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UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-K
(Mark One)
☒ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES
EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2021
or
☐TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES
EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For the transition period from to
Commission File Number: 001-40159
InnovAge Holding Corp.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
(844) 803-8745
(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Securities Act:
Title of each class Trading Symbol(s) Name of each exchange on which registered
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Securities Act: None.
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☐No☒
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐No☒
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes☒No☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes☒No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
Large accelerated filer ☐ Accelerated filer ☐
Non-accelerated filer ☒ Smaller reporting company ☐ Emerging growth company ☒
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No ☒
The registrant was not a public company as of the last business day of its most recently completed second fiscal quarter, and therefore, cannot calculate the aggregate market value of its common stock held by non-affiliates as of such date.
As of September 20, 2021, there were 135,516,513 shares of the registrant’s common stock outstanding.
DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE
Portions of the registrant’s proxy statement for the 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders are incorporated by reference in Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K to the extent described therein.
Table of Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART I I-1
Item 1. Business I-1
Item 1A. Risk Factors I-22
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments I-58
Item 2. Properties I-58
Item 3. Legal Proceedings I-58
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures I-59
PART II II-60
Item 6. Selected Financial Data II-61
Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk II-81
Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data II-82
Item 9A. Controls and Procedures II-115
Item 9B. Other Information II-115
PART III III-116
Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance III-116
Item 11. Executive Compensation III-116
Item 14. Principal Accounting Fees and Services III-116
Item 15. Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules IV-117
Signatures
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Cautionary Note About Forward-Looking Statements
Throughout this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 2021 (this “Annual Report”), we make “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”) and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). This Annual Report contains forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this Annual Report are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements give our current expectations and projections relating to our financial condition, results of operations, plans, objectives, future performance and business. You can identify forward-looking statements by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. These statements may include words such as “anticipate,” “estimate,” “expect,” “project,” “plan,” “intend,” “believe,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “can have,” “likely” and other words and terms of similar meaning in connection with any discussion of the timing or nature of future operating or financial performance or other events. For example, all statements we make relating to our estimated and projected costs, expenditures, cash flows, growth rates and financial results, our plans and objectives for future operations, growth or initiatives, strategies or the expected outcome or impact of pending or threatened litigation are forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties (many of which may be amplified on account of the novel coronavirus disease (“COVID-19”) pandemic) that may cause actual results to differ materially from those that we expected, including:
● the effects of rules governing the Medicare, Medicaid or PACE programs;
● the impact of state and federal efforts to reduce healthcare spending;
● our ability to attract new participants and grow our revenue;
● our ability to compete in the healthcare industry;
● the impact on our business of an economic downturn;
● risks associated with our use of “open-source” software;
● our ability to maintain our corporate culture;
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● the impact of negative publicity regarding the managed healthcare industry;
● our ability to maintain and enhance our reputation and brand recognition;
● our dependence on our senior management team and other key employees;
We derive many of our forward-looking statements from our operating budgets and forecasts, which are based on many detailed assumptions. While we believe that our assumptions are reasonable, we caution that it is very difficult to predict the impact of known factors, and it is impossible for us to anticipate all factors that could affect our actual results. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations, or cautionary statements, are disclosed under the sections entitled “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in this Annual Report. You should evaluate all forward-looking statements made in this Annual Report in the context of these risks and uncertainties.
We caution you that the important factors referenced above may not contain all of the factors that are important to you. In addition, we cannot assure you that we will realize the results or developments we expect or anticipate or, even if substantially realized, that they will result in the consequences or affect us or our operations in the way we expect. The forward-looking statements included in this Annual Report are made only as of the date hereof. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as otherwise required by law.
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PART I
Item 1. BUSINESS
Who We Are
InnovAge is the leading healthcare delivery platform by number of participants focused on providing all-inclusive, capitated care to high-cost, dual-eligible seniors. Our programs directly address two of the most pressing challenges facing the U.S. healthcare industry: rising costs and poor outcomes. Our participant-centered care delivery approach meaningfully improves the quality of care our participants receive, while keeping them in their homes for as long as safely possible and reducing over-utilization of high-cost care settings such as hospitals and nursing homes. Our participant-centered approach is led by our Interdisciplinary Care Teams (“IDTs”), who design, manage and coordinate each participant’s personalized care plan. We directly manage and are responsible for all healthcare needs and associated costs for our participants. We directly contract with government payors, such as Medicare and Medicaid, and do not rely on third-party administrative organizations or health plans. We believe our model aligns with how healthcare is evolving, namely (i) the shift toward value-based care, in which coordinated, outcomes-driven, high-quality care is delivered while reducing unnecessary spend, (ii) eliminating excessive administrative costs by contracting directly with the government, (iii) focusing on the patient experience and (iv) addressing social determinants of health.
InnovAge Holding Corp. (formerly, TCO Group Holdings, Inc.) and certain wholly owned subsidiaries were formed as for-profit corporations effective May 13, 2016, for the purpose of purchasing all the outstanding common stock of Total Community Options, Inc. d/b/a InnovAge, which was formed in May 2007. In connection with this purchase, Total Community Options, Inc. and certain of its subsidiaries converted from not-for-profit organizations to for-profit corporations, and Total Community Options Foundation, Inc. (“Foundation”) and Johnson Adult Day Program, Inc. (“Johnson”), both not-for-profit organizations, separated from Total Community Options, Inc. In connection with our initial public offering (“IPO”), which occurred in March 2021, we changed the name of our company from TCO Group Holdings, Inc. to InnovAge Holding Corp. (“InnovAge”). In the following text, the terms “we”, “our”, “our company” and “us” may refer, as the context requires, to InnovAge or collectively to InnovAge and its subsidiaries.
InnovAge, which is headquartered in Denver, Colorado, aims to allow seniors in need of care and support to live life on their terms by aging in place, in their own homes and communities, for as long as safely possible. Through our Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (“PACE”), we manage, and in many cases directly provide, a broad range of medical and ancillary services for seniors, including in-home care services (skilled, unskilled and personal care); in-center services such as primary care, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, dental services, mental health and psychiatric services, meals, and activities; transportation to the PACE center and third-party medical appointments; and care management. The Company manages its business as one reportable segment, PACE.
PACE
As of June 30, 2021, the Company served approximately 6,850 PACE participants, making it the largest PACE provider in the United States of America (the “U.S.”) based upon participants served, and operated 18 PACE centers across Colorado, California, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
PACE is a fully-capitated managed care program, which serves the frail elderly, and predominantly dual-eligible, population in a community-based service model. We define dual-eligible seniors as individuals who are 55+ and qualify for benefits under both Medicare and Medicaid. InnovAge provides all needed healthcare services through an all-inclusive, coordinated model of care, and the Company is at risk for 100% of healthcare costs incurred with respect to the care of its participants. PACE programs receive capitation payments directly from Medicare Parts C and D, Medicaid, Veterans Administration (“VA”), and private pay sources. Additionally, under the Medicare Prescription Drug Plan, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) share part of the risk for providing prescription medication to the Company’s participants. We deliver our participant-centered care through the InnovAge Platform, which we have designed to bring high-touch, comprehensive, value-based care.
We believe the traditional fee-for-service reimbursement model in healthcare does not adequately incentivize providers to efficiently manage this complex population. Dual-eligible seniors must navigate a disjointed, separately
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administered set of Medicare and Medicaid benefits, which often results in uncoordinated care delivered in silos. Our vertically integrated care model and full-risk contracts incentivize us to coordinate and proactively manage all aspects of a participant’s health. Costs under the PACE program are estimated to be 13% lower on average than for a comparable dual-eligible population aged 65 and older under Medicaid, based on an analysis of available data by the National PACE Association in November 2020, and our costs are estimated to be approximately 8% lower on a weighted average basis than costs for comparable fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries, based on our analysis of the most recent Dartmouth Atlas data from 2017. Importantly, we believe we deliver significantly better health outcomes. Our care model reduces unnecessary or avoidable medical spend. Based on an analysis performed using most recently available data from 2018, we estimate that across our mature markets, our participants on average have 16% fewer hospital admissions and 73% fewer low- to medium-severity emergency room visits relative to a comparable Medicare fee-for-service population with similar risk scores for which data is available. In addition, as of June 30, 2021, our participants had a 28% lower 30-day hospital readmission rate compared to a frail, dual-eligible or disabled waiver population. In addition to reducing spend, we also focus on ensuring our participants are satisfied and receive high-quality care. Our participant satisfaction, based on a survey of a random sample of participants and administered by an independent third party as of January 1, 2021, is 86%. Based on our analysis as of June 30, 2021, our participants live, on average, 1.4 years longer than comparable populations who choose nursing home care, based on a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) report dated June 27, 2017.
We believe our strong value proposition to each constituency translates into a superior economic model. We directly contract with Medicare and Medicaid on a per member, per month (“PMPM”) basis, which creates recurring revenue streams and provides significant visibility into our revenue growth trajectory. We receive 100% of the pooled capitated payment to directly provide or manage the healthcare needs of our participants. By proactively providing high-quality care and addressing risks related to social determinants of health, we have demonstrated our ability to reduce avoidable utilization of high-cost care settings, such as hospitals and nursing homes. As a result, we create a surplus that can be used to invest in refining our care model and providing even greater social supports for our participants. These investments further improve participants’ experiences and health outcomes, which we believe will result in more savings that will drive our profitable growth. The virtuous cycle we have created enables us to consistently deliver high-quality care, achieve high participant satisfaction and retention, and attract new participants. We believe that continuing to drive medical cost savings over a growing participant census will deliver an even greater surplus to our organization, enabling us to invest in more participant programs, evolve our care model, enhance our technology and fund new centers.
Industry Challenges
Unsustainable and rising healthcare costs. According to data from the Office of the Actuary of CMS, healthcare spending in the United States has grown at approximately 5% per year from 2014 to 2019, and in 2019 represented $3.8 trillion of annual spend, or 17.7% of U.S. GDP. The overall growth rate of healthcare spending is expected to accelerate due to the aging population. Furthermore, the government’s share of total healthcare spend through programs such as Medicare and Medicaid is expected to grow from approximately 37% in 2019 to more than 40% as early as 2024, indicating faster growth in government-sponsored healthcare than the overall market.
Government healthcare spend is disproportionally concentrated in the dual-eligible population, who typically suffer from multiple chronic conditions and require long-term services and supports. Medicare and Medicaid spend on average three times more per capita on a dual-eligible senior than a Medicare-only senior. Improved care management of dual-eligible seniors is critical to reducing the rapid growth in government healthcare spending in the United States.
Highly fragmented, uncoordinated healthcare system. The U.S. healthcare system is complex and highly fragmented, resulting in piecemeal care delivery across different providers who each lack a complete picture of the patient. Furthermore, this dynamic often makes the healthcare system difficult for patients to navigate. Primary, acute, behavioral and long-term care providers need to work together to effectively manage a patient’s care, yet, today, they work in silos. This lack of care coordination can result in missed or inaccurate diagnoses, gaps in care, unnecessary spend and ultimately sub-optimal patient outcomes.
High-cost, dual-eligible seniors are at high risk of falling through the cracks of the U.S. healthcare system. Few government-sponsored programs other than PACE bring together the Medicare and Medicaid benefit for these individuals, creating further barriers to delivering coordinated care. Dual-eligible beneficiaries are among the most medically complex,
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high-frequency users of healthcare services. Based on InnovAge data as of June 30, 2021, the typical InnovAge participant had, on average, eight chronic conditions and, based on our most recently available data from a 2018 health outcomes survey, required, on average, assistance with three or more activities of daily living (“ADLs”). A lack of coordination across providers can have severe consequences given the high occurrence of chronic illnesses and other underlying health issues in this population.
Prevalence of wasteful spending and sub-optimal outcomes. A 2019 study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, estimated that approximately 25% of all annual healthcare spending is for unnecessary services, excessive administrative costs, fraud and other inefficiencies creating waste. At spending levels evaluated during the time of the study, this represented approximately $760 billion to $935 billion of wasteful spending.
Proper management of chronic conditions and targeted interventions to mitigate challenges presented by social determinants of health can significantly reduce the incidence of acute episodes, which are the main driver of emergency room visits and hospitalization among the dual-eligible senior population. Healthcare spending on nursing care facilities and continuing care retirement communities was expected to reach approximately $191.8 billion in 2021, based on the latest projections made by the Office of the Actuary of CMS. Similar to spend on hospitals and other high-acuity care settings, we believe many of these dollars can ultimately be saved by providing proactive treatment and investing in proper medical and social supports to enable frail seniors to live in their homes and communities.
Despite high levels of spending, the U.S. healthcare system struggles to produce better health outcomes and delivers low levels of patient and provider satisfaction.
