Digital Health & Technology
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November 17, 2023
Vaccine Maker Novavax Appoints New COO, CLO
Novavax Inc., a maker of vaccines for COVID-19 and other diseases, on Friday appointed a president and chief operating officer and announced a new chief legal officer to replace an official who is retiring next month.
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November 15, 2023
Meta Seeks Trim Of 'Copycat' Health Privacy Suit
Meta Platforms Inc. urged a California federal judge Wednesday to shave down a lawsuit alleging the tech giant is illegally receiving consumers' sensitive health information through its Meta Pixel tool, arguing that the suit is a "copycat" of another case the court trimmed in September.
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November 15, 2023
NY Hospital Cyber Regs A Balm, Not Cure, For Security Woes
New York state's proposals for addressing hospital cybersecurity — and providing millions in funding for security upgrades — could help some of the state's smallest hospitals catch up on the latest safeguards and minimum standards against ransomware attacks and data breaches, but they're far from a cure-all for the incidents plaguing health care.
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November 15, 2023
UnitedHealth Uses AI To Deny Patient Services, Suit Says
UnitedHealth knowingly uses an artificial intelligence service with a high error rate to override physician recommendations and deny elderly patients care owed to them through Medicare plans, according to a proposed class action in Minnesota federal court.
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November 15, 2023
Locke Lord Brings On DLA Piper Health Ace In Miami
Locke Lord LLP announced Wednesday that it has added a new partner to its health and managed care litigation practice group in Miami, who was previously with DLA Piper.
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November 15, 2023
European Health Care Investor Clinches €740M Fund
Netherlands-based health care investor Gilde Healthcare on Wednesday announced that it closed its sixth health care venture and growth fund at its hard cap with €740 million ($803.1 million) in tow, which will be used to invest in health care companies in North America and Europe.
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November 14, 2023
Senators Told Medicare Telehealth Option Too Vital To Lose
Telehealth services made available to Medicare beneficiaries during the pandemic are critical to patient well-being, particularly in rural areas, and must be made permanent, expert witnesses largely agreed Tuesday during a U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing.
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November 14, 2023
FDA Medical Device Expert Joins Cooley Life Sciences Group
Cooley LLP has hired a medical devices expert from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as special counsel to its growing global life sciences and health care regulatory practice.
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November 13, 2023
PostMeds Slapped With Another Suit Over Data Breach
A PostMeds Inc. customer has filed a proposed class action in California federal court against the online pharmacy for failing to protect sensitive patient information from a cyberattack and the slow response that followed, the latest suit following the disclosure of the breach last month.
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November 13, 2023
Polsinelli Bolsters Public Policy Practice With 2 Hires
Polsinelli PC is continuing an expansion of its public policy practice with the addition of two attorneys: one a former senior counsel for a U.S. senator and the other a former senior director at the world's largest retail trade association.
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November 09, 2023
Senators Told That AI Is Already Harming Patients
While the health care industry is focused on how new developments in artificial intelligence will reshape the field, some experts believe more attention should be paid to the fact that AI isn't just a hypothetical — it's here, and already influencing patient care.
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November 08, 2023
Advertising Group Urges Caution With Private Health Data
An industry trade group that develops self-regulatory standards for online advertising released guidance Wednesday on the use of private data in health-related digital ads.
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November 08, 2023
Amazon Launches Telehealth Platform After $4B Acquisition
Amazon has launched a new health care platform for its Prime members, offering around-the-clock access to telehealth visits for minor needs and some in-person and remote primary care services via One Medical, a digital health company it acquired for nearly $4 billion.
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November 07, 2023
Patients In Data Breach Suit Say Fraud Risk Equals Injury
Patients and employees of a network of hundreds of dental centers told a Michigan federal judge on Monday their proposed class action over a data breach can't be dismissed for a failure to allege injury because they are at imminent risk of fraud.
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November 07, 2023
Online Pharmacy Failed To Keep Patient Data Safe, Suit Says
A West Virginia man has lodged a proposed class action in California federal court against online pharmacy PostMeds Inc. for failing to protect sensitive patient information from a cyberattack and then dragging its feet before getting the word out to clients.
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November 06, 2023
New CMS Final Rule Clarifies Telehealth, Remote Care
The federal government's final Physician Fee Schedule for 2024, released last week, punts certain decisions around telehealth another year and clarifies remote care expectations under Medicare.
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November 03, 2023
'Devil's In The Details' Of Biden's AI Health Plans, Experts Say
BigLaw experts have praised President Joe Biden's sweeping plan to harness the powers of artificial intelligence to develop potent cancer treatments, improve equity in the medical field and otherwise serve patients and heal the ills of the U.S. health care industry.
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November 03, 2023
CMS To Cut Medicare Provider Payments, Drawing Industry Ire
The federal government has released its final Physician Fee Schedule, cutting Medicare payment rates for physicians in 2024 and drawing criticism from health care industry groups, which argued that the cuts would hinder care and create financial instability for doctors.
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November 03, 2023
GoodRx Threatened With Sanctions Over Settlement Notice
A California federal judge ordered GoodRx to explain why the company shouldn't be sanctioned after failing to notify the court about a related nationwide proposed class action in Florida that reached a preliminary settlement over claims the company improperly shared users' data to Meta Platforms Inc. and Google.
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November 02, 2023
Hospitals Challenge Federal Guidance On Website Tracking
The American Hospital Association sued the Biden administration Thursday over federal guidance restricting the use of online tracking technology, alleging the rule violates the First Amendment and interferes with their communication of vital health information.
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November 02, 2023
25 AGs Want Warning Labels On Oxygen-Reading Devices
Twenty-five attorneys general want the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to issue labels on blood-oxygen-level readers warning of their "life-threatening" inaccuracies for people of color due to bias in their readings.
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November 02, 2023
Sens. Launch Working Group On Health Care Cybersecurity
Amid an increase in cyberattacks targeting health records, a bipartisan group of senators announced Thursday the launch of a new working group to strengthen cybersecurity in the health care and public health sectors.
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October 31, 2023
Conn. AG Presses 23andMe Over User Data Breach
Connecticut's attorney general is pressing genetic tracking company 23andMe Inc. for information on a data breach involving user information, questioning whether the company complied with state laws governing data breaches and personal data.
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October 31, 2023
HHS Proposes Monetary Sanctions For Information Blocking
Health care providers would face monetary disincentives for engaging in information blocking under a proposed rule by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
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October 30, 2023
Health Systems Say Meta Data-Sharing Suit Lacks Substance
A group of medical systems asked a California federal judge Friday to toss a proposed class action alleging they "disregarded the privacy rights" of millions of visitors to their websites by sharing user data with Meta without users' knowledge through third-party tracking technologies.
Expert Analysis
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.