Two recent developments suggest that enforcers are poised to grapple with antitrust concerns in health tech, signaling an escalation of scrutiny into Information Blocking1 tactics that have persisted despite U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) rules and regulations designed to curtail such practices. Stakeholders and industry participants should be prepared for potential outreach.
ONC Annual Meeting
First, on February 12, 2026, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) held its annual meeting in Washington, D.C. During this event, ONC and Office of Inspector General (OIG) representatives were joined by (previously unannounced) representatives from the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). During this session, the DOJ and FTC attorneys invoked many hallmarks of antitrust enforcement: the procompetitive aspects of the Information Blocking regulations, switching costs/lock-in, the importance of data interoperability and portability, and intolerance for pretextual arguments predicated on unverifiable concerns over patient safety. The DOJ and FTC emphasized that these concerns are more pronounced in circumstances where a single actor exercises undue market influence.
FTC Announces Healthcare Task Force
Just about a month later, on March 20, 2026, FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson issued a Directive Regarding Healthcare Task Force applicable across the entire FTC (i.e., Bureau of Competition, Bureau of Consumer Protection, Bureau of Economics, Office of Policy Planning, and the Chief Technology Officer).2 The Directive establishes a Healthcare Task Force, comprised of all the functions identified above, that will “share knowledge, resources, third-party sources, market intelligence, case leads, and relationships with other agencies and stakeholders.” In other words, the FTC has announced its intention to serve as the coordinator and clearinghouse for antitrust enforcement in healthcare with the purpose of “taking a coherent approach to addressing consumer-protection and competition problems in the healthcare industry.”
The Directive also emphasizes the FTC’s “dual mandate” to protect Americans from both “unfair or deceptive practices and unfair methods of competition.”
The announcement specifically mentions coordination with the HHS and the DOJ, and included several specific goals for the Task Force:
- identify and lead targeted enforcement and advocacy initiatives focused on key priorities;
- devise coherent agency-wide strategies on new and nascent investigations;
- institute a proactive and strategic approach to identifying amicus and statement of interest opportunities; and
- conduct ongoing horizon-scanning exercises to identify emerging issues and new priority areas for enforcement and advocacy.
Implications
The combination of the joint DOJ-FTC appearance at the ONC annual meeting followed by the FTC’s announcement of the Healthcare Task Force portend a wave of enforcement. Moreover, this enforcement could take any, or several, different forms, all stemming from an array of mandates and investigative tools available to the relevant agencies. The Healthcare Task Force purports to consolidate information, meaning that any company active in this space will need to be cognizant of the different mandates and prerogatives connected to any information request.
Conclusion
For more information or advice, please contact Jodi Daniel in Wilson Sonsini’s Digital Health practice, or Brendan Coffman and Maureen Ohlhausen in Wilson Sonsini’s Antitrust and Competition practice.
[1] Information Blocking refers to the practice of interfering with the access, exchange or use of Electronic Health Information (EHI), and is subject to the Health Data, Technology, and Interoperability (HTI) Rules issued by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) pursuant to the 21st Century Cures Act.
[2] https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/Memorandum-Ferguson-re-Healthcare-Task-Force.pdf.