Payment structures are evolving to address healthcare issues. Policymakers and healthcare experts generally acknowledge that the fee-for-service model is not designed to deliver on the “triple aim” of providing low-cost, high-quality care while improving the patient experience. Historically, healthcare delivery was oriented around reactive care for acute events, which resulted in the development of a fee-for-service payment model. By linking payments to the volume of encounters and pricing for higher complexity interventions, the fee-for-service model does not incentivize providers to practice preventative medicine or manage patients in lower cost settings. Rather, many policymakers and healthcare experts believe it unintentionally creates the opposite result—acute, episodic care delivered in high-cost settings that unnecessarily drive up the total cost of healthcare.
High-cost, dual-eligible seniors require proactive, coordinated care plans to address their medical acuity, need for long term support and risks related to social determinants of health. Without personalized, patient-centered care that removes barriers to treatment, high-cost, dual-eligible seniors would continue to over-utilize healthcare in higher-cost settings, such as emergency rooms and nursing homes.
Government payors have responded by incentivizing a transition to value-based reimbursement models for dual-eligible seniors. A recent example of this has been the growth of the PACE program.
PACE is a government-sponsored, provider-led managed care program focused on enabling frail, dual-eligible seniors who qualify to live in a nursing home to age independently in their homes. PACE providers receive a monthly risk-adjusted payment for each participant (PMPM) directly from Medicare and Medicaid to oversee the totality of medical care an enrolled participant needs. Fully capitated models, such as PACE, incentivize organizations to better manage chronic conditions to avoid high-cost acute episodes and to invest in services that fall outside the scope of a fee-for-service model. These services, such as care coordination and ancillary support to remove barriers created by social determinants of health, can have a significant impact on a participant’s overall health.
InnovAge participants are, on average, more complex and medically fragile than other Medicare-eligible patients, including those in Medicare Advantage (“MA”) programs. As a result, we receive larger payments for our participants compared to MA participants. This is driven by two factors: (i) we provide care for a higher acuity population, with an average risk adjustment factor (“RAF”) score of 2.45 based on InnovAge data as of June 30, 2021, compared to an average RAF score of 1.08 for Medicare fee-for-service non-dual enrollees, as calculated in an analysis by Avalere Health in June 2020 of a cohort of individuals enrolled in Medicare Fee-for-Service in 2019, and (ii) we have Medicaid spend in addition
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to Medicare. Our comprehensive care model and globally capitated payments are designed to cover participants from enrollment until the end of life, including coverage for participants requiring hospice and palliative care.
The successful clinical approaches of PACE helped inform certain aspects of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation’s recently announced Direct Contracting Program set to begin in 2021. The Direct Contracting Program aims to create value-based payment arrangements directly with provider groups for their current Medicare fee-for-service patients. By transitioning from fee-for-service arrangements to value-based payments, CMS expects healthcare providers will be financially incentivized to simultaneously improve quality while lowering the cost of care and focusing on patient experience, as is done in PACE today.
Legacy healthcare delivery infrastructure has been slow to transition from fee-for-service to value-based care models. In order for the shift to value-based payment models to drive meaningful results, we believe there must be a corresponding shift in care delivery models. While there has been significant investment by providers, payors and technology companies in developing solutions to enable higher-quality and lower-cost care, the healthcare industry is still heavily reliant on fee-for-service reimbursement models.
The novel coronavirus disease (“COVID-19”) pandemic has amplified several flaws in the current legacy healthcare delivery system. Traditional healthcare providers have faced dwindling fee-for-service visits in light of stay-at-home orders, government restrictions and general patient fear of medical settings. This has not only reduced revenues for traditional providers, but has strained their ability to provide necessary care for their patients. Patients with chronic conditions in the fee-for-service system have found themselves unable to access care because the broader healthcare system could not rapidly shift services from institutions to home-based environments. Patients in long-term care facilities, such as nursing homes, have also seen a disproportionately high infection rate as a result of the pandemic. The highly contagious nature of the virus that causes COVID-19 combined with the higher mortality rate in frail seniors created devastating conditions that led to many avoidable deaths. As of June 1, 2021, 4% of all U.S. COVID‐19 cases could be linked to long-term care facilities, according to The New York Times, but those cases translated into 31% of all U.S. COVID-19‐related deaths.
Providers that operate comprehensive value-based models, like us, were better positioned to quickly pivot their care delivery approach to safely treat patients in virtual and home-based settings without losing any revenue. We believe the COVID-19 pandemic has further highlighted the need for integrated, multimodal value-based care delivery models.
Our Market Opportunity
We are one of the largest healthcare platforms focused on frail, dual-eligible seniors, and we serve participants primarily through PACE. We have built the largest PACE-focused operation in the country based on number of participants; we are twice the size of our closest PACE-focused competitor, more than 30 times larger than the typical PACE operator and the only for-profit PACE operator with a footprint in three or more states. Given our scale and track record of success across geographies, we believe we are well-positioned to capitalize on a significant market opportunity to provide care to frail, high-cost, dual-eligible seniors.
According to CMS, healthcare spending in the U.S. was greater than $3.6 trillion in 2018, and Medicare and Medicaid combined accounted for greater than $1.3 trillion spent on the care of approximately 125 million individuals. In 2018, there were approximately 12 million individuals simultaneously enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid that we estimate accounted for approximately $464 billion, representing 34% of combined Medicare and Medicaid spend. Our care model targets the most complex, frail subset of the dual-eligible senior population. We estimate our target population at approximately 2.2 million in 2021 based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau from 2018, representing seniors who we believe are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid and meet the nursing home eligibility criteria for PACE. We prioritize high-density urban and suburban areas, where there are sizable numbers of frail dual-eligible seniors who would benefit most from our program. We leverage the InnovAge Platform to provide comprehensive, coordinated healthcare to enable our frail, nursing home-eligible seniors to live independently in their homes and communities. We believe people want to stay in their home for as long as possible, and the InnovAge Platform empowers seniors to age independently in their own homes, on their own terms, for as long as possible.
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Based on historical results for the year ended June 30, 2021 and our experience and industry knowledge, we estimate an average annual revenue opportunity of $95,000 per participant ($7,900 PMPM) and a total addressable market opportunity of $210 billion, based on our estimated market of approximately 2.2 million PACE eligible in the United States in 2021, as described above. Of these estimated PACE eligible participants, only approximately 57,000 are enrolled in a PACE program, based on an August 2021 report from the National PACE Association, and over the next seven years, the National PACE Association is targeting a PACE enrollment increase at a CAGR of approximately 17%. As a result, we believe we have a substantial runway for growth by bringing our comprehensive value-based model of care to more frail, dual-eligible seniors across the country.
The InnovAge Platform
Our participant-centered approach is tailored to address the complex medical and social needs of our frail dual-eligible senior population. We leverage the InnovAge Platform to deliver comprehensive, highly coordinated healthcare to our participants. The InnovAge Platform consists of (1) our interdisciplinary care teams and (2) our community-based care delivery model. The key attributes of the InnovAge Platform include:
Our participant focus. Our model is focused on caring for frail, high-cost, dual-eligible seniors. Our target participant population is the frail, nursing home-eligible subset of dual-eligible seniors to whom we refer as “high-cost, dual-eligibles” given their high healthcare acuity and the associated high level of spend. Our participants are among the most frail and medically complex individuals in the U.S. healthcare system. Based on InnovAge data as of June 30, 2021, the typical InnovAge participant had, on average, eight chronic conditions and, based on our most recently available data from a 2018 health outcomes survey, required, on average, assistance with three or more ADLs. As a result, the average InnovAge participant has a Medicare RAF of 2.45 based on InnovAge data as of June 30, 2021, compared to an average RAF score of 1.08 for Medicare fee-for-service non-dual enrollees, as calculated in an analysis by Avalere Health in June 2020 of a cohort of individuals enrolled in Medicare Fee-for-Service in 2019. A higher RAF score indicates poorer health and higher predicted health care costs. Our platform enables participants to exercise their preference to age independently in their homes and stay active in their communities for as long as safely possible. All of our participants are certified as nursing home-eligible, but, as a result of the InnovAge PACE care delivery model, as of June 2021, over 90% of our participants are able to live safely in their homes and communities.
Our interdisciplinary care teams. The IDT structure is core to our clinical model. Our IDTs oversee all aspects of each participant’s unique care plan and function as the core group of care providers to our participants. Our IDT structure is designed to enhance access to care for our participants and eliminate information silos and gaps in care that frequently occur in a fee-for-service model. We are responsible for all of our participants’ medical care, and we direct care delivery across multiple settings. We deliver individualized care for each participant that addresses both his or her specific medical conditions and social determinants of health. We deliver or manage primary and specialist care, in-home care, hospital visits, nutrition, transportation to our care centers and to other medical appointments, pharmacy and behavioral health. We leverage a technology suite, which we believe is powered by industry-leading clinical and operational information technology solutions to collect and analyze data, streamline IDT workflows and empower our teams with timely participant insights that improve outcomes.
Each IDT convenes, at a minimum, experts across at least 11 disciplines to collectively manage the complex care needs of each participant. IDTs are typically comprised of a primary care provider, registered nurse, master’s level social worker, physical therapist, occupational therapist, recreational therapist or activity coordinator, dietician, center manager, home care coordinator, personal care attendant and driver. The IDTs meet multiple times per week to discuss each participant’s care plan and closely monitor key clinical metrics to ensure each participant receives optimal treatment based on his or her current conditions.
Our community-based care delivery model. Our high-touch model delivers care across a continuum of community-based settings. Our multimodal approach leverages (1) the care center, (2) the home and (3) virtual care capabilities to deliver comprehensive care to our participants. Our capitated payment model gives us the flexibility to invest in care coordination, transportation and other services to mitigate challenges presented by participants’ social determinants of
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health, regardless of what is traditionally covered by insurance. As a result, our capabilities are not limited to what we are able to offer inside of our centers.
Our community-based care centers. Our purpose-built community-based care centers are designed for the specific needs of our target population and serve as a medical and social hub for our participants. Our participants often spend the full day in these centers receiving medical treatment, meals and physical therapy and socializing with peers. Our care centers are larger than those of most other comparable care organizations and include dedicated spaces for medical care, physical therapy, behavioral health and dentistry, in addition to day-rooms and dining spaces for socialization among our participants. We incorporate population-specific design elements, such as grab bars and rounded hallways, to accommodate the frailty and the prevalence of dementia among our participant population. The size and design of our centers enable us to deliver a significant portion of our participants’ care in one location, simplifying the healthcare experience for participants and their families.
Our in-home care capabilities. Our in-home care capabilities enable our participants to live safely in their homes and avoid nursing homes to the extent safely possible. We directly deliver or manage all skilled and unskilled care a participant may require to live independently at home. Additionally, we have dedicated strategic partnerships with “hospital-at-home” providers to deliver acute care in-home when appropriate. In addition, we manage transportation not only to our centers but also to all third-party medical appointments. Our capitated payment model gives us the flexibility to invest in home modifications, such as ramps, grab bars and shower chairs, to reduce falls and make the home safer for our seniors. We believe our presence in our participants’ homes gives us real-time insight into our participants’ health and enables us to positively influence many environmentally-driven social determinants of health.
Our virtual care capabilities. Our virtual care capabilities give us the flexibility to deliver medical care and social services virtually when appropriate. Our physicians are equipped with several telehealth platforms to provide virtual care and utilize the option best suited for each individual participant’s preferences and needs. Our aim is to make virtual care access simple and convenient for our participants. In situations where a participant is unable to use telehealth technology on their own, we dispatch a team member to their home to assist.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, we developed our telehealth capabilities, with almost half of our provider visits and almost one quarter of IDT visits provided to our participants remotely during the year ended June 30, 2021. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the strength and adaptability of the InnovAge Platform and our community-based care delivery model. Though the COVID-19 pandemic has altered the mix of settings where we deliver care, our multimodal approach ensures our participants continue to receive the care they need.
Addressing social determinants of health. We believe a key element of the success of our care delivery model is the provision of services that mitigate challenges presented by participants’ social determinants of health. We designed our care delivery model to address the following areas:
● Economic stability
● Transportation
● Physical environment
● Community and social context
● Food and nutrition
● Health literacy
● Fitness
Our technology suite. Our technology suite supports our ability to deliver consistent, high-quality care to our participants at scale. Our fully capitated care model is operationally complex; it requires coordination among dozens of different providers per participant, real-time integration of clinical data from disparate sources and predictive analytics to enable effective interventions. We license a suite of third-party clinical technologies that we use to create a comprehensive view of our participants’ health, empowering our IDTs to make optimal care decisions. We leverage what we believe to be industry-leading reporting and predictive analytics solutions to collect and analyze data, stratify our population and uncover actionable participant insights.
