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Health
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July 29, 2024
Feds Say Tenn., NC Hospitals Overpaid Doctors For Referrals
A Tennessee-based hospital system violated the False Claims Act by taking $27.8 million in public healthcare allotments while overpaying doctors, sometimes by three times the average physician's pay, to make internal referrals, according to a lawsuit the U.S. Department of Justice has joined.
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July 29, 2024
Court Won't Revive Woman's Postpartum Hospital Fall Suit
A Minnesota appeals court declined Monday to reinstate a woman's claims against a hospital alleging that a nurse caused her to fall and hit her head by encouraging her to take a bath after giving birth, saying the trial court rightly found that her experts' opinions didn't do enough to establish her case.
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July 29, 2024
Judge Blocks Medical Records Co.'s Anti-Bot Captchas
A Maryland federal judge on Monday enjoined electronic medical records company PointClickCare from blocking nursing home analytics company Real Time Medical Systems from accessing patient data with automated bots, saying PCC's firewall wasn't justified by concerns over security or system speed.
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July 29, 2024
Watchdog Says Zoom Call Doesn't Warrant Nixing $25.3M Deal
The U.S. Government Accountability Office has refused to undo a $25.3 million contract to support the National Institutes of Health, unconvinced that the agency had revealed a bidder's proprietary information during a Zoom call with the eventual contract winner.
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July 29, 2024
SEIU Escapes Hospital Worker's Harassment Suit
A New York federal judge tossed a hospital worker's claims alleging a Service Employees International Union local failed to help address harassment she faced on the job, saying the claims against the union are preempted by federal law.
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July 29, 2024
7th Circ. Revives Health Workers' COVID Vaccine Bias Suits
The Seventh Circuit reopened two lawsuits Monday accusing a health system of unlawfully rejecting requests by a Christian nurse and pharmacy technician to be excused from a COVID-19 vaccine mandate, ruling the religious nature of their exemption bids wasn't nullified by secular aspects of their arguments.
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July 29, 2024
Delaware Hospital Sues State Over 'Unconstitutional' New Law
The largest hospital system and healthcare provider in Delaware sued the state's governor and other officials in Delaware's Court of Chancery Monday, asserting that newly enacted legislation enabling a government-appointed board to review hospital costs is unconstitutional and should be struck down.
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July 29, 2024
Insurer Must Pay Defamation Defense Costs, Co. Says
An online health services company told a California federal court that a Hanover Insurance unit must help cover the "tens of millions of dollars" the company incurred while litigating an underlying defamation counterclaim and pursuing its own affirmative claims, calling the defense counsel the insurer installed "woefully inadequate."
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July 29, 2024
Medical Co. Fights To Reboot Arbitration Bid At 9th Circ.
A private-equity owned medical product maker urged the Ninth Circuit on Monday to reverse a finding that a truck loader's proposed class wage claims are exempt from federal arbitration law, arguing that the court erred in finding that she engaged in interstate commerce based on "super flimsy evidence" and is exempt.
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July 29, 2024
Boehringer Appeals HHS Win In Medicare Drug Price Suit
Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc. notified a Connecticut federal court Friday that it will appeal its loss in a lawsuit challenging a new Medicare drug price negotiation program on the grounds that it unlawfully compels the pharmaceutical giant to declare prices "fair," takes its property and imposes an excessive fine.
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July 29, 2024
Kirkland-Led Amulet Closes $1.2B Health-Focused Fund
Kirkland & Ellis LLP-advised private equity shop Amulet Capital Partners LP on Monday announced that it successfully closed its third healthcare-focused private equity fund with roughly $1.2 billion in tow.
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July 29, 2024
Cardiologist Hits Mass. Hospital With Equal Pay Suit
A cardiologist at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital says a less experienced male colleague whom she helped train is being paid $95,000 more, in violation of the Massachusetts Equal Pay Act, according to a lawsuit filed in state court.
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July 29, 2024
$13.4M Death Verdict Appeal Voids Insurer Suit, Hanover Says
An 81-year-old woman who won a $13.4 million judgment against a group home where her son died in 2016 is asking the full Connecticut Appellate Court to overturn a panel's decision that allowed the defendant to appeal, while Hanover Insurance Co. said that a related lawsuit seeking to collect the judgment should be thrown out.
