10-K

om-10k_20201231.htm

10-K

om-10k_20201231.htm

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

(Mark One)

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020

Commission File Number 001-39513

Outset Medical, Inc.

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its Charter)

(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (669) 231-8200

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Title of each class Trading Symbol(s) Name of each exchange on which registered

Common Stock, par value $0.001 per share OM The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

Indicate by check mark if the Registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. YES ☐ NO ☒

Indicate by check mark if the Registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Act. YES ☐ NO ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. YES ☒ NO ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrant was required to submit such files). YES ☒ NO ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

Large accelerated filer ☐ Accelerated filer ☐

Non-accelerated filer ☒ Smaller reporting company ☐

Emerging growth company ☒

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). YES ☐ NO ☒

The registrant was not a public company as of June 30, 2020, the last business day of its most recently completed second fiscal quarter and therefore, cannot calculate the aggregate market value of its voting and non-voting common equity held by non-affiliates as of such date. The registrant’s common stock began trading on The Nasdaq Global Select Market on September 15, 2020.

The number of shares of the registrant’s common stock, par value $0.001 per share, outstanding as of March 15, 2021 was 42,805,772.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the registrant’s Proxy Statement for its 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which is to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days of the registrant’ fiscal year ended December 31, 2020, are incorporated by reference into Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K to the extent stated herein.

Table of Contents

Page

PART I

Item 1. Business 2

Item 1A. Risk Factors 37

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments 79

Item 2. Properties 79

Item 3. Legal Proceedings 80

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures 80

PART II

Item 6. Selected Financial Data 84

Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk 99

Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data 100

Item 9A. Controls and Procedures 128

Item 9B. Other Information 128

PART III

Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance 129

Item 11. Executive Compensation 129

Item 14. Principal Accounting Fees and Services 129

PART IV

Item 15. Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules 130

SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Annual Report on Form 10-K (this Annual Report) contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. All statements other than statements of historical fact contained in this Annual Report are forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as “may,” “should,” “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “could,” “intends,” “target,” “projects,” “contemplates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “potential” or “continue” or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about:

• our business strategy;

• plans and objectives of management for future operations;

• the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business and results of operations;

• our intent to explore opportunities for international expansion;

• our expectations regarding the uses and sufficiency of our capital resources.

The forward-looking statements in this Annual Report are only predictions and are based largely on our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that we believe may affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include those described throughout this Annual Report, including in the sections titled “Risk Factors” under Part I, Item 1A below and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” under Part II, Item 7 below.

The forward-looking statements in this Annual Report are based upon information available to us as of the date of this Annual Report and, while we believe such information forms a reasonable basis for such statements, such information may be limited or incomplete, and our statements should not be read to indicate that we have conducted an exhaustive inquiry into, or review of, all potentially available relevant information. These forward-looking statements, like all statements in this Annual Report, speak only as of their date, and except as required by applicable law, we undertake no obligation to update or revise these statements, whether as a result of any new information, future developments or otherwise. These statements are inherently uncertain and investors are cautioned not to unduly rely upon these statements.

Unless the context requires otherwise, all references in this Annual Report to “we,” “us,” “our,” “Outset” and “the “Company” refer to Outset Medical, Inc.

We have proprietary rights to trademarks, trade names and service marks appearing in this Annual Report that are important to our business. Solely for convenience, the trademarks, service marks, logos and trade names referred to in this Annual Report are without the ® and TM symbols, but such references are not intended to indicate that we will not assert our rights or the rights of the applicable licensors in these trademarks, service marks and trade names. All trademarks, trade names and service marks appearing in this Annual Report are the property of their respective owners.

PART I

Item 1. Business.

Our Company

Outset is a rapidly growing medical technology company pioneering a first-of-its-kind technology to reduce the cost and complexity of dialysis. We believe Tablo represents a significant technological advancement enabling novel, transformational dialysis care in acute and home settings. We designed Tablo from the ground up to be a single enterprise solution that can be utilized across the continuum of care, allowing dialysis to be delivered anytime, anywhere and by anyone.

Our technology is designed to elevate the dialysis experience for patients, and help providers overcome traditional care delivery challenges. Our relentless focus on flexibility, ease of use and user experience translates to meaningfully reduced training times and fixed infrastructure requirements. Requiring only an electrical outlet and tap water to operate, Tablo frees patients and providers from the burdensome infrastructure required to operate traditional dialysis machines. The integration of water purification and on-demand dialysate production enables Tablo to serve as a dialysis clinic on wheels and allows providers to standardize to a single platform from the hospital to the home. Tablo is also intelligent and connected, with automated documentation and the ability to integrate with electronic medical record reporting, along with streamlined remote machine management to maximize device uptime. We have generated meaningful evidence to demonstrate that providers can realize significant operational efficiencies, including reducing the cost of their dialysis programs by up to 80% in the intensive care unit (ICU). In addition, Tablo has been shown to deliver robust clinical care. In studies and surveys we have conducted, patients have reported clinical and quality of life benefits on Tablo compared to other dialysis machines. We believe Tablo empowers patients, who have traditionally been passive recipients of care, to regain agency and ownership of their treatment. Tablo is currently cleared by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in the hospital, clinic or home setting.

In the United States, dialysis is a large, expensive sector of healthcare that has seen little technology innovation in the last 30 years. We estimate annual spending on dialysis in the United States is approximately $74 billion of which an estimated $44 billion is Medicare spending. Kidney failure affects a large and growing number of individuals; we estimate kidney failure affected approximately 810,000 people in the United States alone in 2020. We expect multiple pre-existing conditions and demographic factors such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity and an aging population to drive the prevalence of kidney failure to one million individuals by 2030. Kidney failure can be temporary and occur spontaneously due to an underlying medical condition, as is the case in acute kidney injury(AKI), or can worsen gradually over time, as is the case in chronic kidney disease (CKD), which may result in end stage renal disease(ESRD). Approximately 40% of ESRD patients begin their dialysis journey in a chronic setting, either in a dialysis clinic or at home, and approximately 60% of dialysis patients “crash” into dialysis, meaning they have little to no clinical care in advance.

Kidney failure is commonly managed with hemodialysis, a procedure by which waste products and excess fluid are directly removed from a patient’s blood using an external dialysis machine. ESRD patients require complex management and the cost burden of administering dialysis is significant. Hemodialysis can be performed in multiple care settings, including the hospital, clinic or the patient’s home. Typically, different types of dialysis machines are used in different care settings and for different clinical needs. Tablo is an enterprise dialysis solution that allows providers to standardize to a single technology platform.

In 2017, Medicare spending on dialysis accounted for 7% of the total Medicare budget despite ESRD patients only representing 1% of the Medicare population. Dialysis is performed in the acute care setting, which includes hospitals and sub-acute facilities, outpatient dialysis clinics or the patient’s home based on the patient’s condition and preference.

To date, we have focused primarily on the acute care setting, which we estimate represents a total addressable market opportunity for Tablo of approximately $2.2 billion. We are expanding our focus to the home setting, which we estimate represents a total addressable market opportunity of approximately $8.9 billion. As a result of an aging population and the growing incidence of diabetes, hypertension, and obesity, based on historical rates of growth, we estimate the ESRD patient population will grow 30% over the next ten years, thereby increasing our opportunity across both settings. We believe that any decrease in the size of the ESRD patient population due to COVID-related deaths may be offset by an increase in the population due to COVID-related AKI. As a result, although we cannot predict the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the ESRD patient population with certainty, we do not anticipate that the pandemic will significantly impact the long-term growth rate of the population. The majority of ESRD patients are treated in outpatient facilities. However, recently, several factors including the COVID-19 pandemic, changing patient preferences, government initiatives, and reimbursement changes are supporting a long-anticipated shift toward home dialysis. We believe the benefits of our Tablo system are well positioned to address the shortcomings in the acute market and to help accelerate this shift to home-based hemodialysis therapy.

Traditional hemodialysis machines are burdensome to use and require connection to an industrial water treatment room to operate. In settings where large water treatment rooms are unavailable, as is often the case in hospitals, traditional machines must be connected to an additional piece of equipment that purifies water for dialysis and feeds it into the hemodialysis machine. Because the design of traditional dialysis machines has changed little in the last 30 years, the set-up and management process is mostly manual, and is burdensome for users to master.

Dialysis machines available in the home also have seen minimal innovation. Most patients using the incumbent home machine are required to spend 16 to 24 hours per week manually making dialysate in advance of their treatments using a separate machine. In addition, patients are required to dialyze more frequently than they do in dialysis clinics due to limitations with the incumbent device. Lastly, set-up and take-down are manual, requiring users to memorize dozens of steps, making training difficult and lengthy.

We designed Tablo from the ground up to be a single enterprise solution that can be utilized across the continuum of care, allowing dialysis to be delivered anytime, anywhere and by anyone. Tablo is comprised of a compact console with integrated water purification, on-demand dialysate production and a simple-to-use touchscreen interface. With Tablo, we are bringing data to dialysis. Tablo is built to live in a connected setting with cloud-based system monitoring, patient analytics, remote treatment monitoring and clinical recordkeeping and the ability to activate new capabilities and enhancements through wireless software updates. Tablo’s data analytics and connectivity also enable predictive preventative maintenance to maximize machine uptime. Unlike existing hemodialysis machines, which have limited clinical versatility across care settings and are generally burdened by specialized and expensive infrastructure, Tablo is a single enterprise solution that can be seamlessly utilized across different care settings and for multiple clinical needs.

We believe that Tablo’s unique individual features combine to provide a significantly differentiated hemodialysis solution, offering the following benefits:

Driving adoption of Tablo in the acute setting has been our primary focus to date. We have invested in growing our economic and clinical evidence, built a veteran sales and clinical support team with significant expertise, and implemented a comprehensive training and customer experience program. Our experience in the acute market has demonstrated Tablo’s clinical flexibility and operational versatility, while also delivering meaningful cost savings to the providers. We plan to continue leveraging our commercial infrastructure to broaden our installed base in the acute care market as well as driving utilization and fleet expansion with our existing customers. While the COVID-19 pandemic has presented opportunities to demonstrate the real-world benefits of Tablo over traditional machines, we believe these benefits, in addition to the other advantages of Tablo, are continuing to drive customer purchasing decisions.

Tablo is also well suited for home-based dialysis. Tablo was cleared by the FDA for use in patients with acute and/or chronic renal failure in September 2014. Subsequently, on March 31, 2020, Tablo was cleared by the FDA for patient use in the home. Our ability to reduce training time, patient dropout, and supplies and infrastructure required to deliver dialysis in the home can drive efficiency and economic improvements to the home care model. Patients in the trial reported specific quality of life improvements compared to their experience on the incumbent home dialysis machine. To penetrate this market successfully, we are focused on refining our home distribution, logistics and support systems to help ensure they are ready for rapid scale. We are also working with providers, patients and payors to increase awareness and adoption of transitional care units (TCUs) as a bridge to home based therapy. To demonstrate the cost advantages of Tablo in the home setting, we will also be collecting additional patient clinical experience and outcomes data.