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Our Track Record of Profitable Growth
We have a record of driving profitable growth and achieving compelling unit economics. For the fiscal years ended June 30, 2021 and 2020, our consolidated Center-level Contribution Margin, expressed as a percentage of revenue, was 27.3% and 24.9%, respectively, and all of our centers had a positive Center-level Contribution Margin. Our de novo centers opened in the last seven years have generated positive Center-level Contribution Margins in fewer than 12 months of operation.
We have demonstrated an ability to scale successfully, expanding our model to a network of 18 centers in five states, which provided care for approximately 6,850 participants during the year ended June 30, 2021. As of June 30 2021, our eligible participant penetration rate was, on average, 13% across our existing markets, and as the only designated PACE provider in most of the MSAs that we serve, we believe there is significant runway for further growth.
We believe our track record of successfully operating across different markets gives us an advantage when opening centers in existing and new geographies. We aim to grow the InnovAge Platform by substantially increasing the number of centers we operate in new and existing markets to positively impact the lives of more frail, dual-eligible seniors and drive long-term value for our key stakeholders: participants and their families, government payors and providers.
Our Value Proposition
We believe that the InnovAge Platform has enabled us to create a healthcare model where all constituencies involved, including participants, their families, providers and government payors, have the ability to “Win.” Therefore, we “Win” through a virtuous cycle that promotes growth and drives our financial results.
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Our participants “Win” by enjoying a better participant experience, improved health outcomes and remaining in their homes and communities for longer. We leverage our differentiated care delivery model to improve the health of our participants and help them avoid unnecessary hospitalizations and nursing home care. We enable our participants to remain in their homes and age independently. As a result, as of June 2021, over 90% of our participants live in their preferred setting: their home or community. Our care model also delivers superior clinical outcomes: our participants have fewer hospital admissions, fewer low- to medium-severity emergency room visits and lower 30-day hospital readmission rates. Based on our analysis as of June 30, 2021, our participants live, on average, 1.4 years longer than comparable populations who choose nursing home care, based on a report by HHS dated June 27, 2017. Our care model is not “one size fits all,” it is customized to the unique needs of each participant. This approach leads to high levels of participant satisfaction with our program.
Families “Win” as we reduce their caregiving burden and provide “peace of mind”.We significantly reduce the caregiving burden on the families of our participants. Our model handles all transportation to and from medical appointments and center visits, helps participants with ADLs, and creates social outlets for participants to reduce isolation. Most importantly, we believe we offer “peace of mind” to our participants’ families who know their loved one’s complex needs are cared for. “Friends and family” of participants remain one of our largest referral sources for recruiting new participants.
Our providers “Win” as they are able to focus on improving the lives of their participants. We enable our providers to focus on taking care of participants by providing them with meaningful clinical and administrative support. We remove the pressure of trying to optimize visit volume by rewarding quality, not quantity, of care. We estimate that our providers (1) have a smaller number of participants to care for and spend more time with each participant than providers in similar care organizations, and (2) benefit from the support of a multidisciplinary team.
Government payors “Win” through fiscal certainty and lower costs.We provide fiscal certainty through our capitated payment arrangements and reduce the cost of both medical and long-term support and services for high-cost, dual-eligible seniors. Costs under the PACE program are estimated to be 13% lower on average than for a comparable dual-eligible population aged 65 and older under Medicaid, based on an analysis of available data by the National PACE Association in November 2020, and our costs are estimated to be approximately 8% lower on a weighted average basis than costs for comparable fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries, based on our analysis of the most recent Dartmouth Atlas data from 2017.
Our Competitive Advantages
We are the leading healthcare delivery platform by number of participants focused on providing all-inclusive, capitated care to high-cost, dual-eligible seniors. Our size and scale confer significant competitive advantages that further differentiate us in the marketplace.
Visionary leadership team with mission-focused culture.The members of our world-class senior leadership team, led by our President and Chief Executive Officer, Maureen Hewitt, have considerable years of healthcare experience. Ms. Hewitt and the senior leadership team’s commitment have fostered a mission-focused, participant-centered culture that drives our leading performance in managing frail dual-eligible seniors. In 2016, Ms. Hewitt led the conversion of InnovAge from a not-for-profit entity to a for-profit entity, which allowed us to access the required capital to grow our footprint nationally and reach more participants. Since the for-profit conversion, the number of participants under our care grew 119% from the fiscal year ended June 30, 2016 to the fiscal year ended June 30, 2021. In the same period, our total
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revenues grew 173%, reflecting a 22% CAGR, and our revenue grew organically at a 15% CAGR, which excludes contribution from acquired centers.
Our robust operating platform.We have standardized and streamlined our operations across markets and have invested meaningfully in the corporate infrastructure needed to drive participant satisfaction, manage healthcare costs and improve clinical outcomes at scale. Because of our scale, we have been able to invest in dedicated, well-staffed teams for all of our corporate and market-level functions. As a result, our physicians can focus on providing care and are not as burdened with additional administrative demands. Our scale also enables us to make large, organization-wide investments in sales and marketing, technology and clinical infrastructure. We leverage established technology solutions to drive improvements in our operations. We have developed robust internal marketing and referral source development capabilities, including significant investments in digital marketing. Our regulatory expertise and de novo development engine differentiate us from other providers. Importantly, we have a robust compliance infrastructure and team. These platform advantages, coupled with our mission-focused culture, give us confidence in our ability to drive growth and bring our participant-centered care model to more frail, dual-eligible seniors.
Our ability to recruit and retain participants.Our ability to recruit and retain participants has resulted in 10% annual, organic census growth over the last four years. Despite our high levels of participant satisfaction, awareness of the PACE model among potential participants and their families has historically remained low. Based on August 2021 information from the National PACE Association and data from the U.S. Census Bureau from 2018, we estimate that approximately 3% of patients who are PACE-eligible are currently enrolled in a PACE program. We continually invest in targeted sales and marketing capabilities to improve awareness of our program among potential eligible participants. We take a multichannel approach to sales and marketing, relying on a mix of traditional provider referral sources in the community as well as leveraging targeted digital marketing. We have realigned our marketing strategy to focus more on digital channels during the COVID-19 pandemic and to reach those searching for senior care alternatives. We are proud of the fact that the friends and family of our participants remain one of our largest referral sources. We believe our average referral conversion rate of 39.1% across all referral sources, calculated using the last two quarters of our fiscal year, is a testament to the value and attractiveness of our model. We experience very low levels of voluntary disenrollment, averaging 5% annually over the last three fiscal years, suggesting participants are highly satisfied with their care.
Access to capital.Although most companies in the broader managed healthcare industry operate as for-profit entities, the vast majority of our direct competitors are not-for-profit entities, which we believe limits their ability to access capital. Federal restrictions on for-profit PACE providers existed until 2015. We believe we are one of only a few for-profit PACE providers in the country and are the largest PACE-focused operator by number of participants. We are an early adopter of the for-profit PACE structure in a market with limited precedents. As a result, we have devoted resources to engaging with our non-profit community partners, some of which are unaccustomed to working with for-profit organizations, to familiarize them with our business model.
As part of our growth-oriented mindset, we have strategically deployed our capital to achieve scale and make the PACE care delivery model accessible to more frail, dual-eligible seniors. We believe our ability to attract investors and access capital will accelerate our growth plans and provides flexibility to simultaneously invest in sales and marketing efforts, de novo centers and strategic acquisitions, all of which will further solidify our leadership position in a fragmented, growing market.
We have a first mover advantage in an industry with high barriers to entry.Our industry has high barriers to entry driven by regulatory complexity, operating model complexity and to the cost associated with opening new locations. Furthermore, state and federal governments typically restrict the number of providers who can operate in a designated market service area, often allowing only a single provider per metropolitan statistical area (“MSA”). We believe this dynamic creates significant first-mover advantages in new markets and ample runway for future growth. We have invested
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significant time and resources in partnering with state and federal governments to launch operations in new MSAs. We believe that each new program we build reinforces our competitive position.
We are built to scale nationally.We have proven our ability to execute our model in multiple geographies, as evidenced by the strength of our center-level performance across markets. In all of our markets, our de novo centers opened in the last seven years generated positive Center-level Contribution Margins in fewer than 12 months of operation. This consistent performance highlights the predictability of our model and gives us the conviction to continue investing in building centers, hiring top-tier talent and attracting participants in new markets in order to drive long-term value creation.
We are one of the few providers operating a globally capitated care model. We have a long track record of successfully managing medical risk, driven by the strength of our operational playbook as well as our risk pool. We believe that we have created a repeatable, data-driven playbook to expand our brand and operations across the United States, and we have made substantial investments to support each key component of our approach. The fundamental aspects of our expansion playbook include deep regulatory knowledge, a disciplined approach to site selection, a targeted sales and marketing approach, a concerted effort to recruit and develop talent, scalable underlying clinical technology and an efficient, uniform operating model.
We have invested in multimodal care delivery capabilities.The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the advantages of our multimodal care delivery capabilities. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted traditional channels of care delivery and created barriers to accessing care for many dual-eligible seniors. Our investment in in-home and virtual care capabilities outside of the four walls of our care centers has enabled us to execute on each participant’s care plan without disruption. We believe the adaptability of our model and our ability to effectively engage our participants in numerous ways, without negatively impacting our capitation revenue, differentiates us from other care providers.
Our Growth Strategy
Increase participant enrollment and capacity within existing centers
● We have driven 10% annual, organic census growth over the last four years.
Build de novo centers
Execute tuck-in acquisitions
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Reinvest in the InnovAge Platform to optimize performance
Regulation
Our operations are subject to extensive federal, state and local governmental laws and regulations. These laws and regulations require us to meet various standards relating to, among other things, arrangement and provision of covered health care services to our participants, operation and management of PACE centers, dispensing of pharmaceuticals, personnel qualifications, maintenance of proper records, and quality assurance programs. If any of our operations are found to violate applicable laws or regulations, we could suffer severe consequences that would have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, cash flows, reputation and stock price, including:
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●changes in and reinterpretation of rules and laws by a regulatory agency or court, such as state corporate practice of medicine laws, that could affect the structure and management of our business;
●negative adjustments to government payment models including, but not limited to, Medicare Parts C and D and Medicaid; and
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●harm to our reputation, which could negatively impact our business relationships, the terms of government payor contracts, our ability to attract and retain participants and physicians, our ability to obtain financing and our access to new business opportunities, among other things.
We expect that our industry will continue to be subject to substantial regulation, the scope and effect of which are difficult to predict. Our activities could be subject to investigations, audits and inquiries by various government and regulatory agencies with whom we contract at any time in the future. See Item 1A. Risk Factors, “Risks Related to Regulation.”
Federal and State Regulation of PACE Providers
We are subject to a complex array of federal and state laws, regulations, and guidance, including legal requirements directly applicable to PACE providers as well as Medicare and Medicaid laws and regulations. These laws and guidances relate to our organizational structure, governance, fiscal soundness, marketing activities, participant enrollment and disenrollment, charges to participants, provision of healthcare and other services to participants, care planning activities, service delivery settings and maintenance of centers, participant rights, employment and contractual arrangements with health care providers and other staff, quality assessment and performance improvement activities, participant grievances and appeals, medical records documentation, compliance program activities, and other aspects of our operations and financing. As a PACE provider that provides qualified prescription drug coverage, we are also subject to requirements applicable to Medicare Part D plan sponsors.
As a PACE provider, we and our centers are subject to audits by CMS and state agencies, which have in the past or may in the future result in the identification of deficiencies in connection with our compliance with regulatory requirements, participant quality of care, care plan development and implementation, grievance and appeal processes, clinicians acting outside of their scope of practice, and other issues. See Item 1A. Risk Factors, “Risks Related to Regulation” for a description of certain current audits. We expect these audits to continue in the future. In addition to risks associated with audits of our current centers, we also face risks associated with new centers that we may acquire in the future, which may not have developed the same compliance and quality infrastructure that we currently have in place. Issues identified through these audits can result in corrective action plans, civil monetary penalties, enrollment suspensions, and other financial penalties and enforcement actions, in addition to loss of our contracts with CMS and state agencies.
The regulations and contractual requirements applicable to PACE providers are complex and subject to change, making it necessary for us to invest significant resources in complying with these requirements. Scrutiny through federal and state government audits, oversight and enforcement and the highly technical regulatory scheme mean that our compliance efforts in this area will continue to require significant resources. CMS and state regulatory authorities regularly audit our performance to determine our compliance with CMS’s regulations and our contracts with CMS and to assess the quality of the services we provide to our participants. Whether identified through these audits or other avenues, our failure to comply with the federal and state laws applicable to our business may result in significant or material retroactive adjustments to and/or withholding of capitation payments, fines, criminal liability, civil monetary penalties, requirements to make significant changes to our operations, CMS imposed sanctions (including suspension or exclusion from participation in government programs), loss of contracts, or cessation of our services.
