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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
Novo Nordisk Queues Up $830M Suit Over Disappointing Drug
Novo Nordisk is set to initiate an $830 million arbitration claim in New York accusing Singaporean biopharmaceutical company KBP Biosciences of misleading the Danish drugmaker about the potential of a new hypertension drug it subsequently purchased, according to an order from a Singapore court made public on Tuesday.
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February 18, 2025
Policyholders Win Bid To Preserve Records For Antitrust Suit
Insurance policyholders who accused Hartford HealthCare Corp. of violating antitrust and unfair trade practices in a Connecticut state court can intervene in a federal court lawsuit with similar claims against the hospital network to preserve records for their class action, a federal district judge has ruled a month after the federal suit settled.
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February 18, 2025
Convicted Pharma Exec Seeks Trial Redo, Citing Feds' Error
A former pharmacy executive convicted on criminal charges over a healthcare scheme that defrauded the government of $160 million has urged a Texas federal court to grant him a new trial, arguing an admission of error by the federal government necessitates a redo.
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February 18, 2025
Bankruptcy Judge OKs Plan To Close NY Nursing Home
A New York bankruptcy judge has said a 588-bed nursing home can shut its doors if the state's Department of Health will sign off on the debtor's plan to close the facility, after the company asked for permission as it faced mounting losses.
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February 18, 2025
Human Rights Atty Sees 'Serious Risks' Of Neural Data Abuse
International human rights attorney Jared Genser spoke with Law360 Healthcare Authority about the "serious risks of misuse and abuse of neurotechnologies" that have led California and Colorado to expand their state consumer privacy laws in the last year to include neural data, with similar bills pending in Montana, Massachusetts and Illinois.
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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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February 18, 2025
DEA Skewed Pot Hearings Against Reform, DC Circ. Told
A group of doctors who support easing federal marijuana restrictions told the D.C. Circuit Monday that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration stacked the deck against reform when it unilaterally drew up a list of participants allowed to testify at rulemaking hearings.
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February 18, 2025
ER Says 3rd Parties Allow For Accurate Blame In Injury Suit
A Texas emergency room told state high court justices Tuesday that refusing to allow it to designate responsible third parties in a nurse's injury suit would create " a dramatic upheaval" by " not letting us blame who's really at fault" for the woman's back injury.
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February 18, 2025
Trump Trans Order Is Unconstitutional 'End-Run,' Judge Says
A Washington federal judge has further explained her temporary block on President Donald Trump's executive order targeting funding for gender-affirming care for young people, saying the edict threatens a broad swath of congressionally approved research spending and "amounts to an end-run around the separation of powers."
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February 18, 2025
Steward Says Mass. Owes $22M For Withheld Patient Claims
Steward Health Care has sued Massachusetts in Texas bankruptcy court to recover $22 million, which the insolvent hospital operator alleged it is owed for treating low-income patients in Massachusetts after the company filed for Chapter 11 relief.
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February 18, 2025
Feds Strike $29M Deal To Settle FCA Overpayment Claims
Healthcare system SVCMC Inc. will pay $29 million to resolve allegations it held onto erroneous overpayments for medical services provided to retired military members and their families, the U.S. Department of Justice has said.
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February 18, 2025
State AGs Can't Yet Block Musk From Accessing Agency Data
A Washington, D.C., federal judge on Tuesday denied a motion from 14 state attorneys general for an emergency order to stop Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency from accessing data systems at seven federal agencies or enacting mass firings of those agencies' employees.
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February 18, 2025
White House Says City Can't Show Harm From Anti-DEI Orders
The Trump administration urged a Maryland federal court Tuesday not to block its executive orders curtailing diversity, equity and inclusion programs, saying the city of Baltimore and other challengers hadn't shown any of their funding has been affected by the orders.
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February 18, 2025
Georgia Justices Revive Defamation Suit Against Atty
An orthopedic surgeon in Georgia will get another chance to prove he was defamed by a defense attorney, after the Supreme Court of Georgia found a state appellate court mistakenly used the well-known "actual malice" standard to toss the case instead of the relevant state law standard.
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February 18, 2025
Healthcare Group Of The Year: Debevoise & Plimpton
Debevoise & Plimpton LLP attorneys advised Clayton Dubilier & Rice LLC in its $8.9 billion acquisition, with TowerBrook, of revenue cycle management firm R1 and resolved a six-year battle involving EmblemHealth and its subsidiary Group Health Inc., earning it a spot among the 2024 Law360 Healthcare Groups of the Year.
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February 18, 2025
Boston Children's Hospital Settles Retirement Plan Fee Suit
Boston Children's Hospital has settled a suit with a proposed class of participants in its $1.1 billion retirement plan who alleged the hospital allowed excessive fees.
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February 17, 2025
Labor Groups Denied Block On DOGE's Agency Access
A Washington, D.C. federal judge again declined to block Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency from accessing three federal agencies' data, saying worker and consumer advocates haven't shown that the department's agents don't belong.
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February 14, 2025
FTC's Ferguson, PBMs Agree: Nix Leader Removal Safeguards
Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson offered his own support for enabling the president to readily fire independent agency commissioners at the FTC and beyond, a day after pharmacy benefit managers cited the new U.S. Department of Justice policy in their own battle with the FTC.
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February 14, 2025
Digital Health Co. Beats Some Claims In SPAC Investor Suit
A New Jersey federal judge has dismissed, with leave to amend, claims in an investor suit against a blank check company that took digital health equipment venture Butterfly Network Inc. public, finding that some of the shares the plaintiffs purchased are not traceable to the registration statement at issue in the suit.
