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.
26
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.
27
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.
28
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.
29
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.
30
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.
31
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.
Legislation, including the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003, the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008, and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, contain provisions that directly impact reimbursement for the durable medical equipment products provided by us:
32
33
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. Payment methodologies (1) and (2) contemplate utilizing the 50/50 blended rates as a permanent construct, but payment methodology (3) contemplates setting the fee schedule amounts to 100% of the Medicare rates that are based upon (former) competitive bid rates. 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 reimbursement rate.
These legislative provisions have had and may continue to have a material and/or adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
34
The HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) has recommended that states review Medicaid reimbursement for durable medical equipment (DME) and supplies. The OIG cites an earlier report estimating that four states (California, Minnesota, New York, and Ohio) could have saved more than $18.1 million on selected DME items if their Medicaid prices were comparable to those under round one of the Medicare competitive bidding program. Since issuing those reports, the OIG identified $12 million in additional savings that the four states could have obtained on the selected items by using pricing similar to the Medicare round two competitive bidding and national mail-order programs. In light of varying Medicaid provider rates for DME and the potential for lower spending, the OIG recommends that CMS (1) seek legislative authority to limit state Medicaid DME reimbursement rates to Medicare program rates, and (2) encourage further reduction of Medicaid reimbursement rates through competitive bidding or manufacturer rebates (the OIG did not determine the cost of implementing a rebate or competitive bidding program in each state). This was effective beginning January 1, 2018.
Due to budgetary shortfalls, many states are considering, or have enacted, cuts to their Medicaid programs. In addition, many private payors reimburse at a percentage of the Medicare rates. Medicare, Medicaid and private payor reimbursement rate cuts have included, or may include elimination or reduction of coverage for our products, amounts eligible for payment under co-insurance arrangements, or payment rates for covered items. Continued state budgetary pressures could lead to further reductions in funding for the reimbursement for our products which, in turn, would adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
The competitive bidding process or other reimbursement policy changes under Medicare or other third-party payors could negatively affect our business and financial condition.
The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 requires the Secretary of HHS to establish and implement programs under which competitive acquisition areas are established throughout the United States for purposes of awarding contracts for the furnishing of competitively priced items of durable medical equipment, including oxygen equipment.
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) and sequestration adjustments, but can also be 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 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.
Average Medicare reimbursement rates in former CBAs E1390 E1392
CMS also issued a final rule in December 2021 (CMS-1738-P) to establish payment methodologies 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 PHE, except for inflation and sequestration adjustments that typically occur annually each January but have not yet been announced.
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 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 reimbursement rate.
35
In January 2021, CMS announced what would have been the payment amounts 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 payment amounts for these regions for this code was $122.61, or an average increase of 65.7%. If CMS were to have implemented these rate changes, the average payment amounts in these regions for POCS (codes E1390 and E1392) would have been $157.60, which is significantly higher than the $110.07 per month being paid as of January 1, 2021.
Medicare payment rates are based upon whether the beneficiary resides in a (former) CBA, or in a rural or non-rural non-CBA, 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 based on a higher 50-50 blended rate, to account for higher servicing costs in those areas. 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. Effective March 1, 2021, CMS announced that the rates as of January 1, 2021 were incorrectly calculated, and retroactively adjusted the rates, which are reflected in the table below. The Medicare rates announced previously were a simple average of $136.24 for HCPCS code E1390 and $44.69 for HCPCS code E1392, which were increased to $136.84 and $44.99, respectively. 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 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 Consumer Price Index (CPI) and sequestration 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 2021 rates listed below include CARES Act increased rates due to the COVID-19 PHE, which may not be in place for all of 2022. Once the Administration ends the COVID-19 PHE, 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.
CMS is required to conduct future rounds of competitive bidding, which could reduce reimbursement rates, negatively impact the premium for POCs over other oxygen modalities, or limit beneficiary access to our technologies. 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. Effective January 1, 2017, 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. As of January 1, 2019, we can choose to accept Medicare oxygen patients throughout the United States. As of July 2018, we currently operate 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 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.
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.
36
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 oxygen generating portable equipment for these later months. CMS 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, CMS 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 as of 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 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 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.
Although we continue to monitor developments regarding the implementation of the competitive bidding program, we cannot predict the outcome of the competitive bidding program on our business when fully implemented, nor the Medicare reimbursement rates that will be in effect in future years for the items subject to competitive bidding, including our products. We expect that the stationary oxygen and non-delivery ambulatory oxygen reimbursement rates will continue to fluctuate, and a large negative payment adjustment would adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Healthcare reform measures may have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.
In the United States, the legislative landscape, particularly as it relates to healthcare regulation and reimbursement coverage, continues to evolve. In March 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was passed, which has substantially changed healthcare financing by both governmental and private insurers, and significantly impacts the U.S. medical device industry.
In addition, other legislative changes have been proposed and adopted in the United States since the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was enacted. On August 2, 2011, the Budget Control Act of 2011 created, among other things, measures for spending reductions by Congress. A Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, tasked with recommending a targeted deficit reduction of at least $1.2 trillion for the years 2013 through 2021, was unable to reach required goals, thereby triggering the legislation’s automatic sequestration reduction to several government programs. This includes aggregate reductions of Medicare reimbursements to providers up to 2% per fiscal year, which went into effect on April 1, 2013, and will remain in effect through 2030 unless additional Congressional action is taken. For example, a provision in the CARES Act and subsequent federal laws have paused the 2% Medicare sequestration reduction for claims dated from May 1, 2020 through March 31, 2022. Starting April 1, 2022, and through June 30, 2022, there will be a 1% sequestration reduction, and the full 2% sequestration reduction will resume on July 1, 2022. We expect that additional state and federal healthcare policy measures will be adopted in the future, any of which could limit the amounts that federal and state governments will pay for healthcare products and services, which could result in reduced demand for our products or additional pricing pressures.
In addition to the legislative changes discussed above, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requires healthcare providers to voluntarily report and return an identified 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.
37
State legislative bodies also have the right to enact legislation that would impact requirements of home medical equipment providers, including oxygen therapy providers. Some states have already enacted legislation that require in-state facilities. We are monitoring all state requirements to maintain compliance with state-specific legislation and access to service patients in these states. To the extent such legislation is enacted, it could result in increased administrative costs or otherwise exclude us from doing business in a particular state, which would adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We face uncertainties that might result from modification or repeal of any of the provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, including as a result of current and future executive orders, legislative actions and judicial decisions. The impact of those changes on us and potential effect on the durable medical equipment industry as a whole is currently unknown. But any changes to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act are likely to have an impact on our results of operations and may have a material adverse effect on our results of operations. We cannot predict what other healthcare programs and regulations will ultimately be implemented at the federal or state level or the effect of any future legislation or regulation in the United States may have on our business.
We depend upon reimbursement from Medicare, private payors, Medicaid and payments from patients for a significant portion of our revenue, and if we fail to manage the complex and lengthy reimbursement process, our business and operating results could be adversely affected.
A significant portion of our rental revenue is derived from reimbursement by third-party payors. We accept assignment of insurance benefits from customers and, in a majority of cases, invoice and collect payments directly from Medicare, private payors and Medicaid, as well as direct from patients under co-insurance provisions. For the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, approximately 12.9%, 9.2% and 5.9%, respectively, of our total revenue was derived from Medicare, private payors, Medicaid, and individual patients who directly receive reimbursement from third-party payors and this percentage could increase as a percent of total revenue if we increase net patient additions faster than our sales revenue growth.
Our financial condition and results of operations may be affected by the healthcare industry’s reimbursement process, which is complex and can involve lengthy delays between the time that a product is delivered to the consumer and the time that the reimbursement amounts are settled. Depending on the payor, we may be required to obtain certain payor-specific documentation from physicians and other healthcare providers before submitting claims for reimbursement. Certain payors have filing deadlines and they will not pay claims submitted after such time. We are also subject to extensive pre-payment and post-payment audits by governmental and private payors that could result in material delays, refunds of monies received or denials of claims submitted for payment under such third-party payor programs and contracts. We cannot ensure that we will be able to continue to effectively manage the process which would adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
If our manufacturing facilities become unavailable or inoperable, we could be unable to continue manufacturing our products and, as a result, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected until we are able to secure a new facility.
We assemble our products at our facilities in Plano, Texas and Goleta, California and through our contract manufacturer in the Czech Republic. No other manufacturing facilities are currently available to us, particularly facilities of the size and scope of our Texas facility. Our facilities and the equipment we use to manufacture our products would be costly to replace and could require substantial lead time to procure, repair or replace. Our facilities may be harmed or rendered inoperable by natural or man-made disasters, including, but not limited to, the COVID-19 pandemic and related PHE related facility shutdowns, fire, flood, earthquakes and power outages, which may render it difficult or impossible for us to manufacture our products for some period of time. Although we and our contract manufacturer have been able to keep our manufacturing facilities open thus far during the COVID-19 pandemic and related PHE, we cannot assure that we will be able to continue to do so indefinitely.
