Policy & Compliance
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January 21, 2026
Whole Foods Can't Escape Workers' Tobacco Fee Suit
A Texas federal judge refused to toss a proposed class action against Whole Foods from employee health plan participants who challenged a surcharge on workers who used tobacco, ruling allegations should proceed to discovery that the fees violated multiple provisions of federal benefits law.
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January 20, 2026
Childhood Vax Recs, 'Skinny Label' Case And More In Court
Law360 Healthcare Authority looks at a challenge by the American Academy of Pediatrics to recent changes in federal childhood vaccine recommendations, a patent case set for U.S. Supreme Court review concerning "skinny labels" on generic drugs and other significant litigation developments impacting the healthcare industry this week.
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January 20, 2026
Law360 Names Firms Of The Year
Eight law firms have earned spots as Law360's Firms of the Year, with 48 Practice Group of the Year awards among them, achieving milestones such as high-profile litigation wins at the U.S. Supreme Court and 11-figure merger deals.
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January 20, 2026
NC Doctor Cites 6th Circ. In Bid For New Medicare Fraud Trial
A North Carolina doctor who was convicted of participating in an $11 million Medicare fraud has asked a federal court for a new trial, pointing to a recent Sixth Circuit decision that overturned the conviction of another doctor involved in the same scheme.
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January 20, 2026
NY Judge Orders SD To Pause Action Against Abortion Ads
A New York federal judge has temporarily barred South Dakota officials from taking action against an abortion rights group that launched an advertising campaign in the state promoting its website, which explains how to order abortion medication online.
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January 20, 2026
'Battery' Led To $32M Yale Hospital Verdict, Parents Say
A Connecticut mother and father have urged a state superior court judge not to rethink a $32 million bench trial verdict against Yale University and its affiliated Yale New Haven Hospital surrounding the death of a premature baby fed a diet fortified with a cow's milk product.
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January 20, 2026
NJ Sues Nursing Home Owners Over Missing Medicaid Funds
The New Jersey Office of the State Comptroller has demanded the owners of two Garden State nursing homes repay millions in Medicaid funds the office recently found they diverted to themselves while neglecting their facilities' residents, according to a complaint filed Monday.
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January 20, 2026
California Insurance Mandates Equal Access To IVF
California became the nation's most populous state to mandate in vitro fertilization coverage for large group insurance plans. Health advocates say the new law's inclusive definition of "infertility" ensures greater access.
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January 20, 2026
Justices Say State Med Mal Laws Don't Apply In Federal Court
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that a Delaware medical malpractice statute clashes with federal rules of procedure and is therefore unenforceable in federal court, saying the state law unfairly asks for evidence early on in a case.
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January 20, 2026
Justices Ax 6th Circ. Abortion Order Amid Loper Bright Outcry
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday erased a Sixth Circuit decision allowing abortion-related conditions on family planning grants, a victory for Tennessee officials who accused the circuit of flouting the high court's landmark rejection of judicial deference to regulators.
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January 16, 2026
Law360 Names Practice Groups Of The Year
Law360 would like to congratulate the winners of its Practice Groups of the Year awards for 2025, which honor the attorney teams behind litigation wins and significant transaction work that resonated throughout the legal industry this past year.
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January 16, 2026
SEC Fines Biopharma Co. Execs Over Hidden FDA Findings
Former executives of Spero Therapeutics will pay over $187,000 to settle the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's claims they downplayed the likelihood that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration would reject the biopharmaceutical company's new drug application in 2022, the commission said on Friday.
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January 16, 2026
Planned Parenthood Can Challenge Heartbeat Act, Court Says
A Texas appeals court on Friday found that Planned Parenthood has standing to challenge the state law that empowers ordinary citizens to prosecute abortion providers, saying Planned Parenthood has done enough to launch a pre-enforcement challenge to the law.