We completed our initial public offering in September of 2020 and our common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “OM.”

What Sets Us Apart

At Outset, we are reimagining the future of dialysis. Our culture of innovation and design permeates all aspects of our organization and informs our approach to transforming the experience of dialysis. We are focused on changing a historically stagnant space, driving widespread adoption of our new technology, and delivering on the promise of improved experience for patients while also creating cost-reducing value for healthcare providers. We believe the following strengths set us apart:

First-of-its kind enterprise dialysis solution, offering significant advantages over traditional machines. Tablo is the first and only fully integrated hemodialysis system that can be used to deliver treatment across all care settings from the ICU to home. Tablo provides real time water purification and dialysate production, eliminating the need for industrial water treatment rooms. Tablo simplifies training and operation using advanced software, sensor technology and a consumer-friendly touchscreen design, enabling ease of use. Tablo is clinically versatile, allowing clinicians to prescribe treatments for everything from high acuity ICU patients to routine at home care. Tablo is compact and mobile, enabling use in confined environments such as ICUs and living rooms.

Tablo’s unique features offer a compelling value proposition across both acute and home care settings.

We believe Tablo offers the following advantages in the acute care setting:

• Reduces reliance on specialized dialysis staff.

• Automated treatment documentation and fleet management and maintenance.

We believe Tablo offers the following advantages in the home setting:

• Improves provider home dialysis economics.

• Improves the accessibility and sustainability of home dialysis for patients.

Our early investment in software, data science and machine learning. We have constructed a powerful two-way wireless data ecosystem around Tablo that delivers significant value to our healthcare customers while enabling us to efficiently scale the company itself. We have highly experienced software, data science and machine learning engineers who deliver cutting-edge solutions.

Tablo Data Ecosystem value to our providers:

Tablo Data Ecosystem value to Outset:

• Improves speed and cost efficiency of design and manufacturing.

Dialysis is a large recession-proof market, supporting our recurring therapy revenue model. Dialysis is a highly predictable life-sustaining therapy with established reimbursement. Dialysis patients must receive dialysis at least three times per week, 52 weeks per year. We have high visibility into the utilization and maintenance of each Tablo unit. Additionally, customers purchase an annual service agreement, which also provides an associated recurring revenue stream.

Our sales organization advantages us in executing our strategy. Our commercial leadership team has experience scaling high growth medical technology companies. We believe the profile and strong track record of our capital and clinical sales teams set us apart from other dialysis equipment manufacturers, with specific skills and competencies to drive Tablo adoption top-down through C-suite buy-in and bottom-up through clinical staff support, respectively.

An invention mindset that permeates our design and execution. Within Outset, we take a crowd-sourcing approach to problem-solving in order to leverage our diversity of thinking and collective creativity. This invention mindset informs one of our core competencies—hardware and software design. We believe in the power of a single hardware platform with software used to fuel continuous upgrades and improvements. We believe in the power of an integrated data lake that allows us to translate clinical and machine learning data points into insights and efficiencies. We believe in “surprise and delight” design that elevates a medical therapy into a consumer experience. Our research and development (R&D) team’s differentiated power is rooted in empathy and urgency, which we will continue to harness for rapid, meaningful device improvements that over-deliver on our brand promise.

Growth Strategies

We intend to continue building a high growth business that is sustainable, predictable and profitable over time. In order to achieve this goal, we plan to employ the following strategies:

Further penetrate the acute care market through new customer acquisition and current customer fleet expansion. There are two important elements to our acute care commercial strategy:

Expand within the home dialysis market with a two-pronged approach to long-term scalable growth. We are partnering with health systems and innovative dialysis clinic providers who are motivated to grow their home hemodialysis population, and who share our vision for offering patients a materially easier and more convenient path home. We believe our early growth will be driven by patients already receiving home hemodialysis who will switch to Tablo and by patients who have desired a home solution but were previously deterred by the complicated process. We will also invest in market development over the longer term to expand the home hemodialysis market itself. These strategies will include ongoing economic and patient experience evidence development, governmental policy activities, and, over time, direct to patient communication.

Leverage the emergence of transitional care units to expand the market for home and the demand for Tablo. Located within existing healthcare facilities, such as hospitals or clinics, or built as stand-alone centers, TCUs are specifically designed to transition patients to home dialysis. Tablo is uniquely suited for use in small-footprint TCUs because it does not require industrial water treatment rooms to operate. Tablo’s flexibility enables patients to transition home on the same device as used in the TCU.

In a TCU program, patients learn Tablo by setting up and managing their own treatments with staff available to assist as needed. Once home, patients can return back to the TCU periodically for “respite” dialysis on Tablo. By offering this service, the TCU functions as a bi-directional bridge aimed at increasing home dialysis adoption and retention. Providers have reported a 50% home adoption rate among patients in a TCU setting compared to a 15% home adoption rate in a traditional dialysis clinic environment. We believe the use of TCUs will grow amongst health systems that want to manage ESRD patients from the inpatient setting all the way to home, and amongst dialysis clinic providers looking to expand their home dialysis population. We believe the use of TCUs will grow, serving both to increase Tablo’s market share and enlarge the size of the home dialysis market itself.

Maintain and widen our technology lead over competitors. We intend to capitalize on two of our key strengths—an invention mindset, and rapid product development cycles—in order to continuously deliver new product enhancements to patients, providers and clinicians. Our product enhancements will focus on (1) simplicity and ease of use, (2) operational cost reduction, and (3) clinical versatility. We will continue to leverage our unique ability to create many of our device improvements through software, instead of hardware, and push wireless upgrades to minimize costs and maximize customer uptime.

Drive to expand gross margins. We are executing a well-defined, three-pronged strategy designed to deliver improved profitability. First, we have moved our console manufacturing operations to Tijuana, Mexico, which we expect to lower console cost as a result of labor, overhead and supply chain efficiencies. Second, with a second-source treatment contract manufacturer onboard, also in Tijuana, Mexico, we expect to gain higher efficiency and lower materials cost. Third, we will continue to utilize our cloud-based data system, as well as enhanced product performance, to help drive down the cost of service.

Our Market Opportunity

We estimate that annual spending on dialysis in the United States is approximately $74 billion of which an estimated $44 billion is Medicare spending. This represents 7% of the total Medicare budget despite ESRD patients only representing 1% of the Medicare population. Dialysis is performed in the acute care setting, outpatient dialysis clinics and the patient’s home based on the patient’s condition and preference. We estimate the total annual addressable market opportunity in the United States for Tablo is approximately $2.2 billion in the acute care setting and approximately $8.9 billion in the home setting. As a result of an aging population and the growing incidence of diabetes, hypertension and obesity, based on historical rates of growth, we estimate the ESRD patient population will grow 30% over the next ten years in the United States, thereby increasing our opportunity in both markets.

Acute Care

The acute care market includes short-term acute care hospitals, sub-acute LTACHs and SNFs. As of 2019, there were approximately 4,500 acute care hospitals and approximately 17,000 LTACHs and SNFs facilities in the United States, of which we believe 2,300 hospitals and 1,600 LTACHs and SNFs facilities are included in our acute care addressable market. We expect acute care hospitals to support higher treatment volumes per facility than LTACHs and SNFs and thus represent a greater proportion of the total market opportunity. The cost of managing a dialysis program is high, typically requiring complex equipment, separate infrastructure and specialized staff. We believe the majority of hospitals currently outsource the management of their dialysis programs to a third party, which is costly and may limit their ability to control the quality of patient care. For hospitals that manage their own dialysis programs, we believe that aggressive cost containment measures are motivating administrators to assess technology alternatives in order to lower the overall cost of care. We estimate the acute care market to grow at an annual rate of approximately 7% over the next five years.

Home Care

At the end of 2018, there were approximately 550,000 patients in the United States receiving some sort of dialysis in the clinic or home setting. The majority of these patients were treated in dialysis clinics, although a large and growing number of treatments are transitioning to the patient’s home. In 2018, approximately 12.5% of patients (69,000 individuals), received dialysis treatment at home through peritoneal dialysis or home hemodialysis. From 2008-2018, the home hemodialysis patient population grew 133%, resulting in approximately 10,350 patients on home hemodialysis therapy, and we estimate that there are approximately 13,500 patients on home hemodialysis therapy today. We believe that the dynamics in the non-acute care market will continue to shift towards more home-based treatments as a result of several factors including the recent Executive Order on Advancing American Kidney Health, the expansion of Medicare Advantage to patients with kidney disease and increasing commercial payor focus on reducing the total cost of ESRD care. We believe the recent COVID-19 global pandemic will accelerate the need for and adoption of technologies that enable care closer to and within the patient’s home, such as home-based dialysis therapies and telemedicine.

Overview of Kidney Function and Disease

A healthy human kidney removes waste and excess water from the blood on a continuous basis. Without a properly functioning kidney, byproducts and fluids build up in the body, which leads to progressive toxicity, electrolyte imbalance and fluid overload. There are two primary types of kidney disease: CKD and AKI. CKD is the gradual loss of kidney function over many years. CKD is typically irreversible and eventually leads to ESRD, which is the final stage of CKD. AKI is generally shorter in onset and can be reversible or lead to ESRD.

End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD)

ESRD is most often the result of chronic diseases, such as diabetes or high blood pressure, and is diagnosed when a patient’s kidneys no longer have sufficient function to avoid critical buildup of toxins and fluid in the body. If left untreated, ESRD will result in death. The prevalence of ESRD in the United States has increased significantly over the last 40 years, driven in part by the growing rates of diabetes, hypertension, obesity and the overall aging of the population. We estimate that the number of patients with ESRD in the United States in 2020 was approximately 810,000, of which, approximately 560,000 were treated with dialysis and the remainder of whom received a transplant by the end of 2020. The total ESRD figure is approximately 40% higher than the number reported ten years prior.

Acute Kidney Injury (AKI)

AKI is the temporary loss of kidney function. AKI frequently occurs as a result of other medical conditions or treatment, including loss of other organ functions, severe infection, drug toxicity or post-surgical trauma. Patients experiencing AKI may require some form of dialysis in order to survive. Based on data from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the rate of beneficiaries experiencing a hospitalization complicated by AKI doubled from 2006-2016, with an approximate one third probability of these patients being newly diagnosed with CKD within the following 12 months. We estimate that there are over 300,000 cases of acute kidney failure in the United States each year.

Kidney Disease Treatment Alternatives and Care Settings

Treatment of kidney disease typically depends on the type and stage of the disease. Approximately 20-25% of patients admitted to the ICU with a diagnosis of AKI will require dialysis treatment until their kidneys recover. If they fail to recover, AKI patients may need to remain on dialysis or receive a kidney transplant. For CKD, early stages of kidney disease can be managed with education, lifestyle changes and drug-based therapies. As kidney function continues to deteriorate and progress towards ESRD, the patient must either obtain a kidney transplant or receive dialysis for the rest of their life. Although transplantation is usually the most desirable option, a shortage of available organs and patient risk factors limit the use of this option. In 2017, only 21,000 transplant procedures were performed in the United States compared to a total ESRD patient population of over 520,000. As a result, the vast majority of patients rely on dialysis to survive. While early CKD education and management can slow the progression of disease and help with a patient’s transition to dialysis, the Centers for Disease Control estimates that 90% of patients with CKD do not know they have kidney disease.