If any of our facilities become unavailable to us, we cannot provide assurances that we will be able to secure and equip a new manufacturing facility on acceptable terms in a timely manner. The inability to manufacture our products, combined with delays in replacing parts inventory and manufacturing supplies and equipment, may result in the loss of customers and/or harm our reputation, and we may be unable to reestablish relationships with those customers in the future. Although we have insurance coverage for certain types of disasters and business interruptions which may help us recover some of the costs of damage to our property, costs of recovery and lost income from the disruption of our business, insurance coverage of certain perils may be limited or unavailable at cost effective rates and may therefore not be sufficient to cover any or all of our potential losses and may not continue to be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all. If our manufacturing capabilities are impaired, we could not be able to manufacture, store, and ship our products in sufficient quantity or a cost effective or timely manner, which would adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
38
We rely upon a third-party contract manufacturer for certain manufacturing operations and our business and results of operations may be adversely affected by risks associated with their business, financial condition and the geography in which they operate.
We utilize a third-party contract manufacturer located in the Czech Republic for production of a portion of our Inogen One G3 and Inogen One G5 concentrators and for repair services for these products. Since 2018, our contract manufacturer has produced the vast majority of the concentrators required to support our European demand and we expect this to continue in 2022 and 2023. There are a number of risks associated with our dependence on a contract manufacturer, including:
• reduced control over delivery schedules and planning;
• reliance on the quality assurance procedures of a third party;
• potential uncertainty regarding manufacturing yields and costs;
• limited warranties provided to us; and
• potential misappropriation of our intellectual property.
These and other risks could impair our ability to fulfill orders, harm our sales and impact our reputation with customers. If our contract manufacturer is unable or unwilling to manufacture our products or components of our products, or if our contract manufacturer discontinues operations, we may be required to identify and qualify alternative manufacturers, which could cause us to be unable to meet our supply requirements to our customers and result in the breach of our customer agreements. The process of qualifying a new contract manufacturer and commencing volume production is expensive and time-consuming, and if we are required to change or qualify a new contract manufacturer, we would likely lose sales revenue and damage our existing customer relationships.
Failure to maintain or obtain new private payor contracts and future reductions in reimbursement rates from private payors could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.
A portion of our rental revenue is derived from private payors. Based on our patient population, we estimate approximately 33% of potential customers have non-Medicare insurance coverage (including Medicare Advantage plans). Failing to maintain and obtain private payor contracts from private insurance companies and employers and secure in-network provider status could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. In addition, private payors are under pressure to increase profitability and reduce costs. In response, certain private payors are limiting coverage or reducing reimbursement rates for the products we provide. We believe that private payor reimbursement levels will generally be reset in accordance with the Medicare reimbursement amounts determined by competitive bidding. We cannot predict the extent to which reimbursement for our products will be affected by competitive bidding or by initiatives to reduce costs for private payors. Failure to maintain or obtain new private payor contracts or the unavailability of third-party coverage or inadequacy of reimbursement for our products would adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
If we are unable to manage our anticipated growth effectively, our business could be harmed.
We have previously experienced periods of rapid growth in short periods of time. These periods of rapid growth of our business have placed a significant strain on our managerial and operational resources and systems. For example, as our business has grown, we have seen the cost per generated lead trend higher than historical averages. In addition, many of the sales representatives we hired in 2018 were unable to meet sales targets and were thus transitioned out. To continue to grow our business, we must attract and retain capable personnel and manage and train them effectively, particularly related to sales representatives and supporting sales personnel. We must also upgrade our internal business processes and capabilities to create the scalability that a growing business demands.
39
Going forward, we plan to hire additional inside sales representatives at a more controlled pace across all three facilities to expand sales capacity, but our inside sales representative headcount was down significantly at year-end 2019 compared to year-end 2018 and, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and related PHE, it was also down at year-end 2020 compared to year-end 2019. Headcount was also down slightly at year-end 2021 compared to December 31, 2020. In 2022, we expect hiring will continue to be challenging due to the continued impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and related PHE, so we do not expect to increase our inside sales force and instead expect to offset attrition with replacement hiring. While we believe we are making the necessary changes to improve sales management infrastructure to support sales representative training and onboarding, it will take more time to evaluate whether these changes are effective in the long term, particularly given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and related PHE, and to the extent they are not effective it may negatively affect our financial condition and results of operations.
In addition, we plan to hire additional sales representatives in our prescriber sales organization, primarily through Ashfield, our contract sales organization, to enhance our go-to-market capabilities in the U.S. The employment market is very challenging and there is no guarantee that they, or we, will be able to hire all of the required employees to our prescriber sales organization in the future or retain existing staff. Additionally, Ashfield will provide access to its best-in-class data-driven sales management disciplines, proprietary prescriber insights, and analytics to support our growth strategy and drive performance in the clinician sales channel. While we believe that our investments in the prescriber sales organization will enhance our growth in direct-to-consumer sales and rental revenue, it will take time for these sales representatives to be fully trained and ramped up to full productivity, and it will take time for the sales tools to be implemented across our existing prescriber sales representatives. To the extent that the sales tools being implemented, or the sales representatives hired either through us or Ashfield, are not effective, or the number of sales representatives does not reach the number anticipated, it may negatively affect our future growth and results of operations.
In addition, our sales expansion and productivity improvements for 2022 may continue to be negatively impacted due to the COVID-19 pandemic and related PHE. In connection with the COVID-19 pandemic and related PHE, we expect minimal inside sales representative headcount additions in 2022, and we expect the COVID-19 pandemic and related PHE may continue to reduce the number of oxygen therapy patients who purchase our products directly through our direct-to-consumer sales channel, and the number of sales generated from physician offices or make it more difficult to get paperwork and testing from physician offices. The reduction in nonessential travel may also continue to harm our business, particularly for our prescriber sales representatives and business-to-business partners who rely on physician office and hospital visits to drive business, and patients who rely on physicians to prescribe them oxygen therapy after in-office testing.
We also have experienced increased demand for our products in various markets associated with rising rates of COVID-19, since physicians may prescribe supplemental oxygen as a treatment for COVID-19. As a result, in these periods we saw increased demand for our products for applicable patients who may be treated in the home instead of an acute hospital setting. This demand is mostly being filled through our HME provider partners, who work closely with hospitals to discharge patients into a home treatment program. If this demand increase resumes and we cannot meet this demand, we may lose market share to competitors or lose customers, which may negatively affect our financial conditions and results of operations. In addition, even if we are able to meet any such increased demand, such an increase in business-to-business sales mix may negatively impact our gross margin as HME provider purchases have a significantly lower average selling price than direct-to-consumer purchases.
During 2019, we signed leases to expand our facilities located in Plano, Texas and Goleta, California, which commenced in 2021. Domestic expansion, combined with our use of a contract manufacturer in Europe to produce a portion of our Inogen One G3 and Inogen One G5 concentrators and perform product repairs, is expected to be sufficient to meet our manufacturing needs provided that these facilities remain operational. However, our anticipated growth may place additional strain on our supply chain and manufacturing facilities, resulting in an increased need for us to carefully monitor parts inventory, capable staffing and quality assurance. Any failure by us to manage the scalability of our process or other aspects of our growth effectively could have an adverse effect on our ability to achieve our development and commercialization goals and negatively affect our financial condition and results of operations.
We may expand through acquisitions of, or investments in, other companies, each of which may divert our management’s attention, result in additional dilution to our stockholders, increase expenses, disrupt our operations, and harm our results of operations.
Our business strategy may, from time-to-time, include acquiring or investing in complementary services, technologies or businesses, such as our acquisition of New Aera in 2019. We do not have an extensive history of acquiring other companies and cannot assure you that we will successfully identify suitable acquisition candidates, integrate or manage disparate technologies, lines of business, personnel and corporate cultures, realize our business strategy or the expected return on our investment, or manage a geographically dispersed company. Any such acquisition or investment could materially and adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. We may issue equity securities which could dilute current stockholders’ ownership, incur debt, assume contingent or other liabilities and expend cash in acquisitions, which could negatively impact our financial condition, stockholder equity, and stock price. The acquisition and integration process is complex, expensive and time-consuming, and may cause an interruption of, or loss of momentum in, product development and sales activities and operations of both companies, and we may incur substantial cost and expense, as well as divert the attention of management.
40
Acquisitions and other strategic investments involve significant risks and uncertainties, including:
• unanticipated costs and liabilities;
• difficulties in maintaining customer relations;
• the potential loss of key employees of the acquired businesses;
• the potential of amortization expenses related to intangible assets;
Any acquisition or investment could expose us to unknown liabilities. Moreover, we cannot assure you that we will realize the anticipated benefits of any acquisition or investment. In addition, our inability to successfully operate and integrate newly acquired businesses appropriately, effectively, and in a timely manner could impair our ability to take advantage of future growth opportunities and other advances in technology, as well as on our revenues, gross margins, and expenses.
