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340B Drug Pricing Program Compliance
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Hooper, Kearney and Macklin on Cutting Edge Topics in the False Claims Act
Edible Bites Episode 3: Cannabis and Life Sciences Video Webinar Series
Health Care Continues to Drive False Claims Act Recoveries: Thought Leaders in Health Law Video Series
Drug Pricing Initiatives During the Trump Presidency
Bill on Bankruptcy: AMR Make-Whole Opinion Vulnerable on Appeal
Prescription drug fraud has long been a focus for government regulators, but it has taken on new significance in the wake of America’s opioid crisis. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Health and Human...more
Kentucky AG Russell Coleman filed a lawsuit against the Kroger Company and affiliated entities alleging that it contributed to the opioid epidemic in the state in its role as a drug distributor and operator of retail...more
In 2020, over 142 million prescriptions for opioid medications were filled in the U.S. That same year, 16,416 people died from overdoses on prescription opioids—a 376% increase from 1999....more
Recent Filings Shed Light on DOJ’s View of Supreme Court’s Recent FCA Ruling - On June 1, 2023, the US Supreme Court explained that an assessment of a defendant’s subjective beliefs — rather than what an objectively...more
A Suffolk County, New York court held on November 16 that White’s Apothecary in East Hampton was not negligent when it filled a physician’s opioid and benzodiazepine prescriptions as ordered....more
Walmart has offered to pay $3.1 billion to settle thousands of lawsuits filed against the deep-pocketed retailing giant, accusing it of complicity through its nationwide pharmacy operations in the lethal opioid abuse and...more
A group of 16 AGs reached a settlement with Walmart Inc., pending approval by the full coalition of 43 states, to resolve allegations regarding the company’s role in contributing to the nationwide opioid crisis....more
While critics keep throwing up a false narrative about “ambulance chasing,” self-enriching lawyers, their labors and the civil legal system have proven yet again their effectiveness in wringing financial justice for those...more
Florida AG Ashley Moody has announced a settlement with Walmart Inc. to resolve without litigation allegations, including from a number of Florida municipalities, regarding the company’s role in contributing to the state’s...more
Even as the opioid abuse and drug overdose crisis worsens and breaks annual records for its resulting death toll, the reckoning for parties blamed for fostering the national nightmare is grinding forward. A federal judge...more
Causation, an issue courts often wrestle with when deciding insurance coverage issues, lands the starring role in our February Insurance Update. •A county experienced higher costs due to the opioid crisis. Does its...more
The regular folks who make up juries may give more heed than judges and justices do to the how and why of patients’ push for justice in the civil system, as has been shown in yet another bellwether decision involving major...more
While the pandemic put many things on hold, it did not do the same for the False Claims Act (FCA). To find out what is happening in FCA activity we spoke with Patrick Hooper, Jordan Kearney and Alicia Macklin, partners at the...more
Health workers with legal prescribing privileges have gotten newly revised federal guidelines — once again — making it easier for them to help those addicted to powerful opioid painkillers by prescribing buprenorphine,...more
The COVID-19 pandemic has created many new enforcement priorities for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). From selling ineffective personal protective equipment (PPE) to companies fraudulently seeking loan forgiveness under...more
The opioid abuse and drug overdose crisis has tarred yet another of the nation’s business titans: McKinsey, a globally renowned consulting firm, has discovered that providing corporate clients sketchy advice about addictive,...more
The Justice Department handed Walmart a huge slap in the face last year with the filing of a comprehensive civil case alleging that Walmart knowingly distributed large quantities of opioids in disregard of the law that fueled...more
The stain of the nation’s opioid abuse and drug overdose crisis has spread now to Bentonville, Ark., as federal prosecutors have sued Walmart, accusing the nation’s largest retailer of improperly allowing its pharmacists to...more
DOJ Announces Charges Against 345 Defendants in Historic Nationwide Health Care Fraud and Opioid Takedown - The DOJ announced a nationwide enforcement action charging 345 defendants across 51 federal districts with...more
The Sixth Circuit recently addressed whether a novel negotiation class could be certified to facilitate possible future settlement negotiations in multidistrict litigation (MDL)....more
As Tennessee continues to look for options to expand access to opioid treatment services, a new Tennessee law expands the types of providers who may prescribe medication-assisted treatment and imposes certain financial...more
The pharmacy defendants – major national corporations CVS Pharmacy, Inc., Rite Aid of Maryland, Inc., Walgreen Co., and Walmart Inc., sued by Long Island counties Nassau and Suffolk (County Plaintiffs) in their capacities as...more
As the world grapples with the health crisis caused by COVID-19, litigation regarding a different health crisis - the opioid epidemic - continues to progress. In a major development last week for the multidistrict litigation,...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: In the latest development in the ultra-high stakes nationwide Prescription Opiate Litigation, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit granted the petition for writ of mandamus brought by twelve...more
In light of the novel coronavirus pandemic, health care practitioners should be aware of relaxed guidelines for prescribing controlled substance. This blog post describes when practitioners can prescribe controlled substances...more