ingn-10k_20211231.htm
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UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-K
For the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2021
OR
For the Transition Period From to
Commission file number: 001-36309
INOGEN, INC.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
301 Coromar Drive Goleta, California 93117
Address of principal executive offices Zip Code
Registrant’s telephone number, including area code (805)562-0500
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
Title of each class Trading Symbol(s) Name of each exchange on which registered
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐No☒
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
Large accelerated filer ☒ Accelerated filer ☐
Non-accelerated filer ☐ Smaller reporting company ☐
Emerging growth company ☐
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☒
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No ☒
The aggregate market value of the voting and non-voting equity held by non-affiliates of the registrant, based on the closing price of the shares of common stock on the last business day of its most recently completed second fiscal quarter, as reported on the NASDAQ Stock Market, was approximately $852.6 million.
The number of shares of the registrant’s Common Stock outstanding as of February 18, 2022 was 22,735,486.
DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE
Portions of the registrant’s definitive Proxy Statement to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with the registrant’s 2022 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which will be filed subsequent to the date hereof, are incorporated by reference into Part III of this Form 10-K. Such Proxy Statement will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission not later than 120 days following the end of the registrant’s fiscal year ended December 31, 2021.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Part I
Item 1. Business 3
Item 1A. Risk Factors 26
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments 64
Item 2. Properties 64
Item 3. Legal Proceedings 65
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures 66
Part II
Item 6. [Reserved] 68
Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk 88
Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data 89
Item 9A. Controls and Procedures 89
Item 9B. Other Information 92
Item 9C. Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions That Prevent Inspections 92
Part III
Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance 93
Item 11. Executive Compensation 93
Item 14. Principal Accounting Fees and Services 93
Part IV
Item 15. Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules 94
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INOGEN, INC.
PART I
Forward-Looking Statements
This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, that are based on our management’s beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to our management. The forward-looking statements are contained principally in the sections entitled “Business,” “Risk Factors,” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.” Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements concerning the following:
• our ability to grow our business and enter new markets;
• our ability to successfully acquire and integrate companies and assets;
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• our internal control environment;
• the effects of competition.
Forward-looking statements include statements that are not historical facts and can be identified by terms such as “anticipates,” “believes,” “could,” “seeks,” “estimates,” “expects,” “intends,” “may,” “plans,” “potential,” “predicts,” “projects,” “should,” “will,” “would,” or similar expressions and the negatives of those terms.
Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. We discuss these risks in greater detail in Part I, Item 1A, “Risk Factors,” and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC. Given these uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Moreover, we operate in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment. New risks emerge from time-to-time. It is not possible for us to predict all risks, nor can we assess the impact of all factors on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements we may make. In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the future events and trends discussed in this Annual Report on Form 10-K may not occur and actual results could differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements.
The forward-looking statements made in this Annual Report on Form 10-K relate only to events as of the date on which the statements are made. Except as required by law, we assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future.
This Annual Report on Form 10-K also contains estimates, projections and other information concerning our industry, our business, and the markets for certain diseases, including data regarding the estimated size of those markets, and the incidence and prevalence of certain medical conditions. Information that is based on estimates, forecasts, projections, market research or similar methodologies is inherently subject to uncertainties and actual events or circumstances may differ materially from events and circumstances reflected in this information. Unless otherwise expressly stated, we obtained this industry, business, market and other data from reports, research surveys, studies and similar data prepared by market research firms and other third parties, industry, medical and general publications, government data and similar sources.
“Inogen,” “Inogen One,” “Inogen One G2,” “Inogen One G3,” “G4,” “G5,” “Live Life in Moments, not Minutes,” “Never Run Out of Oxygen,” “Oxygen Therapy on Your Terms,” “Oxygen.Anytime.Anywhere,” “Reclaim Your Independence,” “Intelligent Delivery Technology,” “Inogen At Home,” the Inogen design, “TIDAL ASSIST,” “TAV,” and “SIDEKICK” are registered trademarks with the United States Patent and Trademark Office of Inogen, Inc. We own a pending application for “Inogen” with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. We own trademark registrations for the mark “Inogen” in Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, China, Columbia, Ecuador, South Korea, Mexico, Europe (European Union Registration), the United Kingdom, Iceland, India, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, New Zealand, Norway, Paraguay, Peru, Turkey, Singapore, Switzerland, and Uruguay. We own pending applications for the mark “Inogen” in Brazil, India, Malaysia, and South Africa. We own a trademark registration for the mark “イノジェン” in Japan. We own trademark registrations for the marks “印诺真”and “艾诺根” in China. We own trademark registrations for the mark “Inogen One” in Australia, Canada, China, South Korea, Mexico, Europe (European Union Registration), and the United Kingdom. We own a trademark registration for the mark “Satellite Conserver” in Canada. We own a trademark registration for the mark “Inogen At Home” in Europe (European Union Registration) and the United Kingdom. We own trademark registrations for the mark “G4” in Europe (European Union Registration) and the United Kingdom. We own trademark registrations for the mark “G5” in Europe (European Union Registration) and the United Kingdom. We own a trademark application for the Inogen design in Bolivia. We own a trademark registration for the Inogen design in China. We own a trademark registration for the mark “إنوجن” in Saudi Arabia. Other service marks, trademarks, and trade names referred to in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are the property of their respective owners.
In this Annual Report on Form 10-K, “we,” “us” and “our” refer to Inogen, Inc. and its subsidiary.
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ITEM 1. BUSINESS
General
We were incorporated in Delaware on November 27, 2001. We are a medical technology company that primarily develops, manufactures and markets innovative portable oxygen concentrators (POCs) used to deliver supplemental long-term oxygen therapy to patients suffering from chronic respiratory conditions. Traditionally, these patients have relied on stationary oxygen concentrator systems for use in the home and oxygen tanks or cylinders for mobile use, which we call the delivery model. The tanks and cylinders must be delivered regularly and have a finite amount of oxygen, which requires patients to plan activities outside of their homes around delivery schedules and a finite oxygen supply. Additionally, patients must attach long, cumbersome tubing to their stationary concentrators simply to enable mobility within their homes. Our proprietary Inogen One® systems concentrate the air around the patient to offer a single source of supplemental oxygen anytime, anywhere with a single battery and can be plugged into a power outlet as needed.We believe our Inogen One systems reduce the patient’s reliance on stationary concentrators and scheduled deliveries of tanks with a finite supply of oxygen, thereby improving patient quality of life and fostering mobility.
Portable oxygen concentrators represented the fastest-growing segment of the Medicare oxygen therapy market between 2012 and 2020. Based on 2020 traditional fee-for-service Medicare data, we estimate the number of patients using portable oxygen concentrators represents approximately 21% of the total long-term oxygen therapy market (and approximately 26% of the total ambulatory long-term oxygen therapy market) in the United States, although the traditional fee-for-service Medicare data does not account for private insurance, Medicare Advantage, Medicaid and cash-pay patients in the market. We believe we were the first oxygen therapy manufacturer to employ a direct-to-consumer marketing strategy, meaning we advertise directly to patients, process their physician paperwork, and provide clinical support as needed. While other manufacturers have also begun direct-to-consumer marketing campaigns to drive patient sales, we believe we are the only manufacturer of portable oxygen concentrators that employs a direct-to-consumer rental strategy in the United States, meaning we bill Medicare or insurance on their behalf. To pursue a direct-to-consumer rental strategy, our manufacturing competitors would need to meet national accreditation and state-by-state licensing requirements and secure Medicare billing privileges, as well as compete with the home medical equipment providers who many of our manufacturing competitors sell to across their entire homecare business.
Since adopting our direct-to-consumer rental strategy in 2009, we have directly sold or rented more than 1,166,000 of our Inogen oxygen concentrators as of December 31, 2021.
We incorporated Inogen Europe Holding B.V., a Dutch limited liability company, on April 13, 2017. On May 4, 2017, Inogen Europe Holding B.V. acquired all issued and outstanding capital stock of MedSupport Systems B.V. (MedSupport) and began operating under the name Inogen Europe B.V. We merged Inogen Europe Holding B.V. and Inogen Europe B.V. on December 28, 2018. Inogen Europe B.V. is the remaining legal entity. We completed the acquisition of New Aera, Inc (New Aera) on August 9, 2019.
Our market
We consider our market to include patients that use traditional fee-for-service Medicare, commercial payors, retail sales and Veterans Administration population. While growth rates are subject to change over time, we believe that reduced reimbursement rates in connection with competitive bidding, and the enhanced Medicare billing requirements might have further contributed to growth opportunities for POCs that exceed the long-term oxygen therapy market growth rate. Since utilization of long-term oxygen therapy is strongly linked to developed nations with established government reimbursement, western Europe represents our second largest market today behind the United States.
Long-term oxygen therapy has been shown to be a cost-efficient and clinically effective means to treat hypoxemia, a condition in which patients have insufficient oxygen in the blood. Hypoxemic patients are unable to convert oxygen found in the air into the bloodstream in an efficient manner, causing organ damage and poor health. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, is a leading cause of hypoxemia. Between 60% to 65% of our patient population has been diagnosed with COPD, and as COPD progresses, patients may need long-term oxygen therapy as part of their treatment. Industry sources estimate that approximately 16 million people in the United States have been diagnosed with COPD, with millions more who are unaware they have COPD. COPD is the third leading cause of death in the United States and one of the leading causes of death globally. There are an estimated 251 million individuals worldwide who have COPD, with an estimated 100 million individuals located in China. Smoking is the leading cause of COPD. However, the European Respiratory Journal published a study in July 2019 that concluded ambient air pollution was associated with lower lung function and increased COPD prevalence, based on over 300,000 individuals aged 40 to 69 years.
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According to our analysis of 2020traditional fee-for-service Medicare data, approximately 80% of U.S. long-term oxygen therapy users utilized ambulatory oxygen and the remaining approximately 20% were considered stationary, and either required oxygen twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, or 24/7, but were not ambulatory, or did not require oxygen 24/7 and only needed nocturnal oxygen. Clinical data has shown that ambulatory patients who use oxygen therapy 24/7, regardless of modality, have approximately two times the survival rate and spend at least 60% fewer days annually in the hospital than non-ambulatory 24/7 oxygen therapy patients. The cost of one year of long-term oxygen therapy is less than the cost of one day in the hospital. In addition, a report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in 2019 concluded that utilizers of oxygen therapy have lower deaths, hospitalizations, and days in the hospital than those who have a health condition that would support oxygen but do not use it.
Based on 2020 traditional fee-for-service Medicare data, we estimate that approximately 63% of the ambulatory patients rely upon the delivery model, which has the following disadvantages:
Portable oxygen concentrators were developed in response to many of the limitations associated with traditional oxygen therapy and the delivery model. Portable oxygen concentrators are designed to offer a self-replenishing, unlimited supply of oxygen that is concentrated from the surrounding air and to operate without the need for oxygen tanks or regular oxygen deliveries, enhancing patient freedom and independence. Additionally, because portable oxygen concentrators do not require the physical infrastructure and service intensity of the delivery model, we believe portable oxygen concentrators can provide long-term oxygen therapy with a lower cost structure.
We believe the following have hindered the market acceptance of portable oxygen concentrators:
Our solution
Our Inogen One systems provide patients who require long-term oxygen therapy with a reliable, lightweight single solution product that we believe improves quality-of-life, fosters mobility and eliminates dependence on both oxygen tanks and cylinders as well as stationary concentrators. We believe our direct-to-consumer marketing strategy increases our ability to effectively develop, design and market our Inogen One solutions, as it allows us to:
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We believe the combination of our direct-to-consumer marketing strategy with our focus on designing and developing oxygen concentrator technology has created a best-in-class portfolio of portable oxygen concentrators. Our two most recently released portable product offerings, the Inogen One G5 and the Inogen One G4, at 4.7 and 2.8 pounds with a single battery, respectively, are among the lightest portable oxygen concentrators on the market and offer among the highest oxygen flow capacity per pound. We believe our Inogen One solutions offer the following benefits:
Our Inogen One systems and Inogen At Home system
We market our current portable product offerings, the Inogen One G5 and the Inogen One G4, as single solutions for long-term oxygen therapy. This means our solutions can operate on a 24/7 basis for at least 60 months without a stationary concentrator, with minimal servicing of sieve beds, filters, and accessories. The technology in our Inogen One systems is effective for nocturnal use. Our Inogen One portable oxygen concentrators can operate reliably and cost-effectively over the long period of time needed to service long-term oxygen therapy patients without supplemental use of a stationary concentrator or a replacement portable oxygen concentrator. The following table summarizes our key product features:
Key Product Specifications
Inogen One G5 Inogen One G4
Weight (lbs) 4.7 (single battery) 2.8 (single battery)
5.7 (double battery) 3.3 (double battery)
Battery run-time Up to 6.5 hours Up to 2.6 hours
(single battery) (single battery)
Up to 13 hours Up to 5 hours
(double battery) (double battery)
Technology effective for overnight use Yes Yes
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We have focused our research and development efforts on creating solutions that we believe have overcome the reputation of portable oxygen concentrators as being limited in durability and reliability as well as unsuitable for nighttime or 24/7 use. We specifically designed our compressors for 24/7 use.
