Digital Health & Technology

Expert Analysis

• How 2020 Changed Product Liability — And What's Next

  

  Like many other legal sectors, product liability regulation and litigation felt the sharp impact of COVID-19 in 2020, especially in health care and life sciences — and 2021 may hold more pandemic-related changes, as well as a new regulatory approach from the Biden administration, say attorneys at MoFo.

• Gov't Pandemic Response Will Boost Life Sciences In 2021

  

  The U.S. government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic has shown increasing openness to collaborating with life sciences and health companies, leading to advancements in telemedicine and the use of virtual environments that will likely continue through 2021 and beyond, say attorneys at Hogan Lovells.

• FCA Whistleblowers Are More Important Than Ever Before

  

  Though a recent Law360 guest article argued that the new U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' False Claims Act working group is correctly deemphasizing the role of whistleblowers, the group does not actually favor defense counsel and whistleblowers are crucial now due to the surge in emergency funding caused by the pandemic, says attorney Neil Getnick.

• 2020 ERISA Litigation Trends Hint At What's Ahead This Year

  

  Trends from a record-setting year for Employee Retirement Income Security Act litigation show no signs of slowing down in 2021, with more excessive fee claims targeting smaller plans, health coverage continuation notice lawsuits, and challenges to defined benefit plans’ actuarial assumptions likely on the horizon, say attorneys at Groom Law.

• 2 Major Digital Health Trends Driven By COVID-19

  

  The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting regulatory flexibility have enabled rapid development of information technology and big data in the digital health space that may continue to accelerate in the years ahead, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

• How New Kickback Rules Benefit Health Care Industry: Part 2

  

  While the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' changes to the Anti-Kickback Statute and Stark Law related to value-based health care delivery and payment garnered the most attention from the health care industry, the new rules include a number of other industry-friendly changes, say Karen Lovitch and Rachel Yount at Mintz.

• How COVID-19 Accelerated Telehealth In 2020

  

  Telehealth experienced unprecedented expansion due to COVID-19 in 2020, and its technological, legal and logistical trajectory is poised to continue beyond the pandemic, say attorneys at Marshall Dennehey.

• How New Kickback Rules Benefit Health Care Industry: Part 1

  

  Recently finalized U.S. Department of Health and Human Services rules, implementing changes to the Anti-Kickback Statute and Stark Law, advance the health care industry's transition to value-based care by removing obstacles to innovative cost-sharing arrangements, say Karen Lovitch and Rachel Yount at Mintz.

• COVID-19 Vaccines Unlikely To Create Litigation Opportunities

  

  Although COVID-19 vaccines are on the horizon, litigation opportunities may be limited due to the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act's significant liability protections for not only vaccine manufacturers, but also virtually all entities in the supply chain, say Eric Kraus and Jennifer Shah at Phillips Lytle.

• Overcoming Immunity Of Foreign Gov't Cyberattack Sponsors

  

  To combat the emerging threat of foreign state-sponsored cyberattacks on U.S. businesses and citizens, litigants need to creatively argue for exceptions to immunity under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act for foreign governments, say Jerry Goldman and Bruce Strong at Anderson Kill.

• The State Of Consumer Class Actions Amid COVID-19

  

  While the pandemic has slowed the filing of consumer class actions, they remain a significant part of the litigation landscape — with false labeling claims remaining particularly popular, likely because they are easy to file and frequently survive motions to dismiss, say attorneys at Skadden.

• Anticipating The Biden Administration's Health Care Agenda

  

  The Biden administration is unlikely to successfully push sweeping and partisan health care legislation in the next two years, but it will be able to reverse a litany of Trump administration policies pertaining to the Affordable Care Act, reproductive health care and more, say Nick Manetto and Ilisa Halpern Paul at Faegre Drinker.

• What Biden Presidency May Mean For Data Privacy Litigation

  

  The administration of President-elect Joe Biden will likely bring major changes to data privacy law and attendant litigation, including federal legislation that could preempt state laws, renegotiation of conditions for EU data transfers to the U.S., and increased Federal Trade Commission enforcement activity, say attorneys at Squire Patton.