CLASS ACTIONS IN THE HEALTHCARE SECTOR
CD: What factors are driving healthcare-related class actions in the US? What are the common reasons such lawsuits are filed?
Boedeker: Over the last 12 months or so, healthcare-related lawsuits in the US have been prevalent, with a wide range of cases involving health insurance companies, healthcare providers, medical device manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies. Many of these lawsuits are filed seeking class certification because of the large number of plaintiffs. State and federal requirements for class certification differ widely across the US. Class action lawsuits in healthcare have arisen from a variety of factors and affect different entities in the industry. For example, health insurance companies are often involved in two types of broad categories. First, coverage denial disputes when they allegedly deny coverage for medical procedures, medications, treatments or reimbursement for out of network charges. And second, disputes over unjustified or excessive premium increases. Pharmaceutical companies are also a target, often facing allegations of failing to warn about potential side effects, inadequate testing, unlawful promotion of prescription drugs and misrepresentation of drug benefits. Medical device manufacturers often face class action claims involving allegations of faulty design, manufacturing defects or inadequate warning. In addition, class actions against healthcare providers typically involve billing and pricing issues like overcharging, fraudulent billing practices or deceptive pricing strategies. A second type of healthcare provider class actions can arise from alleged medical negligence or malpractice. Besides the specific class actions arising in the aforementioned areas, we also observed class actions common to each of these areas when dealing with issues like coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic-related legal challenges, data breaches or antitrust violations. The problem of data breaches leaking confidential information and leading to harm have become more frequent, as have allegations of price fixing or anti-competitive behaviour. We also see class actions alleging false and misleading advertisement’s against entities in the healthcare industry.
Apr-Jun 2024 issue
BRG