Health

  • July 12, 2024

    Whistleblower's Attys Get $5.9M After Losing $11.5M Fee Ask

    A Massachusetts federal judge awarded a whistleblower's counsel $5.9 million in fees plus $651,845 in costs and expenses after slashing their prior "exorbitant" $11.5 million fee request in May in a decade-old False Claims Act lawsuit alleging Fresenius Medical Care billed Medicare for unnecessary hepatitis tests.

  • July 12, 2024

    Conn. Health Staffing Co. Co-Owner Drops Partnership Suit

    The co-owner of a Connecticut healthcare staffing company has withdrawn a lawsuit against a co-owner accused of plundering from the partnership, a move that leaves untested a sole dissolution claim left standing by a judge who dismissed all other causes of action between the parties earlier this year.

  • July 12, 2024

    Opioid MDL Plaintiffs Atty Fee Awards Upheld

    The Ohio federal judge overseeing the multidistrict litigation over the opioid epidemic denied several law firms' requests to amend the share of legal fees they received in the case, except an appeal from Spangenberg Shibley & Liber, reasoning that one of its attorneys' work has been "invaluable."

  • July 12, 2024

    Military's IVF Policy Defense Fails Post-Chevron, Group Says

    A nonprofit that's challenging the U.S. military's in vitro fertilization coverage policy for service members told a New York federal judge that federal agencies cannot claim they're entitled to Chevron deference in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision overturning the decades-old precedent.

  • July 12, 2024

    Plaintiffs Want Opioid MDL Bellwethers Cut For Lost Emails

    Plaintiffs in the multidistrict litigation arising from the opioid epidemic again asked an Ohio federal court on Friday to sever two of four bellwethers, accusing pharmacy benefit managers of preferring to "foster a sideshow" to further draw out litigation after learning of deficiencies in evidence preservation by some of the cities and counties that initiated cases.

  • July 12, 2024

    Texas Panel Revives Woman's Acupuncture Burn Suit

    A Texas court of appeals revived a suit accusing an acupuncturist of providing negligent suction cup treatment that left a woman with second-degree burns, finding the woman should be provided additional time to fix her deficient medical expert report.

  • July 12, 2024

    3 Fla. Labs Settle Medicare Overbilling Case For $2.45M

    Three medical labs in Clermont, Florida, have agreed to pay $2.45 million to resolve allegations they were manipulating diagnosis codes, or "code jamming," to submit more lucrative claims to Medicare and Medicaid for reimbursement by having a computer macro tack on extra diagnosis codes before filing the claims with the government.

  • July 12, 2024

    Conn. Justices Say Town Can Tax Hospital's Property

    Personal property of a Connecticut hospital owned by Hartford HealthCare is taxable, the state Supreme Court said Friday, reversing a trial court opinion and ruling that Hartford's acquisition of the hospital negated a tax exemption for charitable entities.

  • July 12, 2024

    Feds Say Fake Gunshot Wounds Part Of $1M Fraud Scheme

    Five Massachusetts residents and one New Yorker defrauded insurance companies out of more than $1 million by submitting reimbursement claims for bogus overseas medical expenses, including gunshot wounds, stabbings and car accidents, federal prosecutors announced on Friday.

  • July 12, 2024

    Boston To Pay $1M To End Health Dept. Harassment Case

    A high-profile sexual harassment case against the city of Boston and its former health director settled for $1 million earlier this month, according to a copy of the agreement released Friday.

  • July 12, 2024

    Chancery Tosses Centene Shareholders' Medicaid Fraud Suit

    The Delaware Chancery Court on Friday dismissed a Centene stockholder derivative lawsuit seeking damages from company directors and officers over allegations of a multistate Medicaid pharmacy benefit billing fraud scheme that the investors said could result in a $1.25 billion liability for the healthcare giant.

  • July 12, 2024

    Widower Drops Suit Over Surgical Robot-Related Death

    A widower agreed Thursday to drop his suit against Intuitive Surgical Inc. over an alleged defect in its da Vinci surgical robots that allowed electricity to arc during his wife's surgery, burning her small intestine and leading to her death.

  • July 12, 2024

    Chancery Approves $19.5M Convey-TPG Settlement

    Former shareholders of Convey Health Solutions Inc. won Delaware Chancery Court approval Friday of a $19.5 million cash settlement to resolve a class challenge to the healthcare technology company's $1.1 billion take-private acquisition by TPG Inc., with $3.88 million going to class attorneys after expenses.