As part of our ongoing efforts to advance patient preference and maintain our technology leadership position, we acquired New Aera in 2019 and completed our integration process. We made certain assumptions relating to the New Aera acquisition, which assumptions may have been inaccurate, including the failure to realize the expected benefits of the acquisition, failure to realize expected revenue, higher than expected operating costs, and general economic and business conditions that adversely affect the combined company following the acquisition. After integration of New Aera, and partially as a result of the negative litigation outcome in our case against the Department of Health and Human Services, we believe that our assumptions regarding New Aera will not be fully realized. We believe that there are still many risks associated with the TAV product, including whether we will be able to successfully incorporate TAV into our existing products, what sort of competition there may be for the TAV product, if and when implemented, and the other risks identified in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
We are exposed to the credit and non-payment risk of our HME providers, distributors, private label partners and resellers, especially during times of economic uncertainty and tight credit markets, which could result in material losses.
We sell our products to certain HME providers, distributors, private label partner and resellers on unsecured credit, with terms that vary depending upon the customer’s credit history, solvency, cash flow, credit limits and sales history, as well as prevailing terms with similarly situated customers and whether sufficient credit insurance can be obtained. In particular, one single customer and Medicare each represented more than 10% of our net accounts receivable balance with accounts receivable balances of $5.9 million and $2.7 million, respectively, as of December 31, 2021, and two customers each with an accounts receivable balance of $8.4 million and $7.0 million, respectively, as of December 31, 2020. Challenging economic conditions, including those associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and related PHE, may impair the ability of our customers to pay for products they have purchased, and as a result, our reserve for doubtful accounts could increase and, even if increased, may turn out to be insufficient. Moreover, even in cases where we have insolvency risk insurance to protect against a customer’s bankruptcy, insolvency or liquidation, this insurance typically contains a significant deductible and co-payment obligation and does not cover all instances of non-payment. Our exposure to credit risks of our business partners may increase if our business partners and their end customers are adversely affected by global or regional economic conditions, including those associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and related PHE. One or more of these business partners could delay payments or default on credit extended to them, either of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
41
We generate a substantial portion of our revenue internationally and are subject to various risks relating to such international activities, which could adversely affect our operating results. In addition, any disruption or delay in the shipping of our products, whether domestically or internationally, may have an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.
During the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, approximately 22.2%, 20.1% and 21.5%, respectively, of our total revenue was generated from customers located outside of the United States. We believe that a significant percentage of our future revenue will continue to come from international sources as we expand our international operations and develop opportunities in other countries. Engaging in international business inherently involves a number of difficulties and risks, including:
• export or import delays and restrictions;
• obtaining and maintaining regulatory clearances, approvals and certifications;
• laws and business practices favoring local companies;
• unstable economic, political, and regulatory conditions;
• supply chain complexities;
• fluctuations in currency exchange rates;
• difficulties protecting or procuring intellectual property rights.
If one or more of these risks occurs, it could require us to dedicate significant resources to remedy, and if we are unsuccessful in finding a solution, our financial condition and results of operations will suffer.
In addition, on June 23, 2016, the United Kingdom (U.K.) held a referendum in which voters approved an exit from the European Union, commonly referred to as “Brexit.” This decision created an uncertain political and economic environment in the U.K. and other European Union countries, and the formal process for leaving the European Union has taken years to complete. The U.K. formally left the European Union on January 31, 2020 and began a transition period which expired on December 31, 2020.
In December 2020, the U.K. and the European Union agreed on a trade and cooperation agreement, under which the U.K. and the European Union will now form two separate markets governed by two distinct regulatory and legal regimes. The trade and cooperation agreement covers the general objectives and framework of the relationship between the U.K. and the European Union, including as it relates to trade, transport and visas. Notably, under the trade and cooperation agreement, U.K. service suppliers no longer benefit from automatic access to the entire European Union single market, U.K. goods no longer benefit from the free movement of goods and there is no longer the free movement of people between the U.K. and the European Union. Depending on the application of the terms of the trade and cooperation agreement, we could face new regulatory costs and challenges.
Adverse consequences concerning Brexit or the future of the European Union could include deterioration in global economic conditions, instability in global financial markets, political uncertainty, volatility in currency exchange rates or adverse changes in the cross-border agreements currently in place, any of which could have an adverse impact on our financial results in the future.
A portion of our international product sales are currently denominated in U.S. dollars and fluctuations in the value of the U.S. dollar relative to foreign currencies could decrease demand for our products and adversely impact our financial performance. For example, if the value of the U.S. dollar increases relative to foreign currencies, our products could become more costly to the international consumer and therefore less competitive in international markets. Our results of operations and cash flows are, therefore, subject to fluctuations due to changes in foreign currency exchange rates. The volatility of exchange rates depends on many factors that we cannot forecast with reliable accuracy. We have experienced and will continue to experience fluctuations in our net income or loss as a result of transaction gains or losses related to revaluing certain current asset and current liability balances that are denominated in currencies other than the functional currency of the entities in which they are recorded.
42
For example, for the year ended December 31, 2021we experienced a net foreign currency loss of $0.7 million,for the year ended December 31, 2020we experienced a net foreign currency gain of$0.6 million, and for the year ended December 31, 2019 we experienced a net foreign currency loss of $0.2million. Fluctuations in currency exchange rates could have an adverse impact on our financial results in the future. While we have a hedging program for Euros that attempts to manage currency exchange rate risks to an acceptable level based on management's judgment of the appropriate trade-off between risk, opportunity, and cost, this hedging program does not completely eliminate the effects of currency exchange rate fluctuations. In addition, currency hedging may result in a reduction or increase in revenue should the currency strengthen or decline during the contract period. A discussion of the hedging program is contained in Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021. Additional information on our hedging arrangements is also contained in Note 3 – Fair value measurements and Item 3 – Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk in the notes in our consolidated financial statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
We rely on shipping providers to deliver products to our customers globally. Labor, tariff, or World Trade Organization-related disputes, piracy, physical damage to shipping facilities or equipment caused by severe weather or terrorist incidents, congestion at shipping facilities, inadequate equipment to load, dock, and offload our products, energy-related tie-ups, shipping delays associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and related PHE, or other factors could disrupt or delay shipping or offloading of our products domestically and internationally. Such disruptions or delays may have an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.
Failure to comply with anti-bribery, anti-corruption, and anti-money laundering laws, including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended, or the FCPA, and similar laws associated with our activities outside of the United States could subject us to penalties and other adverse consequences.
We are subject to the FCPA, the U.S. domestic bribery statute contained in 18 U.S.C. § 201, the U.S. Travel Act, the USA PATRIOT Act, the United Kingdom Bribery Act of 2010 and possibly other anti-corruption, anti-bribery and anti-money laundering laws in the more than fifty-nine countries around the world where we conduct activities and sell our products. We face significant risks and liability if we fail to comply with the FCPA and other anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws that prohibit companies and their employees and third-party business partners, such as distributors or resellers, from authorizing, offering or providing, directly or indirectly, improper payments or benefits to foreign government officials, political parties or candidates, employees of public international organizations including healthcare professionals, or private-sector recipients for the corrupt purpose of obtaining or retaining business, directing business to any person, or securing any advantage.
We leverage various third parties to sell our products and conduct our business abroad. We, our distributors and channel partners, and our other third-party intermediaries and manufacturer may have direct or indirect interactions with officials and employees of government agencies or state-owned or affiliated entities (such as in the context of obtaining government approvals, registrations, or licenses) and may be held liable for the corrupt or other illegal activities of these third-party business partners and intermediaries, our employees, representatives, contractors, partners, and agents, even if we do not explicitly authorize such activities. In many foreign countries, particularly in countries with developing economies, it may be a local custom that businesses engage in practices that are prohibited by the FCPA or other applicable laws and regulations. We provide training to all employees, including management, to ensure compliance with the FCPA. As such, we intend to continue to implement an FCPA/anti-corruption compliance program to ensure compliance with such laws, but we face the risk that individual actions of our employees and agents, as well as those companies to which we outsource certain of our business operations, will not take actions in violation of our policies and applicable law, for which we have to defend ourselves and may be ultimately held responsible.
Any violation of the FCPA, other applicable anti-bribery, anti-corruption laws, and anti-money laundering laws could result in whistleblower complaints, adverse media coverage, investigations, loss of export privileges, severe criminal or civil sanctions and, in the case of the FCPA, suspension or debarment from U.S. government contracts, which could have a material and adverse effect on our reputation, business, operating results and prospects. In addition, responding to any enforcement action or related investigation may result in a materially significant diversion of management’s attention and resources and significant defense costs and other professional fees.
If we fail to comply with U.S. export control and economic sanctions or fail to expand and maintain an effective sales force or successfully develop our international distribution network, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected.
We currently derive the majority of our revenue from rentals or sales generated from our own direct sales force. Failure to maintain or expand our direct sales force could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. Additionally, we use international distributors to augment our sales efforts, certain of which are exclusive distributors in certain foreign countries. We cannot assure you that we will be able to successfully retain or develop our relationships with third-party distributors internationally.