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January 16, 2026
Oversight Head Seeks Help From CMS On NY Medicaid Inquiry
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., asked the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on Friday to aid the committee's investigation into whether New York has wrongfully withheld funds for hospitals disproportionately serving Medicaid recipients and uninsured people.
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January 16, 2026
La. State Court Greenlights Challenge To Gender Care Ban
A Louisiana state judge sided with a group of transgender teenagers who argue the state's ban on gender-affirming care for minors is unconstitutional, denying the state's bid to dismiss the case, according to an announcement Friday from the minors' attorneys.
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January 15, 2026
Ex-CEO Of COVID Vax Maker Accused Of Insider Trading
New York Attorney General Letitia James on Thursday sued the former CEO of healthcare contractor Emergent BioSolutions Inc., alleging insider trading amid troubles manufacturing a COVID-19 vaccine, while signing a $900,000 settlement with the company over its approval of an executive trading plan.
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January 15, 2026
5th Circ. Revives Allstate's Fraud Suit Over Car Crash Billing
The Fifth Circuit on Wednesday revived Allstate's racketeering suit alleging doctors and personal injury lawyers unleashed a barrage of unnecessary treatments for car accident patients and caused Allstate to pay $4.7 million in claims, finding the insurer sufficiently pled details about the conspiracy and specifics surrounding each allegedly fake medical billing.
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January 15, 2026
Trump Admin Defies Funding K-12 Mental Health Grants
The Trump administration is fighting an effort by a coalition of U.S. states to preserve at least six months of funding for K-12 mental health grants meant to help students process gun violence, arguing that an earlier court ruling doesn't require the feds to fund the grants.
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January 15, 2026
Colo. Eye Clinics Settle Medicaid Double-Billing Claims
The Colorado attorney general's office announced Thursday that it reached a settlement totaling $520,000 with two eye care clinics that the state claimed were double-billing a Medicaid vision program for more than five years.
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January 15, 2026
NC Attys Can Withdraw From 'Unworkable' Nurses' Pay Row
Two attorneys who said they had "irreconcilable differences" with nurse practitioners who did not meet their contractual financial obligations can withdraw their representation in a minimum wage lawsuit against their employer, a North Carolina federal magistrate judge ruled.
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January 15, 2026
CVS Ducks Antitrust But Not Biz Interference Claim At 5th Circ.
A Fifth Circuit panel has largely sided with CVS Pharmacy and its Caremark affiliate by preserving a district court's dismissal of federal antitrust claims over a Mississippi pharmacy's rejection from participating in the pharmacy benefit manager's network, although the judges did revive state law claims.
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January 14, 2026
Pharmacy Wields Antitrust Law In Challenge To GLP-1 Giants
Eli Lilly & Co. and Novo Nordisk are using their dominant positions in the market for weight loss and diabetes medications to squash potential competitors, including through unlawful exclusivity agreements with telehealth providers, a compounding pharmacy alleged Wednesday in what it calls a landmark antitrust lawsuit.
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January 14, 2026
6th Circ. Skips Rethink, But Still Spars Over Indirect Buyer Bar
A decision by the full Sixth Circuit not to rehear a lawsuit over an alleged allergy testing and treatment provider boycott has turned into an internal dustup about the limits of who can seek damages under federal antitrust law, with one judge calling for U.S. Supreme Court intervention.
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January 14, 2026
NJ Judge Orders Mediation In Merck-Cencora Indemnity Fight
Cencora Inc. can't derail a Merck third-party complaint arguing a prior settlement between the parties requires the drug wholesaler to indemnify Merck in antitrust litigation by Humana, a New Jersey federal court ruled Wednesday, ordering the parties to go to mediation over the dispute.
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January 14, 2026
Vizient Beats Spurned Medical Tape Supplier At 5th Circ.
A Fifth Circuit panel refused to revive an antitrust suit accusing medical supplies group purchasing giant Vizient of locking in hospital customers, agreeing with a district court that a spurned would-be supplier failed at the threshold question of showing a market in which Vizient could be dominant.
