Articles and Blogs

NATIONAL $1 trillion investment shortage in senior living development expected by 2040 90% of healthcare companies get a ‘B+’ on cybersecurity with medical devices falling below the mark 16 hospital M&A moves to know in the 1st half of 2024 76 physicians charged in $2.7B fraud schemes 46 assisted living communities named in $4.5... READ MORE

On June 4, 2024, the National Advertising Division (“NAD”), a self-regulatory forum for competitive advertising disputes, recommended that a breast cancer genomic test manufacturer (“Advertiser”) modify or discontinue several claims regarding the superiority of its tests for Black women, including claims that a competitor’s (“Challenger”) test is “inappropriate for women and that it is... READ MORE

Walmart Health may be considering a sale of its health care clinics. One source said the retailer may be discussing a sale to Humana. Walmart closed its 51 health care clinics in April as a result of poor financial performance. Healthcare Realty Trust (“HRT”) generated $400M in proceeds from the disposition of several assets... READ MORE

Health care continues to drive private equity (“PE”) activity, creating opportunities for investors and traditional health care providers. Transactions in the health care space are especially complicated, layering health care regulatory and reimbursement considerations on top of a complex securities, antitrust, privacy and security framework. Hall Render’s PE team of attorneys and advisors leverage... READ MORE

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals (the “Eighth Circuit”) recently held in Howard v. City of Sedalia (“Howard“) that a hospital was not required to accommodate a pharmacist’s request to keep a service dog in the workplace because such accommodation was considered a “personal item,” providing assistance to her both on and off the... READ MORE

On May 6, 2024, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) and the Office for Civil Rights of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) issued a final rule implementing Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (“Section 1557”) (the “Final Rule”). The Final Rule went into effect on July 5, 2024. However, in Texas... READ MORE

On June 13, 2024, the Supreme Court published its opinion in Starbucks v. McKinney. The Supreme Court held that the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) must satisfy the traditional, four-factor test for injunctions. In short, the decision makes it more difficult for the NLRB to successfully claim injunctive relief while adjudicating alleged... READ MORE

In a much-anticipated ruling entered on July 3, 2024, a federal judge in the Northern District of Texas (“the Court”) temporarily blocked, via a preliminary injunction, the implementation of the Federal Trade Commission’s (“FTC”) worker non-compete rule (“Final Rule”). The injunction will remain in effect until the Court issues a final merits-based decision on... READ MORE

Recently, the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor and the Treasury (collectively, the “Departments”) issued an extension for health care providers impacted by the Change Healthcare cyberattack to submit out-of-network payment disputes through the federal No Surprises Act (“NSA”) independent dispute resolution (“IDR”) process. The NSA IDR process permits providers and facilities that... READ MORE

In April 2024, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) issued revised draft guidance, “Promotional Labeling and Advertising Considerations for Prescription Biological Reference Products, Biosimilar Products, and Interchangeable Biosimilar Products: Questions and Answers,” (the “Draft Guidance”) intended to address common questions that arise during the process of developing promotional communications for prescription reference products... READ MORE