to occur at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, say attorneys at Gibson Dunn.

  • Ethics Considerations For Law Firms Implementing AI

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    Richard Finkelman and Yihua Astle at Berkeley Research Group discuss the ethical and bias concerns law firms must address when implementing artificial intelligence-powered applications for recruiting, conflict identification and client counseling.

  • The Legal Implications Of Mobile Health Advancements

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    With the pandemic rapidly accelerating the timeline for the shift to remote and mobile health care, providers will need to keep a close eye on new privacy and cybersecurity risks, and on new potential to collect real-time information from patients, say attorneys at Squire Patton.

  • The Post-Election State AG Enforcement Landscape

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    Election results so far have kept the number of Republican and Democratic state attorneys general even, and no matter the outcome of the presidential race, AGs will work across the aisle on important issues like health care, competition and the environment, says former Illinois attorney general Lisa Madigan at Kirkland.

  • What A Trump Or Biden Win Will Mean For State AGs

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    The outcome of the presidential election will have significant consequences on cooperation between federal agencies and state attorneys general, but either way robust multistate investigations — especially in the consumer protection space — will continue, says Sean Riley at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Outside Whistleblowers Are Critical To Exposing Fraud

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    Outsiders like industry experts, competitors, public interest organizations and concerned citizens often have deep knowledge, industry data and financial incentives that put them in a better position than insiders to spot fraud, say attorneys at Youman & Caputo, Fox Rothschild, Goldstein & Russell and Herrera Purdy.