43
In addition, we are subject to United States export control and economic sanctions laws relating to the sale of our products, the violation of which could result in substantial penalties being imposed against us. In particular, we have secured annual export licenses from the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control to sell our products to a distributor and hospital and clinic end-users in Iran. The use of this license requires us to observe strict conditions with respect to products sold, end-user limitations and payment requirements. Although we believe we have maintained compliance with license requirements, there can be no assurance that the license will not be revoked, be renewed in the future or that we will remain in compliance. More broadly, if we fail to comply with export control laws or successfully develop our relationship with international distributors, our sales could fail to grow or could decline, and our ability to grow our business could be adversely affected. Distributors that are in the business of selling other medical products may not devote a sufficient level of resources and support required to generate awareness of our products and grow or maintain product sales. If our distributors are unwilling or unable to market and sell our products, or if they do not perform to our expectations, we could experience delayed or reduced market acceptance and sales of our products resulting in adverse results of operations.
We may be subject to substantial warranty or product liability claims or other litigation in the ordinary course of business that may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
As manufacturers of medical devices, we may be subject to substantial warranty or product liability claims or other litigation in the ordinary course of business that may require us to make significant expenditures to defend these claims or pay damage awards. For example, our Inogen One systems contain lithium ion batteries, which, under certain circumstances, can be a fire hazard. We, as well as our key suppliers, maintain product liability insurance, but this insurance is limited in amount and subject to significant deductibles. There is no guarantee that insurance will be available or adequate to protect against all claims. Our insurance policies are subject to annual renewal and we may not be able to obtain liability or product insurance in the future on acceptable terms or at all. In addition, our insurance premiums could be subject to increases in the future, which may be material. If the coverage limits are inadequate to cover our liabilities or our insurance costs continue to increase as a result of warranty or product liability claims or other litigation, then our business, financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected.
We may also be subject to other types of claims arising from our normal business activities. These may include claims, suits, and proceedings involving labor and employment, wage and hour, commercial, alleged securities laws violations or other investor claims, patent defense and other matters. The outcome of any litigation, regardless of its merits, is inherently uncertain. Any claims and lawsuits, and the disposition of such claims and lawsuits, could be time-consuming and expensive to resolve, divert management attention and resources, and lead to attempts on the part of other parties to pursue similar claims. Any adverse determination related to litigation could require us to change our technology or our business practices, pay monetary damages or enter into royalty or licensing arrangements, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Increases in our operating costs could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Reimbursement rates are established by fee schedules mandated by Medicare, private payors and Medicaid, and are likely to be set, in part, to federal and state government budgetary constraints. As a result, with respect to Medicare and Medicaid related revenue, we may not be able to offset the effects of general inflation on our operating costs through increases in prices for our products, as these inflation adjustments are subject to annual approval outside of our control. In particular, labor and related costs account for a significant portion of our operating costs and we compete with other healthcare providers to attract and retain qualified or skilled personnel and with various industries for administrative and service employees. This competitive environment could result in increased labor costs, which we have seen in 2021 as the labor market has tightened and there is increased competition for certain roles. As a result, increases in our operating costs including personnel-related costs could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.
We depend on the services of our senior executives and other key technical personnel, the loss of whom could negatively affect our business.
Our success depends upon the skills, experience and efforts of our senior executives and other key technical personnel, including certain members of our engineering, accounting and compliance staff as well as our sales and marketing personnel. Our President and Chief Executive Officer, Nabil Shabshab, joined us in February 2021, our Executive Vice President, Chief Commercial Officer, George Parr, joined us in April 2021, our Executive Vice President, Chief Technology Officer, Stanislav Glezer, joined us in June 2021, our Executive Vice President, General Counsel, Jason Somer, joined us in July 2021, and our Executive Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer, Michael Sergesketter, joined us in December 2021 in an interim capacity while a search for a permanent candidate is underway.
44
If experienced employees leave, we could experience inefficiencies or a lack of business continuity due to loss of historical knowledge and a lack of familiarity of the new employees with business processes, operating requirements, policies and procedures. It is important to our success that these key employees quickly adapt to and excel in their new roles. If they are unable to do so, our business and financial results could be materially adversely affected. In addition, much of our corporate expertise is concentrated in relatively few employees, the loss of which for any reason could negatively affect our business. Competition for our highly skilled employees is intense and we cannot prevent the resignation of any employee. We have experienced increased turnover at all levels since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and general labor shortages in various areas of our business, all of which could have a material adverse impact on our business. We may need to increase employee wages and benefits in order to attract and retain the personnel necessary to achieve our goals, and our business, operations, and financial results may suffer if we are unable to do so.We do not maintain “key man” life insurance on any of our senior executives. None of our senior executive team is bound by written employment contracts to remain with us for a specified period. In addition, we have not entered into non-compete agreements with members of our executive management team. The loss of any member of our executive management team could harm our ability to implement our business strategy and respond to the market conditions in which we operate.
We and our vendors and service providers rely on information technology networks and systems, and if we are unable to protect against service interruptions, data corruption, cybersecurity risks, data security incidents and/or network security breaches, our operations could be disrupted and our business could be negatively affected.
We rely on information technology networks and systems to process, transmit and store electronic, customer, operational, compliance, and financial information; to coordinate our business; and to communicate within our company and with customers, suppliers, partners and other third parties. These information technology networks and systems may be susceptible to damage, disruptions or shutdowns, hardware or software failures, power outages, computer viruses, cybersecurity risks, data security incidents, telecommunication failures, user errors or catastrophic events. Like other companies, we have experienced data security incidents before.
For example, on April 13, 2018, we announced that messages within an employee email account were accessed by unknown persons outside of our company without authorization. Some of the messages and attached files in that email account contained personal information belonging to our rental customers. We immediately took steps to secure customer information and hired a leading forensics firm to investigate the incident and to bolster our security. The unauthorized access of the potentially impacted email account appears to have occurred between January 2, 2018 and March 14, 2018. We notified approximately 30,000 current and former rental customers of this incident as well as the applicable regulatory authorities. We also provided resources, including credit monitoring and an insurance reimbursement policy, to assist all potentially affected individuals. We have incurred remedial, legal and other costs in connection with this incident. We have insurance coverage in place for certain potential liabilities and costs relating to service interruptions, data corruption, cybersecurity risks, data security incidents and/or network security breaches, but this insurance is limited in amount, subject to a deductible, and may not be adequate to cover us for all costs arising from these incidents.
If our information technology networks and systems suffer unauthorized access, severe damage, disruption or shutdown, and our business does not effectively identify or resolve the issues in a timely manner, our operations could be disrupted, we could be subject to regulatory and consumer lawsuits and our business could be negatively affected. In addition, cybersecurity risks and data security incidents could lead to potential unauthorized access to or acquisition of confidential information (including protected health information), and data loss and corruption. There is no assurance that we will not experience service interruptions, security breaches, cybersecurity risks and data security incidents, or other information technology failures in the future.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and related PHE, we have an increased number of employees working remotely. As a result, we may have increased cybersecurity or data security risks, due to increased use of home wi-fi networks and virtual private networks, as well as increased disbursement of physical machines. While we implement IT controls to reduce the risk of a cybersecurity and data security breach, there is no guarantee that these measures will be adequate to safeguard all systems with an increased number of employees working remotely.
The methods used to obtain unauthorized access, disable or degrade service or sabotage systems are constantly evolving and may be difficult to anticipate or to detect for long periods of time. As a result of these types of risks and attacks, we have implemented and periodically review and update systems, processes, and procedures to protect against unauthorized access to or use of data and to prevent data loss. For example, we have increased the security of our systems by requiring all email users to change their passwords following our recent data security incident and sooner than they would have otherwise been required to. We also implemented multi-factor authentication for remote email access and have taken additional steps to further limit access to our systems. However, the ever-evolving threats mean we and our third-party service providers and vendors must continually evaluate and adapt our respective systems and processes and overall security environment. There is no guarantee that these measures will be adequate to safeguard against all data security breaches, system compromises or misuses of data.
45
The compromise of our technology systems resulting in the loss, disclosure, misappropriation of, or access to, customers’, employees’ or business partners’ information or failure to comply with regulatory or contractual obligations with respect to such information could result in legal claims or proceedings, liability or regulatory penalties under laws protecting the privacy of personal information, disruption to our operations and damage to our reputation, any or all of which could adversely affect our business. The costs to remediate breaches and similar system compromises that do occur could adversely affect our results of operations.
Any new laws, regulations, other legal obligations or industry standards, or any changed interpretation of existing laws, regulations or other standards may require us to incur additional costs and restrict our business operations. For example, many jurisdictions have enacted laws requiring companies to notify individuals of data security breaches involving certain types of personal data. These mandatory disclosures regarding a security breach could result in negative publicity to us, which may cause our customers to lose confidence in the effectiveness of our data security measures which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Increasing data privacy regulations could impact our business and expose us to increased liability.
