FTC sends warning to dozens of hospitals over price transparency failures
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has signaled its intent to crack down on price transparency, sending a warning letter this week to 24 large hospital systems, telling leadership to “take corrective action swiftly” if they are not in compliance with federal regulations, mainly an executive order from President Donald Trump that requires facilities to disclose the actual price they charge for patient care services.
In the letter dated Oct. 5, the FTC told recipients that the correspondence does not mean they are suspected of being in violation of the policy. Instead, it’s framed as an alert to check to ensure they are in full compliance with all regulations aimed at reducing deceptive marketing, including the No Surprises Act.
“The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) price-transparency rules, which are administered and enforced by CMS, establish a critical foundation for ensuring that healthcare facilities provide information to consumers related to pricing,” FTC Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson wrote. “These rules are, however, a regulatory floor: Compliance with CMS requirements does not mean that a hospital has met its obligations under Section 5 of the FTC Act, which prohibits unfair or deceptive acts or practices in the marketplace.”
He added that the FTC is ready to take action if scrutiny from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services isn’t enough, or if the hospitals attempt to skirt price transparency policy.
“In other words, the CMS rules do not provide a safe harbor from liability under the FTC Act,” Ferguson stated.
The agency posted the letter online for the public to see but did not include a list of hospital recipients.
Rule dates back to Trump’s first term
In 2019, CMS finalized a rule that required hospitals to post a list of 300 common services, along with the price they charge, both to patients directly and to insurance companies. In March 2026, at the behest of Trump and to comply with a second term executive order, hospitals were required to be more precise—estimating what an insurer would pay was no longer an option.
Instead, hospitals are now required to accurately display the allowed amount that insurance companies pay, representing the maximum cost to healthcare payers. Hospitals were also required to provide this information in the form of a data file, something the 2019 rule during Trump’s first term also called for.
Compliance with the rules has been lagging, despite increasing pressure from CMS, which has been attempting to enforce the regulations since 2021.
As the FTC noted in its letter, complying with CMS rules will help hospitals to avoid running afoul of market protections and antitrust conditions in the FTC Act.
By failing to post the price of services, the agency said hospitals could be engaging in deceptive practices that could result in enforcement from multiple regulatory bodies.
For now, however, the letter is only a warning.
Chad is an award-winning writer and editor with over 15 years of experience working in media. He has a decade-long professional background in healthcare, working as a writer and in public relations.