Australia’s consumer law watchdog is prosecuting online healthcare booking service HealthEngine. The company is accused of misleading and deceptive conduct over an information-sharing scheme with insurance brokers, as well as manipulating unfavorable patient reviews. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has announced it has commenced proceedings in the Federal Court against the online directory and app, which lists more than 70,000 health practices and practitioners, including 3,700 optometrists and 770 ophthalmologists. In a case that could lead to multi-million dollar penalties for the Perth-based company, the ACCC alleges HealthEngine altered patient reviews and misrepresented to consumers why it did not publish a rating for some health practices. It is also claimed the company refused to publish negative reviews and changed feedback to remove unflattering aspects. These allegations were evidenced in the ACCC’s court file, which listed multiple samples comparing original reviews against what was ultimately published. In one […]