We must comply with increasingly complex and rigorous regulatory standards enacted to protect business and personal data in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere. For example, the European Union adopted the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which became effective on May 25, 2018. The GDPR imposes additional obligations on companies regarding the processing of personal data and provides certain individual privacy rights to natural persons whose data is stored. Compliance with existing, proposed and recently enacted laws (including implementation of the privacy and process enhancements called for under the GDPR) and regulations can be costly and any failure to comply with these regulatory standards could subject us to legal and reputational risks. In addition, we are required under the GDPR to respond to customers' Subject Access Reports (SARs) within a certain time period, which entails determining what personal data is being processed, the purpose of any such data processing, to whom such personal data has been disclosed and whether personal data is being disclosed for the purpose of making automated decisions relating to that customer. We may dedicate significant resources to responding to our customers' SARs, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Misuse of or failure to secure or properly process personal information could also result in violation of data privacy laws and regulations, proceedings against us by governmental entities or others, damage to our reputation and credibility and could have a negative impact on revenues and profits. As the regulatory environment related to information security, data collection and use, and privacy becomes increasingly rigorous, with new and constantly changing requirements applicable to our business, compliance with those requirements could continue to result in significant costs.
Following the GDPR, a number of states in the U.S. have introduced bills, which, if passed, would impose operational requirements on U.S. companies similar to the requirements reflected in the GDPR. In 2018, California passed the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and in 2021, Virginia passed the Consumer Data Protection Act (CDPA), which gives consumers significant rights over the use of their personal information, including the right to object to the “sale” of their personal information. These rights may restrict our ability to use personal information in connection with our business operations. The CCPA and CDPA also provides a private right of action for security breaches. Washington and Massachusetts have introduced significant privacy bills and Congress is debating federal privacy legislation, which if passed, may restrict our business operations and require us to incur additional costs for compliance.
Any new laws, regulations, other legal obligations or industry standards, or any changed interpretation of existing laws, regulations or other standards may require us to incur additional costs and restrict our business operations.
Our financial condition and results of operations may vary significantly from quarter-to-quarter due to a number of factors, which may lead to volatility in our stock price.
Our quarterly revenue and results of operations have varied in the past and may continue to vary significantly from quarter-to-quarter. This variability may lead to volatility in our stock price as research analysts and investors respond to these quarterly fluctuations. These fluctuations are due to numerous factors, including: fluctuations in consumer demand for our products; seasonal cycles in consumer spending; HME providers’ ability to adopt and finance POC purchases and restructure their businesses to remove delivery expenses; our ability to design, manufacture and deliver products to our consumers in a timely and cost-effective manner; quality control problems in our manufacturing operations; our ability to timely obtain adequate quantities of the components used in our products; new product introductions and enhancements by us and our competitors; unanticipated increases in costs or expenses; declines in sales personnel productivity; increased marketing cost per generated lead; unanticipated regulatory reimbursement changes that could result in positive or negative impacts to our earnings; changes or updates to generally accepted accounting principles; additional legal costs associated with pending legal matters; and fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates.
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, as, 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, we did not see the typical seasonal increases in direct-to-consumer sales in 2020 that we have seen in prior years. As more HME providers adopt POCs in their businesses, we expect that this could change our historical seasonality in the domestic business-to-business channel as well, which was previously influenced mainly by consumer buying patterns. The foregoing factors are difficult to forecast, and these, as well as other factors, could materially and adversely affect our quarterly and annual results of operations. We have experienced significant revenue growth in the past, but we may not achieve similar growth rates, profit margins and/or net income (loss) in future periods.
46
You should not rely on our operating results for any prior quarterly or annual period as an indication of our future operating performance. If we are unable to maintain adequate revenue growth and cost control, our operating results could suffer, and our stock price could decline, primarily because a significant amount of our expenses are fixed and would take additional time to reduce. Any failure to adjust spending quickly enough to compensate for a revenue shortfall could magnify the adverse impact of such revenue shortfall on our results of operations. Our results of operations may not meet the expectations of research analysts or investors, in which case the price of our common stock could decrease significantly.
If the market opportunities for our products are smaller than we believe they are, our revenues may be adversely affected and our business may suffer.
Our projections regarding (i) the size of the oxygen therapy market, both in the United States and internationally, (ii) the size and percentage of the long-term oxygen therapy market that is subject to competitive bidding in the United States, (iii) the number of oxygen therapy patients, (iv) the number of patients requiring ambulatory and stationary oxygen, (v) the number of patients who rely on the delivery model, (vi) the percentage of the long-term oxygen therapy market serviced by Medicare, Medicare Advantage, and other third party-payors, (vii) the size of the retail long-term oxygen therapy market and how the opportunity may change as POC penetration increases, (viii) the share of POCs as a percentage of the total oxygen therapy spend, and (ix) the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and related PHE on our business and our markets generally are based on estimates that we believe are reliable. These estimates may prove to be incorrect, new data or studies may change the estimated incidence or prevalence of patients requiring long-term oxygen therapy, or the type of long-term oxygen therapy patients. The COVID-19 pandemic and related PHE may also reduce the number of oxygen therapy patients worldwide due to the higher risk of mortality of elderly patients with existing respiratory diseases if they are exposed to the virus. The number of patients in the United States and internationally may turn out to be lower than expected, patients may not be otherwise amenable to treatment with our products, or new patients may become increasingly difficult to identify or gain access to, all of which would adversely affect our results of operations and our business.
An adverse outcome of a sales and use tax audit or change in U.S. tax laws could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.
We operate in multiple taxing jurisdictions and certain revenue streams may be subject to sales and use tax. Any changes, ambiguity, or uncertainty in taxing jurisdictions’ administrative interpretations, decisions, policies and positions, including the position of taxing authorities with respect to taxability of our revenue also materially impact our sales and use tax liabilities. The California State Board of Equalization conducted a sales and use tax audit of our operations in California in 2008. As a result of the audit, the California State Board of Equalization confirmed that our sales are not subject to California sales and use tax. We believe that our sales of concentrators and accessories may be subject to sales and use tax in certain other states, but that there are exemptions from sales and use tax in most states. There can be no assurance, however, that other states may agree with our position and we may be subject to an audit that may not be resolved in our favor. Such an audit could be expensive and time-consuming and result in substantial management distraction. If the matter were to be resolved in a manner adverse to us, it could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.
Changes in accounting principles, or interpretations thereof, could have a significant effect on our financial condition and results of operations.
We prepare our consolidated financial statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (U.S. GAAP). These principles are subject to interpretation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and various bodies formed to interpret and create appropriate accounting principles. A change in these principles can have a significant effect on our reported results and may even retroactively affect previously reported transactions. Additionally, the adoption of new or revised accounting principles may require that we make significant changes to our systems, processes and controls.
For example, the U.S.-based Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) is currently working together with the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) on several projects to further align accounting principles and facilitate more comparable financial reporting between companies who are required to follow U.S. GAAP under SEC regulations and those who are required to follow International Financial Reporting Standards outside of the United States. These efforts by the FASB and IASB may result in different accounting principles under U.S. GAAP that may result in materially different financial results for us in areas including, but not limited to, principles for recognizing revenue and lease accounting. Additionally, significant changes to U.S. GAAP resulting from the FASB’s and IASB’s efforts may require that we change how we process, analyze and report financial information and that we change financial reporting controls.
47
It is not clear if or when these potential changes in accounting principles may become effective, whether we have the proper systems and controls in place to accommodate such changes and the impact that any such changes may have on our financial condition and results of operations.
Our ability to recognize the benefits of deferred tax assets is dependent on future cash flows and taxable income.
We recognize the expected future tax benefit from deferred tax assets when the tax benefit is considered to be more likely than not of being realized; otherwise, a valuation allowance is applied against deferred tax assets. Assessing the recoverability of deferred tax assets requires management to make significant estimates related to expectations of future taxable income. Estimates of future taxable income are based on forecasted cash flows from operations and the application of existing tax laws in each jurisdiction. To the extent that future cash flows and taxable income differ significantly from estimates, our ability to realize the deferred tax assets could be impacted. In the future, our estimates could change requiring a valuation allowance or impairment of our deferred tax assets. Additionally, future changes in tax laws could limit our ability to obtain the future tax benefits represented by our deferred tax assets. See Note 6 – Income taxes in the notes of our consolidated financial statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information and factors that could impact the Company’s ability to realize the deferred tax assets.
The adoption and interpretation of new tax legislation, tax rulings, or exposure to additional tax liabilities, could materially affect our financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.
We are subject to income and other taxes in the U.S. and other foreign jurisdictions in which we do business. As a result, our provision for income taxes is derived from a combination of applicable tax rates in the various places we operate. Significant judgment is required for calculating our income tax provision.
Current economic and political conditions make tax laws and regulations, or their interpretation and application, in any jurisdiction subject to significant change. Changes in tax law or tax rulings, or changes in interpretations of existing law, could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. For example, changes to the U.S. tax laws enacted in December 2017 had a significant impact on our deferred tax assets, income tax provision and effective tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2017. The new Administration and Congress could make changes to existing tax law, including an increase in the corporate tax rate or the tax rate on foreign earnings. In addition, many countries in Europe, as well as a number of other countries and organizations, have recently proposed or recommended changes to existing tax laws or have enacted new laws that could significantly increase our tax obligations in many countries where we do business or require us to change the manner in which we operate our business. Changes to existing tax law in the U.S. or other foreign jurisdictions could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.