Licensing Laws
We, our healthcare professionals, and our centers are subject to various state and local licensure and certification requirements in connection with our provision of health care and other services. Specifically, in some of the states in which we operate, we are required to maintain licensure or certification as an adult day health center, home health or home care provider, diagnostic and treatment center, pharmacy provider, clinical laboratory and/or other type of facility, and our employed physicians and other clinicians also must be licensed or certified, as applicable, in the states in which they are providing services. We, our healthcare professionals and our centers are also subject to a variety of other state laws and regulations, relating to, among other things, the quality of medical care, equipment, privacy of health information, physician relationships, personnel and operating policies and procedures. In addition
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to state requirements, we and/or our healthcare professionals are in some cases subject to federal licensing and certification requirements, such as certification or waiver under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 for performing limited laboratory testing and Drug Enforcement Administration registration for writing prescriptions for controlled substances. In addition, certain of the states where we currently operate or may choose to operate in the future regulate the operations and financial condition of risk bearing providers. These regulations can include capital requirements, licensing or certification, governance controls and other similar matters. While the states in which we operate do not currently impose these regulations on entities solely bearing risk under the PACE program, these states or states that we expand into may in the future seek to license or otherwise regulate our operations and financial solvency.
Failure to comply with federal, state and local licensing and certification laws, regulations and standards could result in a variety of consequences, including cessation of our services, loss of our contracts, prior payments by payors being subject to recoupment, requirements to make significant changes to our operations, or civil or criminal penalties. We routinely take the steps we believe are necessary to retain or obtain all requisite licensure and operating authorities. While we endeavor to comply with federal, state and local licensing and certification laws and regulations and standards as we interpret them, the laws and regulations in these areas are complex, changing and often subject to varying interpretations. For example, in Pennsylvania, the statutes that pertain to the employment of health care practitioners by health care facilities do not explicitly include a PACE organization in the list of health care facilities by which a health care practitioner may be employed. Any failure to satisfy applicable laws and regulations could have a material adverse impact on our business, results of operations, financial condition, cash flows and reputation.
Corporate Practice of Medicine
The laws and regulations relating to our operations vary from state to state, and some states in which we operate prohibit general business corporations, such as us, from practicing medicine, controlling physicians’ medical decisions or engaging in some practices such as splitting professional fees with physicians. In certain states, we currently contract with physicians to provide healthcare services that are required to be provided by licensed physicians. While we believe that we are in substantial compliance with state laws prohibiting the corporate practice of medicine, other parties may assert that we could be engaged in the corporate practice of medicine. Were such allegations to be asserted successfully before the appropriate judicial or administrative forums, we could be subject to adverse judicial or administrative penalties, certain contracts could be determined to be unenforceable and we may be required to restructure our contractual arrangements.
The consequences associated with violating corporate practice of medicine laws vary by state and may result in physicians being subject to disciplinary action, as well as forfeiture of revenues from government payors for services rendered. For lay entities, violations may also bring both civil and, in more extreme cases, criminal liability for engaging in medical practice without a license. Some of the relevant laws, regulations and agency interpretations in states with corporate practice of medicine restrictions have been subject to limited judicial and regulatory interpretation. In limited cases, courts have required companies to divest or reorganize structures deemed to violate corporate practice restrictions. Moreover, state laws are subject to change. Any allegations or findings that we have violated these laws could have a material adverse impact on our reputation, business, results of operations and financial condition.
See Item 1A. Risk Factors, “Risks Related to Our Business—Laws regulating the corporate practice of medicine could restrict the manner in which we are permitted to conduct our business, and the failure to comply with such laws could subject us to penalties or require a restructuring of our business.”
Federal Anti-Kickback Statute
The federal Anti-Kickback Statute prohibits, among other things, knowingly and willfully offering, paying, soliciting or receiving remuneration, directly or indirectly, in cash or kind, to induce or reward either the referral of an individual for, or the purchase, order or recommendation of, any good or service, for which payment may be made under federal and state healthcare programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.
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Federal criminal penalties for the violation of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute include imprisonment, fines and exclusion of the provider from future participation in federal healthcare programs, including Medicare and Medicaid. Violations of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute are punishable by imprisonment for up to ten years, fines of up to $100,000 per kickback or both. Larger fines can be imposed upon corporations under the provisions of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the Alternate Fines Statute. Individuals and entities convicted of violating the federal Anti-Kickback Statute are subject to mandatory exclusion from participation in Medicare, Medicaid and other federal healthcare programs for a minimum of five years in the case of criminal conviction. Civil penalties for violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute include up to $104,330 in monetary penalties per violation, repayments of up to three times the total payments between the parties to the arrangement and potential exclusion from participation in Medicare and Medicaid. Court decisions have held that the statute may be violated even if only one purpose of remuneration is to induce referrals. The Affordable Care Act (the “ACA”) amended the federal Anti-Kickback Statute to clarify the intent that is required to prove a violation. Under the statute as amended, the defendant does not need to have actual knowledge of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute or have the specific intent to violate it. In addition, the ACA amended the federal Anti-Kickback Statute to provide that any claims for items or services resulting from a violation of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute are considered false or fraudulent for purposes of the FCA.
The federal Anti-Kickback Statute includes statutory exceptions and regulatory safe harbors that protect certain arrangements. These exceptions and safe harbors are voluntary. Business transactions and arrangements that are structured to comply fully with an applicable safe harbor do not violate the federal Anti-Kickback Statute. However, transactions and arrangements that do not satisfy all elements of a relevant safe harbor do not necessarily violate the law. When an arrangement does not satisfy a safe harbor, the arrangement must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis in light of the parties’ intent and the arrangement’s potential for abuse. Arrangements that do not satisfy a safe harbor may be subject to greater scrutiny by enforcement agencies.
We enter into several arrangements that could potentially implicate the Anti-Kickback Statute if the requisite intent were present, such as:
●Joint Ventures. To prove the concept of our ability to work with not-for-profits, we operate one of our centers under a joint venture with a not-for-profit healthcare provider. Although we do not expressly seek to enter into new joint ventures, it is possible that the government payor landscape in certain markets we may attempt to enter in the future may make entering into additional joint ventures attractive. Investment interests in the joint venture may not fully satisfy a safe harbor. Although failure to comply with a safe harbor does not render an arrangement illegal under the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, an arrangement that does not operate within a safe harbor may be subject to increased scrutiny and the Office of Inspector General (the “OIG”) of HHS has warned health care entities in the past that certain joint venture relationships have a potential for abuse. Joint ventures that fall outside the safe harbors are evaluated on a case-by-case basis under the federal Anti-Kickback Statute. In this regard, we have endeavored to structure our joint venture to satisfy as many elements of the applicable safe harbor for investments in small entities as we believe are commercially reasonable. For example, we believe that these investments are offered and made by us on a fair market value basis and provide returns to the investors in proportion to their actual investment in the venture.
●Discounts. Our centers sometimes acquire certain items and services at a discount that may be reimbursed by a federal healthcare program. We endeavor to structure our vendor contracts that include discount or rebate provisions to comply with the federal Anti-Kickback Statute safe harbor for discounts.
●Sales Forces and Participant Recruitment. We employ our own sales force and attempt to meet the Anti-Kickback safe harbor for bona fide employment.
If any of our business transactions or arrangements, including those described above, were found to violate the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, we could face, among other things, criminal, civil or administrative sanctions, including possible exclusion from participation in Medicare, Medicaid and other state and federal healthcare
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programs and FCA liability. Any findings that we have violated these laws could have a material adverse impact on our business, results of operations, financial condition, cash flows, reputation and stock price.
As part of HHS’s Regulatory Sprint to Coordinated Care, OIG issued a request for information in August 2018 seeking input on regulatory provisions that may act as barriers to coordinated care or value-based care. Specifically, OIG sought to identify ways in which it might modify or add new safe harbors to the Anti-Kickback Statute (as well as exceptions to the definition of “remuneration” in the beneficiary inducements provision of the Civil Monetary Penalty Statute) in order to foster arrangements that promote care coordination and advance the delivery of value-based care, while also protecting against harms caused by fraud and abuse. OIG issued final rules effective January 19, 2021, that modify existing safe harbors and create new safe harbors and exceptions that may impact our business, results of operations and financial condition. However, it remains unclear how these final rules will be interpreted and implemented.
Federal Self-Referral Prohibition
The federal Ethics in Patient Referral Act (“Stark Law”) generally prohibits a physician who has (or whose immediate family member has) a financial relationship with a provider from making referrals to that “entity” for “designated health services” if payment for the services may be made under Medicare or Medicaid. “Designated health services” include clinical laboratory services, inpatient and outpatient hospital services, physical and occupational therapy services, outpatient speech-language pathology services, certain radiology services, radiation therapy services and supplies, durable medical equipment and supplies, parenteral and enteral nutrients equipment and supplies, prosthetics, orthotics and prosthetic devices and supplies, home health services and outpatient prescription drugs. If our operations ever result in us being included within the definition of an “entity” under the Stark Law, then any financial relationships that we have with a referring provider would be prohibited unless a statutory or regulatory exception is available.
Providers are prohibited from filing Medicare claims for services related to a prohibited referral and a provider that has billed for prohibited services is obligated to notify and refund the amounts collected from the Medicare program or to make a self-disclosure to CMS under its Self-Referral Disclosure Protocol.Penalties for violation of the Stark Law include denial of payment, recoupment, refunds of amounts paid in violation of the law, exclusion from the Medicare or Medicaid programs, and substantial civil monetary penalties ($25,820 per prohibited item or service and $172,137 if there is a circumvention scheme; penalty amounts reflect current 2021 levels and are adjusted for inflation from time to time). Claims filed in violation of the Stark Law may be deemed false claims under the FCA. In addition to the Stark Law, various states in which we operate have adopted their own self-referral prohibition statutes.
The False Claims Act
Among other things, the FCA authorizes the imposition of up to three times the government’s damages and significant per claim civil penalties on any “person” (including an individual, organization or company) who, among other acts:
●knowingly presents or causes to be presented to the federal government a false or fraudulent claim for payment or approval, which may relate to our records or reports necessary to generate appropriate RAF determinations;
●knowingly makes, uses or causes to be made or used a false record or statement material to a false or fraudulent claim;
●knowingly makes, uses or causes to be made or used a false record, report or statement material to an obligation to pay the government, or knowingly conceals or knowingly and improperly avoids or decreases an obligation to pay or transmit money or property to the federal government; or
●conspires to commit the above acts.
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The federal government has used the FCA to prosecute a wide variety of alleged false claims and fraud allegedly perpetrated against Medicare and state healthcare programs, including but not limited to coding errors, billing for services not rendered, the submission of false cost or other reports, billing for services at a higher payment rate than appropriate, billing under a comprehensive code as well as under one or more component codes included in the comprehensive code, billing for care that is not considered medically necessary and false reporting of risk-adjusted diagnostic codes. The ACA provides that claims for payment that are tainted by a violation of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute (which could include, for example, illegal incentives or remuneration in exchange for enrollment or referrals) are false for purposes of the FCA. In addition, amendments to the FCA and Social Security Act impose severe penalties for the knowing and improper retention of overpayments from government payors. This could be relevant to the extent we received improper payments on account of RAF determinations that are based on improper or erroneous records or reports. Failure to return overpayments could subject us to liability under the FCA, exclusion from government healthcare programs and penalties under the federal Civil Monetary Penalty Statute.
The penalties for a violation of the FCA may include per claim penalties, plus up to three times the amount of damages caused by each false claim, which can be as much as the amounts received directly or indirectly from the government for each such false claim. The Department of Justice has adjusted the per claim penalty range from $11,665 to $23,331 for penalties assessed after June 19, 2020, if the underlying conduct occurred after November 2, 2015.
In addition to civil enforcement under the FCA, the federal government can use several criminal statutes to prosecute persons who are alleged to have submitted false or fraudulent claims for payment to the federal government. Any allegations or findings that we have violated the FCA could have a material adverse impact on our reputation, business, results of operations and financial condition.
In addition to the FCA, the various states in which we operate have adopted their own analogs of the FCA. States are becoming increasingly active in using their false claims laws to police the same activities listed above, particularly with regard to capitated government-sponsored healthcare programs, such as Medicaid managed care and PACE.