  • July 12, 2024

    7 Gender-Affirming Care Cases To Watch In 2024's 2nd Half

    The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review a constitutional challenge by the federal government to Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for minors, while other appeals courts are weighing the constitutionality of states' and employers' restrictions on gender dysphoria treatment. Here are seven cases involving gender-affirming care access that attorneys will be tracking in the second half of the year.

  • July 12, 2024

    Biggest Colorado Decisions Of 2024: A Midyear Report

    The U.S. Supreme Court's quick reversal of Colorado justices' decision removing former President Donald Trump from the state's ballots and a Boulder County judge's ruling clearing the way for landmark climate litigation about major oil companies rank among the most important decisions affecting Colorado so far this year.

  • July 12, 2024

    Biggest Washington Decisions Of 2024: A Midyear Report

    The first half of 2024 in Washington courts was punctuated by a fizzled startup's $72 million trial win against The Boeing Co., and Monsanto Co.'s appellate reversal of a $185 million verdict in one of a series of high-profile PCB poisoning cases. Here is a closer look at some of the biggest decisions in Washington state and federal courts in the first half of 2024.

  • July 12, 2024

    Healthcare SPAC Launches $200M IPO To Pursue Acquisition

    Launch One Acquisition Corp. began trading Friday after raising a $200 million initial public offering, represented by Ellenoff Grossman & Schole LLP and underwriters counsel King & Spalding LLP, joining an uptick in special-purpose acquisition companies targeting the healthcare sector.

  • July 12, 2024

    Ex-Ga. Insurance Chief Gets 3½ Years For Kickback Scheme

    John Oxendine, the former four-term Georgia insurance commissioner who pled guilty this year to working with a doctor to run a multimillion-dollar medical testing kickback scheme, was hit with a 3½-year prison sentence by a Georgia federal judge Friday.

  • July 12, 2024

    FTC Says Abandoned Novant Deal Moots Lower Court Loss

    The Federal Trade Commission is looking to unravel a North Carolina federal judge's order allowing Novant's planned $320 million hospital merger to advance after it subsequently abandoned the deal, telling the Fourth Circuit the appeal is moot and the order should be vacated.

  • July 11, 2024

    Wash. Justices Revive Proposed Class Suit Over Nurse Wages

    The Washington Supreme Court on Thursday said a nurse's wage theft suit against a hospital can proceed even though his claims are the same as the ones lodged by his union in a tossed suit, finding it would be in the best interest of both efficiency and justice.

  • July 11, 2024

    Judge Won't Permit Florida's Trans Care Ban Pending Appeal

    A federal judge denied Florida's request Thursday to pause a court order blocking a state law that bans or restricts gender-affirming care for transgender minors and adults while it challenges the ruling at the Eleventh Circuit, finding the state hasn't shown it would be harmed by the law's stagnation.

  • July 11, 2024

    Senate Clears Patent Bill Aiming To Lower Drug Prices

    The U.S. Senate on Thursday passed a bill that would pump the brakes on the ability of pharmaceutical companies to steer patients away from generic versions of a drug, a measure that lawmakers said would lower drug costs.

  • July 11, 2024

    Panel Says Kansas BCBS Unit Can't Face Rehab Suit In Colo.

    A Kansas Blue Cross Blue Shield unit can't be sued in Colorado for terminating the coverage of a patient who was receiving treatment for an autoimmune syndrome, a state appellate panel ruled Thursday.

  • July 11, 2024

    Cigna Objects To Ch. 11 Nursing Home Asset Sale Proposal

    Cigna Health and Life Insurance Co. asked a Pennsylvania bankruptcy judge to reject a sale process proposed by some of the debtors in a Pittsburgh-area nursing home network's consolidated Chapter 11 case, saying it gave the debtors too much leeway to change what contracts they will maintain.

  • July 11, 2024

    Social Media Arbitration Row Not For La. Court, 5th Circ. Told

    A coalition of researchers told the Fifth Circuit that a Louisiana court was wrong to rule that a proposed class of plaintiffs who claim the group was behind social media censorship in 2020 did not have to arbitrate their claims, arguing that the court should have weighed whether it could even hear the case before considering arbitration.

