FTC Updates (Aug. 31 – Sept. 4, 2026)

This week the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a statement regarding the acquisition of Fairfield Medical Center by Adena Health, extended the public comment period on its proposed enforcement policy statement regarding personalized pricing, and announced a settlement with a payment processor to implement merchant screening practices and pay millions over charges of facilitating merchant fraud. More on these stories after the jump.

Wednesday, September 2, 2026

Bureau of Competition; Merger; Health Care

• The FTC issued a press release regarding the acquisition of Fairfield Medical Center (FMC) by Adena Health. On September 1, 2026, Adena Health announced its acquisition of FMC, a hospital system in southeastern Ohio, following an FTC investigation of an earlier proposed acquisition of FMC by OhioHealth. As a result of the FTC’s investigation of the OhioHealth transaction, the FTC found that it raised serious competitive concerns, including that the proposed deal risked raising costs and reducing the quality of care for Ohioans, and also raised questions about the thoroughness of FMC’s process to identify potential buyers. In response, FTC staff encouraged FMC to conduct a more robust sales process, which attracted multiple potential buyers and ultimately led to the abandonment of the OhioHealth deal in favor of a partnership with Adena Health, an outcome the FTC viewed as preserving long-term patient services without the competitive risks of the prior transaction. In response to Adena Health completing its acquisition of FMC, Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson issued a statement joined by Commissioner Mark R. Meador regarding best practices for firms when they “shop” for a buyer. The FTC characterized the outcome as a demonstration of its commitment to rigorous antitrust enforcement in healthcare, with Bureau of Competition Director Daniel Guarnera emphasizing that the agency will act swiftly to investigate whether better buyers exist when a hospital invokes a failing firm argument without having conducted a sufficiently broad search for acquirers.

Thursday, September 3, 2026

Bureau of Consumer Protection; Personalized Pricing

• The FTC extended by seven days the public comment period on the proposed enforcement policy statement regarding personalized pricing. The new deadline to submit comments electronically is September 25, 2026 (it was previously September 18, 2025). Personalized pricing refers to the use of personal data to set prices according to the amount that a company believes an individual consumer is willing to spend. For more information on the proposed enforcement policy statement regarding personalized pricing and its implication on businesses, see our client alert: FTC Proposes Enforcement Policy Statement on Personalized Pricing: What Businesses Need to Know.

Friday, September 4, 2026

Bureau of Consumer Protection; Credit and Finance; Payments and Billing

• The FTC announced that global payment processor Nuvei agreed to pay $4.85 million to settle charges that the firm opened and maintained payment processing accounts for merchants it knew or should have known were engaged in deception, including tech support scams that took millions of dollars from consumers. The FTC’s complaint alleges that Canada-based Nuvei Corporation and its subsidiaries—operating through a merchant acquiring bank registered in Cyprus—processed more than $30 million in consumer payments for Reimage, an offshore tech support scam, between 2017 and 2023, enabling the scheme to collect credit card payments from U.S. cardholders. Beyond Reimage, the FTC further alleges that Nuvei’s U.S.-based subsidiary opened and maintained merchant accounts for merchants making false earnings claims, merchants impersonating government tax authorities, and merchants previously terminated by other payment processors for excessive chargebacks or fraud. The complaint charges Nuvei with unfair practices in violation of the FTC Act and with assisting and facilitating deceptive telemarketers in violation of the Telemarketing Sales Rule. Under the proposed settlement order, the $4.85 million will be used for consumer redress, and Nuvei will be banned from providing payment services to tech support telemarketers, prohibited from making false statements to obtain merchant accounts or circumventing fraud monitoring programs, and required to implement robust screening and monitoring of existing and prospective clients—including enhanced scrutiny of any client whose chargeback rates exceed thresholds set in the order.