Civil Monetary Penalties Statute
The Civil Monetary Penalties Statute, 42 U.S.C. § 1320a-7a, authorizes the imposition of civil monetary penalties, assessments and exclusion against an individual or entity based on a variety of prohibited conduct, including, but not limited to:
●presenting, or causing to be presented, claims, reports or records relating to payment by Medicare, Medicaid or other government payors that the individual or entity knows or should know are for an item or service that was not provided as reported, is false or fraudulent or was presented for a physician’s service by a person who knows or should know that the individual providing the service is not a licensed physician, obtained licensure through misrepresentation or represented certification in a medical specialty without in fact possessing such certification;
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●offering remuneration to a federal health care program beneficiary that the individual or entity knows or should know is likely to influence the beneficiary to order or receive health care items or services from a particular provider;
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●arranging contracts with or making payments to an entity or individual excluded from participation in the federal health care programs or included on CMS’s preclusion list;
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●violating the federal Anti-Kickback Statute;
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●making, using or causing to be made or used a false record or statement material to a false or fraudulent claim for payment for items and services furnished under a federal health care program;
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●making, using or causing to be made any false statement, omission or misrepresentation of a material fact in any application, bid or contract to participate or enroll as a provider of services or a supplier under a federal health care program; and
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●failing to report and return an overpayment owed to the federal government.
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We could be exposed to a wide range of allegations to which the federal Civil Monetary Penalty Statute would apply. We perform monthly checks on our employees and certain affiliates and vendors using government databases to confirm that these individuals have not been excluded from federal programs or otherwise ineligible for payment. We have also implemented processes to ensure that we do not make payments to contracted or noncontracted providers listed on CMS’s preclusion list nor make payments for drugs prescribed by individuals on the preclusion list. However, should an individual or entity be excluded, on the preclusion list, or otherwise ineligible for payment and we fail to detect it, a federal agency could require us to refund amounts attributable to all claims or services performed or sufficiently linked to such individual or entity. Due to this area of risk and the possibility of other allegations being brought against us, we cannot foreclose the possibility that we could face allegations of noncompliance with the Civil Monetary Penalty Statute that have the potential for a material adverse impact on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Privacy and Security
The federal regulations promulgated under the authority of HIPAA require us to provide certain protections to our participants and their health information. The HIPAA privacy and security regulations extensively regulate the use and disclosure of PHI and require covered entities, which include healthcare providers and their business associates, to implement and maintain administrative, physical and technical safeguards to protect the security of such information. Additional security requirements apply to electronic PHI. These regulations also provide our participants with substantive rights with respect to their health information.
The HIPAA privacy and security regulations also require us to enter into written agreements with certain contractors, known as business associates, to whom we disclose PHI. Covered entities may be subject to penalties for, among other activities, failing to enter into a business associate agreement where required by law or as a result of a business associate violating HIPAA, if the business associate is found to be an agent of the covered entity and acting within the scope of the agency. Business associates are also directly subject to liability under certain HIPAA privacy and security regulations. In instances where we act as a business associate to a covered entity, there is the potential for additional liability beyond our status as a covered entity.
Covered entities must notify affected individuals of breaches of unsecured PHI without unreasonable delay but no later than 60 days after discovery of the breach by a covered entity or its agents. Reporting must also be made to the HHS Office for Civil Rights and, for breaches of unsecured PHI involving more than 500 residents of a state or jurisdiction, to the media. All impermissible uses or disclosures of unsecured PHI are presumed to be breaches unless an exception to the definition of breach applies or the covered entity or business associate establishes that there is a low probability the PHI has been compromised. Various state laws and regulations may also require us to notify affected individuals in the event of a data breach involving personal information without regard to the probability of the information being compromised.
Violations of HIPAA by providers like us, including, but not limited to, failing to implement appropriate administrative, physical and technical safeguards, have resulted in enforcement actions and in some cases triggered settlement payments or civil monetary penalties. Penalties for impermissible use or disclosure of PHI were increased by the HITECH Act by imposing tiered penalties of more than $50,000 (not adjusted for inflation) per violation and up to $1.5 million (not adjusted for inflation) per year for identical violations. In addition, HIPAA provides for criminal penalties of up to $250,000 and ten years in prison, with the severest penalties for obtaining and disclosing PHI with the intent to sell, transfer or use such information for commercial advantage, personal gain or malicious harm. Further, state attorneys general may bring civil actions seeking either injunction or damages in response to violations of the HIPAA privacy and security regulations that threaten the privacy of state residents. There can be no assurance that we will not be the subject of an investigation (arising out of a reportable breach incident, audit or otherwise) alleging non-compliance with HIPAA regulations in our maintenance of PHI.
In addition to HIPAA, we may be subject to other laws governing the privacy and security of data, such as the CCPA and data breach notification laws.
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Healthcare Reform Efforts
The U.S. federal and state governments continue to enact and seriously consider many broad-based legislative and regulatory proposals that have had a material impact on or could materially impact various aspects of the healthcare system and our business, operating results and/or cash flows. In addition, state and federal budgetary shortfalls and constraints pose potential risks for our revenue streams. We cannot predict how government payors or health care consumers might react to federal and state healthcare legislation and regulation, whether already enacted or enacted in the future, nor can we predict what form many of these regulations will take before implementation. Some examples of legislative and regulatory changes impacting our business include:
●In March 2010, broad healthcare reform legislation was enacted in the United States through the ACA. There have since been numerous political and legal efforts to repeal, replace or modify the ACA, some of which have been successful, in part, in modifying the law. Although many of the provisions of the ACA did not take effect immediately and continue to be implemented, and some have been and may be modified before or during their implementation, the reforms could continue to have an impact on our business in a number of ways. Provisions of the ACA that impact the Medicare and Medicaid programs, in particular, may have an impact on our business. These and other provisions of the ACA remain subject to ongoing uncertainty due to developing regulations as well as continuing political and legal challenges at both the federal and state levels.
●There have in recent years been congressional efforts to move Medicaid from an open-ended program with coverage and benefits set by the federal government to one in which states receive a fixed amount of federal funds, either through block grants or per capita caps, and have more flexibility to determine benefits, eligibility or provider payments. If these types of changes are implemented in the future, we cannot predict whether the amount of fixed federal funding to the states will be based on current payment amounts, or if it will be based on lower payment amounts, which would negatively impact those states that expanded their Medicaid programs in response to the ACA.
●Legislation enacted in 2011 requires CMS to sequester or reduce all Medicare payments, including payments to PACE organizations, by two percent per year for a period of years. Subsequent legislation extended these cuts through 2030, but legislation enacted in 2020 suspended the cuts during the pandemic. Currently, the 2% cuts under sequestration are scheduled to be reinstated in 2022, which, once reinstated, will negatively impact our revenue.
While there may be significant changes to the healthcare environment in the future, the specific changes and their timing are not yet apparent. Specifically, changes in Medicare and Medicaid could lower PACE rates or increase our expenses. Any failure to successfully implement strategic initiatives that respond to future legislative, regulatory, and executive changes could have a material adverse effect on government-sponsored PACE programs, our business, results of operations and financial condition.
CMS and state Medicaid agencies also routinely adjust the RAF which is central to payment under PACE and Managed Medicaid programs in which we participate. The monetary “coefficient” values associated with diseases that we manage in our population are subject to change by CMS and state agencies. Such changes could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition. See Item 1A. Risk Factors, “Risks Related to Our Business — Our records and submissions to government payors may contain inaccurate or unsupportable information regarding risk adjustment scores of participants, which could cause us to overstate or understate our revenue and subject us to payment obligations or penalties.”
Other Regulations
Our operations are subject to various state hazardous waste and non-hazardous medical waste disposal laws. These laws do not classify as hazardous most of the waste produced from medical services. Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations require employers to provide workers who are occupationally subject to blood or other potentially infectious materials with prescribed protections. These regulatory requirements apply to all
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healthcare facilities, including our community centers, and require employers to make a determination as to which employees may be exposed to blood or other potentially infectious materials and to have in effect a written exposure control plan. In addition, employers are required to provide or employ hepatitis B vaccinations, personal protective equipment and other safety devices, infection control training, post-exposure evaluation and follow-up, waste disposal techniques and procedures and work practice controls. Employers are also required to comply with various record-keeping requirements.
Federal and state law also governs the dispensing of controlled substances by physicians. For example, the Prescription Drug Marketing Act governs the distribution of drug samples. Physicians are required to report relationships they have with the manufacturers of drugs, medical devices and biologics through the Open Payments Program database. Any allegations or findings that we or our providers have violated any of these laws or regulations could have a material adverse impact on our reputation, business, results of operations and financial condition. Certain states in which we do business or may desire to do business in the future have certificate of need programs regulating the establishment or expansion of healthcare facilities, including our community centers. These regulations can be complex and time-consuming. Any failure to comply with such regulatory requirements could adversely impact our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Impact of COVID-19
The rapid spread of COVID-19 around the world and throughout the United States has altered the behavior of businesses and people, with significant negative effects on federal, state and local economies, the duration of which is unknown at this time. The virus has and continues to disproportionately impact older adults, especially those with chronic illnesses, which describes our participants. To date, we have experienced or expect to experience the following impacts on our business model due to COVID-19.
Care Model. Though the COVID-19 pandemic altered the mix of settings where we deliver care, our multimodal model ensured that our participants continued to receive the care they needed. We closed all our centers in March 2020 and transitioned to a 100% in-home and virtual care model that allowed for seamless delivery of care while increasing participant visit volume and maintaining continuity of care. Our telehealth solution received high satisfaction among participants, caregivers and IDTs. In February 2021, as the prevalence of COVID-19 decreased in the communities we serve, we began re-opening our centers using a phased approach to ensure the safety of both our staff and participants. In addition, community assisted living and skilled nursing facilities began to open to allow in-person visits by all members of our IDT. By June 2021, we fully opened all our centers and transitioned to a predominantly in-person, center-based care model, supplemented by telehealth. We expect telehealth care delivery to remain a part of our ongoing care model.
Growth. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, at the end of March 2020, we pivoted to a virtual enrollment model due to safety concerns for our employees and participants and to comply with local government ordinances. We also realigned our marketing strategy to increase our focus on digital channels during the COVID-19 pandemic and to reach those searching for senior care alternatives. During our fiscal fourth quarter, as we continue to recover from the pandemic, enrollment growth continued to improve and has returned to pre-COVID levels. We continue to build on our media strategy targeting lower funnel media tactics that have built a strong pipeline of digital leads for enrollment.
Revenue. Our revenue is capitated and not determined by the number of times we interact with our participants face-to-face. As of June 30, 2021, we had not experienced a decline in revenue as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The capitation payments we receive from Medicare are risk-adjusted based on documented encounters and diagnosed conditions. Government payors require that participants’ health issues be documented annually regardless of the permanence of the underlying causes. Historically, this documentation has been required to be completed during an in-person visit with a participant, but due to COVID-19 and going forward, CMS is now allowing documentation of conditions identified during qualifying telehealth visits with participants. Thus far, we have been able to document the health conditions of our participants during telehealth visits as well as we did during in-person visits prior to COVID-19; however, any issues with documenting such conditions could adversely impact Medicare RAF scores and our resulting revenue for future periods.
On March 27, 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”) was signed into legislation. The CARES Act, in addition to other provisions, provided for the temporary suspension of the automatic 2%
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reduction of Medicare claim reimbursements (sequestration) for the period of May 1, 2020 through December 31, 2021, which positively impacted our revenue during the year ended June 30, 2021.
Expenses. For the year ended June 30, 2021, as compared to the year ended June 30, 2020, on a PMPM basis, our internal care delivery costs decreased, while our external provider costs increased, as further described in Results of Operations, in part due to the impact of COVID-19 on our care delivery costs as we executed our participants’ care plans through a different mix of care settings. On a PMPM basis, we did not experience material changes in our aggregate participant-related care expenses
The United States continues to experience supply chain issues with respect to personal protective equipment (“PPE”) and other medical supplies used to prevent transmission of COVID-19. During the years ended June 30, 2021 and 2020, we acquired significantly greater quantities of medical supplies at significantly higher prices than pre-pandemic rates to ensure the safety of our employees and our participants. Costs related to PPE medical supplies represented approximately 0.6% and 2.1% of our total cost of care for the years ended June 30, 2021 and 2020, respectively. While the price of PPE may remain higher than historical levels for the foreseeable future, we do not expect these incremental costs to be material as a percentage of our total expenses.
See Item 1A. Risk Factors for further discussion of the possible impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business.
Trademarks and Intellectual Property
Although we own trademarks and service marks such as “InnovAge,” which are protected under applicable intellectual property laws and are the property of us or our subsidiaries, we do not currently believe our intellectual property is material to our business.