Additionally, the United States Renal Data Systems 2019 Annual Report indicates 33.4% of new ESRD patients receive little or no pre-ESRD care at the time of dialysis initiation and “crash” into dialysis, initiating dialysis in an unplanned fashion.

Hemodialysis, the most common form of dialysis treatment, is a process by which waste products and excess fluid are directly removed from a patient’s blood using an external dialysis machine. Blood from the patient is routed to a dialyzer, also known as an artificial kidney, through plastic tubes where toxins are removed by diffusion across the dialyzer’s semipermeable membrane into a dialysate solution usually comprised of purified water and electrolytes. Excess fluid within the blood is removed in the dialyzer by the movement of water from higher pressure (blood) to lower pressure (dialysate). Cleansed blood from the dialyzer is then returned to the patient. A physician’s dialysis prescription can vary significantly depending on the patient’s level of acuity and the care setting. Key elements of a prescription include treatment duration, treatment frequency, blood flow rate, dialysate flow rate, ultrafiltration rate and dialysate electrolyte composition. After treatment, the patient is disconnected from the machine, which is disinfected before the next use.

Dialysis treatments are performed in the acute care setting, outpatient dialysis clinics and the patient’s home. The most common treatment option for ESRD patients, representing approximately 88% of ESRD dialysis patients in the United States, is treatments in a dialysis clinic. Most dialysis clinics are outpatient, freestanding facilities designed to treat on average 18 patients at a time. There are approximately 7,500 clinics in the United States that typically are open six days per week, treating patients on two to three shifts per day. In-clinic treatment typically lasts three to four hours and is usually performed three times per week. Outset’s commercial efforts are focused on the acute and home care settings where we believe Tablo is most needed and offers the most compelling value proposition based on product-market fit, price tolerance and competitive differentiation.

Acute Care. The acute care market includes the treatment of AKI and ESRD patients in the hospital setting, or in sub-acute care settings such as LTACHs or SNFs. As of 2019, there were approximately 4,500 acute care hospitals and approximately 17,000 LTACHs and SNFs facilities in the United States, of which we believe 2,300 hospitals and 1,600 LTACHs and SNFs facilities are included in our acute care addressable market. We expect acute care hospitals to support higher treatment volumes per facility than LTACHs and SNFs and thus represent a greater proportion of the total market opportunity. There are generally three subtypes of hemodialysis treatments that are used in the acute care settings. The decision of which treatment option to use is usually driven by the patient’s level of acuity. However, the decision can also be influenced by the availability of the treatment modality and whether the nurses are trained to use the specific type of dialysis machine.

Home. In 2017, approximately 12% of ESRD dialysis patients in the United States were dialyzing at home, with home hemodialysis patients representing 2% and peritoneal dialysis patients representing 10%. The decision on whether the patient stays in clinic or moves to home-based dialysis is made by the provider and patient based on several factors, including the patient’s condition and level of independence. Clinics are mandated by CMS to inform patients of all available treatment alternatives, although surveys show that many patients are unaware of their care setting options. In recent years, there has been a growing trend of delivering dialysis closer to the patient as health systems, dialysis clinic providers and payors are recognizing the opportunity to improve the patient outcomes and lower the total cost of care through home dialysis. In an effort toward moving more patients to home dialysis, some

health systems and dialysis providers have established TCUs. TCUs are orientated around educating ESRD patients as they transition into ongoing dialysis care with an emphasis on increasing the percentage of patients who select a home dialysis modality. In addition, there are currently approximately 2,200 clinics with specific home dialysis programs. We expect both TCUs and clinic-based home dialysis programs to grow. Regardless of whether ESRD patients are treated at home or remain in a clinic, they remain under the care of a dialysis provider that purchases their dialysis equipment and treatment supplies. Home dialysis patients receive ongoing clinical support from their nephrologist and the clinic’s care team in their home base clinic.

Patients have two modality choices for home therapy—hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis. The decision between home hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis is based on several factors, including patient eligibility, the patient’s level of independence and the clinic’s training capacity.

Limitations and Challenges of Current Hemodialysis Machines

Hemodialysis is the most common form of dialysis for both AKI and ESRD patients and is used across all care settings. Nevertheless, we believe that limitations of traditional hemodialysis machines create significant operational complexities and challenges to administering dialysis, which ultimately contribute to a higher cost of care. These limitations include:

Additionally, we believe there are specific challenges in each individual care setting.

Challenges in the Hospital. In general, the cost of delivering dialysis in the hospital is not reimbursed as a standalone service, so the expense of providing dialysis care, whether managed in-house or outsourced to a third party, has a significant impact on hospital operating margins. In 2018, dialysis was performed across roughly 600 diagnosis-related groups, of which 60% of the inpatient stays with dialysis had negative operating margins, including 30% of inpatient stays that lost more than $10,000 per visit.

Given the complexity of managing dialysis programs with traditional equipment, many hospital administrators choose to outsource their dialysis program, which can be costly and may limit their ability to control patient care quality. The key challenges of delivering dialysis in the hospital include:

Challenges in the Home. The limited adoption of home hemodialysis is largely a result of suboptimal existing technologies that make it operationally complex and expensive to manage, and consequently an undesirable treatment alternative for providers and patients. We believe the key challenges are:

Challenges for Providers

Challenges for Patients

Our Solution

We have purposefully designed a dialysis solution to address the limitations and challenges faced by using traditional dialysis systems. In doing so, we sought to completely reinvent the traditional concept of dialysis delivery. We believe Tablo represents meaningful technological advancements in dialysis care, a market which has lacked significant innovation for decades.

Tablo vs. Traditional Hemodialysis Machine.

The Tablo Hemodialysis System (Tablo)

Tablo is an FDA-cleared single enterprise solution for hemodialysis, comprised of a compact console with integrated water purification, on-demand dialysate production and advanced software and connectivity capabilities. We designed Tablo from the ground up to be a single enterprise solution that can be utilized across the continuum of care, allowing dialysis to be delivered anytime, anywhere and by anyone. Unlike traditional hemodialysis machines, Tablo offers a single, enterprise solution that can be used seamlessly across multiple care settings and a wide range of clinical applications, all with the benefit of remote system management, monitoring and maintenance through two-way wireless data transmission capabilities.

The Tablo System is comprised of the following components:

Traditional Hemodialysis Machine with Water Filtration Equipment vs Tablo Console.

Traditional Hemodialysis Machine with Water Filtration Equipment Tablo Console

Benefits of Tablo

We believe that Tablo’s unique features combine to provide a meaningfully differentiated hemodialysis solution, offering the following benefits:

• Simplicity. Tablo’s intuitive touchscreen interface makes it easy to learn and easy to use, guiding users through treatment from start to finish using step-by-step instructions with simple words and animation. Embedded sensors simplify the setup and takedown process by providing validation of each step, reducing the chance of user error. During treatment, sensors automatically alert the user of any problems and provide instructions to resolving the issues on the screen. Our proprietary pre-strung cartridge clicks into place and features color-coded, easy-to-follow connections, allowing users to set up the treatment supplies in less than five minutes. Tablo’s simplicity can also reduce the training time necessary to operate the machine by roughly two thirds compared to training for traditional machines.

• Clinical Flexibility. Tablo can accommodate a wide range of treatment modalities, durations and flow rates, allowing for broad clinical applications. In combination with its compact size and ease-of-use, Tablo’s clinical flexibility enables providers to standardize to a single solution across all care settings.

•Operational Versatility. Tablo is an all-in-one device with integrated water purification and on-demand dialysate production, eliminating the need for industrial water treatment rooms required to operate traditional hemodialysis machines. Instead, Tablo only needs an electrical outlet and access to tap water. Tablo’s independence from this infrastructure enables bedside dialysis in the acute setting, saving the time and expense of transporting patients elsewhere for dialysis. By eliminating the need for separate infrastructure, Tablo can practically and cost-efficiently provide patients with access to treatment in additional care settings that previously has not been feasible with traditional dialysis machines.

•Progressive Intelligence. Tablo’s two-way wireless connectivity and data ecosystem connects providers and patients through a cloud-based integrated data platform which enables real-time treatment monitoring, centralizes and automates treatment documentation, thereby simplifying compliance and record-keeping requirements. It streamlines machine management while allowing for feature enhancements through remote software upgrades.

Tablo’s clinically differentiated features were specifically designed to address the economic and operational challenges faced by stakeholders across all care settings. In addition, patients have reported clinical and quality of life benefits on Tablo compared to other dialysis machines.

Tablo integrates seamlessly in both the ICU setting and home environment.

Tablo in the hospital Tablo in the home

In the acute care market, Tablo simplifies dialysis management and improves operating margins for health providers by lowering the overall cost of dialysis-related supplies, infrastructure and labor. Tablo has shown the ability to reduce ongoing supply costs by up to 80% in the ICU as well as delivering on the following operational improvements:

In the home market, we believe Tablo offers the following benefits for clinics and their patients:

Improved provider home dialysis economics

• Helping increase patient compliance and reducing patient burnout.

• Enabling remote machine maintenance, troubleshooting and software updating.

Improved accessibility and sustainability of home dialysis for patients

• Giving patients back their time by:

Our Product

Tablo

Tablo is a mobile integrated hemodialysis solution for acute and home hemodialysis therapy. We designed Tablo from the inside out to offer a superior experience for patients and providers across multiple care settings. Tablo features an integrated water purification system, the ability to produce dialysate on demand, and an intuitive user interface and two-way wireless connectivity powered by an ecosystem of cloud-connected and intelligent software.

The Tablo Hemodialysis System.

Tablo is the only dialysis technology with a fully integrated water treatment system that allows for dialysate to be produced on demand in real time using bicarbonate and acid concentrates. The Tablo console requires only a standard electrical outlet, a drain, and tap water to operate. This eliminates the need for industrial water treatment rooms, separate water purification machines and pre-filled bags of dialysate associated with traditional dialysis machines.

The Tablo cartridge is a single use consumable intended to facilitate extracorporeal blood purification for patients. We engineered our unique, one-push cartridge design to reduce set up and take down time and avoid contamination by minimizing manual connections and user touchpoints. One cartridge is used per treatment, except in the case of extended therapy, where multiple cartridges can be used if needed.

The Tablo cartridge consists of a user-friendly pre-configured blood, saline, and infusion tubing. The Tablo cartridge requires only two connections to operate as compared to other machines that require stringing, hanging, snapping and tapping multiple lines. Our proprietary cartridge clicks into place and features color-coded, easy-to-follow connections, allowing users to setup the treatment supplies in less than five minutes. In our home investigational device exemption (IDE) trial, patients were able to set up the Tablo cartridge and dialysate concentrates in less than 12 minutes, on average. With an average prime period of approximately eight minutes, an uninterrupted patient can initiate therapy in as little as around 20 minutes, representing a significant improvement over traditional machines, which can take approximately 45 minutes to set up.

