Epstein Becker Green

Parties use arbitration provisions for a variety of reasons, including enhanced efficiency and advantages of resolving disputes in private and outside of court. In crafting arbitration clauses, businesses often retain some asymmetry, giving one party rights the other party does not enjoy. Courts generally permit this, even in adhesion contracts, as long as the provision is clearly disclosed and presented fairly.

Recent enforcement actions involving a small number of ABA providers have brought increased regulatory attention to the industry. The most prominent example is the recent Minnesota prosecution involving allegations of billing for services that never occurred, falsified documentation, kickbacks, and concealed ownership interests. While the allegations are extreme and not representative of most ABA providers, cases like these have raised alarm among federal and state regulators.

Veloxis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Veloxis”) recently agreed to pay more than $46 million to resolve criminal and civil allegations that it paid kickbacks to health care professionals to encourage prescriptions and sales of a brand-name immunosuppression drug to kidney transplant recipients instead of a generic drug.

On September 9, 2026, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) rescinded its 2021 policy statement which extended the Health Breach Notification Rule (“HBNR”) to health apps and connected devices outside the reach of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 and its implementing regulations (collectively “HIPAA”).

Subpoena power is one of the most consequential tools available to federal prosecutors and agencies. In 2026, it is being wielded in ways that are drawing pushback from the federal judiciary.

Applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy for autism has become one of the fastest-growing service categories in Medicaid. Rapid growth, significant workforce demands, extensive use of paraprofessional staff, and complex documentation and supervision requirements have also created heightened compliance and payment-integrity risks.

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.

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.

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.

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.