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July 10, 2024
Insurer Must Face Claims In Penile Implant Coverage Suit
An insurer can't escape a suit brought by a urologist and his practice seeking coverage for a proposed class action over a penile enlargement implant and procedure, a California federal court ruled Wednesday, saying it's too early to conclude that the underlying action doesn't assert potentially covered claims.
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July 10, 2024
NC County Can't Join AG's Suit Over HCA Healthcare Lapses
A county in western North Carolina can't intervene in the attorney general's lawsuit accusing a for-profit health network of reneging on promises it made when it bought an Asheville hospital, the state Business Court has said, finding the county's interference would only delay the case.
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July 10, 2024
Ohio Hospital Beats Fired Worker's COVID Testing Bias Suit
An Ohio federal judge tossed a pharmacist's suit claiming a children's hospital flouted her beliefs by firing her after she refused the COVID-19 vaccine and weekly testing on religious grounds, ruling that she wasn't owed an accommodation that could have hurt hospital business.
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July 09, 2024
Pharma Co. Fined $16.9M For Fake Scripts, Ex-VP Arrested
A subsidiary of bankrupt DMK Pharmaceuticals Corp. faces a $16.9 million criminal fine after pleading guilty to conspiring in a scheme to ship drugs using false prescriptions, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday, adding that the subsidiary's former vice president of sales was also arrested.
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July 09, 2024
South Africa Drops J&J Probe After TB Drug Price Cuts
South Africa's antitrust office has said it's going to drop its investigation over whether Johnson & Johnson engaged in anticompetitive conduct by filing a patent there for a tuberculosis drug, after the drugmaker agreed to lower the cost of bedaquiline by 40% and allow generic versions of the drug on the market.
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July 09, 2024
With Chevron's End, LGBTQ+ Healthcare Regs Face New Risk
The end of Chevron deference is already disrupting regulation meant to protect LGBTQ+ access to healthcare, with three federal judges blocking enforcement of a Biden administration rule prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity in healthcare.
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July 09, 2024
Ohio Court Says Improper Expert Report Axes Bad Birth Suit
An Ohio state appeals court has tossed a suit accusing two doctors of causing a newborn baby's multiple birth injuries, saying the plaintiff's medical expert submitted a supplemental report that was properly struck as improper by the trial court.
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July 09, 2024
BCBS Unit Fails To Stop Religious Vaccine Objector Suits
A Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan subsidiary can't escape claims it treated differently employees who sought accommodations from a COVID-19 vaccine mandate, a Michigan federal judge ruled Tuesday, finding it plausible that religious discrimination "was at least a motivating factor" in the way the workers were dealt with.
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July 09, 2024
Healthcare Cases To Watch: A 2024 Midyear Report
Courts across the U.S. this year will oversee key cases to the healthcare industry, from multidistrict litigation over the Change Healthcare hack to a challenge of a state gender-affirming care ban at the Supreme Court. Here are the healthcare cases to watch in the second half of 2024.
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July 09, 2024
Judge Says Alaska Tribal Healthcare Provider Can Access Info
The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium can't limit one of its member's governance and participation rights in seeking legally privileged information involving sexual misconduct allegations against the consortium's former president, a federal judge has said, while also enforcing a previous judgment that allows access to some of the group's documents.
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July 09, 2024
Aetna Beats Blue Cross In NC Health Plan Contract Battle
An administrative judge affirmed North Carolina's switch of its employee and retiree health plan to Aetna, reasoning Blue Cross Blue Shield failed to prove state officials made errors favoring the competitor when evaluating bids.
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July 09, 2024
Ohio Justice Criticizes Dialysis Co.'s Tax Apportionment Claim
An Ohio Supreme Court justice expressed deep skepticism Tuesday about a dialysis company's arguments that a portion of its receipts from medical services that it provided to Ohio patients should be sourced to other states.
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July 09, 2024
FTC Says Drug Middlemen Inflate Costs, Squeeze Pharmacies
The Federal Trade Commission said Tuesday that its study of pharmacy benefit managers has shown that six large companies now control 95% of all prescriptions filled in the U.S., allowing them to profit at the expense of patients and independent pharmacies.