The Tablo cartridge snaps onto the Tablo console before dialysis treatment.

Tablo’s simple setup and intuitive touchscreen interface combined with sensor-based automation are designed to enhance the user experience by accelerating the training process, expediting device set up, and streamlining the treatment process. For example, Tablo includes an integrated blood pressure monitor, and 70 embedded sensors, which enable features such as automated air removal, priming, and blood return which minimize user errors and save time. Tablo’s touch screen panel guides the user through the treatment with animations and non-technical language, tailored to both professional and non-professional users. The screen can be used to change or manage treatment parameters, add patient information, enter treatment notes as well as set reminders for future actions.

Tablo’s intuitive touchscreen makes the entire treatment process simple to navigate.

During treatment, should any issues arise, Tablo’s touch screen panel guides the user through an explanation for the alarm and provides intuitive resolution instructions. Traditional machines provide no video guidance and generally require users to memorize or reference numerical alarm codes from a separate user manual. Post-treatment, Tablo’s touchscreen interface guides the user through treatment takedown.

The Tablo console is compact, self-contained, and mobile. From a home use standpoint, Tablo was intentionally designed to look more like a consumer product than a piece of medical equipment in order to increase patient comfort with having it in their living room. The console can be closed completely when not in use, which lowers the intimidation threshold and makes it ideally suited to a home environment. Tablo’s design allows the user to transport the unit easily throughout the hospital or home setting for storage. The console’s 36-inch height was designed to make it easy for patients, especially those with limited mobility, to engage with the touchscreen during treatment to view progress, resolve alarms and adjust functions as needed. For example, a patient can interact with the touch screen to adjust the flow rate if they feel the onset of cramping.

Tablo is Connected and Intelligent

Tablo’s cloud connectivity and intelligent software enable an ecosystem of machine diagnostics and analytics, treatment instruction, monitoring and reporting, improved documentation and remote machine management. With two-way data transmission capabilities, treatment and machine data is continuously uploaded to the cloud and analyzed, informing software improvements to optimize performance, reliability and ease of use. Our ability to push software updates ensures that patients and providers have access to the latest optimizations without the need to replace existing hardware. Over the last two years, we have enabled new features on Tablo, such as the ability to do isolated ultrafiltration treatments and extend treatment duration up to 24 hours, all through software upgrades. In addition, we have designed a cloud-based data platform, Tablo Cloud, that allows us to assess and manage Tablo units remotely while also providing our customers with automated documentation of records related to treatments, machine disinfect and service logs, and online machine training.

Tablo Cloud powers two key platforms that we use for machine management and which our providers and patients use for critical treatment and reporting information.

Tablo Hub

Tablo Hub is a customer-facing platform that provides immediate, cloud-based access to critical treatment and machine information, strengthening patient care and simplifying billing and compliance related reporting. Through Tablo Hub, providers are able to access and download treatment records, see system disinfection and service records, as well as access documentation and training materials on Tablo, all from a phone, tablet or web-browser. We also have the ability to integrate these records with provider EMRs, either through discrete data integration or downloadable PDFs. Our automated medical record reporting process is designed to improve provider operating efficiency associated with documentation and reduce the compliance risk associated with poor record-keeping during quality audits. We believe Tablo is the only hemodialysis system with two-way wireless transmission delivering data in a manner intended to be compliant with the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to the provider without any need for additional equipment. This frees patients from the need to manually document treatment data by hand or on a separate tablet and ensures higher data accuracy.

Tablo Hub provides immediate access to treatment and machine information.

Tablo Dash

Tablo Dash is used internally by Outset to improve efficiency of our service model and maximize machine uptime by enabling cloud-based machine management, real-time performance analytics and diagnostics. During each treatment, Tablo’s sensors capture over 500,000 data points on the inner workings of the system. If there is an issue with Tablo, our technical support team is able to remotely diagnose the alarm in real-time, and if it is necessary to dispatch a service engineer, we ensure they arrive with the right part to complete the repair. This capability increases the efficiency of our service model by reducing unnecessary field service visits and reducing the time spent on site conducting the repair. In addition, our machine learning capabilities and analytics enable us to predict and identify potential Tablo component failures before they occur, allowing failures to be fixed before they happen and focusing internal R&D efforts on reliability improvements, further improving system uptime.

Clinical Outcomes and Studies

We have generated significant evidence to demonstrate that Tablo is safe and effective, clinically versatile and produces robust clinical outcomes, both in acute and non-acute settings. Tablo’s evidence base also indicates that its patient centric design, focused on simplicity and ease of use, provides a favorable clinical experience for both patients and providers. We have invested in building a robust Tablo evidence base that captures both patient and provider experience with Tablo.

Patient Experience with Tablo

Tablo is Safe and Effective for Home Hemodialysis

We conducted an IDE trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of Tablo when used in-center, managed by trained health professionals, and in-home, by trained patients or a care partner. The IDE trial was a prospective, multicenter, open-label crossover trial comparing in-center and home hemodialysis performance using the Tablo System. This trial consisted of 30 patients ranging from 26 to 71 years of age, of which 43% were African American and 27% were Hispanic or Latino. Many of the patients had a history of a number of co-morbidities representative of the typical ESRD patient with 96% having hypertension, 60% having diabetes and 40% having coronary artery disease. Participants remained in the trial for approximately 21 weeks, during which time they were prescribed hemodialysis with Tablo four times per week. The primary efficacy endpoint was achievement of a weekly standard Kt/Vurea greater than or equal to 2.1 for participants during the treatment period. The primary safety endpoint was the number of adverse events observed during a dialysis interval. The secondary efficacy endpoints were the achieved ultrafiltration (UF) volume and rate relative to the prescribed UF volume and rate.

Successful delivery of UF was defined as having achieved an UF rate within 10% of the prescribed value during each treatment period.

The IDE study achieved the primary endpoint and all secondary efficacy and safety endpoints for patients treated in-center and in-home using the Tablo System. The primary efficacy endpoint for the intention-to-treat cohort was achieved in 199/200 (99.5%) of measurements during the in-center period and in 168/171 (98.3%) of measurements during the in-home period. The average weekly standard Kt/Vurea was 2.8 in both periods, the compliance to the protocol treatment schedule was over 95%, achieved UF was within 10% of target in 94% of treatments, and the median time to resolution of alarms was eight seconds in-center and five seconds in-home. Two pre-specified adverse events occurred during the in-center period and six occurred in the in-home period. None of the adverse events were deemed by investigators to be related to Tablo.

The study demonstrates that Tablo can successfully be learned and used in the home in a diverse cohort of patients, including by older patients and patients with considerable comorbidities. In the IDE study, patients demonstrated the ability to achieve proficiency on Tablo (i.e., an ability to perform all set-up steps) within four training sessions. The modest duration of the transition period also confirms and extends previously published human factors studies wherein nurses and patients could learn how to use Tablo, and independently, accurately, and rapidly set up the system. We considered the rapid resolution of alarms in the clinic by staff and in the home by patients or their care partners to be a good indicator of the ease of use of the system. These data confirm and substantially extend previously published results, highlighting Tablo as a novel hemodialysis system with the potential to expand the usage of in-center self-care and home-based hemodialysis.

Tablo achieved all primary and secondary efficacy and safety endpoints both in-center and in-home.

Parameter In-Center In-Home

Primary Efficacy Endpoint 99.5% 98.3%

Average Weekly Standard Kt/Vurea 2.8 2.8

Compliance to Protocol Treatment Schedule >95% >95%

Median Time to Resolution of Alarms 8 seconds 5 seconds

Tablo Preferred by Previous Home Patients in the IDE

We conducted a study to assess actual patient experiences with our solution and demonstrated that patients could quickly set up Tablo for in-center self-care hemodialysis. The study was designed to measure the time required for patients to set up the disposable components of the system that are required to initiate treatment. We also recorded the type, frequency, and time required for the user to clear any alarms. The study included 50 participants using Tablo who were treated across four dialysis units, with a total of 733 dialysis treatments monitored for the type and frequency of potential alarms. The study resulted in 18/20 (90%) of patients able to set up the disposables needed to initiate therapy in less than 5 minutes.

We believe that Tablo’s patient centric design and intuitive user interface make it a preferred solution for home hemodialysis relative to traditional machines. In order to assess patient device preferences for home hemodialysis, we surveyed 13 patients participating in our home IDE trial who had previously undertaken home hemodialysis using non-Tablo dialysis machines. The patients were surveyed every week during the 8-week home period about their device preferences based on 10 distinct aspects of treatment and overall ease of use. Per the survey results, 100% of the patients preferred Tablo’s touchscreen interface compared to their previous home device and 86% of patients found Tablo easier to use. As shown in the figure below, the majority of participants preferred Tablo across each dimension measured.

Patient preference results – Tablo vs prior home system (n=13).

Home Hemodialysis with Tablo Improves Sleep Related Symptoms of ESRD

Poor sleep quality is a common symptom among patients with ESRD. We evaluated a subset of patients enrolled in our IDE trial to evaluate the sleep quality of patients using Tablo for dialysis treatment four times per week. Sleep quality was measured via a weekly questionnaire during the trial to determine how many days per week participants experienced difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or trouble feeling rested. Thirteen patients who previously received in-home hemodialysis (PIH) and 15 patients who previously received in-center dialysis treatment (PIC) completed all phases of the trial, and 98.7% (221/224) of all weekly surveys were completed. As outlined in the figure below, a lower percentage of study participants receiving dialysis treatment on Tablo, four times per week for approximately 21 weeks, reported incidence of sleep-related problems compared to the percentage of participants at baseline.

A lower percentage of study participants on Tablo reported incidence of sleep-related problems as compared to baseline

Sleep Question Baseline (%) In-Home (%)

PIH (N=13) PIC (N=15) PIH (N=13) PIC (N=15)

Patients Experience Fewer Symptoms Dialyzing on Tablo In-Center

We conducted a multi-center study to evaluate early patient experiences using Tablo compared to traditional hemodialysis devices. Patients on traditional in-center hemodialysis often experience a range of symptoms and disturbances during, immediately following, and between dialysis sessions. We surveyed 33 patients at three different dialysis units for a total of 152 dialysis treatments. The surveyed patient population ranged in age from 28-80 years and had been on dialysis for eight months to over 20 years. 47% of the patients experienced fewer headaches and 61% reported less cramping during dialysis using Tablo. During treatment with Tablo and compared to other dialysis machines, 78% of patients reported fewer alarms and 48% of patients felt more relaxed. 87% of surveyed participants also noted that Tablo was quieter than traditional machines.