The Medicare Fee-For-Service (FFS) sequestration reduction has and may continue to negatively affect our revenue and profits.
Medicare FFS claims with dates of service on or after April 1, 2013 are subject to a 2% sequestration reduction in Medicare payments, including claims for DMEPOS, including in competitive bidding areas. The claims payment adjustment is applied to all claims after determining co-insurance, any applicable deductible, and any applicable Medicare secondary payment adjustments. These reductions are included in rental revenue adjustments. This sequestration reduction was scheduled to continue until further notice. However, a provision in the CARES Act temporarily paused the 2% Medicare sequestration reduction for claims dated from May 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020 and the CARES Act also extends the end date of the Medicare sequestration reduction by one year, through 2030, in order to offset the 2020 suspension. The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 was signed into law on December 27, 2020 and extended the suspension period to March 31, 2021. U.S. House of Representatives bill H.R. 1868 was signed into law on April 14, 2021 and extended the suspension period to December 31, 2021, but increased the fiscal year 2030 sequestration cuts. In December 2021 through the Protecting Medicare and American Farmers from Sequester Cuts Act, the 2% Medicare sequestration benefit that was set to expire December 31, 2021 has been extended 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. Once the sequestration reduction is reinstated, this could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.
The implementation of prior authorization rules for DMEPOS under Medicare could negatively affect our business and financial condition.
CMS has issued a final rule to require Medicare prior authorization (PA) for certain DMEPOS that the agency characterizes as “frequently subject to unnecessary utilization” and that have an average purchase fee of $1,000 or greater, or an average rental fee schedule of $100 or greater. The final rule was published on December 30, 2015 and specified an initial master list of 135 items that could potentially be subject to PA. Initially stationary oxygen (code E1390) was included on the master list, but was later removed. On April 22, 2019, stationary oxygen (E1390) was again added to the list of potential codes that could be subject to PA. On November 8, 2019, CMS revised the criteria for inclusion on the master list and added 212 DMEPOS items, including portable oxygen concentrators (E1392), to the master list. The master list is updated annually and published in the Federal Register. The presence of an
48
item on the master list does not automatically mean that a PA is required. CMS selects a subset of these master list items for its “Required Prior Authorization List.” There will be a notice period of at least 60 days prior to implementation. The ruling does not create any new clinical documentation requirements, instead the same information necessary to support Medicare payment will be required prior to the item being furnished to the beneficiary. CMS has proposed that reasonable efforts are made to provide a PA decision within 10 days of receipt of all applicable information, unless this timeline could seriously jeopardize the life or health of the beneficiary or the beneficiary’s ability to regain maximum function, in which case the proposed PA decision would be 2 business days. CMS will issue additional sub-regulatory guidance on these timelines in the future. If our products are subject to prior authorization, it could reduce the number of patients qualified to come on service using their Medicare benefits, it could delay the start of those patients while we wait for the prior authorization to be received, and/or it could decrease sales productivity. As a result, this could adversely affect our business, financial conditions and results of operations.
Risks related to the regulatory environment
We are subject to extensive federal and state regulation, and if we fail to comply with applicable regulations, we could suffer severe criminal or civil sanctions and be required to make significant changes to our operations that could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
The federal government and all states in which we currently operate regulate various aspects of our business. In particular, our operations are subject to state laws governing, among other things, distribution of medical equipment and certain types of home health activities, and we are required to obtain and maintain licenses in many states to act as a durable medical equipment supplier. Certain of our employees are subject to state laws and regulations governing the professional practice of respiratory therapy.
As a healthcare provider participating in governmental healthcare programs, we are subject to laws directed at preventing fraud and abuse, which subject our marketing, billing, documentation and other practices to strict government scrutiny. To ensure compliance with Medicare, Medicaid and other regulations, government agencies or their contractors often conduct routine audits and request customer records and other documents to support our claims submitted for payment of services rendered. Government agencies or their contractors also periodically open investigations and audits and obtain information from healthcare providers. Violations of federal and state laws or regulations can result in severe criminal, civil and administrative fines, penalties and sanctions, including debarment, suspension or exclusion from Medicare, Medicaid and other government reimbursement programs, any of which would have a material adverse effect on our business.
Changes in healthcare laws and regulations and new interpretations of existing laws and regulations may affect permissible activities, the relative costs associated with doing business, and reimbursement amounts paid by federal, state and other third-party payors. There have been and will continue to be regulatory initiatives affecting our business and we cannot predict the extent to which future legislation and regulatory changes could have a material adverse effect on our business.
We are subject to significant regulation by numerous government agencies, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA. We cannot market or commercially distribute our products without obtaining and maintaining necessary regulatory clearances or approvals and such approvals may be revoked or revised if an agency like the FDA believes it necessary.
Our products are medical devices subject to extensive regulation in the United States and in the foreign markets where we distribute our products. The FDA and other U.S. and foreign governmental agencies regulate, among other things, with respect to medical devices:
• design, development and manufacturing;
• testing, labeling, content and language of instructions for use and storage;
• clinical trials;
• product safety;
• marketing, sales and distribution;
• pre-market clearance and approval;
• record keeping;
• advertising and promotion;
• recalls and field safety corrective actions;
49
• post-market approval studies; and
• product import and export.
Before we can market or sell a medical device in the United States, we must obtain either 510(k) clearance, clearance under the de novo process or approval of a pre-market approval application from the FDA, unless an exemption applies. In the 510(k) clearance process, the FDA must determine that a proposed device is “substantially equivalent” to a device legally on the market, known as a “predicate” device, with respect to intended use, technology and safety and effectiveness, in order to clear the proposed device for marketing.
Our commercial products have received 510(k) clearance by the FDA. If the FDA requires us to go through a lengthier, more rigorous examination for future products or modifications to existing products than we had expected, our product introductions or modifications could be delayed or canceled, which, depending on the specific action, could cause the majority of our sales to decline or cease altogether. In addition, the FDA may determine that future products will require the more costly, lengthy and uncertain pre-market approval process. Although we do not currently market any devices subject to pre-market approval, the FDA may demand that we obtain a pre-market approval prior to marketing certain future products. In addition, if the FDA disagrees with our determination that a product we currently market is subject to an exemption from pre-market review, the FDA may require us to submit a 510(k), de novo application or pre-market approval application in order to continue marketing the product. Further, even with respect to those future products where a pre-market approval is not required, we cannot assure you that we will be able to obtain the 510(k) clearances with respect to those products or do so in a timely fashion.
The FDA can delay, limit or deny clearance or approval of a device for many reasons, including:
Medical devices may only be promoted and sold for the indications for which they are approved or cleared. In addition, even if the FDA has approved or cleared a product, it can take action affecting such product approvals or clearances if serious safety or other problems develop in the marketplace. Delays in obtaining clearances or approvals could adversely affect our ability to introduce new products or modifications to our existing products in a timely manner, which would delay or prevent commercial sales of our products. Additionally, the FDA and other regulatory authorities have broad enforcement powers. Regulatory enforcement or inquiries, or other increased scrutiny on us, could affect the perceived safety and performance of our products and dissuade our customers from using our products.
If we modify our FDA cleared devices, we may need to seek additional clearances or approvals, which, if not granted, would prevent us from selling such modified products.
Any modification we make to our products that could significantly affect their safety or effectiveness, or would constitute a material change in intended use, manufacture, design, materials, labeling, or technology requires the submission and clearance of a new 510(k) pre-market notification, a de novo application or, possibly, pre-market approval. The FDA requires every manufacturer to make this determination in the first instance, but the FDA may review and disagree with any manufacturer’s decision. The FDA may not agree with our decisions regarding whether new clearances or approvals are necessary. We have modified some of our 510(k) cleared products and have determined that in certain instances new 510(k) clearances or pre-market approval are not required. We plan to make similar determinations regarding modifications to our 510(k) products, which may include the redesign of the G5 System motherboard pending validation testing. If the FDA disagrees with our determinations and requires us to submit new 510(k) notifications or pre-market approval for modifications to our previously cleared products for which we have concluded that new clearances or approvals are unnecessary, we may be required to cease marketing or to recall the modified product until we obtain clearance or approval, and we may be subject to significant regulatory penalties or fines.
The FDA issued a new Final Guidance titled Enforcement Policy for Ventilators and Accessories and Other Respiratory Devices During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Public Health Emergency (PHE) in March 2020. The intent of the guidance is to help address the urgent COVID-19 PHE. It may expand the availability of devices that support patients with respiratory insufficiency due to COVID-19. The guidance allows certain modifications to applicable FDA-cleared respiratory devices without requiring
50
compliance with the pre-market requirements such as submitting a new 510(k). Manufacturers must ensure the device is safe and effective prior to placing the modified device on the market. This guidance and any future guidance or enforcement policy be the FDA may introduce new competitive products that could compete with our products with an easier regulatory pathway which could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations. If Inogen uses this guidance to commercialize devices that do not have the FDA clearance, these products will have to go through FDA 510(k) clearance in the future, and may not be granted such clearance, which would mean we would have to withdraw these products from the market when the FDA terminates or revokes such guidance or enforcement policy, which could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.