Competition
The U.S. healthcare industry is highly competitive. We compete directly with national, regional and local providers of healthcare for participants and clinical providers. We also compete with payors and other alternate managed care programs for participants. Of these providers, there are many other companies and individuals currently providing healthcare services, many of which have been in business longer and/or have substantially more resources. Given the regulatory environment, there may be high barriers to entry for PACE providers; however, since there are relatively modest capital expenditures required for providing healthcare services, there are less substantial financial barriers to entry in the healthcare industry generally. Other companies could enter the healthcare industry in the future and divert some or all of our business. Our principal competitors for dual-eligible seniors vary considerably in type and identity by market. Our growth strategy and our business could be adversely affected if we are not able to continue to penetrate existing markets, successfully expand into new markets, recruit qualified physicians or if we experience significant participant attrition to our competitors. See “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Business—The healthcare industry is highly competitive.”
We believe the principal competitive factors for serving adults dually-eligible for Medicare and Medicaid and who meet nursing home eligibility criteria include: participant experience, quality of care, health outcomes, total cost of care, brand identity and trust in that brand. We believe we compete favorably on these factors.
Seasonality
Our business experiences some variability depending upon the time of year. Medical costs will vary seasonally depending on a number of factors, but most significantly the weather. Certain illnesses, such as the influenza virus, are far more prevalent during colder months of the year, which will result in an increase in medical expenses during these time periods. We would therefore expect to see higher levels of per-participant medical costs in our second and third quarters. Medical costs also depend upon the number of business days in a period, and shorter periods will have lower medical costs. Business days can also create year-over-year comparability issues if a period in one year has a different number of business days compared to the same period in another. We also expect medical costs to be impacted by a pandemic such as the COVID-19 pandemic, which may result in increased or decreased total medical costs depending upon the severity of the infection, the duration of the infection and the availability of healthcare services for our participants.
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In addition, the retrospective capitation payments we receive for each participant are determined by a participant’s RAF score, which is calculated twice per year and is based on the evolving acuity and chronic conditions of a participant. We estimate and accrue for the expected true-up payments of our participants. Though no assurances can be made in the future, we have historically used our best estimate for accruing for this payment, and we received net positive true-up payments during the fiscal years ended June 30, 2021 and 2020. Historically, these true-up payments typically occur between May and August, but the timing of these payments is determined by CMS, and we have neither visibility nor control over the timing of such payments.
Human Capital Resources
InnovAge is a mission-driven organization, focused on providing its participants with improved quality of care and allowing them to live in their homes for as long as safely possible, all while reducing the overutilization of our hospitals and nursing homes. In terms of diversity, our senior management team strives to be a reflection of the communities it serves. Our employees drive our mission and share core values, many of whom have cared for an aging relative, that both stem from and define our culture and which plays a critical role in our execution at all levels in our organization. Our values are used in candidate screening and in employee evaluations to help reinforce their importance in our organization. As of June 30, 2021, our voluntary retention rate for employees was 75.9%. Additionally, in our annual employee engagement survey conducted in 2020, 68% of our employees responding agreed that they would recommend InnovAge as a great place to work.
As of June 30, 2021, we had approximately 1,800 employees, including 1,200 clinical professionals. This count excludes contractors. We consider our relationship with our employees to be good. None of our employees are party to a collective bargaining agreement.
Implications of being an emerging growth company
We qualify as an “emerging growth company” as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS Act”). We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (1) the last day of the fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of the completion of our initial public offering, (2) the last day of the fiscal year in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, (3) the date on which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or (4) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the prior three-year period. We will be deemed to be a “large accelerated filer” at such time that we (a) have an aggregate worldwide market value of common equity securities held by non-affiliates of $700.0 million or more as of the last business day of our most recently completed second fiscal quarter, (b) have been required to file annual and quarterly reports under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”) for a period of at least 12 months and (c) have filed at least one annual report pursuant to the Exchange Act.
An emerging growth company may take advantage of reduced reporting requirements that are otherwise applicable to public companies. These provisions include, but are not limited to:
As a result, the information that we provide to our shareholders may be different than you might receive from other public reporting companies in which you hold equity interests.
In addition, under the JOBS Act, emerging growth companies can delay adopting new or revised accounting standards until such time as those standards apply to private companies. We intend to take advantage of the longer phase-in periods
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for the adoption of new or revised financial accounting standards under the JOBS Act until we are no longer an emerging growth company. Our election to use the phase-in periods permitted by this election may make it difficult to compare our financial statements to those of non-emerging growth companies and other emerging growth companies that have opted out of the longer phase-in periods permitted under the JOBS Act and who will comply with new or revised financial accounting standards. If we were to subsequently elect instead to comply with public company effective dates, such election would be irrevocable pursuant to the JOBS Act.
Available Information
Our internet website is www.innovage.com. We include our website address on this Annual Report on Form 10-K for reference only. The information contained on our website is not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K or any other report or document we file with the SEC.
Item 1A. Risk Factors
Our business, results of operations, and financial condition are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties. You should carefully consider the following risk factors before making a decision to invest in our common stock. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones we face. Additional risks and uncertainties that we are unaware of, or that we currently believe are not material, may also become important factors that affect us. If any of the following risks occur, our business, financial condition, operating results and prospects could be materially and adversely affected. You should read these risk factors in conjunction with “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in Item 7 and our consolidated financial statements and related notes in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Summary of Risk Factors
There are a number of risks related to our business, regulation, our indebtedness and our common stock that you should consider. You should carefully consider all the information presented in this section. Some of the principal risks related to our business include the following:
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Risks Related to Our Business
Under our PACE contracts, we assume all of the risk that the cost of providing services will exceed our compensation.
Approximately 99.5% of our revenue for each of the years ended June 30, 2021 and 2020 is derived from capitation agreements with government payors in which we receive fixed PMPM fees. While there are variations specific to each agreement, we generally contract with government payors to receive a fixed per member per month fee to provide or manage all healthcare services a participant may require while assuming financial responsibility for the totality of our participants’ healthcare expenses. This type of contract is often referred to as an “at-risk” or a “capitation” contract. To the extent that our participants require more care than is anticipated and/or the cost of care increases, aggregate fixed capitation payments may be insufficient to cover the costs associated with treatment. If medical costs and expenses exceed the underlying capitation payment received, we will not be able to correspondingly increase our capitated payment and we could suffer losses with respect to such agreements.
Changes in our anticipated ratio of medical expense to revenue can significantly impact our financial results. Accordingly, the failure to adequately predict and control medical costs and expenses and to make reasonable estimates and maintain adequate accruals for incurred but not reported claims, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows. Additionally, the Medicare and Medicaid expenses of our participants may be outside of our control in the event that participants take certain actions that increase such expenses, such as emergency room visits or preventable hospital admissions.
Historically, our medical costs and expenses as a percentage of revenue have fluctuated. Factors that may cause medical expenses to exceed estimates include:
●higher than expected utilization of new or existing healthcare services;
●more frequent catastrophic medical cases (e.g. transplants);
●changes to mandated benefits or other changes in healthcare laws, regulations and practices;
●increased costs attributable to specialist physicians, hospitals and ancillary providers;
●changes in the demographics of our participants and medical trends;
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●contractual or claims disputes with providers, hospitals or other service providers;
●the occurrence of catastrophes, major epidemics or pandemics or acts of terrorism; and
●the reduction of government payor payments.
Our revenues and operations are dependent upon a limited number of government payors, particularly Medicare and Medicaid.
Our operations are dependent on a limited number of government payors, particularly Medicare and Medicaid, with whom we directly contract to provide services to participants. We generally manage our contracts on a state by state basis, entering into a separate contract in each state. When aggregating the revenue associated with Medicare and Medicaid by state, Colorado, California and Virginia accounted for a total of approximately 82.6% and 81.5% of our capitation revenue for the years ended June 30, 2021 and 2020, respectively. A majority of our revenues will continue to be derived from a limited number of key government payors, which may terminate their contracts with us upon the occurrence of certain events. The sudden loss of any of our government contracts or the renegotiation of any of our contracts could adversely affect our operating results. In the ordinary course of business, we engage in active discussions and renegotiations with government payors in respect of the services we provide and the terms of our agreements. As the states respond to market dynamics and financial pressures, and as government payors make strategic budgetary decisions in respect of the programs in which they participate, certain government payors may seek to renegotiate or terminate their agreements with us. Any reduction in the budgetary appropriations for our services, whether as a result of fiscal constraints due to recession, emergency situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic, changes in policy or otherwise, could result in a reduction in our capitated fee payments and possibly loss of contracts. These discussions could result in reductions to the fees and changes to the scope of services contemplated by our original contracts and consequently could negatively impact our revenues, business and prospects. See “—A pandemic, epidemic or outbreak of an infectious disease in the United States or worldwide, including the ongoing outbreak of COVID-19, could adversely affect our business” and “—We conduct a significant percentage of our operations in the State of Colorado and, as a result, we are particularly susceptible to any reduction in budget appropriations for our services or any other adverse developments in that state.”
Because we rely on a limited number of government-funded agencies, namely CMS and state Medicaid agencies, for a significant portion of our revenues, we depend on federal funding, as well as the financial condition of the states in which we operate, and each state’s commitment to its participation in the PACE program. Government-funded healthcare programs in the states in which we operate face a number of risks, including higher than expected health care costs and lack of predictability of tax basis and budget needs. If the financial condition of the states in which we operate declines, our credit risk could increase.
Reductions in PACE reimbursement rates or changes in the rules governing PACE programs could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.
We receive a substantial portion of our revenue through the PACE program, which accounted for 99.6% and 99.5% of our revenue for the years ended June 30, 2021 and 2020, respectively. As a result, our operations are dependent on government funding levels for PACE programs. Any changes that limit or reduce general PACE funding, such as reductions in or limitations of reimbursement amounts or rates under programs, reductions in funding of programs, expansion of benefits, services or treatments under programs without adequate funding, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
The PACE programs and their respective reimbursement rates, payment structures and rules are subject to frequent change. These include statutory and regulatory changes, rate adjustments (including retroactive adjustments), administrative or executive orders and government funding restrictions, all of which may materially adversely affect the PACE rates at which we are compensated for our services. Budget pressures can lead federal and state governments to reduce or place limits on reimbursement rates and payment structures under PACE. Implementation of these and other types of measures has in the past and could in the future result in substantial reductions in our revenue and operating margins. Legislation enacted in 2011 requires CMS to sequester or reduce all
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Medicare payments, including payments to PACE organizations, by two percent per year for a period of years. Subsequent legislation extended these cuts through 2030, but legislation enacted in 2020 suspended the cuts during the pandemic. Currently, the 2% cuts under sequestration are scheduled to be reinstated in 2022, which once reinstated will negatively impact our revenue. We cannot predict what other deficit reduction, other payment reduction or budget enforcement initiatives may be proposed by Congress, whether Congress will attempt to restructure or suspend sequestration or the impact sequestration, other payment reductions or budget enforcement initiatives may have on our business.
Each year, CMS establishes the Medicare PACE benchmark payment rates by county for the following calendar year. Because a substantial portion of our revenue is through the PACE program, any negative changes to the PACE benchmark payment rates could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows. In addition, our PACE revenues may become volatile in the future, which could have a material adverse impact on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
Reductions in reimbursement rates could have a material, adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations or even result in rates that are insufficient to cover our operating expenses. For example, our external provider costs are driven by rates set by Medicare and Medicaid, which are outside of our control and may be negotiated in a manner unfavorable to us. Additionally, any delay or default by state governments in funding our capitated payments could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Recent legislative, judicial and executive efforts to enact further healthcare reform legislation have caused the future state of reforms under the ACA and many core aspects of the current U.S. healthcare system to be unclear. While specific changes and their timing are not yet apparent, enacted reforms and future legislative, regulatory, judicial, or executive changes, particularly any changes to the PACE program, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
Our records and submissions to government payors may contain inaccurate or unsupportable information regarding risk adjustment scores of participants, which could cause us to overstate or understate our revenue and subject us to repayment obligations or penalties.
The claims and encounter records that we submit to government payors impact data that support the Medicare RAF scores attributable to participants. These RAF scores determine the payment we are entitled for the provision of medical care to such participants. The data submitted to CMS is based on diagnosis codes and medical charts that our employed, contracted, and noncontracted providers identify, record and prepare. Historically, this documentation has been required to be completed during an in-person visit with a participant, but due to COVID-19 and going forward, CMS is now allowing documentation of conditions identified during qualifying telehealth visits with participants. Thus far, we have been able to document the health conditions of our participants during telehealth visits as well as we did during in-person visits prior to COVID-19; however, any issues with documenting such conditions could adversely impact Medicare RAF scores and our resulting revenue for future periods. CMS may periodically audit PACE organizations’ risk adjustment submissions. The submission of inaccurate, incomplete or erroneous data could result in inaccurate revenue and risk adjustment payments, which may be subject to correction or retroactive adjustment in later periods. This corrected or adjusted information may be reflected in financial statements for periods subsequent to the period in which the revenue was recorded. We might also need to refund a portion of the revenue that we received, which refund, depending on its magnitude, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows. Historically, these true-up payments typically occur between May and August, but the timing of these payments is determined by CMS, and we have neither visibility nor control over the timing of such payments. From time to time, we may experience reconciliation issues as government payors modify or adopt new systems which may be reflected as provision for bad debt in our financial statements.