Expert Analysis

  • Action Steps To Address New Restrictions On Outbound Data

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    Companies should immediately assess all their data-based operations so they can consider strategies to effectively mitigate new compliance risks brought on by recently implemented transaction restrictions, including a Justice Department proposal and landmark data legislation, say attorneys at Wiley.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Text Message Data

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    Electronically stored information on cellphones, and in particular text messages, can present unique litigation challenges, and recent court decisions demonstrate that counsel must carefully balance what data should be preserved, collected, reviewed and produced, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • What CRA Deadline Means For Biden Admin. Rulemaking

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    With the 2024 election rapidly approaching, the Biden administration must race to finalize proposed agency actions within the next few weeks, or be exposed to the chance that the following Congress will overturn the rules under the Congressional Review Act, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Are Concessions In FDA's Lab-Developed Tests Rule Enough?

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    Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's new policy for laboratory-developed tests included major strategic concessions to help balance patient safety, access and diagnostic innovation, the new rule may well face significant legal challenges in court, say Dominick DiSabatino and Audrey Mercer at Sheppard Mullin.

  • 8 Questions To Ask Before Final CISA Breach Reporting Rule

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    The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s recently proposed cyber incident reporting requirements for critical infrastructure entities represent the overall approach CISA will take in its final rule, so companies should be asking key compliance questions now and preparing for a more complicated reporting regime, say Arianna Evers and Shannon Mercer at WilmerHale.

  • Series

    Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Years of participation in swimming events, especially in the open water, have proven to be ideal preparation for appellate arguments in court — just as you must put your trust in the ocean when competing in a swim event, you must do the same with the judicial process, says John Kulewicz at Vorys.

  • Mid-2024 FCA Enforcement And Litigation Trends To Watch

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    Reviewing notable False Claims Act trends and enforcement efforts in the last year and a half reveals that healthcare is a key enforcement priority for the U.S. Department of Justice, and the road ahead may bring clarification on Anti-Kickback Statute causation and willfulness standards, along with increased focus on private equity, cybersecurity and self-disclosure, say attorneys at Epstein Becker.

  • A Recipe For Growth Equity Investing In A Slow M&A Market

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    Carl Marcellino at Ropes & Gray discusses the factors bolstering appetite for growth equity fundraising in a depressed M&A market, and walks through the deal terms and other ingredients that set growth equity transactions apart from bread-and-butter venture capital investing.

  • What 100 Federal Cases Suggest About Changes To Chevron

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    With the U.S. Supreme Court poised to overturn or narrow its 40-year-old doctrine of Chevron deference, a review of 100 recent federal district court decisions confirm that changes to the Chevron framework will have broad ramifications — but the magnitude of the impact will depend on the details of the high court's ruling, say Kali Schellenberg and Jon Cochran at LeVan Stapleton.

  • Notable Q1 Updates In Insurance Class Actions

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    Mark Johnson and Mathew Drocton at BakerHostetler discuss notable insurance class action decisions from the first quarter of the year ranging from salvage vehicle titling to rate discrimination based on premium-setting software.

  • New Federal Bill Would Drastically Alter Privacy Landscape

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    While the recently introduced American Privacy Rights Act would eliminate the burdensome patchwork of state regulations, the proposed federal privacy law would also significantly expand compliance obligations and liability exposure for companies, especially those that rely on artificial intelligence or biometric technologies, says David Oberly at Baker Donelson.

  • The Fed. Circ. In April: Hurdles Remain For Generics

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    The Federal Circuit’s recent Salix v. Norwich ruling — where Salix's brand-name drug's patents were invalidated — is a reminder to patent practitioners that invalidating a competitor's patents may not guarantee abbreviated new drug application approval, say Sean Murray and Jeremiah Helm at Knobbe Martens.

  • Tylenol MDL Highlights Expert Admissibility Headaches

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    A New York federal court's decision to exclude all plaintiff experts in a multidistrict litigation concerning prenatal exposure to Tylenol highlights a number of expert testimony pitfalls that parties should avoid in product liability and mass tort matters, say Rand Brothers and Courtney Block at Winston & Strawn.

  • PE-Healthcare Mergers Should Prepare For Challenges

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    State and federal regulators are increasingly imposing new requirements on healthcare transactions involving private equity partners, with mergers that would have drawn little scrutiny a few years ago now requiring a multijurisdictional risk analysis during the deal formation process, say attorneys at Stinson.

  • Don't Use The Same Template For Every Client Alert

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    As the old marketing adage goes, consistency is key, but law firm style guides need consistency that contemplates variety when it comes to client alert formats, allowing attorneys to tailor alerts to best fit the audience and subject matter, says Jessica Kaplan at Legally Penned.

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