Federal lawmakers are debating legislation to address surprise medical bills that, if passed in its current form, would significantly impact how hospitals, physicians and insurers negotiate payment for the provision of certain out-of-network services. A bipartisan coalition led by Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tennessee), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee, and Senator
On August 9, 2019, Illinois Governor Pritzker signed legislation amending the state’s current medical marijuana pilot program. The Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Program Act (the “Medical Cannabis Act”) makes the medical marijuana program, which was initially enacted as a pilot program in 2013, permanent and expands the qualifying medical conditions for a medical marijuana
There is little question that youth e-cigarette use has been on the rise. In 2018, an estimated 3.6 million kids reported “current use” of e-cigarettes (defined as use on at least one day in the past 30 days), up from just 220,000 kids reporting such use in 2011 (See National Youth Tobacco Survey findings).
On July 11, 2019, a Federal judge for the U.S. District Court for Maryland ruled that manufacturers and importers of products such as e-cigarettes and other electronic nicotine delivery systems (“ENDS”) have ten months to submit applications for marketing to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”). The ten-month deadline is applicable to new tobacco
On July 16, 2019, the New Jersey Supreme Court (“Court”) granted certification to review the Appellate Division’s decision in Wild v. Carriage Funeral Holdings, which ruled that the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination’s (“LAD”) requirement that employers reasonably accommodate disabilities applied to an employee’s use of medical cannabis legally prescribed pursuant to New Jersey’s
On June 5, 2019, Governor Steve Sisolak of Nevada signed AB 132 (the “Law”), which prohibits employers from declining to hire a prospective employee based on pre-employment marijuana drug tests. On the heels of a new New York City law which prohibits employers from requiring pre-employment drug testing for marijuana and tetrahydrocannabinols (the active ingredient
The market for direct-to-consumer (“DTC”) genetic testing has increased dramatically over recent years as more people are using at-home DNA tests. The global market for this industry is projected to hit $2.5 billion by 2024. Many consumers subscribe to DTC genetic testing because they can provide insights into genetic backgrounds and ancestry. However, as
On February 27, 2019, Tennessee-based holding company Vanguard Healthcare, LLC (“Vanguard”), agreed to pay over $18 million to settle a False Claims Act (“FCA”) action brought by the United States and the state of Tennessee for “grossly substandard nursing home services.” The settlement stems from allegations that five Vanguard-operated facilities failed to do the following:
When we think about the top players in the medical device development space, we often see device company sponsors, clinicians, scientists, and FDA regulators as the ones driving the process. But what about the patient perspective? Does that get factored in?
On May 3, 2019, FDA established a docket to collect public input on a
Following a two-day meeting by a Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) advisory committee on breast implant safety earlier this year, FDA on May 2, 2019, released a statement announcing that no breast implant models will be banned from the U.S. market at this time. Also described in the statement are a number of measures the