If CMS seeks repayment from us for payment adjustments as a result of its audits, we could also be subject to liability for penalties for inaccurate or unsupportable RAF scores provided by us or our providers. In addition, we could be liable for penalties to the federal government under the FCA, which may include per claim penalties, plus up to three times the amount of damages caused by each false claim, which can be as much as the amounts received directly or indirectly from the government for each such false claim. Most recently, on June 19, 2020, the Department of Justice issued a final rule announcing adjustments to FCA penalties, under which the per claim penalty range increases to a range from $11,665 to $23,331 for penalties assessed after June 19, 2020, if the underlying conduct
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occurred after November 2, 2015. There is a high potential for substantial penalties in connection with any alleged FCA violations.
Elements of the risk adjustment mechanism continue to be challenged, reevaluated, and revised by the U.S. Department of Justice, the HHS Office of the Inspector General (“HHS OIG”), and CMS. For example, CMS has indicated that payment adjustments will not be limited to errors identified in the sampled population, but that the error rate identified in the sample may also be extrapolated to all risk adjusted payments made under the PACE contract being audited. CMS has described its audit process as plan-year specific and stated that it will not extrapolate audit results for plan years prior to 2011. Because CMS has not stated otherwise, there is a risk that payment adjustments made as a result of one plan year’s audit would be extrapolated to prior plan years after 2011. In addition, proposed regulations relating to the Risk Adjustment Data Validation Audit (“RADV audit”) and extrapolation methodology have been outstanding since 2018 and may result in additional changes in recoupments arising from RADV audits.
There can be no assurance that a PACE organization will not be randomly selected or targeted for review by CMS or that the outcome of such a review will not result in a material adjustment in our revenue and profitability, even if the information we submitted to CMS is accurate and supportable. Substantial changes in the risk adjustment mechanism, including changes that result from enforcement or audit actions, could materially affect our capitated reimbursement.
Non-renewal or termination of capitation agreements with government payors could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
Under most of our capitation agreements with government payors, the state is generally permitted to adjust certain terms of the agreements from time to time. If a government payor exercises its right to adjust certain terms of the agreements, we are generally allowed a period of time to object to such adjustment. If we enter into capitation contracts with unfavorable economic terms, or a capitation contract is adjusted to include unfavorable terms, we could suffer losses with respect to such contract. In addition, some states in which we operate undergo periodic reconciliations with respect to enrollments that present a risk to our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
Our contracts with government payors may be terminated to the extent that state or federal funds are not appropriated at sufficient levels to fund our contracts or PACE programs in general. Certain of our contracts are terminable immediately upon the occurrence of certain events. Government payors may terminate, suspend or cancel our contracts, in whole or in part, for cause in the event of our noncompliance with the terms, conditions or responsibilities under the contracts, or if we are debarred or suspended from providing services by state or federal government authorities. CMS may also impose sanctions for noncompliance with regulatory or contractual requirements, including the suspension of enrollment of participants, the occurrence of which would adversely affect our operating results and our ability to pursue our growth strategies. If any of our contracts with government payors are terminated or if the government payors seek to renegotiate their contract rates with us, we may suffer a significant loss of revenue, which may adversely affect our operating results.
State and federal efforts to reduce healthcare spending could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.
Most of our participants are dually-eligible, meaning they are qualified for coverage under both Medicare and Medicaid when enrolled in our PACE program, and nearly all our revenue is derived from government payors. Medicaid is a joint federal and state funded program for healthcare services for low income as well as certain higher-income individuals who qualify for nursing home level of care. Under broad federal criteria, states establish rules for eligibility, services and payment. PACE programs are administered at the state level and are financed by both state and federal funds. Medicaid spending has increased rapidly in recent years, becoming a significant component of state budgets. This increase, combined with slower state revenue growth, has led both the federal government and many states to institute measures aimed at controlling the growth of Medicaid spending, and in some instances reducing aggregate Medicaid spending. Due to budget constraints, including those resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, we may experience negative Medicaid capitated rate payment pressure from certain states where we operate, such as Colorado, where we conduct a significant percentage of our operations.
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In addition, as part of past attempts to repeal, replace or modify the ACA and as a means to reduce the federal budget deficit, there have in recent years been congressional efforts to move Medicaid from an open-ended program with coverage and benefits set by the federal government to one in which states receive a fixed amount of federal funds, either through block grants or per capita caps, and have more flexibility to determine benefits, eligibility or provider payments. If those changes are implemented, we cannot predict whether the amount of fixed federal funding to the states will be based on current payment amounts, or if it will be based on lower payment amounts, which would negatively impact those states that expanded their Medicaid programs in response to the ACA. We expect state and federal efforts to reduce healthcare spending to continue for the foreseeable future.
A pandemic, epidemic or outbreak of an infectious disease in the United States or worldwide, including the ongoing outbreak of COVID-19, could adversely affect our business.
The severity, magnitude and duration of the current COVID-19 pandemic is uncertain and rapidly changing. Because of our business model, the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic may not be fully reflected in our results of operations and overall financial condition until future periods. Additionally, any future pandemic, epidemic or outbreak of an infectious disease may adversely affect our business if one of the geographies we serve is affected by the outbreak, particularly at the onset of any such outbreak before response protocols have been developed. Specifically, if our participants fall ill due to an outbreak, we may experience a high level of unexpected deaths, increased costs, and other effects, including a loss of revenue, negative publicity, litigation and inquiries from government regulators.
Even though to date, the COVID-19 pandemic has not materially adversely impacted our revenue or expenses, adverse market conditions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic may materially and adversely affect our business and the value of our common stock. Numerous state and local jurisdictions, including some markets where we operate, have and could continue to impose, and others in the future may impose, travel bans and restrictions, “shelter-in-place” orders or shutdowns, quarantines, curfews, executive orders and similar government orders and restrictions for their residents to control the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19. Such orders or restrictions have resulted in largely remote operations at our headquarters and centers, work stoppages among some vendors and suppliers, slowdowns and delays, travel restrictions and cancellation of events and have restricted the ability of our front-line outreach teams to host and attend community events, among other effects, thereby significantly impacting our operations. In addition, the COVID-19 virus disproportionately impacts older adults, especially those with chronic illnesses, which describes many of our participants.
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly increased demand for our telehealth and in-home offerings. The telehealth market is relatively new, and it is uncertain whether it will achieve and sustain high levels of demand, consumer acceptance and market adoption. By June 2021, we fully opened all our centers and transitioned to a predominantly in-person, center-based care model, supplemented by telehealth. We expect telehealth care delivery to remain a part of our ongoing care model. If our participants do not perceive the benefits of telehealth services, or if our services are not competitive, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations. Similarly, individual and healthcare industry concerns or negative publicity regarding participant confidentiality and privacy in the context of telehealth could limit market acceptance of such healthcare services. In addition, some of our participants may be unable to use the telehealth technology on their own. Because some of our participants may not be comfortable with a team member coming to their home to deliver face-to-face care or entering with a device to assist with using our telehealth services, participants may be reluctant to seek necessary care given their inability to use telehealth services, coupled with preference to stay at home due to the continuing risks of the COVID-19 pandemic. This could have the effect of deferring healthcare costs that we will need to incur at later periods and may also affect the health of participants who defer treatment, which may cause our costs to increase in the future.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we may not be able to document the health conditions of our participants as completely as we have in the past. Medicare pays capitation using a “risk adjustment model,” which compensates providers based on the health status (acuity) of each individual participant. Participants with higher RAF scores necessitate larger capitated payments, and those with lower RAF scores necessitate smaller capitated payments. Medicare requires that a participant’s health issues be documented annually regardless of the permanence of the underlying causes. Historically, this documentation has been required to be completed during an in-person visit with a participant, but due to COVID-19 and going forward, CMS is now allowing documentation of conditions identified during qualifying telehealth visits with participants. Thus far, we have been able to document the health conditions of our participants during telehealth visits as
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well as we did during in-person visits prior to COVID-19; however, any issues with documenting such conditions could adversely impact Medicare RAF scores and our resulting revenue for future periods. See “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Business—Our records and submissions to government payors may contain inaccurate or unsupportable information regarding risk adjustment scores of participants, which could cause us to overstate or understate our revenue and subject us to repayment obligations or penalties.”
The COVID-19 pandemic temporarily forced our centers to close or to perform operations remotely reducing our frequent in-person contact with participants and exacerbated difficulties to hire additional healthcare professionals, causing certain of our centers to be understaffed or staffed with personnel that requires training. The general lack of in-person interaction and the reduction in healthcare personnel, and specifically, trained personnel, has impacted and may continue to impact our ability to adhere to the complex government laws and regulations that apply to our business. PACE regulators require that new participants be assessed within a period of 30 days from enrollment to our programs and for us to provide them a personalized care plan. In the third quarter of 2021, we became aware that certain of our centers had failed to timely complete a portion of these participant assessments and care plans. We have implemented improvement plans and continue to work diligently and monitor our progress in remediating this issue. Failure to conduct assessments or produce care plans within the required period of time may subject us to suspension of new enrollment or restrict enrollment at the affected centers and other centers in the affected state. These or future violations of these requirements or other government laws or regulations could result in significant consequences that may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
On March 27, 2020, the CARES Act was signed into law. The CARES Act provided for $100.0 billion in funding for healthcare providers, including hospitals on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic, and subsequent COVID-19 economic relief legislation authorized additional funding to be distributed to healthcare providers. The state of Pennsylvania enacted Act 24 of 2020 (“Act 24”), which allocated $10.0 million in federal CARES Act funding to Managed Long Term Care Organizations to cover COVID-19 related costs. Our Pennsylvania centers were granted $1.0 million of funding from Act 24. During the year ended June 30, 2020, we recognized $0.7 million of such funds as a reduction of expense within our consolidated statement of operations, with the remaining $0.3 million recognized during the year ended June 30, 2021. As a result of receiving this funding, we may be subject to audits and oversight by the federal government and Pennsylvania regulators, and there is no guarantee that the funds we received could not be subject to recoupment. Recipients are not required to repay these funds, provided that they attest to and comply with certain terms and conditions, including not using funds received to reimburse expenses or losses that other sources are obligated to reimburse, as well as certain audit and reporting requirements.
As of June 30, 2021, we incurred $8.3 million of COVID-19 related costs, $4.8 million of which related to the year ended June 30, 2021. It is uncertain whether our COVID-19 related expenses will continue to increase, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
The extent and continued impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business will depend on certain developments, including: the duration and spread of the outbreak, including virus variants; government responses to the pandemic, including responses to state budget shortfalls; the impact on our participants and enrollment; the availability, effectiveness and receipt of vaccines by our participants and our employees; the impact on participant, industry or employee events; and the effect on our supply chains, all of which continue to be uncertain and are difficult to fully predict. Because of our business model, the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic may not be fully reflected in our results of operations and overall financial condition until future periods.
We began operating as a for-profit company in 2016 and have limited operating history as a for-profit company. Accordingly, our historical and recent financial and business results may not be representative of what they may be in the future.
We were originally formed in 2007 as a not-for-profit company and converted to a for-profit company in 2016. Due to our relatively limited operating history as a for-profit company, our historical and recent financial and business results may not be representative of what they may be in the future. We have encountered and will continue to encounter significant risks and uncertainties frequently experienced by growing companies in rapidly changing and highly regulated industries, such as determining appropriate investments for our limited resources, competition from other providers, acquiring and retaining participants, hiring, integrating, training and retaining skilled
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personnel, unforeseen expenses and challenges in forecasting accuracy. Although we have successfully expanded our footprint outside of Colorado and our other existing geographies and intend to continue to expand into new geographies, we cannot provide assurance that any new centers we open, centers that we acquire, or new geographies we enter will be successful. If we are unable to increase participant enrollment, successfully manage our external provider costs or successfully expand into new geographies, our revenue and our ability to sustain profitability could be impaired. If we make acquisitions to expand our footprint, we may experience operational difficulties or challenges with integrating and realizing the benefits of such acquisitions and we may need to expend resources to ensure such centers are operating in compliance with regulatory and contractual requirements, as well as any corrective action plans. Additional risks include, but are not limited to, our ability to effectively manage growth, process, store, protect and use personal data in compliance with governmental regulations and contractual obligations and manage our obligations as a provider of healthcare services under Medicare, Medicaid and PACE. If our assumptions regarding these and other similar risks and uncertainties, which we use to plan our business, are incorrect or change as we gain more experience operating a for-profit business or due to changes in our industry, or if we do not address these challenges successfully, our operating and financial results could differ materially from our expectations and our reputation and business could suffer materially.