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July 29, 2024
Ga. Health Providers Hit With Data Breach Class Action
Two Southeastern healthcare providers have been hit with a putative class action stemming from a 2023 cyberattack that allegedly compromised the information of more than 32,000 people, arguing the providers were asleep at the wheel as their patients' data was pilfered.
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July 29, 2024
Rising Star: Hogan Lovells' Michael Snow
Michael Snow of Hogan Lovells was co-lead counsel representing Kaiser Foundation Hospitals for the launch of its value-based healthcare platform Risant Health, helped the large hospital system acquire the $10 billion Geisinger Health, and represents Oregon Health & Science University in acquiring health system Legacy Health, earning him a spot among healthcare law practitioners under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.
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July 26, 2024
Apple Commits To White House Guidelines For Responsible AI
Apple Inc. has signed onto the Biden administration's voluntary guidelines for "responsible" artificial intelligence innovation, joining the likes of Amazon.com Inc., Google LLC, Microsoft Corp. and a dozen other leading tech companies, the White House announced Friday.
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July 26, 2024
Product Liability Cases To Watch 2024: A Midyear Report
Litigation over claims that social media addict children and harm mental health continues to hold attorneys' attention, along with claims that "forever chemicals" are a source of cancer.
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July 26, 2024
Abbott Owes $495M In Baby Formula Bellwether Trial
A Missouri jury awarded $95 million in compensatory damages and $400 million in punitive damages Friday over bellwether claims that Abbott Laboratories' baby formula caused a premature baby to suffer a fully disabling condition.
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July 26, 2024
Fla. Top Court Petitioned To Review 'Misleading' Abortion Info
A Florida coalition petitioned the state's high court to review a proposed financial impact statement that officials attached to an upcoming ballot measure legalizing abortions up to 24 weeks of pregnancy, saying the language is misleading and shouldn't be used to manipulate voters one way or the other.
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July 26, 2024
Ohio Jury Must Consider Brain Injury Patient's Mental State
An Ohio appeals court has reinstated a suit accusing doctors of causing a man's catastrophic brain injury due to medical negligence, saying it should be up to a jury to decide whether the applicable filing deadlines can be tolled due to the man's purported mental incompetence.
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July 26, 2024
'Worthless' Insurance Scam Gets Telemarketing CEO 25 Years
An Illinois federal judge has sentenced the owner of a telemarketing company to 25 years in federal prison for scheming with another former executive to sell consumers health insurance plans with low coverage caps.
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July 26, 2024
Judge Allows Emotional Damages In Deaf Patient's Bias Suit
A Michigan federal judge has reversed course in a suit by a deaf woman who alleges she was discriminated against when Henry Ford Health System denied her an interpreter, saying she'd been mistaken in a prior order when she only considered if compensatory emotional distress damages were available under federal law.
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July 26, 2024
Fired Doc Can Pursue Claims Against Atty Over Award Error
A Michigan state appeals court has ruled a doctor may pursue malpractice claims against the attorney who represented him during arbitration proceedings in an underlying wrongful termination suit after she allegedly failed to catch the arbitrator's miscalculation of the award, reportedly resulting in a $2.5 million loss.
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July 26, 2024
Healthcare Software Co. Must Face Trimmed Data Hack Suit
NextGen Healthcare will face a slimmed-down version of a proposed class action filed against it by customers who say their data was exposed in a 2023 data hack after a Georgia federal judge on Thursday tossed several state data privacy and consumer protection claims levied against the software company.
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July 26, 2024
Data Co. Told To Turn Over Contracts In Kochava Case
A D.C. federal judge plans to order TargetSmart to turn over supplier contracts to the Federal Trade Commission in the agency's case against TargetSmart client Kochava on Friday, after TargetSmart's attorney said she was "99% sure that there was no due diligence done by Kochava" regarding the data's provenance.
Expert Analysis
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AI In Accounting Raises OT Exemption Questions
A recent surge in the use of artificial intelligence in accounting work calls into question whether professionals in the industry can argue they are no longer overtime exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act, highlighting how technology could test the limits of the law for a variety of professions, say Bradford Kelley at Littler and Stephen Malone at Peloton Interactive.
