Department of Education Scales Back Enforcement of Program Participation Agreement Owner-Entity Signature Requirements
On January 16, 2026, the Department of Education (“ED”) released electronic announcement GENERAL-26-04 Program Participation Agreement Signature Requirements, which addresses the circumstances under which an owner-entity of an eligible institution of higher education is required to sign a Program Participation Agreement (“PPA”). Following settlement of litigation challenging the “co-signature” requirement, […]
CLIENT ALERT: HEALTH INFORMATION EXCHANGE VULNERABILITIES
What Happened? On January 13, 2026 Epic Systems, the owner and provider of the largest electronic health record platform in the USA filed a lawsuit in California alleging that numerous bad actors had likely accessed national health information exchange frameworks (“HIE”) and engaged in activities to fraudulently steal and access […]
Negotiated Rulemaking Forges Ahead: Key Themes from the Public Comments and What to Expect Going Forward
On July 24, 2025, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) announced its intent to convene two negotiated rulemaking committees to implement the higher education provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) as well as other administration priorities. The Reimagining and Improving Student Education (RISE) Committee will consider changes […]
Federal Judge Vacates Two Department of Education DEI Directives on Procedural Grounds
In a 76-page memorandum opinion dated August 14, 2025 (“Dkt. 83”), Maryland District Court Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher found unlawful the U.S. Department of Education’s (“ED”) Dear Colleague Letter of February 14, 2025 (“Letter”), and “The Reminder of Legal Obligations Undertaken in Exchange for Receiving Federal Financial Assistance and Request […]
DOJ Issues New Guidance on DEI Programs for Federal Fund Recipients
On July 29, 2025, Attorney General Pam Bondi released a nine-page memorandum titled “Guidance for Recipients of Federal Funding Regarding Unlawful Discrimination” (“DOJ DEI Memo”).[1] Although characterized as “non-binding,” the DOJ DEI Memo provides supplemental guidance[2] on the Department of Justice’s current interpretation of federal antidiscrimination laws as applied to […]
Register for HMBR May 22, 2025 Webinar: Insights on Higher Education in 2025
Hogan Marren Babbo & Rose, Ltd.’s Education Practice Group announces the 5th webinar in our new complimentary monthly series, “Insights on Higher Education in 2025,” on Thursday, May 22, 2025 from 12:00–1:00 CST. REWRITING THE RULES: UNDERSTANDING THE HOUSE RECONCILIATION PROPOSAL’S SWEEPING CHANGES TO HIGHER EDUCATION On April 29, 2025, […]
Keeping Your Doctors Close – Part III: What Health Systems Must Do
The first two parts of this series by John Marren (1948-2025) and Thomas Babbo of Hogan, Marren, Babbo, and Rose (“HMBR”) focused on why health systems need to engage in efforts to retain their affiliated physicians actively and why physicians are looking to be acquired by private equity, insurance carriers, […]
Information Blocking Litigation Update: Real Time v. PointClickCare
On March 12, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed the district court’s grant of a preliminary injunction to Real Time Medical Systems (RTMS), a health data analytics company, to stop PointClickCare (PCC) from unlawfully restricting RTMS’s access to its electronic health record systems. In ruling […]
FOURTH CIRCUIT STAYS INJUNCTION PENDING APPEAL IN DEI CASE
The legal developments related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”) continue to evolve. On March 14, 2025, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued an Order granting the government’s motion for a stay of the preliminary injunction entered by a Maryland district court in February. Nat’l […]
Keeping Your Doctors Close – Part II: Retaining Physicians
Part 1 of this series of articles by John Marren (1948-2025) and Thomas Babbo of Hogan Marren Babbo and Rose, Ltd. (“HMBR”) on the critical challenge to health systems in retaining physicians addressed where physicians are going; Part 2 focuses on why they are going. To effectively build a program […]