Patient survey rendered favorable clinical experience with Tablo (n=33)

We believe when patients don’t feel well during treatment, they are less likely to complete all their treatments. In a retrospective observational study, hemodialysis patients missed approximately 10% of their treatments. A single missed treatment was associated with a two-fold greater risk of death in the subsequent 30 days.

Provider Experience with Tablo

Tablo Demonstrated Comparable Performance to Traditional Dialysis Systems in the Acute Setting

In a retrospective study of dialysis patients conducted at St Francis Medical Center in Lynwood, California, we demonstrated that Tablo yielded similar clinical results for patients when compared to a traditional dialysis system in an acute care setting. Over 13 months, 105 of 289 patients dialyzed on Tablo were also treated on a Fresenius 2008T (FMC-T) machine during their hospitalization. In those 105 patients, the average treatment time on both devices was 3.3 hours per treatment, for 363 total treatments (172 treatments on Tablo and 191 treatments on FMC-T). As shown in the figure below, with equivalent treatment times and dialyzers, results were similar one day after treatment for both potassium (K) and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) on Tablo at dialysate flow rates (Qd) of 300mL/min compared to a traditional device at Qd of 500mL/min or greater.

In the acute care setting, Tablo yielded similar results to traditional systems.

Parameter Treatments on Tablo (n=172) Treatments on FMC-T (n=191)

Treatment Time (hrs) 3.3 3.3

K(mEq/L)

BUN (mg/dL)

Tablo is Easy for Providers to Learn and Use

We have demonstrated that users have found Tablo easier to use than a traditional dialysis machine and that Tablo’s design allows users to be quickly trained, reaching competency after only a few training sessions. We believe that Tablo’s simplicity enables users to quickly and easily master preparation and treatment management, leading to high satisfaction and device preference.

In a study conducted at Baylor, the majority of nurses and medical technicians found Tablo easy to use and most nurses felt comfortable providing treatment with the system after a short training session. Nurses were also satisfied with Tablo as a treatment option and several participants reported that the Tablo console was easy to transport and took up less space in an ICU room as compared with conventional systems. Nursing satisfaction was assessed by a Likert scale questionnaire. Most nurses felt comfortable providing treatment with Tablo after a short training session (average score 4.9/5) and nurses were also satisfied with Tablo as a treatment option (average score 4.9/5).

Tablo Achieves Urea Clearance Levels Comparable to Traditional Machines

We conducted a study at two dialysis clinics and demonstrated that patients on Tablo achieved a urea clearance rate comparable to therapy using alternative dialysis machines. In the study, Kt/Vurea was measured in 29 patients dialyzed three times weekly using Tablo. 280 Kt/Vurea assessments were recorded, including 192 on Tablo and 88 on non-Tablo machines. As shown in the figure below, patients on Tablo achieved Kt/Vurea targets at a comparable rate as non-Tablo machines.

Percentages of treatments reaching the target Kt/Vurea (>=1.2) on Tablo and non-Tablo systems. Average treatment times are also shown.

% of Treatments

Reimbursement

Acute Care

In the in-patient setting under Medicare, dialysis and UF are not directly reimbursed, but rather are paid for out of the in-patient Medicare Severity Diagnosis Related Group (MS-DRG) for a patient’s admission. In most cases, AKI or fluid overload requiring dialysis or ultrafiltration will increase the severity of the underlying diagnosis, and therefore could result in higher reimbursement than those cases without dialysis. Given dialysis is a “fixed cost” for providers within the MS-DRG, we believe that there is significant motivation for providers to attempt to reduce costs associated with dialysis in order to improve overall service line profitability.

Outpatient Dialysis Clinic and Home

In the clinic and home setting, the largest payor of dialysis services is Medicare, and Medicare requires all dialysis patients to be under the care of a dialysis clinic provider, whether they are in the clinic or in the home. We sell Tablo to the dialysis providers, who in turn provide equipment and services to the patient and bill Medicare.

Medicare. While Medicare generally only provides coverage for people over 65, in the case of ESRD eligibility is not limited by age, and all ESRD patients without alternative coverage become eligible for Medicare after a three-month waiting period (unless they are training for self-care, in which case they become eligible for Medicare Day 1).

Medicare reimburses providers for dialysis services through a bundled rate per treatment that is intended to cover the cost of the machines and treatment supplies, labs, drugs, and labor. This base payment rate is adjusted up or down for each patient based on factors such as age, co- morbidities and clinic locations. The current base payment rate for calendar year 2021 is $253.13. Medicare rules limit the number of hemodialysis treatments paid for by Medicare to three a week, unless there is medical justification for the additional treatments. The determination of medical justification must be made at the local Medicare contractor level on a case-by-case basis. Providers are able to obtain incremental reimbursement for training patients for self-care, whether that be in the clinic or in a patient’s home. Finally, in addition to the bundled rate, 2% of a provider’s total reimbursement is at risk as part of the Quality Incentive Program. This program evaluates providers across the range of clinical, safety and patient reported outcomes.

Medicaid. Medicaid is a state level program designed to support individuals falling under a certain income and asset level and who are also uninsured. In most cases, Medicaid serves as the secondary payor for services not covered by Medicare. The specific level of this coverage, including patient co-pay amounts, varies state by state.

Private Insurance. Patients with employer group health insurance will typically remain with their commercial insurance coverage as the primary payor for a period of 30 months and with Medicare as the secondary payor. After 30 months, patients will typically move to Medicare as the primary payor and their private insurance as the secondary payor. Private insurance typically reimburses providers at a rate significantly higher than Medicare.

Research and Development

We invest in research and development efforts that advance our Tablo system with the goal to expand and improve upon our existing product and solutions. Our research and development expenses totaled $28.9 million and $23.3 million for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively.

Our research and development team includes hardware and software engineers with deep expertise in mechanical and electrical engineering, fluidics, embedded software design, and cloud-based data and security architecture. Their collective efforts are applied to three key areas: (1) sustaining engineering and cost reduction initiatives that continually improve device performance and lower our cost of revenues, (2) expansion of the Tablo data ecosystem to extend economic, operational and clinical benefits to our customers, and (3) advancing our innovation pipeline, which is directed toward broadening Tablo’s value in the home environment for patients and providers and leveraging core elements of the Tablo platform more broadly within dialysis. We intend to continue investing significant resources to maintain and strengthen our technological competitive advantage to deliver a steady stream of inventive solutions that provide clinical and operational simplicity, versatility and insights.

Competition

There are a number of dialysis machine manufacturers in the United States, Europe and Asia. Notable competitors in the United States include Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA (Fresenius), Baxter International, Inc. (Baxter) and B. Braun. Medical Inc. (B. Braun). In addition, Quanta Dialysis Technologies Ltd’s (Quanta) dialysis system recently received FDA 510(k) clearance for use in acute and/or chronic settings. Of these competitors, Fresenius is the largest, and is vertically integrated, both manufacturing dialysis products and operating dialysis clinics along with providing inpatient dialysis services to hospitals and health systems. Additionally, companies with dialysis machine development programs include Medtronic and CVS. With the exception of Quanta, our competitors are significantly larger than us with greater financial, marketing, sales and personnel resources, greater brand recognition and longer operating histories. We believe our ability to compete effectively will be dependent on our ability to build the commercial infrastructure necessary to effectively demonstrate the value of Tablo, maintain and improve product quality and feature functionality, build the infrastructure to support the operating needs of the business and achieve cost reductions.

Acute Care

While historically customers in this market have focused on machine functionality and price, we believe they are increasingly focused on the total cost of patient care, which favors technology that can provide clinical versatility and improve operational efficiency. In the acute care setting, our competitors are Fresenius, Baxter and B. Braun. We compete primarily on the basis that Tablo is designed to drive operational efficiency through ease of use and cost reduction by reducing infrastructure and supplies cost.

Home Care

We believe competition in the home setting will be based on a system’s clinical performance, its cost efficiency, its ease of use and patient preference. In the home hemodialysis setting, competitors include Fresenius (through its acquisition of NxStage). We believe through Tablo’s unique advantages it will be easier and faster for patients to learn, and simpler for patients to operate at home, which may position us well against existing competitors. We believe these factors will reduce patient burn-out, thereby extending patient retention, increasing home hemodialysis growth and improving associated margin for providers. We do not consider PD to be competitive given the differences in treatment modality, that PD is clinically limited due to patients with certain pre-existing conditions such as congestive heart failure and obesity and that PD is regarded as a “temporary” modality since approximately 80% of patients are on the therapy for less than three years.

Intellectual Property

Our success depends in part on our ability to protect our proprietary technology and intellectual property rights. We rely on a combination of federal, state, common law and international rights, as well as contractual restrictions, to protect our intellectual property.

We seek patent protection for certain of our key innovations, processes and other inventions. We pursue the registration of our trademarks, service marks and domain names in the United States and in certain other locations. We control access to our proprietary technology by entering into confidentiality and invention assignment agreements with our employees and contractors, and confidentiality agreements with third parties. We have also licensed patents from Oregon State University (OSU) for exclusive use in our field, as detailed further below. Our intellectual property includes specific algorithms for the Tablo console, including those related to pressure sensors, blood leakage and pump control loops.

Patents

As of December 31, 2020, we had seven issued U.S. patents, as well as six pending U.S. patent applications. We had an aggregate of 16 issued patents in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Spain and the United Kingdom, as well as six pending patent applications in Japan, the European Patent Office and under the Patent Cooperation Treaty. We have exclusive licenses from OSU to 12 U.S. patents, nine of which we co-own with OSU, and 22 foreign patents, all of which we co-own with OSU. Some of our patents and other intellectual property cover aspects of Tablo that enable it to be used by anyone, including the patient, through the automation of functions formerly performed by dialysis center technicians using traditional dialysis systems. Our proprietary data ecosystem provides what we believe is a unique way of connecting providers and patients for real-time treatment monitoring, automated treatment documentation, and simplified compliance and record-keeping.

Our patents expire between October 2025 and July 2038. The term of individual patents depends upon the legal term for patents in the countries in which they are granted. In most countries, including the United States, the patent term is 20 years from the earliest claimed filing date of a non-provisional patent application in the applicable country. In the United States, a patent’s term may, in certain cases, be lengthened by patent term adjustment, which compensates a patentee for administrative delays by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in examining and granting a patent, or it may be shortened if a patent is terminally disclaimed over a commonly owned patent or a patent naming a common inventor and having an earlier expiration date. We cannot be sure that our pending patent applications or future patent applications will result in issued patents or that any patents that have issued or might issue in the future will protect our current or future products, provide us with any competitive advantage or will not be challenged, invalidated, or circumvented.

Various aspects of Tablo, including, without limitation, sensor technology, connectivity, automation, analytics and interface are covered by software, algorithms, processes, trade secret or other proprietary rights. We protect our trade secrets through a variety of measures, including confidentiality agreements and proprietary information agreements with suppliers, employees, consultants and others who may have access to our proprietary information. Trade secrets and proprietary information can be difficult to protect, however. While we have confidence in the measures we take to protect and preserve our trade secrets and proprietary information, such measures can be breached, and we may not have adequate remedies for any such breach. In addition, our trade secrets and proprietary information may otherwise become known or be independently discovered by competitors.

