The new group is intended to strengthen the FTC’s response to issues affecting patients, healthcare workers and taxpayers by bringing together multiple parts of the agency under a more unified strategy, per a statement. Ferguson outlined the move in a memorandum ordering the FTC’s Bureaus of Competition, Consumer Protection and Economics, along with the Office of Policy Planning and the Office of Technology, to establish the task force.
According to a statement, the Healthcare Task Force will oversee targeted enforcement and advocacy efforts tied to the agency’s central priorities. It will also develop agencywide strategies for investigations, take a more forward-looking approach to identifying amicus and statement-of-interest opportunities, and flag emerging issues that could become new areas of focus for enforcement and advocacy.
The FTC said the task force is also expected to broaden its reach beyond the commission itself. Per a statement, the agency plans to expand participation to other government and law enforcement partners, including the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Justice.
The commission described the task force as its latest step toward building what it called “a more competitive, innovative, affordable, and higher quality healthcare system” under President Donald Trump’s executive order. According to a statement, the FTC pointed to a series of recent healthcare-related actions as evidence of that broader push.
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Those actions include a settlement with Express Scripts, Inc. and related entities that requires changes to business practices aimed at increasing transparency and is expected to reduce patients’ out-of-pocket insulin and other drug costs by as much as $7 billion over a decade, according to a statement. The agency also highlighted its challenge to Edwards’ proposed acquisition of JenaValve, which it said preserved competition in innovation and product quality.
Per a statement, the FTC also cited the abandoned merger plans involving Alcon and Lensar as a win for preserving competition on both price and innovation. In addition, the commission said it secured $145 million in consumer redress from companies accused of misleading millions of people shopping for health insurance into buying indemnity, telemedicine and health discount plans.
The agency further pointed to action against substance-abuse treatment facilities that allegedly used telemarketers to impersonate other centers and steer consumers away from recommended local options and toward their own services. According to a statement, that case resulted in $2.4 million in redress for affected consumers.
By launching the Healthcare Task Force, Ferguson is continuing the FTC’s efforts to confront both longstanding and developing competition and consumer-protection concerns across the healthcare industry, per a statement.
Source: FTC
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Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson has directed agency staff to create a Healthcare Task Force aimed at coordinating enforcement and advocacy work across the healthcare sector, according to a statement.