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Health
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November 19, 2024
Insurers Urge Arbitration Of Union Fund's ERISA Claims
Elevance Health Inc. and several affiliated health insurers want a Connecticut federal judge to force arbitration of claims brought by a union fund that alleges excessive fees violated benefits law, arguing that the companies were unaware of an arbitration agreement with the plaintiff when they started litigating the early stages of a proposed class action.
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November 19, 2024
Widow Can't Get Malpractice Suit Over Husband's Fall Revived
A North Carolina appeals court on Tuesday declined to reinstate a suit by a widow alleging that nurses at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Hospital were responsible for a fall taken by her husband while he was recovering from brain surgery, saying the trial court rightly excluded her expert's testimony.
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November 19, 2024
10th Circ. Iffy On Colo.'s Remedy To Generic EpiPen Takings
A Tenth Circuit panel on Tuesday pressed Colorado regulators on whether requiring epinephrine auto-injector makers to repeatedly sue over the cost of complying with a state program provides an adequate legal remedy, with one judge saying that that route offers no finality for manufacturers.
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November 19, 2024
Trump Taps Dr. Oz For CMS Head
President-elect Donald Trump announced on Tuesday he will nominate TV personality Dr. Mehmet Oz to be administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
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November 19, 2024
McGuireWoods Lands Health Ace, Former GC From Akin In NY
A veteran healthcare and life sciences attorney who previously served as general counsel at pharmaceutical companies Novo Nordisk and Daiichi Sankyo has made the move from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP to McGuireWoods LLP.
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November 19, 2024
Nonpracticing Doc Can't Testify In Med Mal Case, Court Says
A Florida state appeals court has affirmed the dismissal of a case accusing a doctor of botching two shoulder surgeries, agreeing with a lower court's findings that a physician-turned-legal-consultant wasn't qualified to testify as the plaintiff's medical expert under the law.
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November 19, 2024
5th Circ. Can't Weigh In On Decertification Bid, La. Court Rules
Sending a nurses' wage suit to the Fifth Circuit for a decision on decertifying a collective in a post-Swales world wouldn't speed up the case, a Louisiana federal judge ruled in turning down a hospital operator's interlocutory appeal bid.
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November 19, 2024
Akin Adds Another Healthcare Expert To DC Lobbying Team
The former chief health adviser for the Senate Finance Committee's majority has joined Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP's lobbying team in Washington, D.C., weeks after the firm added another healthcare advocate from the national association representing pharmacy benefit managers.
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November 19, 2024
Kirkland Advises Amcor On $8.4B Berry Global Buy
Kirkland & Ellis LLP-led Amcor PLC said Tuesday it has agreed to purchase fellow packaging company Berry Global Group Inc., in an all-stock deal that values Berry at more than $8.4 billion.
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November 18, 2024
Surgeon Keeps Trial Win In Colitis Wrongful Death Suit
A New Jersey state appeals court won't upend a surgeon's trial victory in a suit alleging that he improperly treated an 81-year-old's colitis, leading to her death, finding that the trial court did not abuse its discretion by blocking the woman's family from replacing their medical expert.
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November 18, 2024
Pa. Lab Seeks Ad Coverage For Libel Suit Over COVID Tests
A Pennsylvania laboratory told a federal court Monday that its insurer must cover it in an underlying lawsuit brought by a COVID-19 test manufacturer in which the manufacturer alleged that the lab sent 19,000 letters to test kit users wrongfully stating that the tests were unreliable.
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November 18, 2024
Nursing Home Owner Pleads Guilty A 2nd Time To Tax Fraud
A nursing home operator pled guilty for the second time in Newark federal court on Monday to a $38.9 million employment tax fraud scheme involving care centers he owned across the country.
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November 18, 2024
'Sub-Par' Work By Data Breach Class Attys Earns Lower Fee
A Connecticut federal judge awarded $340,000 on Monday to class counsel in a data breach lawsuit against Merritt Healthcare Advisors but criticized their request for $381,250 as out of line with reasonable rates and said some of their work in the case was "sub-par."