All of our Inogen One systems are equipped with Intelligent Delivery Technology, a form of pulse-dose technology from which the patient receives a bolus of oxygen upon inhalation. Pulse-dose technology was developed to extend the number of hours an oxygen tank would last and is generally used on all ambulatory long-term oxygen therapy devices. Our proprietary conserver technology utilizes differentiated triggering sensitivity to quickly detect a breath and ensure oxygen delivery within the first 400 milliseconds of inspiration, the interval when oxygen has the most effect on lung gas exchange. During periods of sleep, respiratory rates typically decrease. Our Inogen One systems actively respond to this changing physiology through the use of proprietary technology that increases bolus size. Our Intelligent Delivery Technology is designed to provide effective levels of blood oxygen saturation during sleep and all other periods of rest and activity that are substantially equivalent to continuous flow systems.
We have also launched Inogen Connect, a wireless connectivity platform for the Inogen One G4 and Inogen One G5 consisting of a front-end mobile application for use by long-term oxygen therapy users and a back-end database portal for use by homecare providers. The Inogen Connect app is compatible with Apple and Android platforms and includes patient features such as oxygen purity status, battery run time, product support functions, notification alerts, and remote software updates. We believe features of the back-end database portal such as remote troubleshooting, equipment health checks, and a location tracker will drive operational efficiencies for home oxygen providers and lower the total cost of servicing oxygen therapy patients.
The Inogen One G5, our latest portable oxygen concentrator released to market in April 2019, is among the lightest products on the market and has higher oxygen production capabilities than the other sub-5 pound portable oxygen concentrators on the market. The performance parameters around our Inogen One systems allow us to serve ambulatory long-term oxygen patients based on their clinical needs. Our products enable us to address a patient’s particular clinical needs, as well as lifestyle and performance preferences.
The Inogen At Home stationary oxygen concentrator allows us to access the non-ambulatory long-term oxygen therapy patient market and serves as a backup to our Inogen One system for ambulatory patients on our rental service. At approximately 18 pounds, we believe the Inogen At Home concentrator is the lightest five liter per minute continuous flow oxygen concentrator on the market today. Additionally, the Inogen At Home product has low power consumption with worldwide electrical compatibility, which should reduce the cost of electricity for oxygen therapy patients and reduce environmental impact of the product, as well as reduce manufacturing and distribution complexities. While the Inogen One product line is clinically validated for 24/7 use, the Inogen At Home product represents a compelling solution for stationary long-term oxygen therapy patients that do not require a portable solution, which are estimated to represent approximately 20% of total long-term oxygen therapy patients in the United States based on 2020 traditional fee-for-service Medicare data.
Our direct-to-consumer business model has enabled us to design and commercialize portable oxygen concentrators that address the full suite of features and benefits critical to patient preference and retention. Our products prevent patients from having to choose between lightweight size, suitability for 24/7 use, reliability, and key features such as battery life, flow and reduced noise levels.
Domestic sales and marketing
In the United States, we market and distribute our products directly to consumers through a wide variety of direct-to-consumer sales and marketing strategies including consumer advertising, an inside sales staff, and a physician referral model. Of the $278.5 million of our 2021 revenue derived from the United States, approximately 50.6% represented direct-to-consumer sales, 32.8% represented sales to traditional home medical equipment providers, distributors (including our private label partner) and resellers, and 16.6% represented direct-to-consumer rentals.
As of December 31, 2021, we employed a marketing team of 5 people, an in-house sales team of 326 people (including 292 inside sales representatives), a field-based prescriber sales team of 41 people (including 35 prescriber sales representatives), and a business-to-business sales and global support team of 25 people.
Our direct-to-consumer sales and marketing efforts are focused on generating awareness and demand for our Inogen One systems and Inogen At Home systems among patients, physicians and other clinicians, and third-party payors.
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Patients who choose to use their Medicare or private insurance benefits typically rent our systems. Those who purchase our product outright are typically patients who are not eligible to use their insurance benefits due to their capped rental status, prefer our Inogen One G4 and Inogen One G5 products that are not currently available for rent, prefer to own the equipment, prefer new equipment, or have an immediate need for our product that cannot be processed in time by their primary insurance carrier (e.g., an upcoming trip). Our ability to rent to Medicare patients directly, bill Medicare and other third-party payors on their behalf, and service patients in their homes requires that we hold a valid Medicare supplier number, are accredited by an independent agency approved by Medicare, and comply with the differing licensure and process requirements in the 50 states in which we serve patients.
We use a variety of direct-to-consumer marketing strategies to generate interest in our solutions among current oxygen therapy patients. After a patient contacts us, we guide them through product selection and insurance eligibility, and, if they choose to move forward, process the necessary reimbursement and physician paperwork on their behalf, as well as coordinate the shipping, instruction, and clinical setup process. In accordance with Medicare regulations, we do not initially contact patients directly and contact them only upon an inbound inquiry or upon receipt of a physician’s order. The chart below describes our United States direct-to-consumer sales and rental process.
We engage in a number of other initiatives to increase awareness, demand, and orders for Inogen One systems and Inogen At Home systems. These include attendance at oxygen therapy support groups, guest speaking arrangements at trade shows, and product demonstrations, as requested. Additionally, we are targeting private payors to become an in-network provider of oxygen therapy solutions, which we expect will reduce patient co-insurance amounts associated with using our solution. We believe this will result in both increased conversion of our initial leads, as well as direct referrals from insurance companies in some cases.
To supplement the direct-to-consumer marketing model, we are also utilizing a physician referral model as a complementary sales method. Under this model, our prescriber sales organization works with physicians in the representative’s territory to help physicians understand our products and the value these products provide for patients. We believe that by educating physicians on our products, we can cost-effectively supplement our direct-to-consumer sales and rentals and capture a greater number of patients earlier in the course of their oxygen therapy.
Our direct-to-consumer marketing strategies also create demand for our products among other homecare equipment providers and business partners. In addition to generating consumer demand, we believe our products can create value for our business partners by either creating a retail sale opportunity for them or by reducing the need for costly home deliveries associated with oxygen tanks.
We also sell to resellers and traditional homecare providers in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa that choose to deploy our products to long-term oxygen therapy patients either through insurance reimbursement or retail. These customers market the benefits of our products to oxygen therapy patients through consumer advertising and/or retail locations or to physicians through field-based prescriber sales representatives. We believe that in addition to the marketing efforts employed by our business customers, our own direct-to-consumer marketing efforts in the United States result in patient interest that our business customers field.
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Traditional homecare providers that employ the standard delivery model with oxygen tanks need to replace the oxygen tanks on a regular basis by picking up the empty oxygen tanks and delivering full oxygen tanks for the patient. The delivery model has historically necessitated that a homecare provider has a facility near the oxygen patients that it serves and that the provider has invested in personnel, trucks, etc. to facilitate routine deliveries. The cost to deliver the oxygen tanks to patients is significant for many providers in the standard delivery model. Homecare providers that have adopted Inogen products should be able to reduce the costly deliveries associated with oxygen tanks since our products generate their own oxygen and donot need to be refilled. Our business-to-business sales and marketing strategy for these customers is to raise awareness of our solutions and educate homecare providers on how our products may be able to reduce their total cost of ownership of servicing oxygen patients. As a homecare provider ourselves, we are able to help our business customers adopt a non-delivery long-term oxygen therapy model utilizing patient preferred portable oxygen concentrators. We also private label our product with a business partner that sells to traditional homecare providers. Our private label partner employs field sales representatives who call on homecare providers to showcase the benefits of our products.
Concentration of Customers
We primarily sell our products to traditional home medical equipment providers, distributors, and resellers in the United States and in foreign countries on a credit basis. We also sell our products direct-to-consumers on a primarily prepayment basis. For the year ended December 31, 2021, Medicare’s service reimbursement programs represented more than 10% of our total revenue. For the year ended December 31, 2020, one single customer represented more than 10% of our total revenue, OxyGo HQ Florida, our private label distribution partner. For the year ended December 31, 2019, no single customer represented more than 10% of our total revenue. As of December 31, 2021, one single customer and Medicare each represented more than 10% of our net accounts receivable with accounts receivable balances of $5.9 million and $2.7 million, respectively. As of December 31, 2020, two customers each represented more than 10% of our net accounts receivable balance with accounts receivable balances of $8.4 million and $7.0 million.
We rent products directly to consumers for insurance reimbursement, which resulted in a customer concentration relating to Medicare’s service reimbursement programs. Medicare’s service reimbursement programs accounted for 81.9%, 81.5% and 81.1% of rental revenue in 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively, and based on total revenue were 10.6%, 7.5% and 4.8% for 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively. Accounts receivable balances relating to Medicare’s service reimbursement programs (including held and unbilled receivables, net of allowances) amounted to $2.7 million or 11.0% of total net accounts receivable as of December 31, 2021 and $1.9 million or 6.3% of total accounts receivable as of December 31, 2020.
International
Approximately 22.2% of our total revenue was from outside the United States in 2021. We sell through distributors, resellers, and home medical equipment providers in certain markets within Canada, Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa. To date, we have sold our products in a total of 59 countries outside the United States through distributors or directly to large “house” accounts, which include gas companies and home oxygen providers. In this case, we sell to and bill the distributor or house accounts directly, leaving the patient billing, support, and clinical setup to the local provider. As of December 31, 2021, we had 13 people located in the United States who focused on selling our products and providing service and support to distributors and house accounts worldwide and 8 in-house and contract employees and independent employees located in Europe who provided sales and customer support services to a portion of our international customers. No single international customer and no single foreign country represented more than 10% of our total revenue in 2021, 2020 or 2019.
We believe that the international oxygen therapy market is attractive for the following reasons:
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In 2017, we added a European customer support site in the Netherlands after acquiring a previous distributor, MedSupport, now operating under Inogen Europe B.V. This site offers multi-lingual customer service and sales supportto improve our European customer support at lower cost.Also in support of our European operations, we produce our Inogen One G3 and Inogen One G5 concentrators and perform related repair activities using a contract manufacturer, Foxconn, located in the Czech Republic to improve our ability to service our European customers.
Order fulfillment and customer support
Our procedures are designed to enable us to package and ship a system directly to the patient in the patient’s preferred configuration and we aim to do so the same day the order is received in most cases. This enables us to minimize the amount of finished goods inventory we keep on hand. Our primary logistics partner for shipments originating in the U.S. is UPS, which also provides additional services that support our direct-to-consumer oxygen therapy program. The UPS pick up service is used to retrieve products requiring repair and systems that are no longer needed by our rental patients. When necessary, we utilize a courier for white-glove service whereby the courier goes into a patient’s home to remove a replacement product from the box, package the failed device and return it to us. In this manner, we are able to operate as a remote provider while maintaining the level of customer service of a local oxygen therapy provider.
We believe it is important to provide patients with quality customer support to achieve satisfaction with our products and optimal outcomes. As of December 31, 2021, we had a dedicated customer service team of 61 people who were trained on our products, a clinical support team of 23 people who were licensed nurses or respiratory therapists, a patient intake team of 36 people, a rental billing intake team of 31 people, and a dedicated billing services team of 68 people. We provide our patients with a dedicated 24/7 hotline. Via the hotline, patients have direct access to our customer service representatives who can handle product-related questions. Additionally, clinical staff is on call 24/7 and available to patients whenever either the patient or the customer service representative deems appropriate. Our rental intake staff supports patients who wish to use their rental insurance benefits to receive our products and services. Our dedicated billing services team is available to answer patient questions regarding invoicing, reimbursement, and account status during normal business hours. We receive no additional reimbursement for patient support, but we provide high-quality customer service to enhance patient comfort, satisfaction, compliance, and safety with our products.
Third-party reimbursement
Medicare and private insurance rentals represented 12.9% of our total revenue in 2021, up from 9.2% of our total revenue in 2020. The increased rental revenue as a percentage of total revenue was primarily due to increased rental patients on service, and increased reimbursement rates. In cases where we rent our long-term oxygen therapy solutions directly to patients, we bill third-party payors, such as Medicare or private insurance, for monthly rentals on behalf of our patients. We process and coordinate all physician paperwork necessary for reimbursement of our solutions. A common medical criterion for long-term oxygen therapy reimbursement is insufficient blood oxygen saturation level. Our team in sales and rental intake are trained on how to verify benefits, review medical records and process physician paperwork. Additionally, an independent internal review is performed, and our products are not deployed until after physician paperwork is processed and reimbursement eligibility is verified and communicated to the patient.
We rely significantly on reimbursement from Medicare and private payors, including Medicare Advantage plans, Medicaid and patients for our rental revenue. For the year ended December 31, 2021, approximately 81.9% of our rental revenue was derived from Medicare’s traditional fee-for-service reimbursement programs. The U.S. list price for our stationary oxygen rentals Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS E1390) is $260 per month and the U.S. list price for our oxygen generating portable equipment (OGPE) rentals (HCPCS E1392) is $70 per month. The average Medicare reimbursement rates in former competitive bidding areas (CBAs) in the prior five years are outlined in the table below for E1390 and E1392, which are the two primary codes that we bill to Medicare and other payors for our oxygen product rentals. These rates are typically updated annually each January as they are subject to Consumer Price Index (CPI), sequestration and budget neutrality adjustments but are also subject to adjustments during the year due to legislative rulings. Competitive bidding contracts were scheduled to go into effect on January 1, 2021; however, on October 27, 2020, CMS announced that competitive bidding contracts would not be awarded for most product categories, including oxygen, due to the payment amounts not achieving the expected savings and the current COVID-19 pandemic and the related PHE. Effective April 1, 2021, rates were adjusted to remove a percentage reduction that was put in place to meet the budget neutrality requirement previously mandated by section 1834(a)(9)(D)(ii) of the Social Security Act. See the table below for average Medicare rates in former CBAs, using a simple average of rates in each CBA.
