In the new era of Zoom meetings, the Federal Trade Commission is holding a “public workshop” on September 7th to get further input on Funeral Rule changes that would require funeral homes to post their price lists on line. The workshop will be televised, and interested parties can watch by using this hyperlink.
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Funeral Rule Revisions: Last Chance for Comments
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Compliance, Uncategorized
Most of industry leaders, including the NFDA, seem resigned to the reality that the Funeral Rule will be amended to require the posting of price lists on funeral home websites in some form or fashion. But the FTC extension of the comment deadline from January 3rd to January 17th indicates the Commission does value…
Funeral Rule Revisions: Some Closing Thoughts
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Compliance
When the FTC announced its routine review of the Funeral Rule in 2020, the Funeral Consumer Alliance and about half the country’s state attorney generals responded with complaints about online advertising by the funeral industry. The criticism of funeral home websites led the FTC to conduct its own research of online advertising. For a four…
Funeral Rule Revisions: Minority Communities
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Compliance
The last section of the Funeral Rule notice (Issues 37-40) raises questions whether there are funeral provider practices that disproportionately affect minority communities. Again, we are not quite sure the intent of the FTC when raising these questions. Concerns have been raised that FEMA’s COVID-19 funeral assistance did not benefit the minority communities as much…
Funeral Rule Readability: What Makes for a Good GPL?
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Compliance, Uncategorized
The next-to-last section of the Funeral Rule notice (Issues 32-36) deals with what the FTC calls Price List Readability. This seemed to us as a very nebulous phrase, and so we searched “Price List Readability” in the context of the Consumer Funeral Alliance, and lo and behold, the CFA has guidelines for what it…
Funeral Rule’s Embalming Disclosure: When Required by State Law
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Compliance
Issues 28 through 31 of the FTC Funeral Rule notice concern the embalming disclosure. Consumer advocates are pressing to have the Funeral Rule be more specific about when state law does or does not require embalming. For states that require embalming under certain circumstances, consumer advocates want the GPL to reference the state law and…
The Funeral Rule Changes: Alternate Forms of Disposition
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Compliance
Issues 23 through 27 of the FTC Notice to amend the Funeral Rule raise questions concerning the new alternative forms of disposition: alkaline hydrolysis and natural organic reduction. For the most part, consumer advocates have embraced these new forms of disposition as friendlier on the environment and more economical. However the Issues seem to express…
Funeral Rule Revisions: Reduced Basic Fees
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Compliance
The intent behind Issue No. 22 of the FTC Notice to revise the Funeral Rule has us a little perplexed. Funeral providers may charge a lower basic services fee for direct cremations and immediate burials. Issue 22 seems to be asking whether funeral providers must disclose when they do not have a lower basic service…
Funeral Rule Revisions: Incidental Costs Disclosure
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Compliance
For this post we are focused on Issues 18 through 21of the FTC’s Notice to revise the Funeral Rule. With these issues the FTC is responding to consumer advocates assertions that the GPL does not adequately disclose incidental costs associated with direct cremations or immediate burials. With regard to immediate burials, advocates do not…
Funeral Rule Revisions: Mark Up on Trade Services
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Compliance
The FTC’s second area of concern for Funeral Rule revisions is titled Crematory Fees and Additional Costs. For this post, we are going to look at Issues 16 and 17. Funeral consumer advocates are focused on the fact that many funeral homes do not own their own crematory and therefore outsource that service to…