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July 09, 2024
Ga. Doc Can't Get Emergency Protection In Med Mal Death Suit
In a split opinion, the Georgia Court of Appeals revived a medical malpractice case against a doctor who allegedly misdiagnosed a patient's brain condition, finding he's not shielded by a statute that sets a gross negligence standard for liability in emergency medical situations.
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July 09, 2024
Hospital Operator Leads 2 IPOs Ready To Raise $465M Total
Hospital operator Ardent Health and insurance distributor TWFG Inc. unveiled price ranges this week on initial public offerings that are expected to raise about $465 million combined under guidance by four law firms, adding life to the summer IPO market.
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July 09, 2024
Experts Don't Always Need To Cite Studies, Mich. Justices Say
The Michigan Supreme Court has found a medical malpractice plaintiff's expert witness was wrongly stricken for failing to support his opinion with peer-reviewed medical literature, ruling experts shouldn't be disqualified solely on that basis, particularly in a case where the rare complication at issue has not been studied.
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July 09, 2024
Alston & Bird Brings In Sidley Trio To Launch New Offices
Alston & Bird LLP announced on Tuesday that it has opened two new offices in Chicago and Century City with the addition of three lateral partners from Sidley Austin LLP, a move the firm said will strengthen its corporate, healthcare and real estate practices.
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July 09, 2024
Kirkland Guides Avesi Partners To $1.35B Fund II Close
Stamford, Connecticut-based Avesi Partners, a private equity firm specializing in healthcare and business services, said Tuesday it had closed Avesi Partners Fund II LP at $1.35 billion, with Kirkland & Ellis LLP serving as legal counsel to the oversubscribed fund.
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July 09, 2024
Medical Office Manager Gets 5 Years For Tax, Mail Fraud
The former office manager of an Illinois medical practice was sentenced to five years in federal prison and ordered to pay $3 million in restitution — most of it to his former employer — after admitting to filing a false tax return and stealing from the practice.
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July 09, 2024
UNC Health Worker's Age Bias Mediation Ends In Stalemate
The University of North Carolina Health Care System and a former supply chain manager have reached an impasse trying to resolve his age discrimination claims outside of court, according to a mediator's recent report.
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July 09, 2024
Ark. Group Gets 100K Signatures For Medical Pot Expansion
An Arkansas cannabis advocacy group has collected more than 100,000 signatures in favor of expanding the state's medical marijuana program, more than enough to get an initiative on the state's ballot this November, the state announced Friday.
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July 08, 2024
Emergent, J&J Reach $50M Deal In COVID Vax Supply Fight
Johnson & Johnson has agreed to pay Emergent BioSolutions $50 million to resolve claims stemming from a now-terminated COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing deal, according to a disclosure filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday.
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July 08, 2024
Judge's Error Reverses Med Mal Atty Sanctions, Panel Rules
A Pennsylvania Superior Court ruled Monday that a Philadelphia trial court erred by imposing sanctions on counsel in a long-running medical malpractice suit against a hospital, saying sanctions can't be based on a broad courtwide policy attempting to speed up medical malpractice cases.
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July 08, 2024
UnitedHealth Brass Face Investor Suit Over Merger Probe
Executives and directors of UnitedHealth Group were hit on Monday with a shareholder derivative suit alleging they concealed that the U.S. Department of Justice reopened an antitrust investigation into the health insurance giant following its acquisition of a healthcare data company and that its brass knowingly sold more than $100 million of shares before the information was publicly revealed.
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July 08, 2024
Clinic Is Liable For Botched Operations, NC Justices Told
A patient claiming she underwent unnecessary and flawed spinal surgery at the hands of a defrocked doctor urged the North Carolina Supreme Court on Friday to let stand a ruling that the practice where he worked and its physicians can be held liable for her treatment.
Expert Analysis
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5 Models For Structuring Health Provider-Payor Partnerships
With recent data showing that the U.S. continues to spend more and get less for healthcare services compared to other industrialized nations, providers and payors should consider a variety of partnership structures that can help achieve the so-called triple aim of improving the health of individuals and populations while reducing per capita costs, says John Howard at Thompson Coburn.
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Employers Should Take Surgeon's Sex Bias Suit As A Warning
A Philadelphia federal jury's recent verdict in a sex bias suit over Thomas Jefferson University's inaction on a male plaintiff's sexual harassment complaint is a reminder to employers of all stripes about the importance of consistently applied protocols for handling complaints, say attorneys at Williams & Connolly.
