"The telehealth industry is entering a new phase of scrutiny marked by intensified enforcement actions across civil and criminal fronts that reflect a coordinated, whole-of-government approach. In addition to traditional enforcement areas such as the Anti-Kickback Statute and False Claims Act, telehealth companies and health-care providers should expect heightened oversight involving advertising and consumer protection practices, data privacy and security, billing and subscription practices, prescribing and clinical oversight, Medicare enrollment integrity, and arrangements implicating genetic testing and durable medical equipment."
"The Federal Trade Commission finalized an order against NextMed, a telemedicine company selling GLP‑1 weight-loss programs, to cease deceptive advertising, review manipulation, and unfair billing and cancellation practices. The order mandates clear disclosures of costs and cancellation terms, substantiation of outcome claims, informed consent for charges and recurring debits, prohibitions on misrepresentations about reviews, and a $150,000 payment for consumer refunds."
"The Department of Justice, working with the FTC, partially resolved a case against Cerebral, a telehealth mental health services provider. The company allegedly misused and disclosed sensitive health information, used deceptive data security claims, and violated the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act (ROSCA) for nontransparent subscription practices and obstructive cancellation processes. The proposed order requires Cerebral to cease the challenged practices"
Federal authorities have increased civil and criminal enforcement targeting telehealth models, focusing on deceptive marketing, privacy and data misuse, unlawful subscription billing, and telemedicine-linked fraud. Enforcement priorities include the Anti-Kickback Statute, False Claims Act, advertising and consumer protection, data privacy and security, billing and subscription practices, prescribing and clinical oversight, Medicare enrollment integrity, genetic testing, and durable medical equipment arrangements. Recent actions include an FTC order against NextMed requiring disclosures, substantiation of outcome claims, informed consent for recurring charges, and consumer refunds, and a DOJ/FTC partial resolution with Cerebral addressing improper data use and ROSCA violations. Companies can mitigate risk by strengthening advertising compliance, privacy safeguards, billing transparency, clinical oversight, and enrollment integrity.
#telehealth-enforcement #consumer-protection #data-privacy-and-security #billing-and-subscription-practices #healthcare-fraud
Read at Bloomberglaw
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]