Policy & Compliance

  • June 23, 2026

    UnitedHealth Trims But Can't Escape 401(k) Forfeiture Suit

    UnitedHealth Group won dismissal of some claims in a proposed class action alleging the company mismanaged its employee 401(k) and profit sharing plan by misallocating forfeitures, but couldn't escape allegations that the way the company spent the funds breached fiduciary duties and caused transactions prohibited by federal benefits law.

  • June 23, 2026

    Judge Flags Flaws In Rule Capping Health Student Loans

    A D.C. federal judge appeared to agree with health worker organizations challenging new federal student loan caps that there were problems with how the U.S. Department of Education defined "professional degrees" in a recent rulemaking, but suggested that "taking over the job" of the department would be inappropriate.

  • June 23, 2026

    BioNTech Accused Of Firing Nurse Over Drug Trial Concerns

    A former senior clinical trial manager at BioNTech US Inc. told a North Carolina federal court Monday that she was wrongfully fired after complaining to higher-ups about an "epidemic of safety issues and protocol deviations" in clinical trials.

  • June 23, 2026

    Feds Tout AI's Role In $6.5B Healthcare Fraud Crackdown

    Federal authorities said Tuesday that artificial intelligence and sophisticated data analysis helped them detect and prosecute healthcare fraud as part of a national crackdown that resulted in charges against 455 defendants.

  • June 23, 2026

    ACA Ruling May Forecast Future Trouble For CMS Changes

    Recent pushback by a Baltimore federal judge on Affordable Care Act changes made through agency rulemaking could presage more legal defeats for the Trump administration.

  • June 22, 2026

    FTC Requires Fix For Aurobindo's $250M Lannett Deal

    The Federal Trade Commission is allowing Aurobindo Pharma Ltd. to move ahead with its planned $250 million acquisition of Lannett Co. Inc., after the pharmaceutical company agreed to unload four generic drug products to prevent potential overlaps.

  • June 22, 2026

    Sodexo Can't Wipe Out Worker's Nicotine Fee Suit

    A California federal judge refused to toss a Sodexo worker's proposed class action alleging the global food services company wrongly charged nicotine-using employees $1,200 more a year for health insurance, opening discovery on allegations that a wellness program implementing the surcharge didn't meet all federal requirements.

  • June 18, 2026

    RFK Jr. Urges 1st Circ. To Reinstate His Vaccine Advisers

    U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told the First Circuit a Boston federal judge's decision to freeze his vaccine committee appointments lacks a legal foundation and has left the government paralyzed when it comes to vaccine policy.

  • June 18, 2026

    Gibson Dunn Hires Ropes & Gray Health Regulatory Atty In DC

    Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP has hired a former Ropes & Gray LLP partner who works on a myriad of health regulatory and drug pricing matters, advising pharmaceutical manufacturers, investors and other entities on those issues, the firm announced Thursday.

  • June 18, 2026

    5 Big ERISA Litigation Developments From 2026's First Half

    The U.S. Supreme Court's acceptance of a petition challenging Intel's 401(k) investment lineup and a Fourth Circuit ruling unraveling a class of Genworth Financial retirement plan participants headlined the court developments that caught benefits attorneys' attention in the first six months of 2026. Here, Law360 looks at those and other noteworthy ERISA decisions.

  • June 18, 2026

    Health System Strikes Deal To End Tobacco Fee Suit

    Nonprofit health system Advocate Aurora Health reached a deal to close a proposed class action claiming it hit workers with an unlawful fee through their health plan if they used tobacco, according to a filing in Illinois federal court.

  • June 18, 2026

    High Court Bars Federal Review Of State Court Appeals

    The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a legal doctrine designed to curtail duplicative litigation prevents parties who lose in state court from appealing in federal district court even if the state case is still pending.

  • June 17, 2026

    Mental Health Co. To Face Wage Class Damages Trial

    A North Carolina federal judge ruled Wednesday that the mental healthcare company JMJ Enterprises LLC must face a second-phase damages trial after a jury found in February in favor of a collective of employees claiming that the company willfully broke federal and state wage laws by underpaying workers at group homes.