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Litigation Inspiration: A Source Of Untapped Fulfillment
As increasing numbers of attorneys struggle with stress and mental health issues, business litigators can find protection against burnout by remembering their important role in society — because fulfillment in one’s work isn’t just reserved for public interest lawyers, say Bennett Rawicki and Peter Bigelow at Hilgers Graben.
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What FTC's 'Killer Acquisition' Theory Means For Pharma Cos.
The Federal Trade Commission's recent lawsuit to block Sanofi's acquisition of a pharmaceutical treatment developed by Maze Therapeutics builds on previous enforcement actions and could indicate the agency's growing willingness to use its so-called killer acquisition theory against perceived attempts to eliminate nascent competition, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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Series
Skiing Makes Me A Better Lawyer
A lifetime of skiing has helped me develop important professional skills, and taught me that embracing challenges with a spirit of adventure can allow lawyers to push boundaries, expand their capabilities and ultimately excel in their careers, says Andrea Przybysz at Tucker Ellis.
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The Road Ahead For Florida's Drug Importation Program
Though the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Florida's drug importation program in January, a series of hurdles — including requisite buy-in from Canada — and potential legal challenges must be addressed before importation can begin, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.
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What Attorneys Need To Know About H-1B Lottery Changes
The newly revamped H-1B lottery process opened Wednesday and promises to bring more fairness to securing highly competitive slots, giving more companies a chance to access highly skilled workers, say Renée Mueller Steinle and Elizabeth Chatham at Stinson.
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Assessing CDC's Revised Guideline On Opioid Prescriptions
Kenneth Weinstein, Nicholas Van Niel and Kate Uthe at Analysis Group look at newly available data to evaluate the impact that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's revised opioid monitoring guideline have had on prescription trends in recent years, highlighting both specific and overall decreases.
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Bid Protest Spotlight: Conflict, Latent Ambiguity, Cost Realism
In this month's bid protest roundup, Markus Speidel at MoFo examines a trio of U.S. Government Accountability Office decisions with takeaways about the consequences of a teaming partner's organizational conflict of interest, a solicitation's latent ambiguity and an unreasonable agency cost adjustment.
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Think Like A Lawyer: Forget Everything You Know About IRAC
The mode of legal reasoning most students learn in law school, often called “Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion,” or IRAC, erroneously frames analysis as a separate, discrete step, resulting in disorganized briefs and untold obfuscation — but the fix is pretty simple, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.
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Valeant Ruling May Pave Way For Patent-Based FCA Suits
The Ninth Circuit’s recent ruling in Silbersher v. Valeant marks a significant development in False Claims Act jurisprudence, opens new avenues for litigation and potentially raises the stakes for patent applicants who intend to do business with the government, say Joshua Robbins and Rick Taché at Buchalter.
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What's New In FDA's Updated Data Monitoring Guidance
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's new guidance on the use of data monitoring committees in clinical trials is set to replace the agency's 2006 guidance on the topic, with notable updates including stronger language indicating a more stringent stance against financial conflicts of interest and adaptation to recent changes in DMC structure, say attorneys at Hogan Lovells.
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Opinion
Suits Against Insulin Pricing Are Driven By Rebate Addiction
A growing wave of lawsuits filed by states, cities and counties against insulin manufacturers and pharmacy benefit managers improperly allocate the blame for rising insulin costs, when in actuality the plaintiffs are partially responsible, says Dan Leonard at Granite Capitol Consulting.
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Conn. Data Privacy Enforcement Takeaways For Cos.
In light of the Connecticut attorney general's recently released report on its enforcement of the Connecticut Data Privacy Act, which focuses on companies' privacy policies, protections of sensitive data and more, businesses can expect increased enforcement scrutiny — especially in areas that are the subject of consumer complaints, say Paul Pittman and Abdul Hafiz at White & Case.
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Lessons For D&O Policyholders From Pharma Co. Ruling
A California federal court's recent decision in AmTrust v. 180 Life Sciences, requiring insurers to advance defense costs for a potentially covered claim, provides a valuable road map for directors and officers insurance policyholders, rebutting the common presumption that a D&O insurer's duty to advance costs is more limited than under other policies, say attorneys at Pasich.