Health Law Advisor

On May 25, 2024, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry signed a bill, SB 276, into law that will classify medications commonly used in pregnancy and to treat stomach ulcers (mifepristone and misoprostol) as controlled substances. The provision classifying mifepristone and misoprostol as controlled substances was added in an amendment to SB 276 to make “coerced” abortions unlawful in the state. The new law is scheduled to take effect on October 1, 2024.

SB 276 represents the first attempt by a state to categorically restrict certain types of medication because they can be used for abortion. Many states have laws restricting the prescription and dispensing of drugs determined to be “abortion-inducing drugs,” but such drugs are only restricted if they are intended to be used to produce an abortion.[1] The laws restricting “abortion-inducing drugs” left open the ability of medical professionals to prescribe these drugs without restriction for non-abortion purposes, such as managing the effects of miscarriage or, in the case of misoprostol, preventing stomach ulcers. Now, due to these drugs’ association with abortion, they will be subject to new restrictions in the state and may impact the treatment of conditions unrelated to abortion.

State governments are increasingly entering the field of health care market oversight and enforcement. In what was once an issue typically left to the federal government, state governments are looking for ways to regulate market activity in the health care industry as a way to stem increases in health care costs. Late May brought yet another example of what the future may offer in this regard.

Think you’re being healthy when you reach for that KIND bar in the middle of your workday? We won’t say yes or no—since the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has recently declined to opine on what “all natural” means—or to hear from experts on the matter.

On May 2, the Second Circuit held that the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York did not err in throwing out a class action suit against KIND, LLC based on the use of the term “all natural.”[1] The company, of course, markets, advertises, and distributes snack foods including that Caramel Almond & Sea Salt bar that got you through the afternoon.

The district court granted KIND’s motion for summary judgment in September 2022, holding that the plaintiffs (consumers) had failed to establish how a reasonable consumer would understand the term “all natural.”

The Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization to eliminate the federal constitutional right to abortion continues to alter the legal landscape across the country. On April 26, 2024, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) published the “HIPAA Privacy Rule to Support Reproductive Health Care Privacy” (the “Final Rule”).

The Final Rule—amending the Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information (“Privacy Rule”) under the Health Insurance ...

On May 17, 2024, Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed into law SB 24-205—concerning consumer protections in interactions with artificial intelligence systems—after the Senate passed the bill on May 3. The law adds a new part 17, “Artificial Intelligence,” to Article I, Title 6 of the Colorado Consumer Protection Act, to take effect on February 1, 2026. This makes Colorado “among the first in the country to attempt to regulate the burgeoning artificial intelligence industry on such a scale,” Polis said in a letter to the Colorado General Assembly.

The new law will ...

In this episode of the Diagnosing Health Care Podcast: Gender-affirming care has become the latest flashpoint in state legislatures and state and federal courts across the nation.

States are divided, with some passing laws that seek to restrict access to gender-affirming care and others aiming to protect access.

What is gender-affirming care? What risks does it pose to providers and patients? On this episode, Epstein Becker Green attorneys Jenny Nelson Carney, Lisa Pierce Reisz, and Erin Sutton dissect gender-affirming care: what it is, what it isn't, and what is at stake for everyone involved.

In our ongoing series of blog posts, we have been examining several key negotiating points for tenants in triple net health care leases. We also have offered suggestions for certain lease provisions that will protect tenants from overreaching and unfair expenses, overly burdensome obligations, and ambiguous terms with respect to the rights and responsibilities of the parties. These suggestions are intended to result in efficient lease negotiations and favorable lease terms from a tenant’s perspective. In our previous blog posts, we considered the importance of negotiating ...

At the end of 2022, FDA published a draft guidance on Voluntary Malfunction Summary Reporting (VMSR) Program for Manufacturers. The draft guidance explains several aspects of the VMSR Program, including FDA’s approach to determining the eligibility of product codes for the program.  Consistent with the goals outlined in the Medical Device User Fee Amendments of 2017 (MDUFA IV) Commitment Letter, the VMSR Program streamlines reporting of device malfunctions. The program began in 2018 when FDA issued an order granting an alternative reporting approach under 21 CFR 803.19.  The ...

A major update in cannabis law was announced by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Attorney General (AG) this past Tuesday, April 30, 2024 regarding their intent to ease restrictions on cannabis. The DEA plans to recommend that cannabis be rescheduled as a Schedule III substance under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). This announcement follows mounting federal support over the course of the last few years to reschedule cannabis, which has been listed as a Schedule I substance since 1970.

Although it is possible to change the schedule status of a substance per the CSA via ...

Turns out, ignorance really is bliss, at least according to the Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”) within the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”), in publishing its final rule on algorithmic discrimination by payers and providers. Our concern is that the final rule,  based on section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, creates a double standard where more sophisticated organizations are held to a higher level of compliance.  Set to become effective 300 days after publication, health care providers and payers will have a lot of work to do in that time.

In this post, we will lay ...