Expert Analysis
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Considering The Future Of AI Regulation On Health Sector
As Texas looks to become the next state to pass a comprehensive law regulating artificial intelligence, the healthcare industry should consider how AI regulation will continue to evolve in the U.S. and how industry members can keep up with compliance considerations, say attorneys at Kirkland & Ellis.
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What To Expect From 'Make America Healthy Again' Actions
The Make America Healthy Again Commission recently established by President Donald Trump and chaired by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will potentially bring energy and attention to important public health topics, and stakeholders should be aware of pathways for sharing their input and proactively informing proceedings, says Nicholas Manetto at Faegre Drinker.
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How Citizen Petitions Have Affected Drug Competition
In light of recent citizen petitions and proposed legislation regulating such petitions, Omar Robles at Managing Health analyzes the statistics of the extent to which citizen petitions have been filed, and to what extent they have delayed competition in prescription pharmaceuticals.
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Drug Kickback Ruling Will Make FCA Liability Harder To Prove
The First Circuit's ruling in U.S. v. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, requiring the government to prove but-for causation to establish False Claims Act liability based on violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute, raises the bar for FCA enforcement and deepens a circuit split that the U.S. Supreme Court may need to resolve, say attorneys at Baker Donelson.
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Assessing PE Risk After Mass. False Claims Act Amendments
A law recently passed in Massachusetts amends the commonwealth's False Claims Act by dramatically expanding potential liability for private equity firms and investors, underscoring the importance of robust diligence and risk assessments for private equity firms conducting transactions in the commonwealth, say attorneys at Gibson Dunn.
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What Trump Actions Mean For Federal Research Funding
New guidance from the National Institutes of Health represents a massive policy shift regarding federal funding for researchers at institutions of higher education, contributing to a perfect storm of significant resource shortfalls in upcoming years, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.
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A Look At Healthcare Transaction Oversight In Oregon
Understanding Oregon's enforcement authority and its impact on proposed transactions last year provides a road map to the state's plans to strengthen its processes this year, though enforcement could be challenged by ongoing litigation, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.
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Rethinking 'No Comment' For Clients Facing Public Crises
“No comment” is no longer a cost-free or even a viable public communications strategy for companies in crisis, and counsel must tailor their guidance based on a variety of competing factors to help clients emerge successfully, says Robert Bowers at Moore & Van Allen.
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High Court Must Acknowledge US History Of Anti-Trans Laws
Despite Justice Amy Coney Barrett's claim to the contrary during oral arguments in U.S. v. Skrmetti, U.S. governments at every level have systematically discriminated against transgender people, and the U.S. Supreme Court must consider this historical context in upcoming cases about transgender issues, says Paisley Currah at the City University of New York.
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The Fate Of Biden-Era Clinical Study Guidance Under Trump
Draft guidance about the study of sex and gender differences in medical product development issued by the outgoing Biden administration currently faces significant uncertainty and litigation potential due to the Trump administration's executive orders and other actions, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.
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10 Issues To Watch In Aerospace And Defense Contracting
This year, in addition to evergreen developments driven by national security priorities, disruptive new technologies and competition with rival powers, federal contractors will see significant disruptions driven by the new administration’s efforts to reduce government spending, regulation and the size of the federal workforce, say attorneys at Thompson Hine.
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Dispelling 10 Myths About Health Provider-Based Compliance
Congress appears intent on requiring hospitals to submit provider-based attestations for all off-campus outpatient hospital locations, so now is the time for hospitals to prepare for this change by understanding common misconceptions about provider-based status and proactively correct noncompliance, say attorneys at McDermott.
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A Look At HHS' New Opinion On Patient Assistance Programs
A recent advisory opinion from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General follows a recent trend of blessing patient assistance program arrangements that implicate the Anti-Kickback Statute, as long as they are structured with appropriate safeguards to minimize the risk of fraud and abuse, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.