Articles and Blogs

In the past two years, many health systems have been selling their long-term care, home health, nursing home, hospice and lab businesses, largely due to rising costs and regulatory pressures. This trend reflects a shift from ownership to partnership models as hospital systems focus on cost reduction and operational simplicity. Despite some financial struggles last…Read More

On August 16, 2023, a three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion in the ongoing litigation regarding the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (“FDA”) approval and regulation of mifepristone (brand name Mifeprex), a drug used in medically induced abortions. The panel vacated in part and affirmed in part a decision…Read More

In August 2023, the full Fifth Circuit joined the Sixth and D.C. Circuits in broadening the kinds of employment actions capable of supporting a Title VII claim. Traditionally in the Fifth Circuit as elsewhere, Title VII actions have been limited to “ultimate employment decisions”, typically involving hiring or firing. In Hamilton v. Dallas County, the…Read More

On August 3, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas (the “Court”) concluded that the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Labor and the Department of the Treasury (collectively “the Departments”) violated statutory rulemaking procedure and therefore vacated two aspects of the Departments’ guidance related to the No…Read More

Health care experts questioned Kaiser’s strategy for its new health system, Risant Health. Kaiser’s strategy involves developing a nationwide health system aimed at large corporate customers that would compete with Amazon, Aetna CVS, Walmart Health and United Healthcare on cost. Critics note that Risant doesn’t have its own network of physicians (like Kaiser has in…Read More

The government’s dilatory investigation of a sealed False Claims Act (“FCA”) complaint was so egregious that its $32M award after a nine-week jury trial will be cut nearly in half. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals refused the defendants’ request to overturn the entire verdict but enforced the consequences of the government’s prejudicial delay by…Read More

The Ninth Circuit recently held in Hendrix ex rel. United States v. J-M Manufacturing Company, Inc. that in False Claims Act (“FCA”) cases, one penalty per project or FCA violation is proper, rather than one penalty per line item contained within the project or violation. Background In this case, the plaintiff brought suit against the defendant…Read More

The Fourth Circuit recently held that providers may not defend a False Claims Act (“FCA”) lawsuit by arguing that eligibility requirements violate the Medicaid Act. Rather, liability under the FCA may still be established if any misrepresentations made by a provider influenced decision-makers and resulted in the submission of false claims to the government. In…Read More