  • June 17, 2026

    DC Judge Halts Prison Bureau's 'Near Total' Trans Care Ban

    A Washington, D.C., federal judge blocked the Bureau of Prisons from enforcing a "near total ban" on gender-affirming care for trans incarcerated people, ruling Wednesday the policy was "reverse engineered" to fit the Trump administration's directive barring funding of such care in prisons, violating the Administrative Procedure Act. 

  • June 17, 2026

    Sen. Committee Clears Drug Disclosure, Biosimilar Bills

    The U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on Wednesday cleared two bills for full Senate review, tackling the gap between health and patent oversight agencies, and the need for more interchangeable biosimilars.

  • June 17, 2026

    FTC Claims Trans Health Org. Lied About Medical Consensus

    The Federal Trade Commission and several Republican-led states sued the World Professional Association for Transgender Health on Wednesday, telling a Texas federal court that the organization falsely touted a "medical consensus" while advocating for transgender healthcare for children.

  • June 17, 2026

    NC Clinic, School District Must Face COVID Vax Challenge

    A North Carolina state appeals panel issued its second opinion in a lawsuit from the mother of a teenager who alleged he was vaccinated for COVID against his will, finding Wednesday that she adequately put forward constitutional claims and can pursue allegations against a school district and medical society clinic in trial court.

  • June 17, 2026

    DOJ Deal Bars OhioHealth From Blocking Patient Steering

    OhioHealth swore off contract language inhibiting the ability of insurers to steer patients to cheaper healthcare providers, in a settlement resolving one of two U.S. Department of Justice antitrust lawsuits targeting alleged hospital network efforts to force insurers to cover their hospitals in all plans.

  • June 17, 2026

    Genova Burns Adds Pharmacy Industry Specialist In NJ

    Genova Burns LLC strengthened its healthcare abilities this week with the hiring of an attorney focusing on representing pharmacy benefit managers and other players in the prescription drug supply chain.

  • June 17, 2026

    Lab Owner Avoids 'Very Long' Prison Term For $89M Fraud

    A Utah businessman who cooperated with prosecutors after admitting his role in a false Medicare claims scheme was sentenced Wednesday in New Jersey federal court to three years of probation and ordered to forfeit $28 million.

  • June 16, 2026

    Feds Say NY Health Officials Aided Fraud In Medicaid Program

    New York health officials rigged the bidding process for managing the state's $10 billion Medicaid homecare program, and the state-chosen steward didn't deliver on its promises, which has harmed patients and caregivers and cost American taxpayers millions of dollars, the U.S. Department of Justice alleged in a lawsuit Tuesday.

  • June 16, 2026

    Courts Rule On Provider Self-Referrals, FCA Deal And More

    Law360 Healthcare Authority looks at a split decision by Pennsylvania's highest court concerning a state prohibition on provider self-referrals, a $2.3 million False Claims Act settlement, and other rulings impacting the healthcare industry this week.

  • June 16, 2026

    Wash. Judge Won't Revisit Order On Ed. Dept. School Grants

    A federal judge in Seattle will not reconsider her decision declining to enforce an earlier order barring the U.S. Department of Education from ceasing school mental health grants, saying Washington and other plaintiff states have not shown that the court erred.

  • June 16, 2026

    Anti-Abortion Group Renews Bid To Block NJ's Info Demand

    An anti‑abortion pregnancy center urged a federal judge to block New Jersey's attorney general from enforcing a subpoena seeking financial donor information, arguing in a renewed bid for a preliminary injunction that the demand is retaliatory and persists despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowing the group to challenge the investigation.

  • June 16, 2026

    J&J Talc Trial In LA Ends With Deadlocked Jury

    A mistrial was declared Monday by a Los Angeles state judge in a two-month trial over allegations Johnson & Johnson's talc products caused a woman's deadly mesothelioma after the jury deadlocked during deliberations, according to counsel for the plaintiff.

Expert Analysis

  • Courts' Rare Quash Of DOJ Subpoenas Has Lessons For Cos.