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What To Know About State-Level Health Data Privacy Laws
Companies that handle consumer health data, including those in the retail sector, should take a conservative approach when interpreting the scope of new health privacy laws in Washington, Nevada and Connecticut, which may include development of privacy notices, consent procedures, rights request response processes and processor contracts, say attorneys at Hunton.
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Opinion
Intoxicating Hemp Products: It's High Time For Clarity
Thanks to ambiguity in the 2018 Farm Bill, intoxicating hemp cannabinoid products are largely unregulated and are widely available without restrictions on who can buy the products, and although there are several possible solutions, voluntary industry action by good actors is the best option, say Andrew Kline and Tommy Tobin at Perkins Coie.
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HHS' Updated Tracking Tech Guidance Offers Little Clarity
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights' updated guidance on the use of online tracking technologies appears more focused on legal issues raised in ongoing litigation with the American Hospital Association and less on practical guidance for covered entities, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.
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What Rescheduling Could Mean For Cannabis Bankruptcies
Bankruptcy courts have historically been closed for cannabis-related businesses, but recent case law coupled with a possible reclassification of cannabis provides cautious optimism, say attorneys at Duane Morris.
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Opinion
Pharmacies Need More Protection Against PBM Fee Practices
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' recent reform regarding direct and indirect remuneration fees will mitigate the detrimental effects that pharmacy benefit manager policies have on struggling pharmacies, but more is needed to prevent PBMs from exploiting loopholes, says Bhavesh Desai at Mazina Law.
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Series
Spray Painting Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My experiences as an abstract spray paint artist have made me a better litigator, demonstrating — in more ways than one — how fluidity and flexibility are necessary parts of a successful legal practice, says Erick Sandlin at Bracewell.
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Takeaways From The 2023 DOJ Fraud Section Report
Attorneys at Wiley discuss notable trends from the U.S. Department of Justice's recently reported Fraud Section activity last year and highlight areas of enforcement to watch for in the future, including healthcare fraud and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations.
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Hospitals Must Adapt To Growing Cybercrime Threats
As the tide of cybersecurity attacks targeting the healthcare industry continues to grow, hospitals and healthcare providers must take steps to protect themselves, including by replacing legacy records systems and ensuring that business associate agreements address responsibility for breaches, says Christine Chasse at Spencer Fane.
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Assessing FDA Pathways For Genome-Edited Plant Foods
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's recent clarification of the regulatory pathways for foods produced from genome-edited plants seeks to strike a balance between public health and innovation, and may hold broader significance for developers of novel human foods subject to voluntary notification programs, say Emily Marden and Diane McEnroe at Sidley Austin.
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Opinion
Proposed MDL Management Rule Needs Refining
Proponents of the recently proposed Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16.1 believe it may enhance efficiency in multidistrict litigation proceedings if adopted, but there are serious concerns that it could actually hinder plaintiffs' access to justice through the courts — and there are fundamental flaws that deserve our attention, says Ashleigh Raso at Nigh Goldenberg.
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Opinion
Judicial Independence Is Imperative This Election Year
As the next election nears, the judges involved in the upcoming trials against former President Donald Trump increasingly face political pressures and threats of violence — revealing the urgent need to safeguard judicial independence and uphold the rule of law, says Benes Aldana at the National Judicial College.
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Opinion
NIST March-In Framework Is As Problematic As 2021 Proposal
While the National Institute of Standards and Technology's proposed march-in framework on when the government can seize patents has been regarded as a radical departure that will support lowering prescription drug costs, the language at the heart of it is identical to a failed 2021 notice of proposed rulemaking, says attorney Kelly Morron.
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Document Retention Best Practices To Lower Litigation Risks
As new technologies emerge and terabytes of data can be within the purview of a single discovery request, businesses small and large should take four document management steps to effectively minimize risks of litigation and discovery sanctions long before litigation ensues, says Kimbrilee Weber at Norris McLaughlin.
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Series
Riding My Peloton Bike Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Using the Peloton platform for cycling, running, rowing and more taught me that fostering a mind-body connection will not only benefit you physically and emotionally, but also inspire stamina, focus, discipline and empathy in your legal career, says Christopher Ward at Polsinelli.