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Average Medicare reimbursement rates in former CBAs E1390 E1392
Medicare payment rates are based upon whether the beneficiary resides in former or current CBAs, or in rural or non-rural non-CBAs, or in non-contiguous states. Non-CBA payment rates are based on regional pricing, that are derived from (former) competitive bidding payment rates. In rural areas and non-contiguous states, payment rates are higher, to account for higher servicing costs in those areas. The Medicare reimbursement rates in rural areas is outlined in the table below, and include areas that are considered non-contiguous (Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands). We estimate that approximately 18% of our patients are eligible to receive the higher reimbursement rates based on the geographic locations of our current patient population. These rates are typically updated annually each January as they are subject to the CPI, sequestration and budget neutrality adjustments, but are also subject to adjustments during the year due to legislative rulings. Effective April 1, 2021, rates were adjusted to remove a percentage reduction that was put in place to meet the budget neutrality requirement previously mandated by section 1834(a)(9)(D)(ii) of the Social Security Act. Therefore, Medicare payment rates are no longer affected by a budget neutrality adjustment, as of April 1, 2021. See the table below for average Medicare rates in rural areas, using a simple average of rates in each state.
Average Medicare reimbursement rates in rural areas E1390 E1392
Rates in non-former CBAs that are not defined as rural are set based on the rates in former CBAs. See the table below for average Medicare rates in these non-former CBAs, non-rural areas, using a simple average of rates in each state. These rates are typically updated annually each January as they are subject to the CPI, sequestration and budget neutrality adjustments but are also subject to adjustments during the year due to legislative rulings. Effective April 1, 2021, rates were adjusted to remove a percentage reduction that was put in place to meet the budget neutrality requirement previously mandated by section 1834(a)(9)(D)(ii) of the Social Security Act. Note that the 2022 rates listed below include Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES Act) increased rates due to the COVID-19 PHE, which may not be in place for all of 2022. If the COVID-19 PHE is declared over, the rates in these non-former CBAs, non-rural areas are expected to adjust down to the former CBA rates listed in the table above.
There have been significant U.S. reimbursement and policy changes that impact oxygen therapy associated with the COVID-19 PHE declared by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on January 31, 2020. The CARES Act allows HHS to waive certain Medicare telehealth payment requirements during the COVID-19 PHE to allow beneficiaries in all areas to receive telehealth services, including at their home, starting March 6, 2020. The Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act (H.R. 6074) also granted HHS the authority to waive certain requirements with respect to telehealth services. Under this authority, CMS clarified that HHS would not conduct audits to determine whether there was a prior physician-patient relationship for telehealth claims submitted during the COVID-19 PHE. The CARES Act included the extension of the 50/50 blended rate for home medical equipment (HME) in rural and non-contiguous, non-competitively bid areas and established a new 75/25 blended rate for all other non-competitively bid areas through the duration of the COVID-19 PHE. The 75/25 blended rate was retroactive to March 6, 2020. While the duration of the current emergency is impossible to predict, the Zika virus PHE lasted approximately 360 days, and the H1N1 flu PHE lasted approximately 450 days.
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The 2% Medicare sequestration benefit that has been in place since May 2020 due to the COVID-19 PHE that was set to expire December 31, 2021 has been extended by Congress until March 31, 2022. The sequestration then resumes with a 1% reduction to rates from April 1, 2022 until June 30, 2022, with the full 2% Medicare sequestration resuming starting July 1, 2022 and continuing through September 30, 2030.
On April 6, 2020, CMS published an Interim Final Rule (IFR) in the Federal Register for policy and regulatory revisions in response to the COVID-19 PHE. This IFR included that for the duration of the COVID-19 PHE, the face-to-face requirements and clinical indications of coverage for home oxygen, among other respiratory products, are waived. In addition, the Administration has issued a number of regulatory waivers to increase the flexibility in DMEPOS suppliers’ ability to service patients quickly and without the normal requirements. For example, the patient’s signature for proof of delivery has been waived when signatures cannot be collected during the COVID-19 PHE. In addition, CMS increased Medicare contractors’ ability to waive replacement product requirements, paused the national prior authorization program for certain DMEPOS, automatically extended expiring accreditations, granted contractors the flexibility to grant appeals extensions, and medical review suspension. Both the IFR and temporary regulatory changes show significant flexibility from CMS to improve access for oxygen and other DMEPOS items during this COVID-19 PHE. These changes were retroactive to early March 2020. In August 2020, CMS resumed medical review of claims and the prior authorization program for certain DMEPOS.
CMS also issued a final rule in December 2021 (CMS-1738-P) to establish payment amounts that will be effective after the COVID-19 PHE for DMEPOS products and services covered under Medicare. We believe that Medicare rates will not change for the length of the COVID-19 PHE, except for any net change for inflation and sequestration adjustments, as outlined above.
CMS established three different fee schedule adjustment methodologies for non-CBAs after the termination of the COVID-19 PHE: (1) for non-contiguous non-CBAs; (2) for contiguous non-CBAs defined as rural areas; and (3) for non-rural non-CBAs within the contiguous United States. The final payment methodology sets the fee schedule amounts to 100% of the Medicare (competitive bid derived) rates in all non-rural areas. This will reduce Medicare rates after the PHE is over in the current areas that are considered non-rural but not covered by a former CBA, as those areas are currently receiving a 75/25 blended payment rate. The final payment methodology establishes the fee schedule amounts to a 50/50 blended payment rate, which is the same rate that is currently applicable in these areas.
In January 2021, CMS announced what the pivotal bid amounts would have been for the competitive bidding round 2021. As a reminder, the bids for oxygen were based on the HCPCS code E1390, which is for stationary oxygen, and there were 130 regions bid. The simple average of the 2018 single payment amounts for these regions for this code was $73.98. The simple average of the pivotal bid amounts for these regions for this code was $122.61, or an average increase of 65.7%. If CMS would have implemented these rate changes, the simple average payment amounts in these regions for POCs (codes E1390 and E1392) would have been $157.60, which is significantly higher than the simple average payment amounts of $110.07 and $121.07 per month being paid as of January 1, 2021 and April 1, 2021 for these regions.
CMS is required to propose future rounds of competitive bidding, which could change reimbursement rates, negatively impact the premium for POCs over other oxygen modalities, or limit beneficiary access to our technologies. At this point, CMS has not yet announced when a new round of competitive bidding will occur. Cumulatively in previous rounds of competitive bidding, we were offered contracts for a substantial majority of the CBAs and product categories for which we submitted bids. As of January 1, 2017 (when the last round of competitive bidding was in effect), we believe we had access to over 90% of the Medicare oxygen therapy market based on our analysis of the 103 CBAs that we won out of the 130 total CBAs. These 130 CBAs represented approximately 36% of the Medicare market with the remaining approximately 64% of the market not subject to competitive bidding per Medicare’s data on 2018 traditional Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries in CBAs compared to the total Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries. As of January 1, 2019, we can choose to accept Medicare oxygen patients throughout the United States. As of July 2018, we are operating in all 50 states in the U.S. We did not sell or rent to patients in Hawaii due to the licensure requirements from inception to June 2018.
We cannot guarantee that we will be offered contracts in any subsequent rounds of competitive bidding. In all five rounds of competitive bidding in which we have participated, we have gained access to certain CBAs and been excluded from other CBAs.
In September 2021, CMS published a Decision Memo which revised the Home Use of Oxygen national coverage determination and removed the national coverage determination for Home Oxygen Use to Treat Cluster Headaches. This allows the Medicare Administrative Contractors to make coverage determinations regarding the use of home oxygen and oxygen equipment for cluster headaches. CMS also expanded patient access to oxygen and oxygen equipment in the home by allowing oxygen use for acute or short-term needs instead of limiting coverage to chronic hypoxemia, removed the requirement for alternative treatment measures before dispensing of oxygen therapy, and removed the limited list of conditions for which oxygen may be covered to respiratory-related diseases, to allow the physician flexibility to make that determination. In addition, CMS defined exercise more broadly to
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include functional performance of the patient and allow more flexibility on pulse oximetry readings to account for differences in skin pigmentation. Lastly, CMS reduced provider burden by removing the oxygen certificate of medical necessity requirement. We believe these changes will expand coverage for patients who would benefit from oxygen therapy, reduce administrative burdens, and give more decision-making authority on proper patient care to the physicians. CMS issued guidance on February 10, 2022 to the Medicare Administrative Contractors detailing that the implementation date of the revised national coverage policy will be June 14, 2022. However, we do not yet have visibility on the details of how the Medicare Administrative Contractors will change their coverage determinations or the effective date of the new national coverage determinations.
Medicare revenue, including patient co-insurance and deductible obligations, represented 10.6% of our total revenue in the year ended December 31, 2021 and 7.5% in the year ended December 31, 2020.
Medicare reimbursement for oxygen rental equipment is limited to a maximum of 36 months within a 60-month service period, and the equipment remains the property of the home oxygen supplier. The supplier that billed Medicare for the 36th month of service continues to be responsible for the patient’s oxygen therapy needs for months 37 through 60, and there is generally no additional reimbursement for OGPE for these later months. Medicare does not separately reimburse suppliers for oxygen tubing, cannulas and supplies that may be required for the patient. The supplier is required to keep the equipment provided in working order and in some cases, Medicare will reimburse for repair costs. At the end of the five-year useful life of the equipment, the patient may request replacement equipment and, if he or she can be re-qualified for the Medicare benefit, a new maximum 36-month payment cycle out of the next 60 months of service would begin. The supplier may not arbitrarily issue new equipment. We have analyzed the potential impact to revenue associated with patients in the capped rental period and have deferred $0 associated with the capped rental period for the years ended December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020. Our capped patients as a percentage of total patients on service was approximately 8.0% as of December 31, 2021 and 11.7% as of December 31, 2020. The decrease in percentage of capped patients in the comparative periods was primarily due to the significant increase in new patients coming on service, which substantially exceeded the number of patients that entered the capped period. The percentage of capped patients may fluctuate over time as new patients come on service, patients come off of service before and during the capped rental period, and existing patients enter the capped rental period.
Our obligations to service Medicare patients over the rental period include supplying working equipment that meets each patient’s oxygen needs pursuant to his/her doctor’s prescription and supplying all disposables required for the patient to operate the equipment, including cannulas, filters, replacement batteries, carts and carry bags, as needed. If the equipment malfunctions, we must repair or replace the equipment. We determine what equipment the patient receives, and we can deploy used assets in working order as long as the prescription requirements are met. We must also procure a renewal from the patient’s doctor to confirm the patient’s need for continued oxygen therapy one year after the patient first receives oxygen therapy and one year after each new 36-month reimbursement period begins. The patient can choose to receive oxygen supplies and services from another supplier at any time, but the supplier may only transition the patient to another supplier in certain circumstances.
We have contracts with Medicaid, Medicare Advantage, government and private payors that qualify us as an in-network provider for these payors. As a result, patients can rent or purchase our systems at the same patient obligation as other in-network oxygen suppliers. We had 92 contracts as of December 31, 2021. Private payors typically provide reimbursement at a rate similar to Medicare allowables for in-network plans. We anticipate that private payor reimbursement levels will generally be reset in accordance with Medicare payment amounts.
We believe that we are well positioned to respond to the changing reimbursement environment because our product offerings are innovative, patient-focused and cost-effective. We have historically been able to reduce our costs through scalable manufacturing, better sourcing, continuous innovation, and reliability improvements, as well as innovations that reduce our product service costs by minimizing exchanges. As a result of design changes, supplier negotiations, bringing manufacturing and assembly largely in-house and our commitment to driving efficient manufacturing processes, we have historically reduced our overall POC system cost and intend to continue to seek ways to reduce our cost of revenue through manufacturing and design improvements.
For additional discussion of the impact of the recent Medicare reimbursement proposals, see “Risk Factors” herein.
Manufacturing and raw materials
We have been developing and refining the manufacturing of our Inogen One systems since 2004. While nearly all of our manufacturing and assembly processes were originally outsourced, assembly of the compressors, sieve beds, concentrators and certain manifolds were brought in-house in order to improve quality control and reduce cost. In support of our European sales, we use a contract manufacturer located in the Czech Republic to manufacture high volume products and perform product repairs to improve delivery to our European accounts. We expect to maintain our assembly operations for our products at our facilities in Texas and California. In 2022, we are focused on securing supply for components to make our products in spite of the higher costs of semiconductor chips, reducing the cost of our Inogen One G5 product (excluding the impact of the semiconductor chip price increases), and increasing the robustness of our supply chain as part of our efforts to reduce potential component constraints as we grow our business.