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    In a rare move, three federal courts recently quashed or partially quashed expansive U.S. Department of Justice administrative subpoenas issued to providers of gender-affirming care, demonstrating that courts will scrutinize purpose, cabin statutory authority and acknowledge the profound privacy burdens of overbroad government demands for sensitive records, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

  • Remote Patient Monitoring Is At Regulatory Inflection Point

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    With remote patient monitoring at the center of new federal pilot programs and a recent report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General examining Medicare billing for those services, it is clear that balancing innovation and risk will be a central challenge ahead for digital health stakeholders, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Utah's AI Prescription Renewal Pilot Could Inform Policy

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    Utah recently became the first state to approve an artificial intelligence system for autonomously renewing certain prescription medicines, providing a test case for how regulators may be able to draw boundaries between administrative automation and medical judgment, say Jashaswi Ghosh at Holon Law Partners and Bryant Godfrey at Foley Hoag.

  • Ramped Up Psychedelic Production Carries Opportunity, Risk

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    Kimberly Chew at Husch Blackwell discusses the key legal implications of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's recent dramatic increases in the production quotas for a range of psychedelic substances, offering guidance on compliance, risk management and strategic opportunities for practitioners navigating this rapidly evolving landscape.

  • New Biotech Nat'l Security Controls May Have Blunted Impact

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    While the newly enacted federal prohibition against contracting with certain biotechnology providers associated with countries of concern may have consequences on U.S. companies' ability to develop drugs, the restrictions may prove to be less problematic for the industry than the significant publicity around their passage would suggest, say attorneys at Wilson Sonsini.

  • Takeaways From The DOJ Fraud Section's 2025 Year In Review

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    Former acting Principal Deputy Chief Sean Tonolli of the U.S. Department of Justice's Fraud Section, now at Cahill Gordon, analyzes key findings from the section’s annual report — including the changes implemented to adapt to the new administration’s priorities — and lays out what to watch for this year.

  • Traditional FCA Enforcement Surges Amid Shifting Priorities

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    The U.S. Department of Justice’s January report on False Claims Act enforcement in fiscal year 2025 reveals that while the administration signaled its intent to expand FCA enforcement into new areas such as tariffs, for now the greatest exposure remains in traditional areas like healthcare — in which the risk is growing, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • 3 Key Ohio Financial Services Developments From 2025

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    Ohio's banking and financial services sector saw particularly notable developments in 2025, including a significant Ohio Supreme Court decision on creditor disclosure duties to guarantors in Huntington National Bank v. Schneider, and some major proposed changes to the state's Homebuyer Plus program, says Alex Durst at Durst Kerridge.

  • Rescheduling Cannabis Marks New Tax Era For Operators

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    As the attorney general takes steps to move cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act, operators and advisers should prepare by considering the significant changes this will bring from tax, state, industry and market perspectives, says Michael Harlow at CohnReznick.

  • Justices' Med Mal Ruling May Spur Huge Shift For Litigators

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in the medical malpractice suit Berk v. Choy, holding that a Florida procedural requirement does not apply to medical malpractice claims filed in federal court, is likely to encourage eligible parties to file claims in federal court, speed the adjudicatory process and create both opportunities and challenges for litigators, says Thomas Kroeger at Colson Hicks.

  • 5 Drug Pricing Policy Developments To Watch In 2026

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    2026 may prove to be a critical year for drug pricing in the U.S., with potential major shifts including several legislative initiatives moving forward after being in the works for years, and more experimentation on the horizon concerning GLP-1s and Section 340B pricing, say attorneys at Manatt.

  • Regulatory Uncertainty Ahead For Organ Transplant System

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    Pending court cases against a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services final rule that introduced a competition-centric model for assessing organ procurement organizations' performance will significantly influence the path forward for such organizations and transplant hospitals, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • Key False Claims Act Trends From The Last Year

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    The False Claims Act remains a powerful enforcement tool after some record verdicts and settlements in 2025, and while traditional fraud areas remain a priority, new initiatives are raising questions about its expanding application, says Veronica Nannis at Joseph Greenwald.