We expect to continue to increase our headcount and to hire or contract with more physicians, nurses and other specialized medical personnel in the future as we grow our business and open or acquire new centers. We will need to continue to hire, train and manage additional qualified information technology, operations and marketing staff, and improve and maintain our technology and information systems to properly manage our growth. If our new hires perform poorly, if we are unsuccessful in hiring, training, managing and integrating these new employees, if we are not successful in retaining our existing employees, or if we are unable to provide the care and services that our participants require in compliance with regulatory requirements our business may be adversely affected.
Our growth strategy may not prove viable, and we may not realize expected results.
Our business strategy is to grow rapidly by expanding our network of centers and is significantly dependent on adding center capacity in our existing markets, expanding into new geographies by developing de novo centers, executing on tuck-in acquisitions, recruiting new participants and directly contracting with government payors, such as Medicare and Medicaid. We seek growth opportunities both organically and through acquisitions, the availability and success of which may be impacted by factors outside of our control. Our ability to grow organically depends upon a number of factors, including recruiting new participants, finding suitable geographies that have aging populations and viable rate structures, entering into government payor arrangements in new jurisdictions, ensuring compliance with regulatory and contractual requirements, identifying appropriate facilities, purchasing facilities or obtaining leases, completing build-outs of new facilities within proposed timelines and budgets and hiring members of our IDTs and other employees. We cannot guarantee that we will be successful in pursuing our growth strategy. If we fail to evaluate and execute new business opportunities properly, we may not achieve anticipated benefits and may incur increased costs.
Our growth strategy involves a number of risks and uncertainties, including that:
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There can be no assurance that we will be able to successfully capitalize on growth opportunities, which may negatively impact our business model, revenues, results of operations and financial condition.
If we are unable to attract new participants, our revenue growth will be adversely affected.
To increase our revenue, our business strategy is to expand the number of centers and participants in our network. In order to support such growth, we must continue to recruit and retain a sufficient number of new participants both within our existing centers and in new centers. Our ability to do so depends in large part on the success of our sales and marketing efforts, which are subject to various federal and state laws and regulations that impact marketing. We are focused on frail, dual-eligible senior population and face competition from other healthcare providers and payors in the recruitment of potential participants. Therefore, we must demonstrate that our services provide a viable solution for potential participants. If we are unable to convince the frail, dual-eligible senior population of the benefits of the InnovAge Platform or if potential or existing participants prefer the healthcare provider model of one of our competitors, we may not be able to effectively implement our growth strategy, which depends on our ability to attract new participants. Participant enrollment for PACE is ongoing each month and require states to verify eligibility, a process which can result in delays in enrollment. Our inability to identify and recruit new eligible participants and retain existing participants would harm our ability to execute our growth strategy and may have a material adverse effect on our business operations and financial position.
We conduct a significant percentage of our operations in the State of Colorado and, as a result, we are particularly susceptible to any reduction in budget appropriations for our services or any other adverse developments in that state.
For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2021, 26.0% of our total revenues were derived from contracts with government agencies in the State of Colorado. Accordingly, any reduction in Colorado’s budgetary appropriations for our services, whether as a result of fiscal constraints due to recession, emergency situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic, changes in policy or otherwise, could result in a reduction in our capitated fee payments and possibly the loss of contracts. In fiscal year 2021, we experienced a low single digit rate decrease as a result of COVID-19 related budget pressure borne by the State of Colorado. In June 2021, we completed negotiations relating to the capitated fee rates with government payors in the State of Colorado, which resulted in a mid-single digit rate increase applicable for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2021.
If we fail to manage our growth effectively, we may be unable to execute our business plan, maintain high levels of service and participant satisfaction or adequately address competitive challenges.
We have experienced, and may continue to experience, rapid growth and organizational change, which has placed, and may continue to place, significant demands on our management and our operational and financial resources. For example, we completed our conversion from a not-for-profit to a for-profit organization in 2016. Additionally, our organizational structure may become more complex as we expand our operational, financial and management controls, as well as our reporting systems and procedures as a public company. We may require significant capital expenditures and the allocation of valuable management resources to grow and evolve in these areas. We must effectively increase our headcount, ensure our personnel have the necessary licenses and
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competencies and continue to effectively train and manage our employees. We will be unable to manage our business effectively if we are unable to alleviate the strain on resources caused by growth in a timely and successful manner. If we fail to effectively manage our anticipated growth and change or fail to ensure that the level of care and services provided by our employees complies with regulatory and contractual requirements, the quality of our services may suffer, which could negatively affect our brand and reputation, harm our ability to attract and retain participants and employees and lead to the need for corrective actions.
In addition, as we expand our business, it is important that we continue to maintain high levels of patient service and satisfaction. As our participant base continues to grow, we will need to expand our services and personnel to provide personalized participant care. If we are not able to continue to provide high quality healthcare that meets PACE requirements and generates high levels of participant satisfaction, our reputation, as well as our business, results of operations and financial condition would be adversely affected.
The healthcare industry is highly competitive.
We compete directly with national, regional and local providers of healthcare for participants and clinical providers. We also compete directly with payors and other alternate managed care programs for participants. There are many other companies and individuals currently providing healthcare services, many of which have been in business longer and/or have substantially more resources. Given the regulatory environment, there may be high barriers to entry for PACE providers; however, since there are relatively modest capital expenditures required for providing healthcare services, there are less substantial financial barriers to entry in the healthcare industry generally. Other companies could enter the healthcare industry in the future and divert some or all of our business. Our ability to compete successfully varies from location to location and depends on a number of factors, including the number of payors who run competitive programs in the local market, our local reputation for quality participant care, the commitment and expertise of our medical staff or contracted health care providers, our local service offerings and community programs, the cost of care in each locality, and the physical appearance, location and condition of our centers. If we are unable to attract participants to our centers our revenue and profitability will be adversely affected. Some of our competitors may have greater brand recognition and be more established in their respective communities than we are, and may have greater financial and other resources than we have. Further, our current or potential competitors may be acquired by third parties with greater available resources. Competing providers may also offer different programs or services than we do, which, combined with the foregoing factors, may result in our competitors being more attractive to our current participants, potential participants and referral sources. Furthermore, while we budget for routine capital expenditures at our centers to keep them competitive in their respective markets, to the extent that competitive forces cause those expenditures to increase in the future, our financial condition may be negatively affected. In addition, our contracts with government payors are not exclusive for PACE programs in California, and competitors in California could seek to establish contracts with the state Medicaid agency and CMS to serve PACE eligible participants in our service areas. For example, the service area for our Sacramento, California center, opened July 1, 2020, overlaps with an existing PACE program in the region. Additionally, as we expand into new geographies, we may encounter competitors with stronger local community relationships or brand recognition, which could give those competitors an advantage in attracting new participants. Individual physicians, physician groups and companies in other healthcare industry segments, some of which have greater financial, marketing and staffing resources, may become competitors in providing health care services, and this competition may have a material adverse effect on our business operations and financial position.
Our presence is currently limited to Colorado, California, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Virginia, and we may not be able to successfully establish a presence in new geographic markets.
We currently operate in Colorado, California, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Virginia, and currently have plans to provide our services in Florida and Kentucky. For the year ended June 30, 2021, approximately half of our revenue was driven by our businesses in Colorado. As a result, our exposure to many of the risks described herein are not mitigated by a diversification of geographic focus. To continue to expand our operations to other regions of the United States, we will have to devote resources to identifying and exploring such perceived opportunities. Thereafter, we will have to, among other things, recruit and retain qualified personnel, develop new centers and establish new relationships or contracts with physicians and other healthcare and services providers. In addition, we will be required to comply with laws and regulations of states that may differ from the ones in which we currently operate, and could
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face competitors with greater knowledge of such local markets. We anticipate that further geographic expansion will require us to make a substantial investment of management time, capital and/or other resources. There can be no assurance that we will be able to continue to successfully expand our operations in any new geographic markets.
Our overall business results may suffer from an economic downturn.
During periods of high unemployment, including as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, governmental entities often experience budget deficits as a result of increased costs and lower than expected tax collections. These budget deficits at federal, state and local government entities have decreased, and may continue to decrease, spending for health and human service programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, PACE and similar programs, which represent nearly all of the payor sources for our centers.
Security breaches, loss of data and other disruptions have in the past and could in the future compromise sensitive information related to our business or our participants, or prevent us from accessing critical information and expose us to liability, and could adversely affect our business and our reputation.
In the ordinary course of our business, we create, receive, maintain, transmit, collect, store, use, disclose, share and process (collectively, “Process”) sensitive data, including protected health information (“PHI”) and other types of personal data or personally identifiable information (collectively, “PII” and, together with PHI, “PHI/PII”) relating to our employees, participants and others. We also Process and contract with third-party service providers to Process sensitive information, including PHI/PII, confidential information and other proprietary business information. We manage and maintain PHI/PII and other sensitive data and information using our on premise systems, and we plan to implement cloud-based computing center systems in the future. Third-party service providers that serve our participants may Process PHI/PII data either in their own on-site systems, at managed or co-located data centers, or in the cloud.
We are highly dependent on information technology networks and systems, including the internet, to securely Process PHI/PII and other sensitive data and information. Security breaches of this infrastructure, whether ours or of our third-party service providers, including physical or electronic break-ins, computer viruses, ransomware, attacks by hackers and similar breaches, and employee or contractor error, negligence or malfeasance, have occurred in the past, and have in the past and could in the future, create system disruptions, shutdowns or unauthorized access, acquisition, use, disclosure or modifications of such data or information, and could cause PHI/PII to be accessed, acquired, used, disclosed or modified without authorization, to be made publicly available, or to be further accessed, acquired, used or disclosed.
We use third-party service providers for important aspects of the Processing of employee and participant PHI/PII and other confidential and sensitive data and information, and therefore rely on third parties to manage functions that have material cybersecurity risks. Because of the sensitivity of the PHI/PII and other sensitive data and information that we and our service providers Process, the security of our technology platform and other aspects of our services, including those provided or facilitated by our third-party service providers, are important to our operations and business strategy. We have implemented certain administrative, physical and technological safeguards to address these risks; however, such policies and procedures may not address certain HIPAA requirements or address situations that could lead to increased privacy or security risks, and agreements with contractors and other third-party service providers who handle this PHI/PII and other sensitive data and information for us. However, some PACE organizations that we have acquired in the past or may acquire in the future may not have implemented such agreements with their third-party service providers, which may expose us to legal claims or proceedings, liability, and penalties. The organizations that we have acquired, or may acquire, may not have in place all of the required agreements, and to the extent we terminate contracts with such third-party service providers, we may not be able to ensure that the relevant PHI/PII of our participants is maintained in compliance with HIPAA. The training that we provide to our workforce and measures taken to protect our systems, the systems of our contractors or third-party service providers, or more generally the PHI/PII or other sensitive data or information that we or our contractors or third-party service providers Process may not adequately protect us from the risks associated with Processing sensitive data and information. We may be required to expend significant capital and other resources to protect against security breaches, to safeguard the privacy, security, and confidentiality of PHI/PII and other sensitive data and information, to investigate, contain, remediate, and mitigate actual or potential security breaches, and/or to
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report security breaches to participants, employees, regulators, media, credit bureaus, and other third parties in accordance with applicable law and to offer complimentary credit monitoring, identity theft protection, and similar services to participants and/or employees where required by law or otherwise appropriate. Despite our implementation of security measures, cyber-attacks are becoming more sophisticated, and frequent, and we or our third-party service providers may be unable to anticipate these techniques or to implement adequate protective measures against them or to prevent additional attacks. Our information technology networks and systems used in our business, as well as those of our service providers, may experience an increase in attempted cyber-attacks, seeking to take advantage of shifts to employees working remotely, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic or otherwise, using their household or personal internet networks. The success of any of these attempts could substantially impact our platform, and the privacy, security, or confidentiality of the PHI/PII and other sensitive data and information contained therein or otherwise Processed in the ordinary course of our business operations, and could ultimately harm our reputation and our business. In addition, any actual or perceived security incident or breach may cause us to incur increased expenses to improve our security controls and to remediate security vulnerabilities. We exercise limited control over our third-party service providers and, in the case of some third-party service providers, may not have evaluated the adequacy of their security measures, which increases our vulnerability to problems with services they provide.