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We also use lean manufacturing practices to maximize manufacturing efficiency. We rely on third-party manufacturers to supply several components of our products. We typically enter into master service agreements for these components that specify quantity and quality requirements and delivery terms. In certain cases, these agreements can be terminated by either party upon relatively short notice. We have elected to source certain key components from single sources of supply, including our batteries, motors, valves, TAV-compatible stationary concentrators, columns, and some molded plastic components. In some cases, maintaining a single source of supply can allow us to control production costs and inventory levels and to manage component quality, but also may lead to supply availability risks and means our ability to maintain production is dependent on these single source suppliers, which may put us at an increased risk of supply disruption, as we have seen from the production halt we implemented in early January 2022 through early February 2022. In order to help mitigate against the risks related to a single source of supply, for certain components we qualify alternative suppliers and develop contingency plans for responding to disruptions. However, a continued reduction or halt in supply from one of these single-source suppliers any dual-sourced suppliers or any other limited-source suppliers with similar sub-component suppliers could limit or prevent our ability to manufacture our products or devices until one or more sufficient replacement suppliers is found and qualified. For additional discussion of potential risks related to our manufacturing and raw materials, please see the risk factor entitled “We obtain some of the components, subassemblies and completed products included in our products from a single source or a limited group of manufacturers or suppliers, and in some cases those components are available in only limited supplies from limited manufacturers or suppliers, and the partial or complete loss of one or more of these manufacturers or suppliers could cause significant production delays or stoppages, an inability to meet customer demand, substantial loss in revenue, and an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.”
We currently manufacture in two leased buildings in Plano, Texas and Goleta, California, that we have registered with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and maintain a Quality Management system for which we have obtained International Standards Organization (ISO) 13485 certification.
Our entire organization is responsible for quality management. Our Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs departments oversee this by tracking component, device and organization performance and by training team members outside the Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs departments to become competent users of our Quality Management system. By measuring component performance, communicating daily with the production group and our suppliers, and reviewing customer complaints, our Quality Assurance department, through the use of our corrective action program, drives and documents continuous performance improvement of our suppliers and internal departments. Our Regulatory Affairs department also trains internal quality auditors to audit our adherence to the Quality Management system. Our Quality Management system has been certified to ISO 13485:2016 by BSI, a Notified Body.
In 2019, 2020 and 2021, our contract manufacturer produced the vast majority of the Inogen One G3 concentrators required to support our European demand and we expect this to continue in 2022. Our contract manufacturer also began manufacturing the Inogen One G5 in January 2020 and produced the vast majority of the Inogen One G5 concentrators required to support our European demand in 2021, which we expect to continue in 2022. Lastly, our contract manufacturer began repair services for the Inogen One product line in 2020 and repaired the majority of the Inogen One concentrators for our European customers. This has allowed us to continue to expand our manufacturing and repair capacity and redirect our U.S. manufacturing activities to focus on growth in the U.S. and on our largest volume products, the Inogen One G5 and the Inogen One G4.
As of December 31, 2021, we had 280 employees in operations, manufacturing, quality assurance, manufacturing engineering and repair in the United States.
Research and development
We are committed to ongoing research and development to stay at the forefront of patient preference in the oxygen concentrator and non-invasive ventilation field. As of December 31, 2021, our research and development staff included 28 engineers and scientists with expertise in air separation, compressors, pneumatics, electronics, embedded software, mechanical design, sensor, automation, connectivity, non-invasive ventilation and manufacturing automation. Our current research and development efforts are focused primarily on increasing functionality, improving design for ease-of-use, and reducing production costs of our Inogen One systems and Inogen At Home systems, as well as developing our next-generation oxygen concentrators and non-invasive ventilators. We have leveraged our sixty-six issued patents while also have historically reduced our overall POC system cost and intend to continue to seek ways to reduce our cost of revenue through manufacturing and design improvements.
We have released six products since 2004, including our Inogen One G1 in October 2004, our Inogen One G2 in March 2010, our Inogen One G3 in September 2012, our Inogen At Home system in October 2014, our Inogen One G4 in May 2016, and our Inogen One G5 in April 2019. We also launched the Inogen Connect platform in December 2018 in our direct-to-consumer channel and in February 2019 in our domestic business-to-business channel. We launched our TAV in December 2019. Our dedication to continuous improvement has also resulted in five mid-cycle product updates and numerous incremental improvements. Development projects utilize a combination of rapid prototyping and accelerated life testing methods to ensure products are taken from concept to commercialization in a fast and capital efficient manner. We leverage our direct patient expertise to rapidly gain insight from end users and to identify areas of innovation that we believe will lead to higher-quality products and lower total cost of ownership for our products.
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We continue to focus our efforts on design and functionality improvements that enhance patient quality of life and reduce service costs.
Competition
The long-term oxygen therapy market is a highly competitive industry. We compete with a number of manufacturers and distributors of portable oxygen concentrators, as well as providers of other long-term oxygen therapy solutions such as home delivery of oxygen tanks or cylinders, stationary concentrators, transfilling concentrators, and liquid oxygen.
Our significant manufacturing competitors are Respironics (a subsidiary of Koninklijke Philips N.V.), Invacare Corporation, Caire Medical (subsidiary of NGK Spark Plug), DeVilbiss Healthcare (a subsidiary of Drive Medical), O2 Concepts, Precision Medical, Resmed, Gas Control Equipment (subsidiary of Colfax), Nidek Medical, 3B Medical, SysMed, and Belluscura. Given the relatively straightforward regulatory path in the oxygen therapy device manufacturing market, we expect that the industry will become increasingly competitive in the future. For example, some major competitors have implemented direct-to-consumer sales models, which may increase their competitiveness and sales to patients, and we have recently seen the cost per generated lead trend higher than historical averages that may in part be due to increased competition. However, the strategies of these major competitors are currently limited to direct-to-consumer sales and do not include direct-to-consumer rentals where they would be responsible to meet national accreditation and state-by-state licensing requirements and secure Medicare billing privileges. Manufacturing companies compete for sales to providers primarily on the basis of price, quality/reliability, financing, bundling, product features, and service.
For many years, Lincare, Inc. (a subsidiary of the Linde Group), Apria Healthcare, Inc., AdaptHealth Corp., Rotech Healthcare, Inc., and Viemed Healthcare, Inc. have been among the market leaders in providing respiratory therapy products, while the remaining market is serviced by local providers. Because of reimbursement reductions, we expect more industry consolidation and volatility in ordering patterns based on how providers are restructuring their businesses and their access to capital. In addition, providers may reduce or eliminate purchases from us due to our increased focus on building out a prescriber sales team and pursuing rentals directly, which could be in competition with our providers in the United States. Respiratory therapy providers compete primarily on the basis of product features and service, rather than price, since reimbursement levels are established by Medicare and Medicaid, or by the individual determinations of private payors.
Some of our competitors are large, well-capitalized companies with greater resources than we have. Consequently, they are able to spend more aggressively on product development, marketing, sales and other product initiatives than we can. Some of these competitors have:
• significantly greater name recognition;
• established distribution networks;
As a result, our competitors may be able to respond more quickly and effectively than we can to new or changing opportunities, technologies, standard regulatory and reimbursement development and customer requirements or changing or uncertain business conditions or macroeconomic trends. In light of these advantages that our competitors maintain, even if our technology and direct-to-consumer distribution strategy is more effective than the technology and distribution strategy of our competitors, including those who have adopted or may in the future adopt direct-to-consumer sales models, current or potential customers might accept competitor products and services in lieu of purchasing our products. We anticipate that we will face increased competition in the future as existing companies and competitors develop new or improved products and distribution strategies and as new companies enter the market with new technologies and distribution strategies. We may not be able to compete effectively against these organizations. Our ability to compete successfully and to increase our market share is dependent upon our reputation for providing responsive, professional and high-quality products and services and achieving strong customer satisfaction. Increased competition in the future could adversely affect our revenue, revenue growth rate, margins and market share.
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Government regulation
Inogen One systems, Inogen At Home systems, TAV systems, and related accessories are medical devices subject to extensive and ongoing regulation by the FDA, as well as other federal and state regulatory bodies in the United States and comparable authorities in other countries. The FDA regulations govern the following activities that we perform, or that are performed on our behalf, to ensure that medical products distributed domestically or exported internationally are safe and effective for their intended uses: product design and development, pre-clinical and clinical testing, manufacturing, labeling, storage, pre-market clearance or approval, record keeping, product marketing, advertising and promotion, sales and distribution, and post-marketing surveillance.
FDA’s pre-market clearance and approval requirements
Unless an exemption applies, each medical device we seek to commercially distribute in the United States will require either a prior Section 510(k) of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, or 510(k) clearance, a De Novo authorization, or a pre-market approval from the FDA. Medical devices are classified into one of three classes—Class I, Class II or Class III—depending on the degree of risk associated with each medical device and the extent of control needed to ensure safety and effectiveness. Devices deemed to pose lower risks are placed in either Class I or II, which requires the manufacturer to submit to the FDA a premarket notification requesting permission to commercially distribute the device. This process is generally known as 510(k) clearance. Some low-risk devices are exempted from this requirement. Devices deemed by the FDA to pose the greatest risk, such as life-sustaining, life-supporting or implantable devices, or devices deemed not substantially equivalent to a previously cleared 510(k) device, are placed in Class III, requiring premarket approval unless they may be marketed under a De Novo authorization from the FDA.
510(k) clearance pathway
When a 510(k) clearance is required, we must submit a premarket notification to the FDA demonstrating that our proposed device is substantially equivalent to a “predicate device” which can be a previously cleared and legally marketed 510(k) device or a device that was in commercial distribution before May 28, 1976 for which the FDA has not yet called for the submission of a pre-market approval application. The performance goal for FDA to make a decision is within 90 FDA Days (calculated as the number of calendar days between the date the 510(k) was “accepted” by the FDA for substantive review and date of a decision, excluding the days the submission was on hold for an Additional Information request). As a practical matter, clearance often takes significantly longer. The FDA must “accept” the submission for substantive review and may require further information, including clinical data, to make a determination regarding substantial equivalence. If the FDA determines that the device, or its intended use, is not substantially equivalent to a previously-cleared device or use, the FDA will either allow the submission of a De Novo application, or place the device, or the particular use, into Class III. We obtained 510(k) clearance for the original Inogen One system on May 13, 2004. We market the Inogen One G3, Inogen One G4, and Inogen One G5 systems pursuant to the original Inogen One 510(k) clearance. We obtained 510(k) clearance for the Inogen At Home system on June 20, 2014. New Aera obtained 510(k) clearance for the TAV on December 2, 2016.
De Novo authorization pathway
The De Novo authorization pathway is a request to the FDA to classify novel devices of low to moderate risk that had automatically been placed in Class III either by virtue of receiving a “not substantially equivalent” (NSE) determination in response to a 510(k) notification or because there is no available predicate to which to claim substantial equivalence. These types of applications are referred to as “Evaluation of Automatic Class III Designation” or “De Novo.” FDA review of a De Novo application may lead the FDA to authorize marketing of the device and classify it as either a Class I or II device, the latter of which can serve as a predicate device for other 510(k) premarket notification submissions.
Pre-market approval pathway
A pre-market approval application must be submitted to the FDA if the device cannot be cleared through the 510(k) or De Novo process. The pre-market approval application process is much more demanding than the 510(k) premarket notification process. A pre-market approval application must be supported by extensive data, including but not limited to technical, preclinical, clinical trials, manufacturing and labeling to demonstrate to the FDA’s satisfaction reasonable evidence of safety and effectiveness of the device.
After a pre-market approval application is submitted and the FDA determines that the application is sufficiently complete to permit a substantive review, the FDA will accept the application for review. The FDA has 180 days to review an “accepted” pre-market approval application, although the review of an application generally occurs over a significantly longer period of time and can take up to several years. During this review period, the FDA may request additional information or clarification of the information already provided. Also, an advisory panel of experts from outside the FDA may be convened to review and evaluate the application and provide recommendations to the FDA as to the approvability of the device. In addition, the FDA will conduct a preapproval inspection of the manufacturing facility to ensure compliance with quality system regulations.
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Clinical trials
Clinical trials are almost always required to support pre-market approval and are sometimes required for 510(k) clearance. In the United States, these trials generally require submission of an application for an Investigational Device Exemption, or IDE, to the FDA. The IDE application must be supported by appropriate data, such as animal and laboratory testing results, showing it is safe to test the device in humans and that the testing protocol is scientifically sound. The IDE must be approved in advance by the FDA for a specific number of patients unless the product is deemed a non-significant risk device eligible for more abbreviated IDE requirements. Clinical trials for significant risk devices may not begin until the IDE application is approved by the FDA and the appropriate institutional review boards, or IRBs, at the clinical trial sites. We, the FDA or the IRB at each site at which a clinical trial is being performed may suspend a clinical trial at any time for various reasons, including a belief that the risks to study subjects outweigh the benefits. Even if a trial is completed, the results of clinical testing may not demonstrate the safety and efficacy of the device, may be equivocal or may otherwise not be sufficient to obtain approval or clearance of the product.
Pervasive and ongoing regulation by the FDA and foreign agencies
Even after a device receives clearance or approval and is placed on the market, numerous regulatory requirements apply. These include:
• establishment registration and device listing;
After a device receives 510(k) clearance, de novo clearance or a pre-market approval, any modification that could significantly affect its safety or effectiveness, or that would constitute a major change in its intended use, will require a new clearance or approval. The FDA requires each manufacturer to make this determination initially, but the FDA can review any such decision and can disagree with a manufacturer’s determination. We have modified various aspects of our Inogen One systems since receiving regulatory clearance, but we believe that new 510(k) clearances are not required for these modifications. If the FDA disagrees with our determination not to seek a new 510(k) clearance, the FDA may retroactively require us to seek 510(k) clearance or pre-market approval. The FDA could also require us to cease marketing and distribution and/or recall the modified device until 510(k) clearance or pre-market approval is obtained. Also, in these circumstances, we may be subject to significant regulatory fines and penalties.