There is no active patent litigation involving any of our patents, and we have not received any notices claiming that our activities infringe a third party’s patent.

Manufacturing, Supply Chain and Logistics

We direct the manufacturing and supporting supply chain, distribution and logistics for the Tablo console, the Tablo cartridge and other consumables (electrolyte concentrates and connecting straws that help transport the concentrates into Tablo to enable on-demand dialysate production). We partner with several different contract manufacturers in the assembly and testing of our products and operate under a Quality Management System that has been certified to ISO 13485 Medical Device Quality Management System standard.

Tablo Console

Until recently, we exclusively relied on our contract manufacturing partner, Paramit Corporation (Paramit), based in Morgan Hill, California, for the production of the Tablo console. Tablo consoles manufactured by Paramit at their facility in Morgan Hill, California undergo extensive in-process and integrated system testing protocols designed by us. Consoles are then transported to our headquarters in San Jose, California, where our test engineers perform final testing, and then direct-ship the consoles to our customers. We use a network of short-haul and long-haul freight forwarders optimized for time and cost efficiency.

In order to help ensure a high level of console production capacity through rapid scale, and to help lower our costs, we recently established a console manufacturing facility in Tijuana, Mexico and have begunmanufacturing at this facility in the first quarter of 2021. We are operating in Mexico in collaboration with Tacna, a well-known outsourced business administration service provider that provides all the back-office and facility infrastructure support, allowing us to focus on our core competencies – design and high-volume manufacturing for reliability and cost reduction. Tablo consoles manufactured in our Mexico facility are tested at the facility using the same integrated system testing protocols designed by us, and then direct-shipped to our distribution centers, using a network of short-haul and long-haul freight forwarders optimized for time and cost efficiency. We terminated our contract with Paramit with an expectation that Paramit may serve as a second-source contract manufacturer for our consoles in the future.

Pursuant to the terms of our manufacturing services agreement with Tacna (the Tacna Agreement), Tacna provides support services in connection with our manufacturing activities in Mexico. Under the Tacna Agreement, Tacna hires employees as requested by us and is responsible for human resource functions including maintenance of employee files and reports. Tacna is also responsible for performing internal statutory accounting and payroll services, as well as payables processing. Additional services that Tacna is obligated to provide under the Tacna Agreement include interfacing with both Mexican and U.S. governmental agencies, preparing import-export documentation, coordinating shipment of equipment, raw materials and finished products, and obtaining necessary permits and licenses required in Mexico. Under the Tacna Agreement, Tacna’s services are generally performed under a pass-through cost model under which costs incurred are approved by us. We are also obligated to pay Tacna fees based on the number of employees under the Tacna Agreement. The Tacna Agreement has an initial three-year term and will continue thereafter until terminated by us or Tacna in accordance with the terms of the Tacna Agreement.

The number of suppliers feeding into Tablo console production is in excess of 250 worldwide. We consider approximately 9% of these suppliers, located in the United States, Europe and China, as critical providers of components such as pumps, motors, valves and PCBA boards. We are undertaking a second source qualification process for the majority of these critical components. Where second sourcing is unavailable or infeasible, we have sought to mitigate supply interruption risks with increased levels of safety stock.

Tablo Cartridge

Currently, the Tablo cartridge is manufactured by Infus Medical Co. Ltd. (Infus), a contract manufacturer with two facilities in Thailand that produces dialysis supplies for a number of leading global companies. As part of our arrangement, we direct the oversight of the raw materials sourcing, selection and planning while Infus takes receipt of the Tablo cartridge components, and performs assembly, testing and Ethylene Oxide sterilization before shipment. The various components for the Tablo cartridge are manufactured by approximately 50 different suppliers located in various countries including Singapore, Italy and the United States, some of which are single-source suppliers. The Tablo cartridges are shipped primarily via ocean freight, though in times of peak demand, we may ship by air freight. Our team inspects the product before releasing it for shipment.

We are also establishing a second source manufacturing site in Tijuana, Mexico in partnership with Providien Medical (Providien). Providien, part of Carlisle Companies Incorporated, offers expertise in high volume disposable assembly services. Through enhanced product design, high capacity tooling and simplified freight and logistics, we expect this site will be able to produce cartridges at a lower cost, increase our supply capacity and mitigate against global supply chain interruption. We submitted a 510(k) clearance application to the FDA for Tablo cartridges manufactured at this new facility in March 2021.

In addition to the Tablo cartridge, each treatment requires a concentrated container of bicarbonate and a concentrated container of acid, and two small plastic straws that draw the appropriate amount of the concentrates into the Tablo console in order to produce dialysate on demand.

Government Regulation

United States Food and Drug Administration

In the United States, our products are subject to regulation by the FDA as medical devices pursuant to the Federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act (FDCA). The FDA regulates the development, design, non-clinical and clinical research, manufacturing, safety, efficacy, labeling, packaging, storage, installation, servicing, recordkeeping, premarket clearance or approval, adverse event reporting, advertising, promotion, marketing and distribution, and import and export of medical devices to ensure that medical devices distributed domestically are safe and effective for their intended uses and otherwise meet the requirements of the FDCA.

FDA Premarket Clearance and Approval Requirements

Unless an exemption applies, each medical device commercially distributed in the United States requires either FDA clearance of a 510(k) premarket notification, approval of a de novo application, or approval of a premarket approval (PMA). Under the FDCA, medical devices are classified into one of three classes—Class I, Class II or Class III—depending on the degree of risk associated with each medical device and the extent of manufacturer and regulatory control needed to ensure its safety and effectiveness. Class I includes devices with the lowest risk to the patient and are those for which safety and effectiveness can be assured by adherence to the FDA’s General Controls for medical devices, which include compliance with the applicable portions of the Quality System Regulation (QSR) facility registration and product listing, reporting of adverse medical events, and truthful and non-misleading labeling, advertising, and promotional materials. Class II devices are subject to the FDA’s General Controls, and special controls as deemed necessary by the FDA to ensure the safety and effectiveness of the device. These special controls can include performance standards, post-market surveillance, patient registries and FDA guidance documents.

While most Class I devices are exempt from the 510(k) premarket notification requirement, manufacturers of most Class II devices are required to submit to the FDA a premarket notification under Section 510(k) of the FDCA requesting permission to commercially distribute the device. The FDA’s permission to commercially distribute a device subject to a 510(k) premarket notification is generally known as 510(k) clearance. Devices deemed by the FDA to pose the greatest risks, such as life sustaining, life supporting or some implantable devices, or devices that have a new intended use, or use advanced technology that is not substantially equivalent to that of a legally marketed device, are placed in Class III, requiring approval of a PMA. Some pre-amendment devices are unclassified, but are subject to FDA’s premarket notification and clearance process in order to be commercially distributed. Our currently marketed product is a Class II device subject to 510(k) clearance.

510(k) Clearance Marketing Pathway

Our current products are subject to premarket notification and clearance under section 510(k) of the FDCA. To obtain 510(k) clearance, we must submit to the FDA a premarket notification submission demonstrating that the proposed device is “substantially equivalent” to a predicate device already on the market. A predicate device is a legally marketed device that is not subject to PMA, i.e., a device that was legally marketed prior to May 28, 1976 (pre-amendments device) and for which a PMA is not required, a device that has been reclassified from Class III to Class II or I, or a device that was found substantially equivalent through the 510(k) process. The FDA’s 510(k) clearance process usually takes from three to twelve months, but often takes longer. The FDA may require additional information, including clinical data, to make a determination regarding substantial equivalence. In addition, the FDA collects user fees for certain medical device submissions and annual fees for medical device establishments.

If the FDA agrees that the device is substantially equivalent to a predicate device currently on the market, it will grant 510(k) clearance to commercially market the device. If the FDA determines that the device is “not substantially equivalent” to a previously cleared device, the device is automatically designated as a Class III device. The device sponsor must then fulfill more rigorous PMA requirements, or can request a risk-based classification determination for the device in accordance with the “de novo” process, which is a route to market for novel medical devices that are low to moderate risk and are not substantially equivalent to a predicate device.

After a device receives 510(k) marketing clearance, any modification that could significantly affect its safety or effectiveness, or that would constitute a major change or modification in its intended use, will require a new 510(k) clearance or, depending on the modification, PMA approval. The FDA requires each manufacturer to determine whether the proposed change requires submission of a 510(k) or a PMA in the first instance, but the FDA can review any such decision and disagree with a manufacturer’s determination. If the FDA disagrees with a manufacturer’s determination, the FDA can require the manufacturer to cease marketing and/or request the recall of the modified device until 510(k) marketing clearance or PMA approval is obtained. Also, in these circumstances, the manufacturer may be subject to significant regulatory fines or penalties.

Over the last several years, the FDA has proposed reforms to its 510(k) clearance process, and such proposals could include increased requirements for clinical data and a longer review period, or could make it more difficult for manufacturers to utilize the 510(k) clearance process for their products. For example, in November 2018, FDA officials announced forthcoming steps that the FDA intends to take to modernize the premarket notification pathway under Section 510(k) of the FDCA. Among other things, the FDA announced that it planned to develop proposals to drive manufacturers utilizing the 510(k) pathway toward the use of newer predicates. These proposals included plans to potentially sunset certain older devices that were used as predicates under the 510(k) clearance pathway, and to potentially publish a list of devices that have been cleared on the basis of demonstrated substantial equivalence to predicate devices that are more than 10 years old. The FDA also announced that it intends to finalize guidance to establish a premarket review pathway for “manufacturers of certain well-understood device types” as an alternative to the 510(k) clearance pathway and that such premarket review pathway would allow manufacturers to rely on objective safety and performance criteria recognized by the FDA to demonstrate substantial equivalence, obviating the need for manufacturers to compare the safety and performance of their medical devices to specific predicate devices in the clearance process.

In May 2019, the FDA solicited public feedback on its plans to develop proposals to drive manufacturers utilizing the 510(k) pathway toward the use of newer predicates, including whether the FDA should publish a list of devices that have been cleared on the basis of demonstrated substantial equivalence to predicate devices that are more than 10 years old. The FDA requested public feedback on whether it should consider certain actions that might require new authority, such as whether to sunset certain older devices that were used as predicates under the 510(k) clearance pathway. These proposals have not yet been finalized or adopted, and the FDA may work with Congress to implement such proposals through legislation.

In September 2019, the FDA finalized guidance to establish an optional “safety and performance based” premarket review pathway for manufacturers of “certain, well-understood device types” to demonstrate substantial equivalence under the 510(k) clearance pathway, by demonstrating that such device meets objective safety and performance criteria established by the FDA, obviating the need for manufacturers to compare the safety and performance of their medical devices to specific predicate devices in the clearance process. The FDA intends to maintain a list of device types appropriate for the “safety and performance based pathway” and develop product-specific guidance documents that identify the performance criteria for each such device type, as well as the testing methods recommended in the guidance documents, where feasible.

