FTC tells 24 hospital groups that meeting federal price rules does not protect them

FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson sent warning letters on October 5 to 24 of the largest U.S. healthcare services companies, telling them that patients must get timely, accurate and complete prices for care. The sharpest line in the letter: following the federal hospital price transparency rules run by CMS does not shield a hospital from FTC action.

The agency did not name the recipients. The letter itself says it is not an assessment of any one company's practices and not a finding that anyone broke the law.

The rules hospitals already follow are only a floor

Since January 2021, CMS has required hospitals to post machine-readable files of their standard charges and to show prices for at least 300 "shoppable" services in a consumer-friendly format. The rules were tightened again from January 1, 2026: hospitals now have to attest that their posted data is complete and accurate, and name an official responsible for it, according to the FTC letter.

The FTC's position is that this is a minimum. In the letter's words, the CMS rules "do not provide a safe harbor from liability under the FTC Act." Section 5 of that law bans unfair or deceptive practices across the economy, and the FTC is treating price as a material term of medical care, the same way it treats price for a car or a concert ticket.

A partial quote can count as a misleading one

The most practical part of the letter is about incomplete estimates. A price disclosure may be deceptive if it leaves out charges such as physician fees or facility fees, or covers only part of the expected course of care, because patients can reasonably assume they were told the total, the FTC said.

The letter also argues that missing or late prices for scheduled care can be "unfair" under the law, since patients cannot compare providers and the hospital gains nothing that benefits consumers in return. The focus is on non-emergency services booked in advance, where a hospital usually knows what it will charge.

Part of a wider push on hidden prices

The FTC lists earlier cases on rental housing, ticketing, hotels, grocery delivery and car sales as part of the same campaign. A week earlier it sued online seller Lens.com over contact lens prices. The letter also cites reporting that CMS warned more than 500 hospitals this year for failing its expanded transparency requirements.

Ferguson asked the companies to review their pricing practices and correct them quickly. The letters carry no deadline or penalty on their own. Whether the FTC follows up with a case against a hospital system is the open question.