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November 18, 2024
Wachtell-Led CVS Adds Glenview CEO, Others To Board
CVS Health, represented by Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz, said Monday it has struck a deal with activist investor Glenview Capital Management to appoint four new board members, including Glenview CEO Larry Robbins.
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November 18, 2024
Neb. Officials Urge Court To Void Medical Pot Legalization
Nebraska officials are urging a state judge to void ballot measures to legalize and regulate medical marijuana after a decisive majority of voters approved them, saying that reformers' signature-verification methods were critically hampered by malfeasance and fraud.
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November 18, 2024
Pa. AG-Elect Likely To Target AI, Robocalls And Opioids
Pennsylvania Attorney General-elect Dave Sunday is likely to focus on cracking down on artificial-intelligence-related scams that prey on vulnerable populations, unwanted robocalls, and opioid makers, while being less inclined to hammer down on energy and fossil fuel companies, experts said.
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November 18, 2024
3rd Circ. Shuts Down Healthcare Workers' Vax Bias Suit
A split Third Circuit panel said a group of Christian workers can't revive suits claiming a healthcare provider illegally fired them for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine on religious grounds, finding they failed to show how their beliefs prevented them from getting immunized.
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November 18, 2024
Health Care Co. CareMax Hits Ch. 11 With Plans To Sell Assets
Medical services company CareMax Inc. has filed for Chapter 11 protection in Texas bankruptcy court, listing $422.6 million of funded debt and disclosing plans to sell its assets during the case.
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November 15, 2024
Eli Lilly Says HHS Ignores Drug Discount Double-Dipping
Eli Lilly & Co. claims the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is unlawfully blocking its efforts to crack down on hospitals the company alleges are double-dipping on medication discounts that are meant to benefit low-income patients, according to a lawsuit filed in D.C. federal court.
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November 15, 2024
Natera Exec Calls Guardant's Cancer Test Claims 'Dangerous'
Natera's president of clinical diagnostics testified at trial Friday in a California federal false advertising case that Guardant Health's claims about Guardant's competing colorectal cancer test were "false and misleading" and also "dangerous."
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November 15, 2024
Kroger, Texas Ink $83M Deal Over Opioid Crisis
Texas announced it has agreed to an $83 million settlement with Kroger to resolve the state's claims alleging the groceries and pharmacy chain maintained practices that contributed to the opioid crisis in Texas, apparently as part of a larger $1.37 billion agreement the retailer recently reached with several states.
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November 15, 2024
HHS Likely To Limit Migrant Data After Flores Deal Ends
A California federal judge indicated Friday that she can't force the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to provide human rights groups with regular data about children in low-security detention facilities now that the long-running Flores settlement has been replaced with a government regulation.
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November 15, 2024
PBMs Denied Breakup Of Combined FTC Insulin Price Trial
The Federal Trade Commission's allegations that pharmacy benefit manager giants Caremark Rx, Express Scripts and OptumRx are artificially inflating insulin prices through unfair rebate schemes will forge ahead as a single case following an in-house agency judge's refusal to break them into separate proceedings.
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November 15, 2024
Despite Vaccine Spotlight, RFK Jr. A Health Policy 'Unknown'
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump's pick to be the nation's top health official, has made clear his unorthodox and often false views on public health issues like vaccines. But there's still plenty of policy under his potential control where his stance remains opaque, attorneys say, which could stymie their efforts to prepare for the next four years.
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November 15, 2024
Healthcare Co. PACS Made False Claims Before IPO, Suit Says
Healthcare holding company PACS Group Inc. has been hit with a proposed shareholder class action on the heels of a short seller's report that alleged the company engaged in deceptive practices to boost its value ahead of its initial public offering, including Medicare claims fraud.
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.