PMA Approval Pathway

Class III devices require approval of a PMA before they can be marketed, although some pre-amendment Class III devices for which the FDA has not yet required a PMA are cleared through the 510(k) process. The PMA process is more demanding than the 510(k) premarket notification process. In a PMA application, the manufacturer must demonstrate that the device is safe and effective, and the PMA application must be supported by extensive data, including data from preclinical studies and human clinical trials. The PMA application must also contain a full description of the device and its components, a full description of the methods, facilities, and controls used for manufacturing, and proposed labeling. Following receipt of a PMA application, the FDA determines whether the application is sufficiently complete to permit a substantive review. If the FDA accepts the application for review, it has 180 days under the FDCA to complete its review of a PMA application, although in practice, the FDA’s review often takes significantly longer, and can take up to several years. An advisory panel of experts from outside the FDA may be convened to review and evaluate the application and provide recommendations to the FDA as to the approvability of the device. The FDA may or may not accept the panel’s recommendation. In addition, the FDA will generally conduct a pre-approval inspection of the applicant or its third-party manufacturers’ or suppliers’ manufacturing facility or facilities to ensure compliance with the QSR. PMA devices are also subject to the payment of user fees.

The FDA will approve the new device for commercial distribution if it determines that the data and information in the PMA application constitute valid scientific evidence and that there is reasonable assurance that the device is safe and effective for its intended use(s). A PMA may include post-approval conditions intended to ensure the safety and effectiveness of the device, including, among other things, restrictions on labeling, promotion, sale and distribution, and collection of long-term follow-up data from patients in the clinical study that supported the PMA or requirements to conduct additional clinical studies post-approval. The FDA may condition PMA approval on some form of post-market surveillance when deemed necessary to protect the public health or to provide additional safety and efficacy data for the device in a larger population or for a longer period of use. In such cases, the manufacturer might be required to follow certain patient groups for a number of years and to make periodic reports to the FDA on the clinical status of those patients. Failure to comply with the conditions of approval can result in material adverse enforcement action, including withdrawal of the approval.

Certain changes to an approved device, such as changes in manufacturing facilities, methods, or quality control procedures, or changes in the design performance specifications, which affect the safety or effectiveness of the device, require submission of a PMA supplement. PMA supplements often require submission of the same type of information as a PMA, except that the supplement is limited to information needed to support any changes from the device covered by the original PMA and may not require as extensive clinical data or the convening of an advisory panel. Certain other changes to an approved device require the submission of a new PMA, such as when the design change causes a different intended use, mode of operation, and technical basis of operation, or when the design change is so significant that a new generation of the device will be developed, and the data that were submitted with the original PMA are not applicable for the change in demonstrating a reasonable assurance of safety and effectiveness. None of our products are currently marketed pursuant to a PMA.

Clinical Trials

Clinical trials are almost always required to support a PMA and are sometimes required to support a 510(k) submission. All clinical investigations of devices to determine safety and effectiveness must be conducted in accordance with the FDA’s IDE regulations which govern investigational device labeling, prohibit promotion of the investigational device, and specify an array of recordkeeping, reporting and monitoring responsibilities of study sponsors and study investigators. If the device presents a “significant risk,” to human health, as defined by the FDA, the FDA requires the device sponsor to submit an IDE application to the FDA, which

must become effective prior to commencing human clinical trials. A significant risk device is one that presents a potential for serious risk to the health, safety or welfare of a patient and either is implanted, used in supporting or sustaining human life, substantially important in diagnosing, curing, mitigating or treating disease or otherwise preventing impairment of human health, or otherwise presents a potential for serious risk to a subject. An IDE application must be supported by appropriate data, such as animal and laboratory test results, showing that it is safe to test the device in humans and that the testing protocol is scientifically sound. The IDE will automatically become effective 30 days after receipt by the FDA unless the FDA notifies the company that the investigation may not begin. If the FDA determines that there are deficiencies or other concerns with an IDE for which it requires modification, the FDA may permit a clinical trial to proceed under a conditional approval.

In addition, the study must be approved by, and conducted under the oversight of, an Institutional Review Board (IRB) for each clinical site. The IRB is responsible for the initial and continuing review of the IDE study, and may pose additional requirements for the conduct of the study. If an IDE application is approved by the FDA and one or more IRBs, human clinical trials may begin at a specific number of investigational sites with a specific number of patients, as approved by the FDA. If the device presents a non-significant risk to the patient, a sponsor may begin the clinical trial after obtaining approval for the trial by one or more IRBs without separate approval from the FDA, but must still follow abbreviated IDE requirements, such as monitoring the investigation, ensuring that the investigators obtain informed consent, and labeling and record-keeping requirements. Acceptance of an IDE application for review does not guarantee that the FDA will allow the IDE to become effective and, if it does become effective, the FDA may or may not determine that the data derived from the trials support the safety and effectiveness of the device or warrant the continuation of clinical trials. An IDE supplement must be submitted to, and approved by, the FDA before a sponsor or investigator may make a change to the investigational plan that may affect its scientific soundness, study plan or the rights, safety or welfare of human subjects.

During a study, the sponsor is required to comply with the applicable FDA requirements, including, for example, trial monitoring, selecting clinical investigators and providing them with the investigational plan, ensuring IRB review, adverse event reporting, record keeping and prohibitions on the promotion of investigational devices or on making safety or effectiveness claims for them. The clinical investigators in the clinical study are also subject to FDA regulations and must obtain patient informed consent, rigorously follow the investigational plan and study protocol, control the disposition of the investigational device, and comply with all reporting and recordkeeping requirements. Additionally, after a trial begins, we, the FDA or the IRB could suspend or terminate a clinical trial at any time for various reasons, including a belief that the risks to study subjects outweigh the anticipated benefits.

Post-market Regulation

After a device is cleared or approved for marketing, numerous and pervasive regulatory requirements continue to apply. These include:

• establishment registration and device listing with the FDA;

• requirements related to promotional activities;

Our manufacturing processes are required to comply with the applicable portions of the QSR, which cover the methods and the facilities and controls for the design, manufacture, testing, production, processes, controls, quality assurance, labeling, packaging, distribution, installation and servicing of finished devices intended for human use. The QSR also requires, among other things, maintenance of a device master file, device history file, and complaint files. As a manufacturer, we are subject to periodic scheduled or unscheduled inspections by the FDA. Our failure to maintain compliance with the QSR requirements could result in the shut-down of, or restrictions on, our manufacturing operations and the recall or seizure of our products, which would have a material adverse effect on our business. The discovery of previously unknown problems with any of our products, including unanticipated adverse events or adverse events of increasing severity or frequency, whether resulting from the use of the device within the scope of its clearance or off-label by a physician in the practice of medicine, could result in restrictions on the device, including the removal of the product from the market or voluntary or mandatory device recalls.

The FDA has broad regulatory compliance and enforcement powers. If the FDA determines that we failed to comply with applicable regulatory requirements, it can take a variety of compliance or enforcement actions, which may result in any of the following sanctions:

• unanticipated expenditures to address or defend such actions;

• operating restrictions, partial suspension or total shutdown of production;

• withdrawing a PMA that has already been granted;

• refusal to grant export approval for our products; or

• criminal prosecution.

Current FDA Regulatory Status

We currently have regulatory clearances required to market the Tablo Hemodialysis System in the U.S. for use in patients with acute and/or chronic renal failure, with or without ultrafiltration, in an acute or chronic care facility. The Tablo Hemodialysis System is also indicated for use in the home and observed by a trained individual. The Tablo Hemodialysis System is not cleared by the FDA for Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy (CRRT), a subtype of hemodialysis intended to be performed over a 24-hour period at lower flow and ultrafiltration rates designed for hemodynamically unstable patients who require significant fluid removal. Treatments must be administered under a physician’s prescription and observed by a trained individual who is considered competent in the use of the device. The FDA’s authorizations for the Tablo System and Tablo Cartridge have thus far been granted as 510(k) clearances.

While the Tablo Hemodialysis System is indicated for use in the home, the FDA notified us that the Tablo System is subject to a mandatory post-market surveillance order under Section 522 of FDCA. The FDA has required that we conduct a human factors study, as well as conduct a detailed analysis of adverse events and complaints from home users. In response to the 522 order, we submitted a simulated human factors test protocol to the agency which leveraged testing from our validation study that was initiated in 2019. In late 2020, the FDA requested additional information and notified us that we will need to conduct a new human factors study encompassing both summative and real-world data to meet the requirements of the 522 Order. We responded to the FDA’s requests for additional information in January 2021 and in March 2021, the FDA approved our 522 study protocol. We will conduct the study in accordance with the FDA approved protocol. Once we are able to complete our study, a final report will be provided to the FDA. Should the FDA decide that use of the Tablo System in the home environment identifies new concerns related to the safety and effectiveness of the product, or if the FDA determines that the requirements of the 522 order are otherwise unmet, we may be required to make changes to our Tablo System for which we may need to submit new marketing authorization applications and obtain clearance.

We continue to seek opportunities for product improvements and feature enhancements, which will, from time to time, require FDA clearance or approval before commercial launch.

Healthcare Fraud and Abuse Laws

Certain U.S. federal healthcare fraud and abuse laws apply by virtue of the fact that our customers will submit claims for our products and services that are reimbursed, in whole or in part, by Medicare, Medicaid, or other federal healthcare programs (as that term is defined at 42 U.S.C. § 1320a- 7b(f)). The principal federal fraud and abuse laws that apply in these circumstances are discussed below.

The U.S. federal Anti-Kickback Statute is a broad criminal statute that, among other things, prohibits the knowing and willful offer, solicitation, receipt, or payment of any remuneration, directly or indirectly, overtly or covertly, in cash or in kind, for the purpose of inducing or rewarding the order, purchase, use or recommendation of items or services that may be paid for, or reimbursed by, in whole or in part, a federal healthcare program, such as Medicare or Medicaid. This includes products, like Tablo, that are not directly reimbursed but are purchased and used in a service paid for by such programs. Further, the term “remuneration” has been broadly interpreted to include anything of value. The Affordable Care Act healthcare reform legislation specified that any claims submitted as a result of a violation of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute constitute false claims and are subject to enforcement under the federal False Claims Act, which is discussed in more detail below. Government officials have focused recent federal Anti-Kickback Statute enforcement efforts on, among other things, the sales and marketing activities of medical device manufacturers and other healthcare companies, and recently have brought cases against individuals or entities who allegedly offered unlawful inducements to potential or existing customers in an attempt to procure their business. Judgments and settlements of these cases by healthcare companies have involved significant fines and, in some instances, criminal pleas and convictions. Conviction under the federal Anti-Kickback Statue results in mandatory exclusion from participation in the federal healthcare programs, meaning an entity cannot receive reimbursement from federal healthcare programs or contract with anyone who receives reimbursement from federal healthcare programs. Violators are subject to, among other things, imprisonment and significant criminal fines for each violation under the Anti-Kickback Statute, plus up to three times the remuneration involved and other civil penalties under the False Claims Act, as discussed in more detail below.