Failure to comply with applicable regulatory requirements can result in enforcement action by the FDA, which may include any of the following sanctions: warning letters, fines, injunctions, civil or criminal penalties, recall or seizure of our products, operating restrictions, partial suspension or total shutdown of production, refusing our request for 510(k) clearance or pre-market approval of new products, rescinding previously granted 510(k) clearances or withdrawing previously granted pre-market approvals.
As a medical device manufacturer, our manufacturing facilities are subject to periodic inspection by the FDA and certain corresponding regulatory agencies and authorities. We have been periodically audited by the FDA and found to be in substantial compliance with Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP). We have also completed surveillance and recertification audits by our notified body and found to be in substantial compliance with GMP.
International sales of medical devices are subject to foreign government regulations and registration, which may vary substantially from country to country. The time required to obtain approval by a foreign country may be longer or shorter than that required for FDA approval/clearance, and the requirements may differ. There is a trend towards harmonization of quality system standards among the European Union, United States, Canada and various other industrialized countries.
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Licensure, registrations, and accreditation
In April 2009, we became an accredited Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics, and Supplies Medicare supplier by the Accreditation Commission for Health Care for our Goleta, California facility for Home/Durable Medical Equipment Services for oxygen equipment and supplies. Our Medicare accreditation must be renewed every three years by passing an on-site inspection. Our current accreditation with Medicare is due to expire in May 2024. Several states require that durable medical equipment providers be licensed in order to sell products to patients in that state. Certain of these states require that durable medical equipment providers maintain an in-state location. Most of our state licenses are renewed on an annual or bi-annual basis. Although we believe we are in compliance with all applicable state regulations regarding licensure requirements, if we were found to be non-compliant, we could lose our licensure in that state, which could prohibit us from selling our current or future products to patients in that state. Loss of any state licensure or operating without a required state license may also impact our Medicare enrollment, which requires us to be properly licensed in every state where we bill for Medicare reimbursement. Loss or suspension of our Medicare enrollment may also affect any Medicare competitive bidding program contracts we may apply for in the future. In addition, we are subject to certain state laws regarding professional licensure. We believe that our certified clinicians are in compliance with all applicable state laws. If our clinicians were to be found non-compliant in a given state, we would need to modify our approach to providing education, clinical support and customer service in such state until compliance is achieved.
Federal anti-kickback and self-referral laws
The Federal Anti-Kickback Statute prohibits, among other things, the knowing and willful offer, payment, solicitation or receipt of any form of remuneration overtly or covertly, in cash or in kind, in return for, or to induce the:
The Federal Anti-Kickback Statute applies to our arrangements with our United States sales representatives, customers and healthcare providers. Although we believe that we have structured such arrangements to comply with the Anti-Kickback Statute and other applicable laws, regulatory authorities may determine otherwise. Non-compliance with the Federal Anti-Kickback Statute can result in cancellation of our provider numbers and exclusion from Medicare, Medicaid or other federal healthcare programs, restrictions on our ability to operate in certain jurisdictions, as well as civil and criminal penalties, any of which could have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations.
Federal law also includes the Physician Self-Referral Law, commonly known as the “Stark Law,” which prohibits a physician from referring a patient to an entity with which the physician (or an immediate family member of the physician) has a financial relationship, for the furnishing of certain designated health services for which payment may be made by Medicare or Medicaid, unless an exception applies. Violation of the Stark Law could result in denial of payment, disgorgement of reimbursements received under a non-compliant arrangement, civil penalties and fees, and exclusion from Medicare, Medicaid or other federal healthcare programs. Although we believe that we have structured our provider arrangements to comply with current Stark Law requirements, regulatory authorities may determine otherwise.
Additionally, regulations issued for the Federal Anti-Kickback Statute and the Stark Law have undergone significant revisions, and it is reasonable to assume that revisions will occur in the future. While we have attempted to operate in compliance with these laws and regulations, our arrangements may ultimately be found to be not in compliance with applicable federal law.
Federal False Claims Act
The Federal False Claims Act provides, in part, that the federal government may bring a lawsuit against any person whom it believes has knowingly presented, or caused to be presented, a false or fraudulent request for payment to the federal government, or who has made a false statement or used a false record to get a claim approved. In addition, amendments in 1986 to the Federal False Claims Act have made it easier for private parties to bring “qui tam” or whistleblower lawsuits against companies. Although we believe that we are in compliance with the federal government’s laws and regulations, if we are found in violation of these laws, penalties of up to $0.024 million for each false claim, plus three times the amount of damages that the federal government sustained because of the act, can be assessed.
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Civil monetary penalties law
The Federal Civil Monetary Penalties Law grants authority to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) to seek civil monetary penalties (CMPs) against an individual or entity based on a wide variety of conduct including violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute, Stark Law, and False Claims Act. An entity that offers to or transfers remuneration to any individual eligible for benefits under Medicare or Medicaid that such entity knows or should know is likely to influence such individual to order or receive from a particular provider, practitioner, or supplier any Medicare or Medicaid payable item or service may be liable for CMPs. We sometimes offer customers various discounts and other financial incentives in connection with the sales of our products. While it is our intent to comply with all applicable laws, the federal government may find that our marketing activities violate the law. If we are found to be in non-compliance, we could be subject to CMPs of up to $0.022 million for each wrongful act, assessment of three times the amount claimed for each item or service and exclusion from Medicare, Medicaid and other federal healthcare programs. In addition, to the extent we are found to not be in compliance, we may be required to curtail or restructure our operations. Any penalties, damages, fines, exclusions, curtailment or restructuring of our operations could adversely affect our ability to operate our business and our financial results.
State fraud and abuse provisions
Many states have also adopted some form of anti-kickback and self-referral laws and false claims act that may apply to DMEPOS suppliers regardless of the payor source. We believe that we are in compliance with such laws. Nevertheless, a determination of liability under such laws could result in fines and penalties and restrictions on our ability to operate in these jurisdictions.
HIPAA
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or HIPAA, established uniform standards governing the conduct of certain electronic healthcare transactions and protecting the security and privacy of individually identifiable health information maintained or transmitted by healthcare providers, health plans and healthcare clearinghouses, which are referred to as “covered entities.” Three standards have been promulgated under HIPAA’s regulations: the Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information, which restrict the use and disclosure of certain individually identifiable health information, the Standards for Electronic Transactions, which establish standards for common healthcare transactions, such as claims information, plan eligibility, payment information and the use of electronic signatures, and the Security Standards, which require covered entities to implement and maintain certain security measures to safeguard certain electronic health information, including the adoption of administrative, physical and technical safeguards to protect such information.
In 2009, Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, or ARRA, which included sweeping changes to HIPAA, including an expansion of HIPAA’s privacy and security standards. ARRA includes the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health, or HITECH, which, among other things, made HIPAA’s privacy and security standards directly applicable to business associates of covered entities effective February 17, 2010. A business associate is a person or entity that performs certain functions or activities on behalf of a covered entity that involve the use or disclosure of protected health information in connection with recognized healthcare operations activities. As a result, business associates are now subject to significant civil and criminal penalties for failure to comply with applicable standards. Moreover, HITECH created a requirement to report certain breaches of unsecured, individually identifiable health information and imposes penalties on entities that fail to do so. HITECH also increased the civil and criminal penalties that may be imposed against covered entities, business associates and possibly other persons and gave state attorneys general new authority to file civil actions for damages or injunctions in federal courts to enforce the federal HIPAA laws and seek attorney fees and costs associated with pursuing federal civil actions. The 2013 final HITECH omnibus rule modifies the breach reporting standard in a manner that will likely make more data security incidents qualify as reportable breaches.
In addition to federal regulations issued under HIPAA, some states have enacted privacy and security statutes or regulations that, in some cases, are more stringent than those issued under HIPAA. In those cases, it may be necessary to modify our planned operations and procedures to comply with the more stringent state laws. If we fail to comply with applicable state laws and regulations, we could be subject to additional sanctions. Any liability from failure to comply with the requirements of HIPAA, HITECH or state privacy and security statutes or regulations could adversely affect our financial condition. The costs of complying with privacy and security related legal and regulatory requirements are burdensome and could have a material adverse effect on our results or operations.
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Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
In addition, there has been a recent trend of increased federal and state regulation of payments made to physicians and other healthcare providers. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, among other things, imposed public reporting requirements on medical device manufacturers for payments or other transfers of value made by them to physicians and teaching hospitals, as well as ownership and investment interests held by physicians and their immediate family members. The Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promoted Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities Act enacted in 2018, extends the reporting and transparency requirements under the Physician Payments Sunshine Act to physician assistants, nurse practitioners and other mid-level practitioners, with reporting requirements going into effect in 2022 for payments made in 2021.Failure to submit required ownership and investment interest information may result in civil monetary penalties of up to an aggregate of $0.18 million per year (or up to an aggregate of $1.191 million per year for “knowing failures”), for all payments, transfers of value or ownership or investment interests that are not timely, accurately and completely reported in an annual submission. Certain states also mandate implementation of compliance programs, impose restrictions on device manufacturer marketing practices and/or require the tracking and reporting of gifts, compensation and other remuneration to physicians and other healthcare professionals.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act also requires healthcare providers to voluntarily report and return an identified Medicare or Medicaid overpayment within 60 days after identifying the overpayment. Failure to repay the overpayment within 60 days will result in the claim being considered a “false claim” and the healthcare provider will be subject to False Claims Act liability, and additional CMPs of $0.021 million for each item or service that is not reported and returned.
International regulation
International sales of medical devices are subject to foreign governmental regulations, which vary substantially from country to country. The time required to obtain clearance or approval by a foreign country may be longer or shorter than that required for FDA clearance or approval, and the requirements may be different.
The primary regulatory body in Europe is the European Commission, which has adopted numerous directives and has promulgated standards regulating the design, manufacture, clinical trials, labeling and adverse event reporting for medical devices. Devices that comply with the requirements of a relevant directive will be entitled to bear the European Conformity Marking, or CE Mark, indicating that the device conforms to the essential requirements of the applicable directives and, accordingly, can be commercially distributed throughout the member states of the European Union, and other countries that comply with or mirror these directives. The method of assessing conformity varies depending on the type and class of the product, but normally involves a combination of self-assessment by the manufacturer and a third-party assessment by a notified body, an independent and neutral institution appointed by a country to conduct the conformity assessment. This third-party assessment may consist of an audit of the manufacturer’s quality system, review of technical documentation, and specific testing of the manufacturer’s device. Such an assessment may be required in order for a manufacturer to commercially distribute the product throughout these countries. ISO 13485 certification is a voluntary standard. Quality systems that implement relevant harmonized standards establish the presumption of conformity with the essential requirements for a CE Mark. We have the authorization to affix the CE Mark to our oxygen therapy products and to commercialize our devices in the European Union. Our ISO 13485 certification was issued on April 21, 2005 and our EC-Certificate was issued on March 16, 2007. The final form of the European Medical Device Regulation, which will replace Europe’s Medical Device Directive, entered into force on May 25, 2017 and its full application is expected to be on May 26, 2021. The Medical Device Regulation will apply in parallel with the Medical Device Directive for a transition period of three years.
Inogen has sold products in Canada since 2006 when we obtained our Medical Device License after obtaining appropriate licensure, accreditation, and meeting ISO Standard 13485. As of January 1, 2019, Health Canada implemented the Medical Device Single Audit Program (MDSAP) as the sole mechanism for manufacturers to demonstrate compliance with the quality management system requirements of the Medical Device Regulations, replacing the Canadian Medical Devices Conformity Assessment System (CMDCAS) program. Inogen has been in compliance with the MDSAP since its implementation on January 1, 2019 and believes it is still in compliance with these regulations.
In Australia, we must appoint an agent sponsor who will interact on our behalf with the Therapeutics Goods Administration (TGA). We must also prepare a technical file and declaration of conformity to essential requirements under Australian law, provide evidence of CE Marking of the device and submit this information via our agent sponsor to the TGA in a Medical Device Application. On June 4, 2007, we received our Certificate for Inclusion of a Medical Device in Australia.
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U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
Also, the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and similar worldwide anti-bribery laws generally prohibit companies and their intermediaries from making improper payments to foreign officials. We cannot assure you that our internal control policies and procedures will protect us from reckless or negligent acts committed by our employees, manufacturers, distributors, partners, collaborators or agents. Violations of these laws, or allegations of such violations, could result in legal fees, fines, penalties or prosecution and have a negative impact on our business, results of operations and reputation.
Intellectual property
We believe that to maintain a competitive advantage, we must develop and preserve the proprietary aspect of our technologies. We rely on a combination of patent, trademark, trade secret and other intellectual property laws, non-disclosure agreements and other measures to protect our proprietary rights. Currently, we require our employees, public accountants, consultants and advisors to execute non-disclosure agreements in connection with their employment, consulting or advisory relationships with us, where appropriate. We also require our employees, consultants and advisors with whom we expect to work on our current or future products to agree to disclose and assign to us all inventions conceived during the workday, developed using our property or related to our business. Despite any measures taken to protect our intellectual property, unauthorized parties may attempt to copy aspects of our Inogen One, Inogen At Home, or non-invasive ventilation systems, sell counterfeit versions of our products, or obtain and use information that we regard as proprietary.
