Health Law Advisor

Hospitals and health systems are familiar with traditional medical malpractice cases, but as healthcare is increasingly seen as a business, healthcare providers need to understand the potential for, and limitations of claims brought under the guise of consumer protection laws. 

Consumer protection laws can be tempting causes of action for individuals who believe they have been wronged by the healthcare system. Unlike medical malpractice claims, which require expert testimony and may include damages caps, consumer protection statutes often include treble damages, punitive damages, and attorneys’ fees. Consumer protection laws may also offer injunctive relief as a remedy, do not require a plaintiff to prove causation or damages, and have the potential for class action lawsuits. To prevent plaintiffs from reframing a negligence case to sidestep the limitations of medical malpractice cases, some courts and states have drawn boundaries between consumer protection and medical malpractice cases.

On February 1, 2024, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) issued a final rule revising 42 CFR Part 8, which regulates opioid treatment programs (OTPs). The final rule is the first update to the OTP regulations in over 20 years, and significantly increases access to lifesaving medication while easing operational restrictions.

The agency eased admission requirements and cemented some of the telehealth and take-home dose flexibilities put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. Other changes streamline OTP operations, reduce restrictions on ...

Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a case challenging the sufficiency of due process protections in the Health Care Quality Improvement Act (HCQIA) and National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB), effectively confirming that the current safeguards are constitutionally sufficient.

In Doe v. Rodgers, a surgeon brought an action against the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the NPDB, and several individual officials who administer the NPDB, alleging that the NPDB wrongfully accepted, kept, and distributed a “false and ...

The latest attempt to expand the psychedelic world is making its way through Congress. On September 21, 2023, Congressmen Robert Garcia (CA-42)  and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) introduced the “Validating Independence for State Initiatives on Organic Natural Substances Act of 2023”. Aptly titled the VISIONS Act, this legislation would, if enacted, protect legal psilocybin use from federal law enforcement intervention in any state or locality where psilocybin is legally permitted. The language in the Act specifically states that it aims to prohibit any federal funds from being ...