Epstein Becker Green

For hospitals, health systems, Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program grantees, and other federally funded health care providers, the line between pediatric and adult restrictions on gender-affirming care is eroding. Enforcement tools built around children's care are now reaching adult patients, adult providers, and the public health infrastructure that serves people living with HIV. In a recent article published by Health Affairs Forefront, Richard H.

Almost two years after Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida became the first federal judge in the country to declare the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act (FCA) unconstitutional, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit vacated Judge Mizelle’s September 30, 2024, order and held that the FCA’s qui tam provisions do not violate the Appointments Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The case now returns to the District Court.

A recent decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit provides an important reminder that an employer’s exposure to a retaliation claim can arise even after it has already made a lawful decision to terminate an employee. In Russo v. New Hampshire Neurospine Institute, P.A., No. 25-1519 (1st Cir. Aug. 25, 2026), the First Circuit affirmed summary judgment for an employer on an employee’s sex discrimination claim, but reinstated her retaliation claim.

Armed with audit evidence of widespread fraud, waste, and abuse (FWA), federal and state regulators have launched a wave of criminal and administrative enforcement actions against applied behavior analysis (ABA) providers. The enforcement activity now underway spans Department of Justice (DOJ)-led criminal indictments, state Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) prosecutions, and state administrative terminations and rate-reform litigation.

On July 23, 2026, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) proposed a new rule (the “Proposed Rule”) that would offer group health plan administrators an additional safe harbor for electronically furnishing required group health plan disclosures to participants and beneficiaries.

Applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy for autism has become one of the fastest-growing service categories in Medicaid — and is increasingly an enforcement target for federal and state regulators. The structural features of the ABA industry have created conditions that federal auditors and prosecutors now characterize as an environment conducive to fraud, waste, and abuse (FWA).

Bill Gates published an essay this week arguing that the AI transition will be one of the most turbulent periods in modern history. And critically, neither governments nor industry have a plan to manage it. While the essay has far-reaching implications for all industries and humanity generally, three key risk categories emerge for health care and life sciences organizations.

Courts are applying old wiretapping laws to modern AI tools like chatbots and transcription software, claiming they intercept communications without consent. Legal debates focus on whether AI vendors are eavesdroppers or independent actors. States are starting to pass laws requiring disclosures. Companies should audit AI tools, improve consent, update privacy policies, and stay updated on legal changes to manage risks.

For general counsel, privacy officers, and compliance teams deploying AI chatbots, call center software, or transcription tools, a wave of decades-old wiretapping statutes has become an unexpected new source of litigation exposure. In Eavesdropping by Algorithm: How Courts Are Applying Decades-Old Privacy Laws to AI, published in New York Law Journal, Frances M.

On August 12, 2026, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sent a letter (“Referral Letter”) to HHS Inspector General T.