Patents
As of December 31, 2021, we had twenty-seven pending patent applications and sixty-six issued patents relating to the design and construction of our respiratory devices. We anticipate it could take several years for the most recent of these patent applications to result in issued patents, if successful.
The 2019 acquisition of New Aera added a significant number of issued and pending patent applications to Inogen’s portfolio. The additional patents and patent filings include U.S. and international pending and issued patents. The combined portfolio of Inogen and New Aera include several categories.
Our patent portfolio contains four principal categories of patents and patent applications. One such category includes patents and patent applications directed to system and component designs that may be incorporated into Inogen’s oxygen therapy product line which includes the Inogen One G3, Inogen One G4, Inogen One G5, and the Inogen At Home oxygen concentrators. For example, U.S. patents 9,592,360 and 10,786,644 are directed to the Inogen One G3 design, U.S. patent 10,695,520 is directed to the design of the Inogen One G4, and U.S. patents 9,283,346, 10,004,869 and 10,869,986 are directed towards the Inogen at Home stationary oxygen concentrator. This category of patents expires in 2031 or later and may serve to deter competitors from reverse engineering or copying our design elements.
The second category of patents and patent applications within our portfolio pertains to operating features and design techniques. For example, U.S. patents 8,702,841; 9,220,864; and 9,283,346 are directed towards design features of the Inogen One G3, Inogen One G4, and Inogen at Home products. This category of patents expires in 2031 or later (without taking into account any patent term adjustments). These features and designs are developed to facilitate the design, manufacturing, and usefulness of our products. These patents may prevent competitors from achieving the same levels of optimization as found in our products.
A third category of patents and patent applications relates to system designs that may be directed to products in both oxygen and ventilation product categories. One example of a patent in this category is U.S. patent 9,907,926, which is directed to an oxygen concentrator for mechanical ventilation. This category of patents expires in 2023 or later (without taking into account any patent term adjustments). Patents and patent applications in this category and others may facilitate the design and development of future respiratory products that can serve patients in need of supplemental oxygen and or mechanical ventilation therapies.
The fourth category of patents and patent applications is directed to the TAV and related products. For example, U.S. patent 10,384,028 is directed to the nasal interface of the TAV. Another example of a patent in this category is U.S. patent D851,767 which is directed to the design of the TAV. This category of patents expires in 2034 or later.
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Trademarks
“Inogen,” “Inogen One,” “Inogen One G2,” “Inogen One G3,” “G4,” “G5,” “Live Life in Moments, not Minutes,” “Never Run Out of Oxygen,” “Oxygen Therapy on Your Terms,” “Oxygen.Anytime.Anywhere,” “Reclaim Your Independence,” “Intelligent Delivery Technology,” “Inogen At Home,” the Inogen design, “TIDAL ASSIST,” “TAV,” and “SIDEKICK” are registered trademarks with the United States Patent and Trademark Office of Inogen, Inc. We own a pending application for “Inogen” with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. We own trademark registrations for the mark “Inogen” in Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, China, Columbia, Ecuador, South Korea, Mexico, Europe (European Union registration), the United Kingdom, Iceland, India, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, New Zealand, Norway, Paraguay, Peru, Turkey, Singapore, Switzerland, and Uruguay. We own pending applications for the mark “Inogen” in Brazil, India, Malaysia, and South Africa. We own a trademark registration for the mark “イノジェン” in Japan. We own trademark registrations for the marks “印诺真” and “艾诺根” in China. We own trademark registrations for the mark “Inogen One” in Australia, Canada, China, South Korea, Mexico, Europe (European Union registration), and the United Kingdom. We own a trademark registration for the mark “Satellite Conserver” in Canada. We own a trademark registration for the mark “Inogen At Home” in Europe (European Union Registration) and the United Kingdom. We own trademark registrations for the mark “G4” in Europe (European Union registration) and the United Kingdom. We own trademark registrations for the mark “G5” in Europe (European Union Registration) and the United Kingdom. We own a trademark application for the Inogen design in Bolivia. We own a trademark registration for the Inogen design in China. We own a trademark registration for the mark “إنوجن” in Saudi Arabia. Other service marks, trademarks, and trade names referred to in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are the property of their respective owners.
Human capital
At Inogen, we believe our employees are critical to our success and our ability to focus on product quality, continuous improvement, and outstanding customer satisfaction. The unique demands of our industry, together with the challenges of running an enterprise focused on the development, manufacture and commercialization of innovative products, require talent that is highly educated and/or has significant industry experience. Additionally, for certain key functions, we require specific expertise to oversee and conduct research and development activities and complex manufacturing requirements for our products. We seek the best people we can find and support them to be productive and engaged. We strive to ensure our measures of safety, remuneration and employee engagement are competitive with those of leading companies in our industry.
Employees
As of December 31, 2021, we had 1,021 full and part-time employees worldwide, consisting of 517 employees in sales, marketing, clinical and client services, 280 employees in operations, manufacturing, quality assurance, manufacturing engineering, and repair, 196 employees in general administration and 28 employees in research and development. In addition, we had 97 temporary workers as of December 31, 2021, primarily in operations, to support spikes in demand. None of our employees are represented by a collective bargaining agreement and we believe that our employee relations are good.
Employee culture
Inogen strives to instill a culture that values honesty and ethics, which is why integrity is one of Inogen’s five core values. We expect our employees to honor commitments and take ownership of mistakes and we expect our employees to always do the right thing not the easy thing. In addition, Inogen values self-responsibility, open communication, continuous improvement and service, which are all important components of our culture. All of our directors, officers, and employees are guided by our Code of Ethics and Conduct, which is published on the Investor Relations section of Inogen's website at: http://investor.inogen.com/. The Code of Ethics and Conduct summarizes the compliance and ethical standards we expect of our employees and directors, the procedures for a suspected breach, and the consequences of any substantiated breach. The Code of Ethics and Conduct also constitutes Inogen’s Code of Ethics and Conduct under US law and the NASDAQ exchange’s listing standards. It deals with conflicts of interest, confidential information, fair dealing with customers, suppliers, competitors, and healthcare professionals, and compliance with financial reporting, insider trading, and other financial market regulation. In addition, we believe our commitment to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives is important to our customers, patients, employees, suppliers, and investors, and shows our commitment towards improved global health. Our ESG strategy is grounded in business sustainability, our Code of Ethics and Conduct, and our core values.
Talent acquisition and development
Inogen employees have specific career and development pathways, which are designed in consultation with the employee’s operational management and human resources. We encourage employees to take advantage of learning opportunities and we provide financial support through a tuition reimbursement program to help employees complete their college education and be prepared for higher level positions. As part of our commitment to career development and learning, we perform an annual affirmative action review by job role, and we have a policy to address identified pay or promotion discrepancies that are not based on experience or skill.
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Diversity, equity and inclusion
Diversity, equity and inclusion are essential elements of Inogen’s business practices. We are committed to creating and maintaining a workplace in which all employees have an opportunity to participate and contribute to the success of the business and are valued for their skills, experience, and unique perspectives. The collective sum of the individual differences, life experiences, knowledge, inventiveness, innovation, self-expression, unique capabilities and talent that employees invest in their work represents a significant part of our culture as well as our reputation and achievements. We embrace employees’ diversity of background, experience, culture, and other characteristics that make employees unique.All employees are expected to exhibit conduct that reflects inclusion during work, at work functions on or off the work site, and at all other company-sponsored and participative events.
Inogen is committed to compliance with all applicable federal and state laws prohibiting discrimination in employment and, therefore, does not discriminate against its employees or applicants based on any legally-recognized “protected class”. Consistent with the Americans with Disabilities Act and similar state and local laws, we work with qualified employees and applicants with disabilities in order to identify and provide reasonable accommodations that can enable them to perform their jobs. Inogen’s equal employment opportunity philosophy applies to all aspects of employment with Inogen including recruiting, hiring, job assignment, training, promotion, job benefits, compensation, discipline, and dismissal. Inogen has implemented policies, procedures, and trainings to ensure that any reports of potential discrimination or harassment are appropriately investigated and corrected.
Health and safety
Our approach to health and safety uses both our management systems and our quality culture to minimize workplace incidents and maximize the care taken for employees who suffer from a workplace incident, per our health and safety policy. Inogen also has a corporate wellness program to promote improved physical and emotional wellbeing. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and related PHE and as part of our commitment to work to ensure the safety and well-being of our employees, our employees who are able and choose to work from home have done so since mid-March 2020. For employees returning to the workplace and the field, we have also taken additional safety measures, including implementing occupancy limits, restricting business travel, providing and requiring the use of personal protective equipment, temperature screening and COVID-19 testing or vaccination records to access our workplaces.
Environmental matters
Our research and development and manufacturing processes involve the controlled use of hazardous materials, including flammables, toxics, and corrosives. Our research and manufacturing operations produce hazardous chemical waste products. We seek to comply with applicable laws regarding the handling and disposal of such materials. Given the small volume of such materials used or generated at our facilities, we do not expect our compliance efforts to have a material effect on our capital expenditures, earnings, and competitive position. However, we cannot eliminate the risk of accidental contamination or discharge and any resultant injury from these materials. We do not currently maintain separate environmental liability coverage and any such contamination or discharge could result in significant cost to us in penalties, damages, and suspension of our operations.
Climate change
As a global respiratory therapy and medical device company, Inogen recognizes that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions affect our climate and pose a serious challenge to the environment—and ultimately to the global economy. We believe that everyone shares responsibility to improve energy efficiency and to reduce GHG emissions in the atmosphere. Inogen supports global and national efforts to mitigate the impact of climate change. Inogen is committed to complying with all applicable laws and regulations that help reduce GHG and encouraging market adoption of low GHG emission technologies. Our position on climate change policy is guided by five principles:
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Inogen is a responsible corporate citizen that has done business in 59 countries and territories around the world. Our business success and our environmental stewardship both depend on the efficiency of our global distribution network. Our long-term GHG reduction strategy is to optimize the processes that consume non-renewable resources within this network. We also recognize that, as a critical component of our customers’ supply chains, Inogen plays an important role in helping them operate in a more environmentally sustainable way.
Backlog
We run our operations on a just-in-time basis; however, the volatility of order intake may result in periods when incoming orders exceed our capacity. We do not currently have a backlog of orders that could not be fulfilled in our ordinary course of business. Further, our customers can change or cancel orders with limited or no penalty and limited advance notice prior to shipment.
Geographic information
During the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020, and 2019, substantially all of our long-lived assets were located within the United States. See Note 2to our audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information related to our U.S. and non-U.S. revenue.
Seasonality
We believe our sales may be impacted by seasonal factors. For example, we typically experience higher total sales in the second and third quarters, as a result of consumers traveling and vacationing during warmer weather in the spring and summer months, but this may vary year-over-year. In particular, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and related PHE, we have seen and expect to continue to see a disruption in our normal seasonal trends due to the mandates and behaviors emanating from the COVID-19 pandemic and related PHE, including shelter-in-place orders, reduced travel, and lower consumer confidence, and we did not see the typical seasonal increases in direct-to-consumer sales in 2020 that we have seen in prior years, although a partial return to normal seasonal trends was seen in 2021. Additionally, as more home medical equipment (HME) providers adopt portable oxygen concentrators in their businesses, we expect our historical seasonality in the domestic business-to-business channel could change as well, which was previously influenced mainly by consumer buying patterns. Direct-to-consumer sales seasonality may also be impacted by the number of sales representatives and the amount of marketing spend in each quarter. For the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020, and 2019, the sales revenue in the second quarter accounted for 29.0%, 23.4% and 28.1%, respectively, and the sales revenue in the third quarter accounted for 26.0%, 23.8% and 25.4%, respectively, of our total sales revenue.
Corporate and available information
We were incorporated in Delaware in November 2001. Our principal executive offices are located at 301 Coromar Drive, Goleta, California 93117. Our telephone number is (805) 562-0500. Our website address is www.inogen.com. We make available on our website, free of charge, our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and any amendments to those reports, as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC. Our SEC reports can be accessed through the investor relations page of our website located at http://investor.inogen.com. The SEC also maintains a website that contains our SEC filings. The address of the site is www.sec.gov.
We webcast our earnings calls and certain events we participate in or host with members of the investment community on our investor relations page of our website. In addition, we use our website http://investor.inogen.comas a means of disclosing information about our company, our products, our planned financial and other announcements, our attendance at upcoming investor conferences, and other matters. It is possible that the information we post on our website could be deemed material information. We may use our website to comply with our disclosure obligations under Regulation FD. Therefore, investors should monitor our website in addition to following our press releases, SEC filings, public conference calls, and webcasts. Corporate governance information, including our board committee charters, code of ethics, and corporate governance principles, is also available on our investor relations page of our website located at http://investor.inogen.com. The contents of our website are not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K or in any other report or document we file with the SEC, and any references to our website are intended to be inactive textual references only.
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Information about our executive officers
The following table identifies certain information about our executive officers as of February 18, 2022.
