Health

  • July 18, 2024

    Vermont Suit Accuses PBMs Of Price-Fixing

    Vermont's attorney general filed suit against pharmacy benefit managers Express Scripts and CVS Wednesday, accusing the companies of abusing their market power to drive up prescription costs for consumers and squeezing out price competition from small pharmacies.

  • July 18, 2024

    Urgent Care Nurses Snag Collective Cert. In Wage Suit

    Nurses claiming an urgent care chain owes them wages can move forward as a collective in their suit, an Illinois federal judge ruled, saying the worker who lodged the suit showed she was similarly situated as her colleagues.

  • July 18, 2024

    PharMerica Inks $100M Deal In 13-Year-Old Whistleblower Suit

    PharMerica Corp. has agreed to pay $100 million to settle a former New Jersey nursing home owner's long-running whistleblower litigation over an alleged drug kickback scheme, according to the plaintiff's law firm.

  • July 17, 2024

    Judge Warns HHS It's Not In 'Reasonable Compliance'

    The Department of Health and Human Services appears not to be in "reasonable compliance" of an injunction ordering it to develop an avenue for Medicare beneficiaries to appeal their hospitalization status, a Connecticut federal judge said in a Tuesday notice.

  • July 17, 2024

    Medical Info Co. Hit With NJ Sex Bias Claims By Ex-Director

    Medical education company VuMedi Inc. has been hit with a sex discrimination suit in New Jersey federal court by the company's former director of medical education, who alleged that her supervisor told her he did not have high expectations for her because she is a mother.

  • July 17, 2024

    Pharma Co. Slams Magistrate's Venue Report In Opioid Suit

    A pharmaceuticals distributor is objecting to an Oklahoma federal magistrate judge's recent recommendation to deny as moot the company's bid to dismiss a Cherokee Nation suit accusing it of flooding tribal communities with opioids, saying the case shouldn't be sent to state court.

  • July 17, 2024

    Pa. Justices OK Zoning Decision To Allow Suburban Hospital

    A zoning officer for a Pittsburgh suburb was within state law to issue a "use permit" that would allow the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center to build near a rival network's existing hospital, even if that permit punted on making sure the plan conformed with other zoning rules, the state Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.

  • July 17, 2024

    Hospital Trims Its Insulin Pen Claims Against Novo Nordisk

    A Connecticut hospital and Novo Nordisk Inc. have agreed to dismiss several of the pharmaceutical giant's corporate entities from a suit seeking to make the company pay for the hospital's $1 million settlement from an underlying patient class action over allegedly defective insulin pens the firm made.

  • July 17, 2024

    Heart Doctor's Sham Suit Claims Cut From Antitrust Row

    Defending against allegedly sham monopolization claims wasn't enough for a Texas federal judge to preserve counterclaims from a Laredo cardiologist and his medical center contending the lawsuit is only meant to cement their foes' own monopoly in the city, with the judge on Tuesday finding no injury to establish standing.

  • July 17, 2024

    Benesch Accused Of Summons Error In Hospital Challenge

    Benesch Friedlander Coplan & Aronoff LLP and two of its attorneys are facing a malpractice lawsuit by a nonprofit hospital alleging they failed to issue timely summonses in a lawsuit, leading to hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal expenses.

  • July 17, 2024

    Burr & Forman Accused Of Aiding Health Insurance Fraud

    Burr & Forman LLP has been hit with a malpractice suit in Georgia federal court by the liquidating trustees of two purported health insurance companies after the firm allegedly aided in a scheme to defraud customers by charging exorbitant fees and denying promised coverage, saying the attorneys helped create a web of LLCs to which it siphoned off millions.

  • July 17, 2024

    Split Pa. Justices Let Billing Co. Sue Workers' Comp Insurers

    A pharmacy billing agency can move ahead with its lawsuit against insurers who refused to pay for medications for workers' compensation patients, but only because the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania was evenly divided Wednesday over whether the insurers had waffled on arguing that the courts lacked jurisdiction.

  • July 17, 2024

    Families Push To Revive Suits Over Harvard Body Part Thefts

    Plaintiffs in a dozen lawsuits seeking to hold Harvard University liable after a former medical school morgue manager was charged with stealing and selling body parts have told a Massachusetts Appeals Court that a lower court judge got it wrong when he found that the school has legal immunity.

