- Continuing Action by State Officials Related to Reproductive Rights and Gender-Affirming Care: Texas continued to take actions to defend and uphold its abortion bans in 2024. This included an interpretation of the state’s emergency abortion exception and action by State Attorney General Ken Paxton in December 2024 to prosecute an out-of-state physician for prescribing abortion medications in Texas via telemedicine. These issues, as well as controversies over the state’s ban on gender-affirming care, can be expected to continue in the new year.
- Increasing Coverage of GLP-1s: The widespread adoption of GLP-1s, alongside the development of increasingly robust research related to their benefits for a variety of chronic conditions, was perhaps the health care story of 2024. 2025 will likely bring pressure on public and private payors to expand coverage of GLP-1s. The Biden administration proposed covering GLP-1s under Medicare and Medicaid, and discussions of Medicaid coverage are ongoing in multiple states. Many commercial payors may follow Medicare’s decision, but cost pressures may result in many payors still placing limitations on coverage, even in an environment where some of the drugs are emerging from shortages.
- Texas Health Care and Life Science Incubators: Texas is positioning itself to better attract entrepreneurs and innovators leading the way in developing diagnostic and therapeutic products and technology. This includes the establishment of incubator ecosystems in state-of-the-art facilities within the largest medical centers in the world, including the TMC Helix Park (Houston), Pegasus Park (Dallas), and Austin Technology Incubator @ UT (Austin). These entities and many others located in Texas are garnering the attention of the health care and life sciences market on a global scale. The anticipated expansion to position Texas as a leader in shepherding new discoveries and serving as the home of successful ventures in these industries is a major trend for 2025.
- Public Policy Changes: The Trump administration is expected to significantly impact federal health policymaking. New agency leadership appointments, including at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), will directly shape agency priorities. The Supreme Court’s 2024 decision to overturn Chevron, which had governed federal courts’ deference to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes for nearly four decades, is further likely to influence policymaking dynamics between the new administration, federal courts, and private businesses.
- Private Equity and Health Care – A System in Transition: Private equity investments in health care came under increased scrutiny under the previous administration. Several states have enacted legislation to require disclosure of transactions in health care that involve private equity (PE) funding. Investment trends predicted in 2025 include but are not limited to (1) increased investment in digital health, healthtech, and medtech; (2) value-based care models; (3) consolidations and mergers; and (4) specialty care. The new administration is expected to propose significant changes that will affect health care investment to include changes in (1) regulations, (2) Medicare and Medicaid; (3) the ACA; and (4) market competition as nontraditional leaders assume roles in the various health care departments. Additionally, Pitchbook predicts that PE-backed IPOs will increase and older PE investments will be sold or wound down.
About the Authors:
Greenberg Traurig’s Health Care & FDA Practice in Texas includes Shareholders Joseph F. Coniglio, Nicholas J. Diamond, Charles C. Dunham, IV, Somer Hayes, Adam H. Laughton, Michael L. Malone and James Peacock; and Senior Counsel Sheryl Tatar Dacso.