When the three-judge panel of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral argument last December, the word repeated through the courtroom was control. On September 1, 2026 the panel handed down a decision in which control plays almost no
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AI-Assisted Data Mining and the False Claims Act: Is a Data Anomaly Really a False Claim?
Data miner whistleblowers, increasingly armed with artificial intelligence (AI) tools, are already reshaping how False Claims Act (FCA) theories are built, generated, and litigated. The Department of Justice’s (DOJ) April 2026 announcement of the Fraud Oversight through Careful Use of
California’s Corporate Practice Crackdown: What Carbon Health, Aspen Dental, and SB 351 Mean for Healthcare Investors and Operators
California has long maintained one of the country’s most stringent prohibitions against the corporate practice of licensed professions, including medicine and dentistry. Under that doctrine, only licensed professionals may own and operate their practices. So, to participate in the practice,
Georgia Widely Expands Patient Access to More Potent Medical Cannabis but Remains Smokeless
The “Putting Georgia’s Patients First Act” (Senate Bill 220 or the Act) brought sweeping changes to the state’s medical cannabis program on July 1, 2026, significantly expanding what had been one of the most restrictive medical cannabis programs in
From Biologics to Bandages to Subpoenas: Skin Substitutes Take Center Stage at AHLA
In November 2025 we published From Biologics to Bandages, Skin Substitutes Are No Longer the Biologics You Think They Are, flagging an unmistakable shift at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) toward constraining a massive increase in
Paper Compliance Versus Economic Reality: Physician Contracting Lessons for Hospitals and Health Systems from a Recent False Claims Act Case
A recent False Claims Act (FCA) ruling out of Tennessee offers a pointed reminder for hospitals and health systems: physician contracts that appear compliant on paper can still create serious enforcement risk if the economics tell a different story. In
A Sliding Door to the Future of Healthcare Enforcement: Will We Soon See DEI-Based False Claims Act Settlements in Healthcare?
The U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) first False Claims Act (FCA) settlement under its new Civil Rights Fraud Initiative offers key insight for federal contractors, federal funding recipients and healthcare providers. Under the settlement reached in April 2026, International Business Machines
What the FTC’s Ascension/AmSurg Order Means for Nonprofit Healthcare Deals
The Deal
On June 2, 2026, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) required nonprofit health system Ascension Health Alliance to divest several ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) as a condition of closing its proposed $3.9 billion acquisition of AmSurg LLC. The order
Fair Warning: HHS OIG’s New FAQs Caution that Fair Market Value and Stark-Compliant Arrangements Can Nonetheless Violate the Federal Anti-Kickback Statute
Fair market value arrangements and those that satisfy an exception to the physician self-referral law (Stark Law) can nonetheless violate the federal Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS). That is the message of two recent updates the U.S. Department of Health and Human
No Remuneration, No Problem: Favorable OIG Advisory Opinion Highlights Important Guardrails for Clinical Laboratories Affiliated with Urgent Care Clinics
Management service organizations (MSOs) with affiliated clinical labs and urgent care clinics should take note of newly identified guardrails that will facilitate their compliance with the federal Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS). Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human