FTC Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson Launches Healthcare Task Force

Today, Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson directed FTC staff to form a Healthcare Task Force that will engage in a coordinated, integrated approach to healthcare enforcement and advocacy to protect American patients, healthcare workers, and taxpayers.

In a memorandum, Chairman Ferguson directed the FTC's Bureaus of Competition, Consumer Protection and Economics, as well as the Office of Policy Planning and Office of Technology to form the Healthcare Task Force.

The Healthcare Task Force will:

• Lead targeted enforcement and advocacy initiatives focused on key priorities;
• Devise coordinated agencywide strategies on investigations;
• Take a proactive and strategic approach to identifying amicus and statement of interest opportunities; and
• Identify emerging issues and new priority areas for enforcement and advocacy.

The Healthcare Task Force will also seek to expand its membership to include other agencies and law enforcement partners, including the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Justice.

The formation of the FTC's Healthcare Task Force is the Commission's latest action to "create a more competitive, innovative, affordable, and higher quality healthcare system" as directed by President Trump's executive order. In the last year, the FTC has secured several wins for Americans, including:

• A landmark settlement with Express Scripts, Inc., and its affiliated entities requiring them to adopt changes to their business practices that increase transparency and are expected to lower patients' out-of-pocket costs for drugs like insulin by up to $7 billion over 10 years;
• A successful challenge against Edwards' proposed acquisition of JenaValve that preserves competition on innovation and product quality;
• An abandonment of the proposed merger of Alcon and Lensar, preserving competition on price and innovation;
• Securing $145 million in consumer redress from companies alleged to have misled millions of consumers seeking health insurance into purchasing indemnity, telemedicine, and health discount plans; and
• Taking action against substance-abuse treatment facilities that used telemarketers to impersonate other facilities and funnel consumers with substance-abuse disorders from recommended, local facilities to their own, and securing $2.4 million in redress for consumers.

In standing up the Healthcare Task Force, Chairman Ferguson will continue the FTC's efforts to address existing and emerging consumer-protection and competition issues across the healthcare industry.