Name Age Position
Nabil Shabshab 56 Chief Executive Officer, President, and Director
Bart Sanford 56 Executive Vice President, Operations
Stanislav Glezer 49 Executive Vice President, Chief Technology Officer
George Parr 51 Executive Vice President, Chief Commercial Officer
Jason Somer 54 Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
Nabil Shabshab has served as our President, Chief Executive Officer, and as a director since February 2021. Previously, Mr. Shabshab served as Worldwide President of Diabetes Care and Digital Health at Becton Dickinson and Company from August 2017 until January 2021 and served as its Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President of Strategic Planning from August 2011 until May 2017. Previously, from 2006 to 2010, Mr. Shabshab served as EVP, Global Portfolio, Chief Marketing Officer and Head of RD&E of Diversey, Inc., a cleaning and sanitation solutions company. Prior to that, from 2004 to 2006, Mr. Shabshab served as Principal of The Zyman Group, a marketing consulting firm. From 2002 to 2004, Mr. Shabshab served as Vice President, Client Solutions and Consulting, of Symphony IRI, a consumer marketing firm. Prior to that, Mr. Shabshab served in various sales and marketing roles in consumer goods companies. Mr. Shabshab holds an MBA from Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management and a B.S. in Computer Sciences from American Lebanese University. The board of directors believes that Mr. Shabshab’s extensive industry experience qualifies him to serve on our board of directors.
Michael Sergesketter has served as our Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer since December 2021. Mr. Sergesketter most recently served as CFO of Kimball Electronics, Inc. Mr. Sergesketter brings over forty years of finance experience in the manufacturing services industry. He brings expertise working across business functions, including with the CEO and Board of Directors, Audit Committee and Compensation and Governance Committee. As part of his role as the CFO of Kimball Electronics, Inc. following its spin-off in 2014 and through June 2021, Mr. Sergesketter led the transformation of the finance and reporting functions to support the newly formed public company, helping to formulate and execute on the strategy that led to global expansion. During his tenure at Kimball Electronics and its predecessors, Mr. Sergesketter had the responsibility for a number of critical finance functions, including SEC reporting, Treasury, Investor Relations, Tax, Financial Planning & Analysis, Internal Audit while playing a leading role in various M&A transactions in the U.S. and abroad.
Bart Sanford has served as our Executive Vice President, Operations since September 2018. From April 2017 to September 2018, Mr. Sanford was Senior Vice President, Operations, at Cepheid Inc., a molecular diagnostics company. From October 2010 to March 2017, Mr. Sanford was Vice President, Global Operations, at Molecular Devices, LLC, a life sciences company. From January 2009 to September 2010, Mr. Sanford was a Corporate Director at Danaher Corporation, a medical device company. From March 2000 to December 2008, Mr. Sanford held various positions at Fluke Corporation, an industrial test product company, including plant manager, manufacturing manager and materials manager. Mr. Sanford received an MBA from Central Michigan University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Logistics, Materials and Supply Chain Management from Michigan State University.
Dr. Stanislav Glezer has served as our Executive Vice President, Chief Technology Officer since October 2021, responsible for R&D and Engineering, Medical Affairs, and Regulatory Affairs. Dr. Glezer has also served as our Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer from June 2021 to October 2021. Previously, Dr. Glezer was with Becton, Dickinson and Company, a global medical technology company where he served as the Worldwide Vice President of Medical Affairs for Diabetes Care since September 2018 with Business Development responsibilities added under him since January 2021. Prior to joining Becton Dickinson, Dr. Glezer served as the Chief Medical Officer at Adocia S.A. a biotechnology company, from 2017 to 2018. From 2016 to 2017, Dr. Glezer served as Vice President of Global Medical Affairs at Novo Nordisk, Inc., a healthcare company. Earlier, Dr. Glezer served in a number of roles of progressively increasing seniority, including, Global Project Head for the largest late-stage pipeline asset, Vice President of Evidence and Value & Access, Vice President of Medical Affairs, and Senior Director of Medical Strategy & Operations, for Sanofi S.A., a multinational pharmaceutical company, from 2001 to 2015. Dr Glezer holds a doctor of medicine from Moscow State University of Medicine and Dentistry and a MBA from California Coast University.
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George Parrhas served as our Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer since April 2021. Most recently, Mr. Parr served as Executive Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer at Becton Dickinson and Company, a leading medical technology company, from November 2017 through January 2020. Previously, from 2014 to 2017, Mr. Parr served as Senior Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer at SIRVA Worldwide Relocation & Moving, a moving industry company. Prior to that, from 2006 to 2013, Mr. Parr served at Diversey, Inc., a cleaning and hygiene solutions company, as Senior Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer from 2010 to 2013 and Worldwide General Manager, Kitchen Hygiene & Fabric Care from 2006 to 2010. Prior to that, Mr. Parr served in various managing roles in consumer goods companies. Mr. Parr holds a MBA from DePaul University and a B.S. in Accounting from LaSalle University.
Jason Somer has served as our Executive Vice President and General Counsel and Secretary since July 2021. Most recently, Mr. Somer served as head Legal Counsel at Invoca, Inc., a SaaS analytics company. Prior to his time at Invoca, Mr. Somer served as Associate General Counsel at Sunniva, Inc., and as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for Innova Gaming Group, a gaming company. Prior to joining Innova, Mr. Somer served as the Senior Vice President of Business Development and General Counsel at Sunora Energy Solutions, a solar energy development company. Mr. Somer also previously served as the Vice President of Special Projects and the Senior Global Counsel at Suntech Power, a Shanghai-based solar energy technology company. Prior to joining Suntech Power, Mr. Somer served as Director of Legal Affairs & Business Development at Ironport Systems, Inc. and as Associate General Counsel and a Business Development Director of Neoforma, Inc. Mr. Somer joined Neoforma from Morrison & Foerster where he was a corporate/securities associate based in New York. Mr. Somer holds a L.L.M. from Boston University, a L.L.B from the University of British Columbia School of Law, and a B.Sc. from the University of Western Ontario in Biology/Pharmacology.
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ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
We operate in a rapidly changing environment that involves numerous uncertainties and risks. In addition to the other information included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, the following risks and uncertainties may have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, or stock price. You should consider these risks and uncertainties carefully, together with all of the other information included or incorporated by reference in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The risks and uncertainties described below may not be the only ones we face. If any of the risks or uncertainties we face were to occur, the trading price of our securities could decline, and you may lose all or part of your investment. This Annual Report on Form 10-K also contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements as a result of factors that are described below and elsewhere in this report.
Risk factors include, but are not limited to, statements concerning the following:
Risks related to our business and strategy:
• the lack of long-term supply contracts with many of our third-party suppliers;
• healthcare reform measures;
• our ability to hire and retain highly qualified individuals;
• our ability to manage our anticipated growth effectively;
• potential acquisitions of, or investments in, other companies;
• our international sales and manufacturing activities;
• warranty or product liability claims or other litigation;
• increases in our operating costs;
• variance in our financial condition and results of operations; and
• the market opportunities for our products.
Risks related to the regulatory environment:
• potential FDA, state, or international regulatory enforcement action.
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Risks related to our intellectual property:
Risks related to being a public company:
• our ability to maintain effective internal controls.
Risks related to our common stock:
• the volatility of the trading price of our common stock;
• the publication of research reports by securities or industry analysts;
• potential sales of a large number of shares of our common stock;
• anti-takeover provisions in our charter documents and under Delaware law; and
• our intention not to pay dividends for the foreseeable future.
Risks related to our business and strategy
We face intense international, national, regional and local competition and if we are unable to compete successfully, it could have an adverse effect on our revenue, revenue growth rate, if any, and market share.
The long-term oxygen therapy market is a highly competitive industry. We compete with a number of manufacturers and distributors of portable oxygen concentrators (POCs), as well as providers of other long-term oxygen therapy solutions such as home delivery of oxygen tanks or cylinders, stationary concentrators, transfilling concentrators, and liquid oxygen.
Our significant manufacturing competitors are Respironics (a subsidiary of Koninklijke Philips N.V.), Invacare Corporation, Caire Medical (subsidiary of NGK Spark Plug), DeVilbiss Healthcare (a subsidiary of Drive Medical), O2 Concepts, Precision Medical, Resmed, Gas Control Equipment (subsidiary of Colfax), Nidek Medical, 3B Medical, SysMed, and Belluscura. Given the relatively straightforward regulatory path in the oxygen therapy device manufacturing market, we expect that the industry will become increasingly competitive in the future. For example, some major competitors have implemented direct-to-consumer sales models, which may increase their competitiveness and sales to patients, and we have recently seen the cost per generated lead trend higher than historical averages that may in part be due to increased competition. However, the strategies of these major competitors are currently limited to direct-to-consumer sales and do not include direct-to-consumer rentals where they would be responsible to meet national accreditation and state-by-state licensing requirements and secure Medicare billing privileges. Manufacturing companies compete for sales to providers primarily on the basis of price, quality/reliability, financing, bundling, product features, and service.
For many years, Lincare, Inc. (a subsidiary of the Linde Group), Apria Healthcare, Inc., AdaptHealth Corp., Rotech Healthcare, Inc., and Viemed Healthcare, Inc. have been among the market leaders in providing respiratory therapy products, while the remaining market is serviced by local providers. Because of reimbursement reductions, we expect more industry consolidation and volatility in ordering patterns based on how providers are restructuring their businesses and their access to capital. In addition, providers may reduce or eliminate purchases from us due to our increased focus on building out a prescriber sales team and pursuing rentals directly, which could be in competition with our providers in the United States. Respiratory therapy providers compete primarily on the basis of product features and service, rather than price, since reimbursement levels are established by Medicare and Medicaid, or by the individual determinations of private payors.
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Some of our competitors are large, well-capitalized companies with greater resources than we have. Consequently, they are able to spend more aggressively on product development, marketing, sales and other product initiatives than we can. Some of these competitors have:
• significantly greater name recognition;
• established distribution networks;
As a result, our competitors may be able to respond more quickly and effectively than we can to new or changing opportunities, technologies, standard regulatory and reimbursement development and customer requirements or changing or uncertain business conditions or macroeconomic trends, including supply chain challenges. In light of these advantages that our competitors maintain, even if our technology and direct-to-consumer distribution strategy is more effective than the technology and distribution strategy of our competitors, including those who have adopted or may in the future adopt direct-to-consumer sales models, current or potential customers might accept competitor products and services in lieu of purchasing our products. We anticipate that we will face increased competition in the future as existing companies and competitors develop new or improved products and distribution strategies and as new companies enter the market with new technologies and distribution strategies. We may not be able to compete effectively against these organizations. Our ability to compete successfully and to increase our market share is dependent upon our reputation for providing responsive, professional and high-quality products and services and achieving strong customer satisfaction. Increased competition in the future could adversely affect our revenue, revenue growth rate, margins and market share.
We depend on a limited number of customers for a significant portion of our sales revenue and the loss of, or a significant shortfall in demand from, these customers could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and operating results.
We receive a significant amount of our sales revenue from a limited number of customers, including distributors, HME providers, our private label partner, resellers, and charitable organizations. For the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020, and 2019, sales revenue to our top 10 customers accounted for approximately 27.4%, 29.0% and 33.5%, respectively, of our total revenue. The Medicare service reimbursement programs represented more than 10% of our total revenue for the year ended December 31, 2021. One single customer represented more than 10% of our total revenue for the year ended December 31, 2020 and no single customer represented more than 10% of our total revenue for year ended December 31, 2019. We expect that sales to relatively few customers will continue to account for a significant percentage of our total revenue in future periods. Our future success will significantly depend upon the timing and volume of business from our largest customers and the financial and operational success of these customers. However, we can provide no assurance that any of these customers or any of our other customers will continue to purchase our products at current levels, pricing, or at all, and our revenue could fluctuate significantly due to changes in customer order levels, economic conditions, the adoption of competitive products, or the loss of, reduction of business with, or less favorable terms with any of our largest customers. For example, we have previously experienced a decline in sales to one large national homecare provider who purchased through our private label partner. We have also experienced a decline in sales from other home medical equipment providers and these providers have communicated to us that they continue to be subject to capital constraints. Moreover, in the second quarter of 2020 and continuing through the first quarter of 2021, we experienced a decline in total sales to business-to-business customers worldwide, which we believe was primarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic and related PHE. If we were tolose one of our key customers or have a key customer significantly reduce its volume of business with us, such as we previously experienced with the large national homecare provider, our revenue may be materially reduced and there would be an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
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We obtain some of the components, subassemblies and completed products included in our products from a single source or a limited group of manufacturers or suppliers, and in some cases those components are available in only limited supplies from limited manufacturers or suppliers, and the partial or complete loss of one or more of these manufacturers or suppliers could cause significant production delays or stoppages, an inability to meet customer demand, substantial loss in revenue, and an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.
We utilize single-source suppliers for some of the components and subassemblies we use in our Inogen One systems, our Inogen At Home systems, and our Tidal Assist® Ventilator (TAV®). For example, we have elected to source certain key components from single sources of supply, including our batteries, motors, valves, TAV-compatible stationary concentrators, columns, and some molded plastic components. Many of our products also utilize components that are available from a limited number of suppliers. Our dependence on single-source or limited-source suppliers of components may expose us to several risks, including, among other things:
• our suppliers may wish to discontinue supplying components or services to us.
