The Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003
Client Alert | 1 min read | 01.01.04
The President has signed into law the Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003. The Act is a far-reaching recasting of the Medicare law, most notably in the creation of a new drug benefit. It also makes major changes to the Medicare coordinated care plan program, now to be called Medicare Advantage, radically restructures the Medicare intermediary contracting program, changes provider reimbursement, creates a new form of health savings account with potentially significant tax advantages, and changes many other aspects of the almost 40-year old program.
Click here to download Crowell & Moring's summary of the Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 [doc].
Insights
Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.21.25
On November 7, 2025, in Thornton v. National Academy of Sciences, No. 25-cv-2155, 2025 WL 3123732 (D.D.C. Nov. 7, 2025), the District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed a False Claims Act (FCA) retaliation complaint on the basis that the plaintiff’s allegations that he was fired after blowing the whistle on purported illegally discriminatory use of federal funding was not sufficient to support his FCA claim. This case appears to be one of the first filed, and subsequently dismissed, following Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s announcement of the creation of the Civil Rights Fraud Initiative on May 19, 2025, which “strongly encourages” private individuals to file lawsuits under the FCA relating to purportedly discriminatory and illegal use of federal funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in violation of Executive Order 14173, Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity (Jan. 21, 2025). In this case, the court dismissed the FCA retaliation claim and rejected the argument that an organization could violate the FCA merely by “engaging in discriminatory conduct while conducting a federally funded study.” The analysis in Thornton could be a sign of how forthcoming arguments of retaliation based on reporting allegedly fraudulent DEI activity will be analyzed in the future.
Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.20.25
Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.20.25
Client Alert | 6 min read | 11.19.25
