Court Rules
All enforcement actions
Warning LetterLow Risk

FTC Warning Letters to Hospitals on Deceptive Pricing Practices

24 healthcare services companies (not individually named)October 5, 2026Federal Trade Commission

Summary

The FTC sent warning letters to 24 large healthcare services companies, cautioning that incomplete, inaccurate, or untimely pricing information for scheduled medical care may be unfair or deceptive. The letters urge recipients to review their price-disclosure practices and take corrective action; they announce no fine or formal order.

Remedy

The letters urge healthcare services companies to conduct a comprehensive review of their price-disclosure practices and take swift corrective action as needed. No monetary penalty or formal remedy is announced.

Contract Impact

Healthcare providers should review customer-facing service agreements, estimates, and billing disclosures to ensure prices for scheduled care are clear, accurate, complete, and provided sufficiently in advance, including applicable physician and facility fees and the expected course of care. Vendor agreements with billing, scheduling, and pricing-platform providers should allocate responsibility for maintaining accurate price information, timely updates, and complete disclosures; include audit and correction obligations; and avoid treating CMS price-transparency compliance as a substitute for FTC Act compliance. This action does not concern privacy obligations, so employee privacy or data-processing clauses are not directly implicated.

Contract Search Terms

healthcare price disclosureprice transparency clausetotal cost disclosurefacility and physician feesscheduled care pricingadvance price estimatepricing accuracy warrantycorrective action for pricing disclosures

Laws Cited

FTC ActCenters for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) price transparency rules
Section 5 of the FTC Act

Violation Types

Entity Details

Entity

24 healthcare services companies (not individually named)

Industry

Healthcare

Official Sources

Source Evidence

Entity Name
"letters to 24 of the nation’s largest healthcare services companies"
Laws Cited
"Section 5 of the FTC Act"
Laws Cited
"the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ price transparency rules"
Violation Types
"failing to provide transparent price information, particularly for routine and non-emergency medical care scheduled in advance."
Remedy Summary
"conduct a comprehensive review of their price disclosure practices and take swift corrective action as needed."

Related Enforcement Actions

FTC

Premier Franchising Group LLC and Franchise Fastlane LLC

$1.9M

The FTC alleged that Premier Franchising Group LLC and Franchise Fastlane LLC made deceptive and unsubstantiated claims about the Premier Martial Arts franchise opportunity and violated the Franchise Rule. The proposed settlements require the companies to pay a combined $1.85 million to compensate franchisees, prohibit certain misrepresentations, and require Franchise Rule compliance; certain franchisees may also cancel their agreements without penalty.

FTC

Lens.com Inc.

The FTC, Utah, and Nevada sued Lens.com Inc., alleging that it advertised artificially low contact lens prices while hiding mandatory checkout charges and misleading consumers about its AutoRefill subscription. The complaint seeks to stop the alleged practices; the court has not yet decided the case, and no penalty or remedy has been imposed.

FTC

Online platforms

The FTC issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking seeking public comment on whether ad-optimization tools offered by online platforms may help scammers impersonate businesses and government agencies. This is a proposed regulatory inquiry, not an enforcement action against a named company; no penalty or remedy was imposed.

FTC

Amazon.com, Inc.

$2.5B

A federal court approved a revised order in the FTC's Amazon Prime case under which Amazon will accelerate and expand redress payments under the September 2025 $2.5 billion settlement, which resolved allegations that Amazon enrolled millions of consumers in Prime subscriptions without their consent and knowingly made cancellation difficult. More consumers now qualify for refunds, the maximum payment cap rises from $51 to $200, and all future payments will be distributed automatically starting October 1, 2026, with potential supplemental $149 payments by April 2027. Amazon has already issued more than $845 million in redress payments as of September 2026.

FTC

Amway Corp.

$225.0M

The FTC and the state of Washington filed a joint complaint and proposed stipulated order requiring Amway Corp. and two affiliates—World Wide Group, L.L.C. (WWG) and Leadership Team Development Inc. (LTD)—to pay a $225 million judgment, the largest monetary recovery ever obtained from an MLM in an FTC action, over allegations that they used deceptive earnings claims and unfair tactics to recruit Independent Business Owners. The complaint alleges the companies falsely promised substantial income and recruitment success, pressured IBOs to buy products they could not resell, and instructed IBOs to falsely report sales. Nearly all of the judgment will be used as redress for IBOs who lost money, and the proposed order imposes structural reforms including a 70% resale requirement, independent audits of sales records, and a ban on approved providers charging new IBOs for first-year training.

FTC

FleetCor Technologies Inc. (now Corpay Inc.)

$100.0M

FleetCor Technologies Inc. (now Corpay Inc.) and its CEO Ronald Clarke agreed to pay $100 million to settle an FTC administrative action alleging the company charged small business customers hidden and unauthorized fees for fuel cards and misrepresented gas savings, fraud-control features, and fees. A federal district court granted the FTC summary judgment on all counts in 2023, and a federal appeals court upheld that judgment and the permanent injunction in 2026. The settlement funds will be used to provide redress to harmed business customers.