On September 4, 2012, the Federal Circuit issued an opinion in an appeal from the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. Santarus, Inc., et al. v. Par Pharm., Inc., No. 2010-1360, -1380.

On Monday, June 14, 2004, the United States Supreme Court issued a decision clarifying the state of the law on employer liability for sexual harassment when a hostile work environment is created by a supervisor.

Under Section 442 of the Medicare Modernization Act, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services ("CMS") must manage a redistribution of "unused" residency slots. CMS will reduce a hospital's cap on residency positions by 75 percent of the difference between its current cap and the total number of residents on its last cost report submitted for a year ending on or before September 30, 2002. Rural hospitals with less than 250 beds are exempt from this reduction.

On January 16, 2004, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services ("CMS") announced significant increases in federal payment rates for Medicare Advantage ("MA") health plans (the successors to Medicare+Choice ("M+C") plans).

The Supreme Court voted 8-0 to limit the international reach of the United States antitrust laws (Justice O’Connor not participating, and Justices Scalia and Thomas concurring). The Court ruled that the federal antitrust laws do not reach anticompetitive conduct where the complained-of injuries occurred outside of the United States and wholly independent of the alleged injury to U.S. commerce.

Last week, CMS made available a redacted advisory opinion regarding the Medicare Modernization Act's ("MMA's") 18-month moratorium on physician referrals to specialty hospitals in which the physician (or his immediate family member) has an ownership or investment interest. The opinion focuses on the Stark law which prohibits such physician referrals unless an exception applies.

Gunnison Energy Corporation (GEC), SG Interests I Ltd., and SG Interests VII Ltd. (SGI) were required to pay a total of $550,000 to the United States for antitrust and False Claims Act violations related to an agreement not to compete in bidding for four natural gas leases sold at auction by the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

On August 3, 2012, the Federal Circuit issued a decision holding that the safe harbor provision of the Hatch Waxman Act, 35 U.S.C. § 271(e)(1), covers post-approval testing as long as it is "reasonably related" to the submission of information the FDA.

On Friday, October 31, 2003, a jury in Portland, Oregon returned a verdict in favor of plaintiff, McKenzie-Willamette Hospital, against defendant, PeaceHealth, for antitrust violations. The damages awarded totaled $5.4 million (trebled to $16.2 million) plus attorneys fees.

Secretary of Health and Human Services ("HHS") Tommy Thompson unveiled the report of Dr. David Brailer, the national health information technology coordinator, "Decade of Health Information Technology: Delivering Consumer-centric and Information-Rich Healthcare" at a Secretarial Summit on Health Information Technology ("HIT").

Parties with Ukrainian assets or operations are advised to carefully consider their obligations under Ukrainian pre-merger notification laws before engaging in significant transactions.

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement last week issued revised regulations for Safety and Environmental Management Systems.

On October 3, 2011, in a matter of first impression, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit identified the trigger for applying estoppel under 35 U.S.C. § 315(c) when a patent-in-suit is also subject to an inter partes reexamination at the U.S. Patent Office.