This week we are celebrating the birth of our nation – 250 years of the great experiment of the democratic republic of United States of America. It has been 250 years since we adopted the Declaration of Independence. 250 years of declaring the right to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” and “That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to…
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In two recent civil antitrust complaints, the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) alleged that hospital systems used payer contracting provisions—so‑called steering restrictions that require hospitals to be included in nearly all of an insurer’s commercial networks at the most favored level of benefits—to restrict health insurers’ ability to offer narrow network plans, tiered network plans or other insurance plans that give its members financial incentives to use specific network providers. DOJ brought these actions under…
Continue Reading OhioHealth Settlement Signals Growing Antitrust Risk in Managed Care Contracting

It has been several years since the claim-filing crisis from the Covid-19 pandemic. In January of 2021, I explained why then proposed changes to the claim-filing process were unlikely to lead to any real improvements. And, in November of 2022, I reviewed noticeable trends in why and how unemployment claims were being denied in Wisconsin.

So, it is time to look at the data since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic to see what has changed…
Continue Reading Claim filing in 2026 in Wisconsin

Rental registries are essentially databases that contain information about rental properties and their owners. They can be used to track information about ownership, document certification or licensing based on rental inspections – a powerful local tool to identify and stabilize deteriorated but occupied rental properties. Sometimes, where applicable, these registries can help enforce municipal rent stabilization ordinances.[1] Historical Context Before 2016, many Wisconsin municipalities, including Milwaukee, had rental registry programs and proactive inspection programs.[2] Enacted in…
Continue Reading Rental Inspection Restrictions Put Childhood Lead Prevention at Risk

  • The Surry County (NC) commissioners unanimously approved a deal to transfer Northern Regional Hospital to Novant Health. The agreement protects more than 1,000 jobs, with Novant committing more than $135M in investment.
  • After the Charity Hospital building in New Orleans sat empty for over 20 years, Tulane University has announced plans to buy and then transform the building into a bioscience and medical education hub. The project is estimated to cost $500M and be more than 650,000 sf.
  • The

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    Continue Reading Weekly Hospital Real Estate Briefing: Tulane Advances $500M Charity Hospital Redevelopment | El Camino Health Plans $1B Hospital Rebuild | Dallas Hospital District Gets $225M Investment

    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) has issued a meaningful Request for Information (“RFI”) seeking stakeholder input on potential new or modified Anti-Kickback Statute (“AKS”) regulatory safe harbors and Beneficiary Inducements Civil Monetary Penalty (“CMP”) exceptions for remuneration to clinical trial participants. The RFI was published as part of HHS’s Operation TrialBlazer, a coordinated department-wide initiative aimed at promoting clinical research leadership and engagement in the United States, including a…
    Continue Reading OIG Issues RFI on Anti-Kickback Statute Safe Harbors for Clinical Trial Participant Remuneration – Comments Due August 24, 2026

    You ask a junior associate to draft a services agreement. A day later, a polished-looking document lands in your inbox. You later learn much of it was written not by the associate, but by a generative artificial intelligence (AI) tool. This is no longer hypothetical. Generative AI is now used to draft and redline contracts, write and polish memoranda, and review volumes of documents in data rooms, among other things. Already in use at many firms, these tools offer…
    Continue Reading When Associates Use AI: The Supervising Lawyer’s Responsibility

    Many LTD claimants whose claims get denied plan to handle an appeal on their own and then involve an attorney if the insurer denies their appeal. On the surface, it seems like a good way to save money on legal fees. In reality, it can be one of the most costly decisions in the entire process.
    If your claim is governed by ERISA (the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974)—which most employer-sponsored group LTD policies are—the evidence that…
    Continue Reading Why Your Long-Term Disability Appeal May Decide Your Entire Case Before You Ever Get to Court

    Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic medical condition that is characterized by brain fog, fatigue, muscle weakness, and many other debilitating symptoms that limit a person’s ability to function on a daily basis1. For many people living with MS, the hardest part can often be the uncertainty that follows. While symptoms can vary from person to person, these symptoms can often make sustained employment difficult. When that happens, employer-provided short- and long-term disability benefits plans may be necessary to…
    Continue Reading Multiple Sclerosis and the Difficult Road to Long-Term Disability Benefits

    Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) is a serious medical condition that is characterized by severe fatigue, post-exertional malaise, sleep disturbances, and a range of other debilitating symptoms that can severely limit a person’s ability to work and participate in normal activities1. Unfortunately, those living with ME/CFS often have the difficult reality of proving the disabling effects of a condition that may not be noticeable to others in order to receive long-term disability (LTD) benefits.
    Because a lot of the…
    Continue Reading ME/CFS and Long-Term Disability Benefits: Understanding the Legal Challenges

    Since we last posted about the First Amendment rights of employees in 2012, the law has remained relatively stable but social media has exploded. And for the last 14 years, courts have been trying to figure out how speech made online affects the legal analysis regarding the First Amendment rights of government employees.
    For a primer on the First Amendment rights of government employees, go back and look at Attorney Summer Murshid’s post from 2012. However, here are…
    Continue Reading Social Media Posts and the First Amendment Rights of Government Employees

    Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) has taken the world by storm. It seems no matter where you turn, AI is being promoted for all kinds of uses. By way of example, the City of Milwaukee recently announced that they will be using AI to address the increasing number of potholes around the city. It has also become apparent that more and more people are seeking legal advice from generative AI tools such as OpenAI ChatGPT, Anthropic Claude, and Google Gemini. While…
    Continue Reading Why Employees Should Proceed with Caution when Using AI to Vet Potential Claims Against Their Employers

    The Gap Between FDA Authorization and Medicare Coverage
    In April 2026, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) announced a proposed initiative, the Regulatory Alignment for Predictable and Immediate Device (“RAPID”) pathway, intended to expedite Medicare coverage of certain Class II and Class III devices that have received Breakthrough Device designation and are pursuing FDA market authorization while engaging with CMS. Under RAPID, CMS aims to issue a proposed National…
    Continue Reading CMS Announces RAPID Coverage Pathway to Speed Medicare Coverage of New Medical Devices

    The Indiana Court of Appeals (“the Court”) affirmed a temporary commitment order after finding clear and convincing evidence that a patient was gravely disabled because of mental illness. Rejecting the patient’s argument that medication noncompliance, denial of his diagnosis and temporary homelessness were insufficient to establish grave disability, the Court emphasized the totality of the circumstances. The record showed repeated psychiatric hospitalizations, abandonment of outpatient treatment, longstanding medication noncompliance, delusional beliefs and conduct demonstrating a substantial impairment in judgment…
    Continue Reading Indiana Court of Appeals Upholds Grave-Disability Finding Based on Pattern of Mental Health Deterioration

    When a loved one begins to need help with daily activities, families often face difficult decisions about care. Long-term care is not limited to nursing homes—it includes a wide range of services that help individuals manage daily living when age, illness, disability, or cognitive decline makes independent living difficult.

    Long-term care may include help with bathing, dressing, eating, mobility, toileting, medication management, meal preparation, and supervision for individuals with memory loss or cognitive impairment. 

    For many families, staying at…
    Continue Reading What is Long Term Care?

    A federal court in Pennsylvania (“the Court”) ordered the unsealing of nearly a decade’s worth of False Claims Act (“FCA”) filings, holding that the government failed to overcome the strong presumption of public access to judicial records.

    In U.S. ex rel. Compton v. HCR ManorCare, Inc., No. 16-0851 (E.D. Pa. Apr. 17, 2026) (“Compton“), the Court rejected the government’s attempt to keep dozens of petitions confidential—petitions asking the Court to delay unsealing the case to the…
    Continue Reading A Turning Tide—Federal Court Orders Decade of Sealed FCA Filings Unsealed