  • July 16, 2024

    Gilead Asks Calif. Supreme Court To Ax 'Disastrous' Decision

    Gilead Sciences on Monday urged the California Supreme Court to overturn an appellate panel's decision that the company can't ditch claims it held back a safer HIV drug to maximize profits on an older medication, saying that holding manufacturers liable for non-defective products would "yield disastrous policy consequences."

  • July 16, 2024

    FDA Vet Joins Arnold & Porter As Counsel On Healthcare

    After nearly a decade in high-level roles at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, regulatory pro Andrew Zacher has joined the life sciences and healthcare team at Arnold & Porter.

  • July 16, 2024

    3rd Circ. Backs Tossing Over 1K Suits In Merck Vaccine MDL

    The Third Circuit on Tuesday affirmed the dismissal with prejudice of 1,189 cases in multidistrict litigation alleging Merck & Co. Inc.'s shingles vaccine, Zostavax, caused the disease, saying the district court did not abuse its discretion by requiring medical tests to support the claims.

  • July 16, 2024

    Union Fund Trustees Say Elevance Usurped Fiduciary Power

    The trustees of two union health plans said Elevance Health Inc. and its subsidiaries violated federal benefits law when they overpaid themselves for administrative services and medical providers for patient care, arguing the insurer had significant control over the management of the plans and their assets.

  • July 16, 2024

    Manatt Adds Healthcare Transactions Partner From McDermott

    Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP has added a new healthcare partner to its Boston office.

  • July 16, 2024

    Cannabis Patients And DOJ Offer Dueling Reads On Rahimi

    A group of Floridians and the U.S. Department of Justice have advanced dueling interpretations of whether a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on gun laws justifies stripping medical cannabis patients of their right to bear arms.

  • July 16, 2024

    Ga. Denied Extension For Medicaid Work Requirement Plan

    Georgia won't get extra time to administer a work requirement Medicaid expansion program in order to make up for federal regulators' illegal delaying of its rollout after a federal judge ruled Monday that the state didn't go through the proper channels in trying to extend the program's timeline.

  • July 16, 2024

    Ex-County Exec Wants Firm Kicked Off NJ Discrimination Suit

    A former New Jersey county health director who claims his termination was retaliatory wants the firm representing the county disqualified, arguing Testa Heck Testa & White PA is conflicted due to interactions he had with two of the firm's attorneys before and during his termination meeting.

  • July 16, 2024

    Conn. Nonprofit Skirts Sanctions Over Skipped Depositions

    A month after three officers of a Connecticut nonprofit failed to sit for postverdict depositions in a $13.8 million wrongful death case because their attorney was on vacation in Europe, the organization dodged sanctions Tuesday in state court when a judge ordered them to submit to the questioning within 30 days.

  • July 16, 2024

    Feds Say Drug Monitoring Co. Founder Pulled $5M Scam

    The founder of a patient monitoring company pitched as an effort to help people recovering from addictions to avoid relapsing during medical treatment duped around 50 investors into putting $5 million into his firm, a now-unsealed criminal indictment alleges in Pennsylvania federal court.

  • July 16, 2024

    Vertex Pharma Widens War On Watchdog's Kickback Views

    A lawsuit from gene therapy-drug maker Vertex Pharmaceuticals over fertility treatment access is a new battle over enforcement kickback theories and health officials' interpretation of "inducement."

  • July 16, 2024

    The 2024 Diversity Snapshot: What You Need To Know

    Law firms' ongoing initiatives to address diversity challenges have driven another year of progress, with the representation of minority attorneys continuing to improve across the board, albeit at a slower pace than in previous years. Here's our data dive into minority representation at law firms in 2023.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Boxing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Boxing has influenced my legal work by enabling me to confidently hone the skills I've learned from the sport, like the ability to remain calm under pressure, evaluate an opponent's weaknesses and recognize when to seize an important opportunity, says Kirsten Soto at Clyde & Co.

  • Opinion

    Industry Self-Regulation Will Shine Post-Chevron

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's Loper decision will shape the contours of industry self-regulation in the years to come, providing opportunities for this often-misunderstood practice, says Eric Reicin at BBB National Programs.