If we fail to comply with FDA or state regulatory requirements, we can be subject to enforcement action.
Even after we have obtained regulatory clearance or approval to market a product, we have ongoing responsibilities under FDA regulations. The FDA and state authorities have broad enforcement powers. Our failure to comply with applicable regulatory requirements could result in enforcement action by the FDA or state agencies, which may include any of the following sanctions:
• recalls, termination of distribution, or seizure of our products;
• operating restrictions or partial suspension or total shutdown of production;
• delays in the introduction of products into the market;
• criminal prosecution.
Any of these sanctions could result in higher than anticipated costs or lower than anticipated sales and have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, results of operations and financial condition.
A recall of our products, either voluntarily or at the direction of the FDA or another governmental authority, or the discovery of serious safety issues with our products that leads to corrective actions, could have a significant adverse effect on us.
The FDA and similar foreign governmental authorities have the authority to require the recall of commercialized products in the event of material deficiencies or defects in design, labeling or manufacture of a product or in the event that a product poses an unacceptable risk to health. Manufacturers may also, under their own initiative, recall a product if any material deficiency in a device is found or withdraw a product to improve device performance or for other reasons. Similar regulatory agencies in other countries have similar authority to recall devices because of material deficiencies or defects in design or manufacture that could endanger health. A government-mandated or voluntary recall by us or one of our distributors could occur as a result of an unacceptable risk to health, component failures, manufacturing errors, design or labeling defects or other deficiencies and issues. Any recall would divert management attention and financial resources, could cause the price of our stock to decline and expose us to product liability or other claims and harm our reputation with customers. A recall involving our Inogen concentrators could be particularly harmful to our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We are required to timely report to the FDA any incident in which our product may have caused or contributed to a death or serious injury or in which our product malfunctioned and, if the malfunction were to recur, would likely cause or contribute to death or serious injury. Repeated product malfunctions may result in a voluntary or involuntary product recall. Depending on the corrective action we take to redress a product’s deficiencies or defects, the FDA may require, or we may decide, that we will need to obtain new approvals or clearances for the device before we may market or distribute the corrected device. Seeking such approvals or clearances may delay our ability to replace the recalled devices in a timely manner. Moreover, if we do not adequately address problems associated with our devices, we may face additional regulatory enforcement action, including adverse publicity, FDA warning letters, product seizure, injunctions, administrative penalties, or civil or criminal fines. We may also be required to bear other costs or take other actions that may have a negative impact on our sales as well as face significant adverse publicity or regulatory consequences, which could harm our business, including our ability to market our products in the future.
Any adverse event involving our products, whether in the United States or abroad, could result in future voluntary corrective actions, such as recalls or customer notifications, or agency action, such as inspection, mandatory recall or other enforcement action. Any corrective action, whether voluntary or involuntary, as well as defending ourselves in a lawsuit, will require the dedication of our time and capital, distract management from operating our business and may harm our reputation and results of operations.
51
If we, our contract manufacturer, or our component manufacturers fail to comply with the FDA’s Quality System Regulation, our manufacturing operations could be interrupted, and our product sales and operating results could suffer.
We, our contract manufacturer, and our component manufacturers are required to comply with the FDA’s Quality System Regulation, or QSR, which covers the procedures and documentation of the design, calibration, testing, production, control, quality assurance, labeling, packaging, storage and shipping of our devices. The FDA audits compliance with the QSR through periodic announced and unannounced inspections of manufacturing and other facilities. We and our component manufacturers have been, and anticipate in the future being, subject to such inspections. Although we believe our manufacturing facilities and those of our component manufacturers are in compliance with the QSR, we cannot provide assurance that any future inspection will not result in adverse findings. If we fail to implement timely and appropriate corrective actions that are acceptable to the FDA or if our other manufacturing facilities or those of any of our component manufacturers, contract manufacturers, or suppliers are found to be in violation of applicable laws and regulations, or we or our manufacturers or suppliers fail to take prompt and satisfactory corrective action in response to an adverse inspection, the FDA could take enforcement action, including any of the following sanctions:
• operating restrictions or partial suspension or total shutdown of production;
• refusal to grant export approval for our products; or
• criminal prosecution.
Any of these sanctions could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Outside the United States, our products and operations are also often required to comply with standards set by industrial standards bodies, such as the International Organization for Standardization, or ISO. Foreign regulatory bodies may evaluate our products or the testing that our products undergo against these standards. The specific standards, types of evaluation and scope of review differ among foreign regulatory bodies. If we fail to adequately comply with any of these standards, a foreign regulatory body may take adverse actions similar to those within the power of the FDA. Any such action may harm our reputation and could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
The primary regulatory body in Europe is the European Commission, which includes most of the major countries in Europe. The European Commission has adopted numerous directives and standards regulating the design, manufacture, clinical trial, labeling and adverse event reporting for medical devices. Devices that comply with the requirements of a relevant directive will be entitled to bear the CE conformity marking, indicating that the device conforms to the essential requirements of the applicable directives and, accordingly, can be commercially distributed throughout Europe. The method of assessing conformity varies depending on the 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 assessment by a Notified Body of one country within the European Union is required in order for a manufacturer to commercially distribute the product throughout the European Union.
If we fail to obtain and maintain regulatory approval in foreign jurisdictions, our market opportunities will be limited.
Approximately 22.2%, 20.1% and 21.5% of our total revenue was from sales outside of the United States for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020, and 2019, respectively. We have sold our products in a total of 59 international countries or overseas regions outside of the United States through our wholly owned subsidiary, distributors or directly to large “house” accounts. In order to market our products in the European Union or other foreign jurisdictions, we must obtain and maintain separate regulatory approvals and comply with numerous and varying regulatory requirements. The approval procedure varies from country to country and can involve additional product testing. The time required to obtain approval abroad may be longer than the time required to obtain FDA clearance.
52
For example, the European Union requires that manufacturers of medical devices obtain the right to bear the “CE” conformity marking which designates compliance with existing directives and standards regulating the design, manufacture and distribution of medical devices in member countries of the European Union. In 2017, the European Union adopted the European Medical Device Regulation (Council Regulations 2017/745) which imposes stricter requirements for the marketing and sale of medical devices, including new clinical evaluation, quality system, and post-market surveillance requirements. The regulation had a three-year implementation period, with full application of the regulation occurring in May 2021 and replacing the pre-existing directives on medical devices in the European Union. Since May 2021, medical devices marketed in the European Union will require certification according to these new requirements, except that devices with valid CE certificates, issued pursuant to the Medical Device Directive before May 2021, including our oxygen therapy products with CE Marks issued under the Medical Device Directive, may be placed on the market until May 2024. Only medical devices that comply with certain conformity requirements of the Medical Device Directive are currently allowed to be marketed within the European Union and our products will be required to comply with the European Medical Device Regulation (MDR). New products that failed to be certified with the MDR by May 2021 may not be marketed or sold in the European Union. Similarly, existing products with CE Marks issued under the Medical Device Directive (MDD) may not be placed on the market in the European Union after May 2024. The extension of the existing certificates under the MDD or obtaining a new certificate under the MDR is required for continued marketing in the European Union after May 18, 2022. We are preparing the filing of the MDR submissions in the earlier part of 2022.
The foreign regulatory approval process, including with respect to MDR, includes many of the risks associated with obtaining FDA clearance and we may not obtain foreign regulatory approvals on a timely basis, if at all. FDA clearance does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other countries, and approval by one foreign regulatory authority does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other foreign countries. However, the failure to obtain clearance or approval in one jurisdiction may have a negative impact on our ability to obtain clearance or approval elsewhere. If we do not obtain or maintain necessary approvals to commercialize our products in markets outside the United States, we may be required to discontinue sales in those countries which would negatively affect our overall market penetration, revenues, results of operations and financial condition.
If the FDA disagrees with us that certain of our data collection and analysis methods do not constitute clinical trials, our business may be harmed.
We gather and analyze certain de-identified retrospective patient data as part of our product development and improvement. We believe that these data collection methods do not constitute clinical trials and, therefore, typically do not pursue or obtain regulatory permission from the FDA or institutional review boards (IRBs) before collecting or analyzing such data. If the FDA disagrees with our interpretation, we may be subject to regulatory enforcement including warning letters, fines, injunctions, consent decrees and civil penalties. In addition, we may be required to collect these types of data under the clinical trial regulatory framework.
Clinical development is a long, expensive, and uncertain process and is subject to delays and the risk that products may ultimately prove unsafe or ineffective in treating the indications for which they are designed. Completion of clinical trials may take several years or more. We may experience numerous unforeseen events in relation to a clinical trial process that could delay or prevent us from receiving regulatory clearance or approval for new products or modifications of existing products, including new indications for existing products, including:
53
Any delays in completing our data collection and analysis will increase our costs, slow down our product development and regulatory authorization process and jeopardize our ability to commence sales and generate associated revenue with respect to the applicable product. Any of these occurrences may significantly harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
We are subject to complex billing and record-keeping requirements in order to substantiate our claims for payment under federal, state and commercial healthcare reimbursement programs, and our failure to comply with existing requirements, or changes in those requirements or interpretations thereof, could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We are subject to complex billing and record-keeping requirements in order to substantiate our claims for payment under federal, state and commercial healthcare reimbursement programs. Our records also are subject to routine and other reviews by third-party payors, which can result in delays in payments or refunds of paid claims. We could experience a significant increase in pre-payment reviews of our claims by the Durable Medical Equipment Medicare Administrative Contractors, which could cause substantial delays in the collection of our Medicare accounts receivable as well as related amounts due under supplemental insurance plans.
