Attorney General Announces Price Transparency Probe with Multiple Subpoenas to Florida Hospitals
Through a video posted to X (formerly Twitter) on May 30, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced that his office had issued subpoenas to “multiple” Florida-based hospitals as part of an investigation into “patient charges, disclosures, billing practices, price transparency, and surprise billing protections.”
According to Health News Florida and the Orlando Sentinel, both citing the patient advocacy group PatientRightsAdvocate.org (PRA), Southern Baptist Hospital of Florida in Jacksonville and AdventHealth headquartered in Altamonte Springs are among the hospitals that have received these subpoenas.
“We do not take the issuance of subpoenas lightly, and we expect these hospitals to be cooperative,” Uthmeier stated.
Uthmeier cited patient protection from potentially “unfair and deceptive trade practice[s]” as the goal of this investigation, stating that “just like any market, [healthcare] services have a price, and patients deserve transparency to make fully informed decisions.” His investigation follows in the footsteps of President Trump’s February 25th executive order promoting stronger price transparency and disclosure requirements for healthcare services, for which Uthmeier voiced strong support during his announcement on X.
Some Florida hospitals have a charge-to-cost-ratio of more than 10 times the cost to the hospital, according to PRA, and their November 2024 Hospital Price Transparency Report found that only 29% of Florida hospitals evaluated were fully complying with federal rules regarding price transparency.
Under Florida Statutes sections 542.27(3) and 542.28 (2024), the attorney general is generally empowered to investigate suspected violations of federal or state laws prohibiting unfair or deceptive trade practices, including through the issuance of subpoenas or civil investigative demands (“CIDs”). Material, answers, or testimony that would normally be protected from disclosure during a grand jury investigation or discovery is also generally protected from inquiries by the attorney general. § 542.28(3), Fla. Stat. (2024). The attorney general is required to provide any person served with a CID at least 30 days to respond with the requested information, and a person served with a CID has a minimum of 30 days after being served to petition the court for an order setting aside or modifying the attorney general’s demand. § 542.28(2)(d), (5), Fla. Stat. (2024).
At this time, it is unclear just how many hospitals have received subpoenas from Uthmeier’s office, and it remains to be seen whether and how his office intends to prosecute hospitals found to be engaging in unlawful pricing practices during the course of the investigation.