  • 3 Ways Agencies Will Keep Making Law After Chevron

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    The U.S. Supreme Court clearly thinks it has done something big in overturning the Chevron precedent that had given deference to agencies' statutory interpretations, but regulated parties have to consider how agencies retain significant power to shape the law and its meaning, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

  • Navigating Scrutiny Of Friendly Professional Corps. In Calif.

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    In light of ongoing scrutiny and challenges to private equity participation in the California healthcare marketplace, particularly surrounding the use of the friendly professional corporation model, management services organizations should consider implementing four best practices, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Takeaways From New HHS Substance Use Disorder Info Rules

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    A new U.S. Department of Health and Human Services rule continues the agency's efforts to harmonize complex rules surrounding confidentiality provisions for substance use disorder patient records, though healthcare providers will need to remain mindful of different potentially applicable requirements and changes that their compliance structures may require, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Expect Few Changes In ITC Rulemaking

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's opinion overruling the Chevron doctrine will have less impact on the U.S. International Trade Commission than other agencies administering trade statutes, given that the commission exercises its congressionally granted authority in a manner that allows for consistent decision making at both agency and judicial levels, say attorneys at Polsinelli.

  • Series

    Calif. Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q2

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    The second quarter of 2024 in California, which saw efforts to expand consumer protection legislation and enforcement actions in areas of federal focus like medical debt and student loans, demonstrated that the state's role as a trendsetter in consumer financial protection will continue for the foreseeable future, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Opinion

    Atty Well-Being Efforts Ignore Root Causes Of The Problem

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    The legal industry is engaged in a critical conversation about lawyers' mental health, but current attorney well-being programs primarily focus on helping lawyers cope with the stress of excessive workloads, instead of examining whether this work culture is even fundamentally compatible with lawyer well-being, says Jonathan Baum at Avenir Guild.

  • How Cannabis Rescheduling May Affect Current Operators

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    The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency's proposal to reschedule marijuana to Schedule III provides relief in the form of federal policy from the stigma and burdens of Schedule I, but commercial cannabis operations will remain unchanged until the federal-state cannabis policy gap is remedied by Congress, say Meital Manzuri and Alexis Lazzeri at Manzuri Law.

  • Series

    Skiing And Surfing Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    The skills I’ve learned while riding waves in the ocean and slopes in the mountains have translated to my legal career — developing strong mentor relationships, remaining calm in difficult situations, and being prepared and able to move to a backup plan when needed, says Brian Claassen at Knobbe Martens.

  • Air Ambulance Ruling Severely Undermines No Surprises Act

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    A Texas federal court's recent decision in Guardian Flight v. Health Care Service — that the No Surprises Act lacks a judicial remedy when a health insurer refuses to pay the amount established through an independent review — likely throws a huge monkey wrench into the elaborate protections the NSA was enacted to provide, says Mark DeBofsky at DeBofsky Law.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: June Lessons

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    In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy considers two recent decisions from the Third and Tenth Circuits, and identifies practice tips around class action settlements and standing in securities litigation.

  • Unpacking The Circuit Split Over A Federal Atty Fee Rule

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    Federal circuit courts that have addressed Rule 41(d) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure are split as to whether attorney fees are included as part of the costs of a previously dismissed action, so practitioners aiming to recover or avoid fees should tailor arguments to the appropriate court, says Joseph Myles and Lionel Lavenue at Finnegan.

  • Del. Bankruptcy Ruling Will Give D&O Insureds Nightmares

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    In Henrich v. XL Specialty Insurance, the Delaware Bankruptcy Court recently found that a never-served qui tam claim had been "brought" before a D&O policy's retroactive date, thereby eliminating coverage, and creating a nightmare scenario for directors and officers policyholders facing whistleblower claims, says David Klein at Pillsbury.

  • Opinion

    No Matter The Purdue Ruling, Mass Tort Reform Is Needed

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    The U.S. Supreme Court will soon issue its opinion in the bankruptcy of Purdue Pharma LP, and regardless of the outcome, it’s clear legal and policy reforms are needed to address the next mass tort, says William Organek at Baruch College.

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