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February 14, 2025
SmileDirectClub Trustee Gets OK To Hire Orrick
The Chapter 7 trustee liquidating SmileDirectClub can hire Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP as special litigation counsel, a Texas bankruptcy judge said Friday, concluding that Orrick met U.S. Bankruptcy Code requirements, despite him not being notified earlier of Orrick's previous work for the trustee.
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February 14, 2025
Trump Admin To Cut Thousands Of Federal Health Employees
The Trump administration has started to cut thousands of federal healthcare employees, following through on its promises to shrink government and enact mass changes to agencies that oversee the health of millions of Americans.
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February 14, 2025
VA Fires More Than 1,000 As Part Of Trump Cuts
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs said it dismissed more than 1,000 probationary employees Thursday, part of a wave of layoffs sweeping across federal agencies as the Trump administration pursues "large-scale" cuts to the government workforce.
Expert Analysis
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Use The Right Kind Of Feedback To Help Gen Z Attorneys
Generation Z associates bring unique perspectives and expectations to the workplace, so it’s imperative that supervising attorneys adapt their feedback approach in order to help young lawyers learn and grow — which is good for law firms, too, says Rachael Bosch at Fringe Professional Development.
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Opinion
Congress Can And Must Enact A Supreme Court Ethics Code
As public confidence in the U.S. Supreme Court dips to historic lows following reports raising conflict of interest concerns, Congress must exercise its constitutional power to enact a mandatory and enforceable code of ethics for the high court, says Muhammad Faridi, president of the New York City Bar Association.
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Series
The Pop Culture Docket: Justice Lebovits On Gilbert And Sullivan
Characters in the 19th century comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan break the rules of good lawyering by shamelessly throwing responsible critical thought to the wind, providing hilarious lessons for lawyers and judges on how to avoid a surfeit of traps and tribulations, say acting New York Supreme Court Justice Gerald Lebovits and law student Tara Scown.
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Opinion
To Shrink Jury Awards, Address Preventable Medical Errors
While some health industry leaders complain about large malpractice awards — like the recent $45 million verdict in Hernandez v. Temple University Hospital — these payouts are only a symptom of the underlying problem: an epidemic of preventable medical errors, says Eric Weitz at The Weitz Firm.
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A Look At Calif.'s New AI Law For Health Insurers
A newly enacted California law prohibits artificial intelligence tools from making medical necessity determinations for healthcare service plans or disability insurers, addressing core questions that have arisen around AI's role in coverage decisions, say attorneys at DLA Piper.
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New HHS Research Misconduct Rules Bring Seismic Changes
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' new rule regarding research misconduct investigations brings significant changes that focus on remediation, appeals and confidentiality, while other changes could result in institutions causing undue harm to scientists accused of such misconduct, say attorneys at Cohen Seglias.
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Fla. Ruling May Undermine FCA Whistleblowers' Authority
A Florida federal court's decision in Zafirov v. Florida Medical Associates last month will deprive relators of their ability to bring suits under the False Claims Act, limiting their capability to expose and rectify wrongdoings and potentially affecting billions in FCA recoveries, say Matthew Nielsen and Lily Johnson at Bracewell.
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State Of The States' AI Legal Ethics Landscape
Over the past year, several state bar associations, as well as the American Bar Association, have released guidance on the ethical use of artificial intelligence in legal practice, all of which share overarching themes and some nuanced differences, say Eric Pacifici and Kevin Henderson at SMB Law Group.
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11th Circ. Kickback Ruling May Widen Hearsay Exception
In a $400 million fraud case, U.S. v. Holland, the Eleventh Circuit recently held that a conspiracy need not have an unlawful object to introduce co-conspirator statements under federal evidence rules, potentially broadening the application of the so-called co-conspirator hearsay exception, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.
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8 Childhood Lessons That Can Help You Be A Better Attorney
A new school year is underway, marking a fitting time for attorneys to reflect on some fundamental life lessons from early childhood that offer a framework for problems that no legal textbook can solve, say Chris Gismondi and Chris Campbell at DLA Piper.
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Navigating Complex Regulatory Terrain Amid State AG Races
This year's 10 attorney general elections could usher in a wave of new enforcement priorities and regulatory uncertainty, but companies can stay ahead of the shifts by building strong relationships with AG offices, participating in industry coalitions and more, say Ketan Bhirud and Dustin McDaniel at Cozen O’Connor.
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Sublimit And Policy Interpretation Lessons From Amtrak Case
The recently settled dispute between Amtrak and its insurers over sublimit coverage illustrates that parties with unclear manuscript policies may wish to avoid litigation in favor of settlement — as the New York federal court declined to decide the case by applying prior term interpretations, says Laura Maletta at Chartwell Law.
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Opinion
This Election, We Need To Talk About Court Process
In recent decades, the U.S. Supreme Court has markedly transformed judicial processes — from summary judgment standards to notice pleadings — which has, in turn, affected individuals’ substantive rights, and we need to consider how the upcoming presidential election may continue this pattern, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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Navigating HHS' New Reproductive Healthcare Privacy Rule
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' new final rule regarding protections for the privacy of reproductive health information will require regulated entities to grapple with difficult questions about whether to comply with state law requirements or federal privacy prohibitions, says Christine Chasse at Spencer Fane.
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Mental Health Parity Rules: Tips For Plans And Issuers
Following federal agencies' release of final mental health parity rules, plan sponsors and health insurance issuers should develop protocols for preparing compliant nonquantitative treatment limitation comparative analyses, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.