We have experienced supply problems with one or more of our suppliers and may again experience problems in the future. For example, we have seen supply chain disruptions in 2021 and the first quarter of 2022 and expect to continue to see these disruptions through 2022, primarily associated with semiconductor chips used in our batteries and printed circuit boards, which are components of our portable oxygen concentrators. This semiconductor chip shortage is being experienced across many industries, placing additional pressure on existing supplies. While we have taken steps to attempt to mitigate the impact of this supply shortage, it has had and will likely continue to have an increased negative impact on our ability to manufacture products (including with respect to the production halt discussed below) as these chips are used across all of our portable oxygen concentrators in our batteries and printed circuit boards. We are continuing to focus our mitigation efforts on product redesign, seeking increased commitments on shipment dates from our regular suppliers, canvassing the open market for supplies, and using the price increase we implemented on September 1, 2021 to help offset some of the increased costs, but in spite of these efforts we have been supply constrained and with these components facing extremely high demand, we expect continued challenges in terms of supply constraint and pricing inflation moving forward.
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The inflated costs related to the supply shortage negatively impacted our cost of goods sold in the third and fourth quarter of 2021, and we expect this to have an increased impact on our material costs in 2022. Even though we paid significant costs in the third and fourth quarters of 2021 associated with these chips, most of these costs increased our prepaid expense and inventory given that these components were either not yet delivered or not yet sold in finished products during the period. We believe based on our assessment and industry feedback that these supply shortages may continue through 2022. In addition to the semiconductor chip limitations, we are continuing to see supply chain constraints for other components used in our products. As a result of the semiconductor chip shortages, we temporarily suspended manufacturing operations at our Texas and California locations from January 3, 2022 to February 7, 2022 and Foxconn, our Czech Republic-based OEM, suspended manufacturing due to the same supply constraints from January 3, 2022 to February 9, 2022. While we were able to resume manufacturing operations, we are still seeing challenges in terms of availability of supply and we believe the supply shortage continues to represent an increased risk to the business in 2022, and we may suspend manufacturing again in the future due to these shortages.
In addition, we have seen supply chain challenges tied to the COVID-19 pandemic and related PHE in printed circuit boards, corrugated boxes, aluminum machined parts, plastic molded parts, and batteries. While we have been able to coordinate with our suppliers to minimize disruption to our business related to these components, we may not be able to do so in the future and may be required to further slowdown or temporarily halt production. We may also face similar situations in the future and we may not be able to quickly establish additional or replacement suppliers, particularly for our single source components or subassemblies, and may experience similar delays in manufacturing. Any interruption or delay in the supply of components or subassemblies, or our inability to obtain components or subassemblies from alternate sources at acceptable prices in a timely manner, could impair our ability to meet the demand of our customers and cause them to cancel orders or switch to competitive products.
Recently, the FDA released guidance that requires manufacturers of certain medical devices, including ventilation-related products under product code CAW, among others, to notify FDA of a permanent discontinuance or interruption in manufacturing of an applicable device under Section 506J of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act during the COVID-19 PHE. To the extent we experience an interruption in our manufacturing during the COVID-19 PHE that falls within the scope of this guidance, we would be required to notify FDA. This and other regulatory requirements could increase the cost of our operations and compliance.
In addition, we may be deemed to manufacture or contract to manufacture products that contain certain minerals that have been designated as “conflict minerals” under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. As a result, we may be required to perform due diligence to determine the origin of such minerals and disclose and report whether or not such minerals originated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or adjoining countries. The implementation of these requirements could adversely affect the sourcing, availability, and pricing of minerals used in the manufacture of our products. In addition, we have incurred additional costs to comply with the disclosure requirements, including costs related to determining the source of any of the relevant minerals and metals used in our products. If any of these risks materialize, costs could significantly increase and our ability to meet demand for our products could be impacted. If we fail to comply with the applicable regulations, we could be required to pay civil penalties, face criminal prosecution and, in some cases, be prohibited from distributing our products in commerce until the products or component substances are brought into compliance. If we are unable to satisfy commercial demand for our products in a timely manner, our ability to generate revenue would be impaired, market acceptance of our products could be adversely affected, and customers may instead purchase or use alternative products. In addition, we could be forced to secure new or alternative components and subassemblies through a replacement supplier. Finding alternative sources for these components and subassemblies could be difficult in certain cases and may entail a significant amount of time and disruption. In some cases, we would need to change the components or subassemblies if we sourced them from an alternative supplier. This, in turn, could constitute a material modification or require a redesign of our products and, potentially, require additional FDA clearance or approval before we could use any materially modified or redesigned product with new components or subassemblies, thereby causing further costs and delays that could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
If we are unable to continue to enhance our existing products, develop or acquire and market our products that respond to customer needs and preferences and achieve market acceptance, we may experience a decrease in demand for our products and our business could suffer.
We may not be able to compete as effectively with our competitors and ultimately satisfy the needs and preferences of our customers unless we can continue to enhance existing products, acquire companies with new or different products, sell our existing products, and develop new innovative products ourselves. Product development requires significant financial, technological and other resources. While we expended $16.6 million, $14.1 million and $9.4 million for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020, and 2019, respectively, in research and development efforts, we cannot assure that this level of investment will be sufficient to maintain a competitive advantage in product innovation, which could cause our business to suffer. We also plan to incorporate the TAV technology acquired from the New Aera acquisition directly into our oxygen concentrators, with minimal expected sales of the TAV product in its current configuration.
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Product improvements and new product introductions also require significant planning, design, development, patent protection, and testing at the technological, product, and manufacturing process levels and we may not be able to timely develop product improvements or new products or obtain necessary patent protection and regulatory clearances or approvals for such product improvements or new products in a timely manner, or at all. Our competitors’ new products may enter the market before our new products reach the market, be more effective with more features, obtain better market acceptance, or render our products obsolete. Any new products that we develop or acquire may not receive market acceptance or otherwise generate any meaningful sales or profits for us relative to our expectations based on, among other things, existing and anticipated investments in manufacturing capacity and commitments to fund advertising, marketing, promotional programs and research and development. In addition, if we are unable to seek and obtain regulatory approval or adequate coverage and reimbursement for any new products that we develop or introduce, in a timely manner or at all, we may realize lower revenue than expected or even no revenue at all from these products. As a result, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially harmed.
We are subject to risks associated with public health threats and epidemics, including the COVID-19 pandemic and related PHE.
Public health outbreaks, epidemics, pandemics of contagious or infectious diseases, such as COVID-19, may significantly disrupt our business. Such outbreaks pose the risk that we or our employees, contractors, suppliers, or other partners may be prevented from conducting business activities for an indefinite period of time due to spread of the disease, or due to shutdowns that may be requested or mandated by federal, state and local governmental authorities. Business disruptions could include disruptions or restrictions on our ability to travel, as well as temporary closures of our facilities or the facilities of our contractors, suppliers, and other partners. For example, total business-to-business demand declined in the second quarter of 2020 continuing through the first quarter of 2021 due to physician offices limiting patient interactions for COPD patient referrals, HME providers minimizing patient interactions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and related PHE which includes replacing existing oxygen patient setups with POCs and temporary reduced operating capacity of certain respiratory assessment centers and continued delays in certain European markets due to the COVID-19 pandemic and related PHE. While it is not possible at this time to estimate the overall impact that the COVID-19 pandemic and related PHE could have on our business, the continued spread of COVID-19, both across the United States and through much of the world, and the measures taken by the governments and local authorities of affected regions has adversely affected our operating results and could cause or contribute to, among other things: significant volatility or reductions in demand for our products; delays in our product development pipeline; delays in obtaining regulatory clearances or approvals to market our products in certain jurisdictions; failure of third parties on which we rely to meet their obligations to us, or significant disruptions in their ability to do so; and our inability to meet our customers’ needs due to disruptions to our operations or the operations of our contractors, suppliers, other partners or customers including disruptions to production, development, manufacturing, administrative and supply operations and arrangements. In addition, new variants of COVID-19 could prove to be deadlier or more transmittable, or the developed vaccines may be ineffective versus these new variants, which could negatively impact our business and financial results.
In addition, we have strived to follow recommended actions of government and health authorities to protect the health and safety of our employees and community, while working to ensure the sustainability of our business operations as this unprecedented situation continues to evolve. Employees whose tasks can be done offsite have been allowed to work from home and most of our total personnel continue to work from home. While we have worked closely with local and national officials and have thus far been able to keep our manufacturing facilities open due to the essential nature of our products, there can be no assurance that we will be able to keep such facilities open indefinitely during the COVID-19 pandemic and related PHE. We have thus far been able to keep our contract manufacturer capability and capacity available but there can be no assurance that we will be able to keep such facilities open indefinitely during COVID-19 pandemic and related PHE. We continue to evaluate the impact COVID-19 may have on our ability to effectively conduct our business operations as planned to mitigate risk to our employees and customers while taking into account regulatory, institutional, and government guidance and policies, but there can be no assurance that we will be able to avoid part or all of any impact from the spread of COVID-19 or its consequences.
The COVID-19 pandemic and related PHE continues to rapidly evolve. The COVID-19 pandemic and related PHE has already adversely affected our financial results and the extent to which COVID-19 ultimately impacts our business will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, such as the ultimate geographic spread of the disease, the duration of the pandemic, travel restrictions and social distancing in the United States and other countries, business closures or business disruptions, the effectiveness of actions taken in the United States and other countries to contain and treat the disease and to address its impact, including on financial markets or otherwise, and how quickly and to what extent normal economic and operating conditions can resume if and when the COVID-19 pandemic and related PHE subsides. While the extent of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and related PHE on our business and financial results is uncertain, we have already been negatively impacted and a continued and prolonged public health crisis could have a further material negative impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Even after the COVID-19 pandemic and related PHE has subsided, we may continue to experience materially adverse impacts on our financial condition and our results of operations and many of our known risks described in this Annual Report on Form 10-K may be heightened.
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While we have received funding from programs enacted under the CARES Act, due to the enactment of the CARES Act and related legislation, there is still a high degree of uncertainty surrounding their implementation, and the COVID-19 pandemic and related PHE continues to evolve. HHS is still issuing additional guidance to providers and suppliers regarding the terms and conditions associated with the implementation of the CARES Act Provider Relief Fund. The federal government may consider additional stimulus and relief efforts, but we are unable to predict whether additional stimulus measures will be enacted or their impact. There can be no assurance as to the total amount of financial and other types of assistance we will receive under the CARES Act or future legislation, if any, and it is difficult to predict the impact of such legislation on our operations. Further, there can be no assurance that the terms of provider relief funding or other programs will not change in ways that affect our funding or eligibility to participate. We will continue to assess the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and related PHE and government responses to the pandemic on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
We do not have long-term supply contracts with many of our third-party suppliers.
We purchase components and subassemblies from third-party suppliers, including some of our single-source suppliers, through purchase orders and do not have long-term supply contracts with many of these third-party suppliers. Many of our third-party suppliers, therefore, are not obligated to perform services or supply products to us for any specific period, in any specific quantity or at any specific price, except as may be provided in a particular purchase order. We do not maintain large volumes of inventory from most of these suppliers. For example, our batteries are sourced from a single source supplier, and sub-components of the battery are also sourced from single source suppliers. While our printed circuit boards are sourced from dual sources, the sub-components of these boards are sourced from single source suppliers. We are experiencing limited availability of certain semiconductor chip components for our Inogen One portable oxygen concentrators in both its batteries and printed circuit boards, and we do not have long-term supply contracts that would guarantee our supply during these periods of higher demand and lower availability of these sub-components. This has led to orders not being filled in a timely manner and a temporary production halt in the first quarter of 2022 and is expected to lead to increased costs for components and limited supply availability through 2022. Therefore, we expect to be unable to fully meet customer demand for our products during the first quarter of 2022 and we expect these supply constraints to continue through 2022. For additional discussion of potential risks related to our inability to source components of our products, please see the risk factor entitled “We obtain some of the components, subassemblies and completed products included in our products from a single source or a limited group of manufacturers or suppliers, and in some cases those components are available in only limited supplies from limited manufacturers or suppliers, and the partial or complete loss of one or more of these manufacturers or suppliers could cause significant production delays or stoppages, an inability to meet customer demand, substantial loss in revenue, and an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.”
We may also be affected by other supply limitations during the COVID-19 pandemic and related PHE that could affect our ability to fulfill orders. If we inaccurately forecast demand or fail to place orders timely enough relative to fluctuating lead time requirements for components or subassemblies, our ability to manufacture and commercialize our products could be delayed and our competitive position and reputation could be harmed. In addition, if we fail to effectively manage our relationships with these suppliers or if our suppliers, in the near term or the long term, are not able to supply sufficient quantities of components or subassemblies needed for our products due to the COVID-19 pandemic and related PHE, we may be required to change suppliers or, if we are unable to find alternative suppliers in a timely manner, we may be required to further slowdown or temporarily halt production which would adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.
A significant majority of our rental patients who use our product have health coverage under the Medicare program, and recently enacted and future changes in the reimbursement rates or payment methodologies under Medicare, Medicaid and other government programs have affected and could continue to materially and adversely affect our business and operating results.
As a provider of oxygen equipment rentals, we depend heavily on Medicare reimbursement as a result of the higher proportion of elderly persons suffering from chronic long-term respiratory conditions. Medicare Part B, or Supplementary Medical Insurance Benefits, provides coverage to eligible beneficiaries that include items of durable medical equipment for use in the home, such as oxygen equipment and other respiratory devices. There are increasing pressures on Medicare to control healthcare costs and to reduce or limit reimbursement rates for home medical products.