Current law provides for a significant expansion of the government’s auditing and oversight of suppliers who care for patients covered by various government healthcare programs. Examples of this expansion include audit programs being implemented by the Durable Medical Equipment Medicare Administrative Contractors, the Unified Program Integrity Contractors, the Recovery Audit Contractors, and the Comprehensive Error Rate Testing contractors, operating under the direction of CMS, and the various state Medicaid Fraud Control Units.
We have been informed by these auditors that healthcare providers and suppliers of certain durable medical equipment product categories are expected to experience further increased scrutiny from these audit programs. When a government auditor ascribes a high billing error rate to one or more of our locations, it generally results in protracted pre-payment claims review, payment delays, refunds and other payments to the government and/or our need to request more documentation from providers than has historically been required. It may also result in additional audit activity in other company locations or Durable Medical Equipment Medicare Administrative Contractors jurisdiction. We cannot currently predict the adverse impact that these audits, methodologies and interpretations might have on our business, financial condition or results of operations, but such impact could be material.
We may be subject to fines, penalties or injunctions if we are determined to be promoting the use of our products for unapproved or “off-label” uses, resulting in damage to our reputation and business.
Our promotional materials and training methods must comply with the FDA and other applicable laws and regulations, including the prohibition of the promotion of a medical device for a use that has not been cleared or approved by the FDA. Physicians may use our products off-label, as the FDA does not restrict or regulate a physician’s choice of treatment within the practice of medicine. If the FDA determines that our promotional materials or training constitutes promotion of an off-label use that is either false or misleading, it could request that we modify our training or promotional materials or subject us to regulatory or enforcement actions, which could have an adverse effect on our reputation and results of operations.
Failure to comply with the Federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or HIPAA, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, or HITECH Act, and implementing regulations could result in significant penalties.
Numerous federal and state laws and regulations, including HIPAA and the HITECH Act, govern the collection, dissemination, security, use and confidentiality of patient-identifiable health information. HIPAA and the HITECH Act require us to comply with standards for the use and disclosure of protected health information within our company and with third parties. The Privacy Standards and Security Standards under HIPAA establish a set of basic national privacy and security standards for the protection of individually identifiable health information by health plans, healthcare clearinghouses and certain healthcare providers, referred to as covered entities, and the business associates with whom such covered entities contract for services. Notably, whereas HIPAA previously directly regulated only these covered entities, the HITECH Act, which was signed into law as part of the stimulus package in February 2009, makes certain of HIPAA’s privacy and security standards also directly applicable to covered entities’ business associates. As a result, both covered entities and business associates are now subject to significant civil and criminal penalties for failure to comply with Privacy Standards and Security Standards.
54
HIPAA requires healthcare providers like us to develop and maintain policies and procedures with respect to protected health information that is used or disclosed, including the adoption of administrative, physical and technical safeguards to protect such information from unauthorized disclosure. The HITECH Act expands the notification requirement for breaches of patient-identifiable health information, restricts certain disclosures and sales of patient-identifiable health information and provides a tiered system for civil monetary penalties for HIPAA violations. The HITECH Act 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. Additionally, certain states have adopted comparable privacy and security laws and regulations, some of which may be more stringent than HIPAA.
If we are determined to be out of compliance with existing or new laws and regulations related to patient health information, we could be subject to criminal or civil sanctions. New health information standards, whether implemented pursuant to HIPAA, the HITECH Act, congressional action or otherwise, could have a significant effect on the manner in which we handle healthcare related data and communicate with payors, and the cost of complying with these standards could be significant.
The 2013 final HITECH omnibus rule modified the breach reporting standard in a manner that made more data security incidents qualify as reportable breaches. Any liability from a failure to comply with the requirements of HIPAA or the HITECH Act could adversely affect our results of operations and 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 of operations.
Regulations requiring the use of “standard transactions” for healthcare services issued under HIPAA may negatively affect our profitability and cash flows.
Pursuant to HIPAA, final regulations have been implemented to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the healthcare system by facilitating the electronic exchange of information in certain financial and administrative transactions while protecting the privacy and security of the information exchanged.
The HIPAA transaction standards are complex, and subject to differences in interpretation by third-party payors. For instance, some third-party payors may interpret the standards to require us to provide certain types of information, including demographic information not usually provided to us by physicians. As a result of inconsistent application of transaction standards by third-party payors or our inability to obtain certain billing information not usually provided to us by physicians, we could face increased costs and complexity, a temporary disruption in accounts receivable and ongoing reductions in reimbursements and net revenue. Changes and updates to HIPAA transaction standards could prove technically difficult, time-consuming or expensive to implement, all of which could harm our business.
If we fail to comply with state and federal fraud and abuse laws, including anti-kickback, Physician Self-Referral Law, false claims and anti-inducement laws, we could face substantial penalties and our business, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected.
The Federal Anti-Kickback Statute prohibits, among other things, knowingly and willfully offering, paying, soliciting or receiving remuneration to induce the referral of an individual to a person for the furnishing of, or in return for purchasing, leasing, ordering, or arranging for or recommending the purchase, lease or order of any healthcare item or service reimbursable under Medicare, Medicaid, or other federal healthcare programs. Although there are a number of statutory exceptions and regulatory safe harbors protecting certain common financial arrangements from prosecution, the exceptions and safe harbors are drawn narrowly, and any remuneration to or from a prescriber or purchaser of healthcare products or services may be subject to scrutiny if it does not qualify for an exception or safe harbor. Our practices may not in all cases meet all of the criteria for safe harbor protection from anti-kickback liability. Failure to meet all requirements of a safe harbor is not determinative of a kickback issue but could subject the practice to increased scrutiny by the government.
The Physician Self-Referral Law, commonly known as the “Stark Law,” 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 (DHS) 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 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.
55
The Federal False Claims Act prohibits any person from knowingly presenting or causing to be presented a false claim for payment to the federal government, or knowingly making or causing to be made a false statement to get a false claim paid. The Federal False Claims Act allows any person to bring suit in the name of the government alleging false and fraudulent claims presented to or paid by the government (or other violations of the statute) and to share in any amounts paid by the entity to the government in fines or settlement. Such suits, known as qui tam actions, have increased significantly in the healthcare industry in recent years. Sanctions under this federal law may include civil monetary penalties, exclusion from federal and state healthcare programs, criminal fines and imprisonment. In addition, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, among other things, amends the intent requirement of the federal anti-kickback and criminal healthcare fraud statutes. A person or entity no longer needs to have actual knowledge of the statute or specific intent to violate it. In addition, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act provides that the government may assert that a claim that items or services resulting from a violation of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute constitutes a false or fraudulent claim for purposes of the false claims statutes. Because of the breadth of these laws and the narrowness of the safe harbors and exceptions, it is possible that some of our business activities could be subject to challenge under one or more of such laws. Such a challenge, regardless of the outcome, could have a material adverse effect on our business, business relationships, reputation, financial condition and results of operations. The majority of states also have statutes or regulations similar to the federal anti-kickback, physician self-referral, and false claims laws, which apply to items or services, reimbursed under Medicaid and other state programs, or in several states, apply regardless of payor. Penalties under these state laws can be comparable to those under their federal equivalents.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, also created the federal Physician Payments Sunshine Act, which requires applicable manufacturers of drugs, devices, biologicals, and medical supplies covered under Medicare, Medicaid, or the Children’s Health Insurance Program to report annually to CMS, information related to payments or other transfers of value made to physicians, as defined, and teaching hospitals, as well as ownership and investment interests in such manufacturer held by physicians and their immediate family members. Additionally, 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 for physicians 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 the required information under the federal Physician Payment Sunshine Act may result in civil monetary penalties of up to an aggregate of $0.18 million per year (and up to an aggregate of $1.177 million per year for “knowing failures”), subject to an annual adjustment for inflation.
In addition, there has been a recent trend of increased federal and state regulation of payments and other transfers of value made to applicable recipients, including physicians. Certain states mandate implementation of compliance programs and/or the tracking and annual reporting of gifts, compensation and other remuneration to physicians and other applicable recipients. The shifting compliance environment and the need to build and maintain robust and expandable systems to comply with different compliance and/or reporting requirements in multiple jurisdictions increase the possibility that a healthcare company may violate one or more of the requirements.
The Federal Civil Monetary Penalties Law grants authority to the HHS 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. This is commonly known as a beneficiary inducement. 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, including the safe harbor regulation for discounts, 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 (subject to annual adjustment for inflation) for each wrongful act, assessment of three times the amount claimed for each item or service and exclusion from the federal or state healthcare programs.