Health Law Scan

Members of our labor, employment & benefits and healthcare teams recently published a LawFlash discussing the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA’s) updated COVID-19 guidance for employers. The long-awaited COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) is effective as of June 10, 2021, but only applies to employers in healthcare and healthcare support services settings. Employers covered by the ETS have 14 days (from the date that the ETS is published in the Federal Register) to comply with most provisions, and 30 days (also from the date of publication in the Federal Register) to comply with the provisions related to physical barriers, ventilation, and training.

Members of our labor and employment and employment counseling teams recently published a LawFlash discussing the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC’s) long-awaited update to its technical assistance guidance on COVID-19 and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Rehabilitation Act, and other federal equal employment opportunity (EEO) laws.

Members of our labor and employment team have published resources highlighting updates to state mask guidance in California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Oregon, and Washington in alignment with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) new guidance that allows fully vaccinated individuals to forgo masks and social distancing requirements in most indoor and outdoor locations.

Members of our healthcare and life sciences teams recently published an analysis of key insurance, liability, and enforcement considerations for organizations providing vaccine access. Highlights include the state and federal laws providing protection to organizations during an outbreak of an infectious disease, what is important for private employers contemplating the administration of closed point-of-delivery vaccination programs to know, and current enforcement trends.

Members of our labor and employment team recently published a LawFlash examining the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) new guidance stating fully vaccinated individuals can safely forgo masks and social distancing requirements in most indoor locations. This policy change is due to new information showing reduced risk of COVID-19 infection in vaccinated individuals and reduced risk of transmission from fully vaccinated persons to unvaccinated persons.

Members of our labor and employment team recently published a LawFlash discussing and analyzing the New York Health and Essential Rights Act (the HERO Act), which was signed into law on May 5, 2021 by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. The HERO Act requires the New York State Department of Labor and New York State Department of Health to create industry-specific airborne infectious disease standards that must be used by all employers doing business within the State of New York.

Our US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) team recently published a blog post discussing the FDA’s issuance of its first clinicaltrials.gov notice of noncompliance to a clinical trial sponsor for failure to submit clinical trial results to the National Institutes of Health databank. While the authority to issue such notices has existed since the 2007 passage of the Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act, this is the first time the FDA has exercised its clinicaltrials.gov enforcement authority.

We hosted a very informative Fast Break session last week discussing what healthcare providers need to know as they prepare their employees to return to work and try to get back to a sense of normalcy. If you weren’t able to join us for the live program, be sure to access the presentation on demand or peruse the main takeaways below.

Members of our digital health and technology, outsourcing, and commercial transactions teams recently published a resource providing analysis of key considerations for tech service providers and life sciences companies collaborating in the digital health space, whether in regards to the development of artificial intelligence or other software, the provision of data hosting and analysis services, or a more complex collaboration.

Members of our labor and employment team recently published a LawFlash discussing the US Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) April 14 issuance of three pieces of subregulatory guidance addressing the cybersecurity practices of retirement plan sponsors, vendors, and plan participants respectively. This resource, which includes our team’s analysis and observations, may be of particular interest to employers in the healthcare sector, who are all too familiar with how important it is to keep data secure.