The current labor market is fraught with challenges for employers. In the wake of the COVID-19 market disruptions, the demand for employees, especially for experienced or highly trained employees, far exceeds the supply....more
6/16/2022
/ Antitrust Provisions ,
Biden Administration ,
Competition ,
Contract Drafting ,
Contract Terms ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employee Retention ,
Employment Contract ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Horizontal Restraint ,
Job Applicants ,
Low-Wage Workers ,
No-Poaching ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Physicians ,
Recruitment Policies ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Sherman Act
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) continued their online listening tour on April 14, 2022, with a discussion regarding the effects of mergers and acquisitions on the healthcare industry...more
4/20/2022
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Corporate Practice of Medicine ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Hospital Mergers ,
Industry Consolidation ,
Mergers ,
Vertical Integration
Antitrust -
FTC Announces Revised Hart-Scott-Rodino Thresholds for Acquisitions and Exclusive Licenses -
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced this year's revisions to the thresholds under the...more
2/28/2018
/ Antitrust Violations ,
Biosimilars ,
BPCIA ,
CAFA ,
Cartwright Act ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Eleventh Amendment ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Ex Parte ,
Exclusive Licenses ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
FRCP 8 ,
FRCP 9(b) ,
Frivolous Lawsuits ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Insurer Liability ,
Interviews ,
Medicare ,
Physicians ,
Retaliation ,
Reverse Payment Settlement Agreements ,
Unfair Competition
On December 15, 2017, United States Magistrate Judge Alice Senechal of the District of North Dakota entered an order preliminarily enjoining the merger between two large physicians practices in the Bismarck/Mandan market,...more
• The Florida Supreme Court has dealt a significant blow to Florida's medical malpractice pre-suit process, ruling that statutes authorizing the conduct of informal, ex parte interviews with a medical malpractice claimant's...more
11/14/2017
/ Discovery ,
Ex Parte ,
FL Supreme Court ,
Frivolous Lawsuits ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Interviews ,
Medical Malpractice ,
Physician-Patient Confidentiality ,
Physicians ,
Right to Privacy ,
State Constitutions
As the trend of acquisitions of physician practices and mergers of hospitals continues, so does antitrust scrutiny of these deals. There was activity this week in three different proposed transactions that caught the...more
11/3/2017
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Immunity ,
Antitrust Litigation ,
Blue Cross ,
Competition ,
Cooperation Agreement ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Costs ,
Hospital Mergers ,
Hospitals ,
Physicians ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Price-Fixing ,
Sherman Act
• The Florida Supreme Court has reversed a decision of the Florida Second District Court of Appeal and held that an analysis of a medical malpractice claim sent by an attorney to an external medical review company in...more
10/30/2017
/ Appeals ,
Attorney-Client Privilege ,
FL Supreme Court ,
Peer Review ,
Physicians ,
Public Disclosure ,
Reversal ,
Risk Management ,
State and Local Government ,
State Constitutions ,
Work-Product Doctrine
A recent appellate court ruling governing all federal court cases in Florida, Georgia and Alabama establishes that a defendant in a False Claims Act (FCA) case cannot rely on a defense that there was no intent to defraud the...more
The federal court system and 36 states have adopted the so-called Daubert standard in place of the Frye standard when it comes to qualifying expert witnesses under the rules of evidence. In 2013, the Florida Legislature...more
2/23/2017
/ Admissibility ,
Daubert Standards ,
Discovery ,
Evidence ,
Expert Testimony ,
Expert Witness ,
FL Supreme Court ,
Florida ,
Life Sciences ,
Litigation Strategies ,
Trials
The common industry practice of compensating independent contractor sales representatives on a "percentage of sales" commission basis may be creating an enhanced risk of False Claims Act liability for illegal kickbacks in...more
7/1/2014
/ Anti-Kickback Statute ,
Distributors ,
Durable Medical Equipment ,
Enforcement ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Healthcare ,
Medicaid ,
Medical Devices ,
Medical Equipment ,
Medicare ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Sales Commissions ,
Whistleblowers