Given the breadth of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, and to allow innocuous or beneficial arrangements that may be otherwise prohibited by the law, there are statutory exceptions and regulatory safe harbors that protect certain arrangements from liability under the law when all elements of an applicable exception or safe harbor are met. Given that the Anti-Kickback Statute is an intent-based law, the failure of a transaction or arrangement to fit precisely within an exception or safe harbor does not necessarily mean that it is illegal or that prosecution will be pursued. However, these exceptions and safe harbors are narrowly drawn. Congress granted statutory authority to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG), the agency tasked with enforcing the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, to establish new safe harbors and modify existing safe harbors based on changing business practices in the healthcare industry. Most recently, on December 2, 2020, the OIG published a final rule creating several new safe harbors and modifying certain existing safe harbors to promote certain value-based and coordinated care arrangements and to reduce regulatory burden, which became effective on January 19, 2021, although many of the new safe harbors for value-based arrangements do not extend to device manufacturers.

Conduct and business arrangements that do not fully satisfy all elements of an applicable exception or safe harbor may result in increased scrutiny by government enforcement authorities such as the OIG). If scrutinized, arrangements that implicate the federal Anti- Kickback Statute, and that do not fall within an exception or safe harbor, are analyzed by the OIG and other enforcement authorities on a case-by-case basis with review based on the totality of the facts and circumstances to assess whether a given arrangement involves the intent and conduct prohibited by the federal Anti-Kickback Statute.

The federal civil False Claims Act (FCA) imposes civil penalties against individuals or entities for, among other things, knowingly presenting, or causing to be presented, claims for payment to the government that are false or fraudulent, or knowingly making, using or causing to be made or used a false record or statement material to such a false or fraudulent claim, or knowingly concealing or knowingly and improperly avoiding, decreasing, or concealing an obligation to pay money to the federal government. This statute also permits a private individual acting as a “qui tam whistleblower” to bring actions on behalf of the federal government alleging violations of the FCA and to share in any monetary recovery. FCA liability is potentially significant in the healthcare industry because the statute provides for treble damages and mandatory penalties for each false claim submitted or statement made. Government enforcement agencies and private whistleblowers have investigated medical device manufacturers for, or asserted liability under, the FCA for a variety of alleged inappropriate promotional and marketing activities, including those involving the provision of free product or other items of value to customers, certain financial arrangements with healthcare providers, the provision of billing, coding, and reimbursement advice, and purported “off-label” promotion of products, among other things.

Another key federal healthcare law is the federal healthcare fraud statute, which was added by HIPAA. The federal healthcare fraud statute, broadly stated, prohibits defrauding or attempting to defraud “any healthcare benefit program,” including both private third-party payors and government healthcare programs.

The Physician Payments Sunshine Act (Sunshine Act) was enacted by Congress in 2010 as part of the Affordable Care Act and was amended in 2018 by the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities Act. The Sunshine Act requires us to collect and report annually certain data on payments and other transfers of value we make to U.S.-licensed physicians, teaching hospitals, and, for reporting beginning January 1, 2022, U.S.-licensed physician assistants, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, certified nurse anesthetists, and certified nurse-midwives. Accordingly, we are required to track certain payments and other transfers of value made to these additional covered recipients during the 2021 calendar year. Manufacturers are also required to report ownership and investment interests held by the physicians described above and their immediate family members. The data are sent to CMS for public disclosure on the Open Payments website. Failure to timely report information in accordance with the Sunshine Act may result in significant financial penalties.

In addition to these federal laws, there are often similar state anti-kickback and false claims laws that typically apply to arrangements involving reimbursement by a state-funded Medicaid or other healthcare program. Often, these laws closely follow the language of their federal law counterparts, although they do not always have the same exceptions or safe harbors. In some states, these anti-kickback laws apply with respect to all payors, including commercial health insurance companies.

A number of states have enacted laws that require pharmaceutical and medical device companies to monitor and report payments, gifts and other remuneration made to physicians and other healthcare providers, and, in some states, marketing expenditures. In addition, some state statutes impose outright bans on certain manufacturer gifts to physicians or other healthcare professionals. Some of these laws, referred to as “aggregate spend” or “gift” laws, carry substantial fines if they are violated.

Through our compliance efforts, we constantly strive to structure our business operations and relationships with our customers to comply with all applicable legal requirements. However, many of the laws and regulations applicable to us are broad in scope and may be interpreted or applied by prosecutorial, regulatory or judicial authorities or whistleblowers in ways that we cannot predict. Thus, it is possible that governmental entities or other parties could interpret these laws differently or assert non-compliance with respect to one or more of our business operations and relationships. Moreover, the standards of business conduct expected of healthcare companies under these laws and regulations have become more stringent in recent years, even in instances where there has been no change in statutory or regulatory language. If our operations are found to be in violation of any of these laws or any other governmental regulations that may apply to us, we may be subject to significant civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, fines, imprisonment, and/or exclusion from government funded healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid. In addition, we may become subject to additional oversight and reporting requirements under a corporate integrity agreement as part of a settlement to resolve allegations of non-compliance with these laws (even if we do not admit violations). We may also need to curtail or restructure our operations as a result of being found to violate these laws, having such violations asserted against us, or based on enforcement actions instituted with respect to comparable practices by others. Any of these outcomes could have an adverse effect on our financial condition and ability to conduct our operations.

Privacy and Security

Numerous federal and state laws and regulations, including HIPAA and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act), govern the collection, dissemination, security, use and confidentiality of patient-identifiable health information or personal information. In the course of performing our business we obtain personally identifiable information (PII), including health-related information. Such laws and regulations relating to privacy, data protection, and consumer protection are evolving and subject to potentially differing interpretations. These requirements may be interpreted and applied in a manner that varies from one jurisdiction to another and/or may conflict with other laws or regulations. HIPAA establishes a set of national privacy and security standards for the protection of individually identifiable health information, including protected health information (PHI) for certain covered entities, including healthcare providers that submit certain covered transactions electronically, as well as their ‘‘business associates,’’ which are persons or entities that perform certain services for, or on behalf of, a covered entity that involve creating, receiving, maintaining or transmitting PHI. Penalties for failure to comply with a requirement of HIPAA and HITECH vary significantly depending on the failure and could include civil monetary or criminal penalties. HIPAA also authorizes state attorneys general to file suit under HIPAA on behalf of state residents. Courts can award damages, costs and attorneys’ fees related to violations of HIPAA in such cases. While HIPAA does not create a private right of action allowing individuals to sue us in civil court for HIPAA violations, its standards have been used as the basis for a duty of care claim in state civil suits such as those for negligence or recklessness in the misuse or breach of PHI. The Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has recently increased its enforcement efforts on compliance with HIPAA, including the security regulations (Security Rule), bringing actions against entities which have failed to implement security measures sufficient to reduce risks to electronic protected health information or to conduct an accurate and thorough risk analysis, among other violations. HIPAA enforcement actions may lead to

monetary penalties and costly and burdensome corrective action plans. We are also required to report known breaches of PHI consistent with applicable breach reporting requirements set forth in applicable laws and regulations. Finally, on December 10, 2020, OCR issued proposed revisions to the Privacy Rule aimed at reducing regulatory burdens that may exist in discouraging coordination of care, including creating an exception to the minimum necessary standard for healthcare coordination, and other proposals to increase patient access to their health information, among other changes. While a final rule has not yet been issued, if adopted, these proposed changes may require us to update our HIPAA policies and procedures to comply with the new requirements.

In addition, various federal and state legislative and regulatory bodies, or self-regulatory organizations, may expand current laws or regulations, enact new laws or regulations or issue revised rules or guidance regarding privacy, data protection and consumer protection. For instance, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) became effective on January 1, 2020. The CCPA gives California residents expanded rights to access and delete their personal information, opt out of certain personal information sharing and receive detailed information about how their personal information is used by requiring covered companies to provide new disclosures to California consumers (as that term is broadly defined) and provide such consumers new ways to opt-out of certain sales of personal information. The CCPA provides for civil penalties for violations, as well as a private right of action for data breaches that is expected to increase data breach litigation. Although there are limited exemptions for PHI and the CCPA’s implementation standards and enforcement practices are likely to remain uncertain for the foreseeable future, the CCPA may increase our compliance costs and potential liability. Additionally, a new California ballot initiative, the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), recently passed in California. The CPRA will impose additional data protection obligations on companies doing business in California, including additional consumer rights processes, limitations on data uses, new audit requirements for higher risk data, and opt outs for certain uses of sensitive data. It will also create a new California data protection agency authorized to issue substantive regulations and could result in increased privacy and information security enforcement. The majority of the provisions will go into effect on January 1, 2023, and additional compliance investment and potential business process changes may be required. Similar laws have been proposed in other states and at the federal level, and if passed, such laws may have potentially conflicting requirements that would make compliance challenging. Further, new health information standards, whether implemented pursuant to HIPAA, the HITECH Act, congressional action or otherwise, could have a significant effect on the manner in which we handle health-related information, and the cost of complying with these standards could be significant. If we do not comply with existing or new laws and regulations related to patient health information, we could be subject to criminal or civil sanctions.

Additionally, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and many state attorneys general are interpreting existing federal and state consumer protection laws to impose evolving standards for the online collection, use, dissemination and security of health-related and other personal information. Courts may also adopt the standards for fair information practices promulgated by the FTC, which concern consumer notice, choice, security and access. Consumer protection laws require us to publish statements that describe how we handle personal information and choices individuals may have about the way we handle their personal information. If such information that we publish is considered untrue, we may be subject to government claims of unfair or deceptive trade practices, which could lead to significant liabilities and consequences. Furthermore, according to the FTC, violating consumers’ privacy rights or failing to take appropriate steps to keep consumers’ personal information secure may constitute unfair acts or practices in or affecting commerce in violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act.

We may also be subject to laws and regulations in foreign countries covering data privacy and other protection of health and employee information that may be more onerous than corresponding U.S. laws. These regulations may require that we obtain individual consent before we collect or process any sensitive personal data, restrict our use or transfer of personal data, impose technical and organizational measures to ensure the security of personal data, add obligations to our data analytics services, and require that we notify regulatory agencies, individuals or the public about any data security breaches. As we expand our international operations, we may be required to expend significant time and resources to put in place additional mechanisms to ensure compliance with multiple robust and evolving data privacy laws as they become applicable to our business.

Our business relies on secure and continuous processing of information and the availability of our Information technology (IT) networks and IT resources, as well as critical IT vendors that support our technology and data processing operations. Security breaches, computer malware and computer hacking attacks have become more prevalent across industries and may occur on our systems or those of our third-party service providers. Attacks upon information technology systems are increasing in their frequency, levels of persistence, sophistication and intensity, and are being conducted by sophisticated and organized groups and individuals with a wide range of motives and expertise. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we may face increased cybersecurity risks due to our reliance on internet technology and the number of our employees who are working remotely, which may create additional opportunities for cybercriminals to exploit vulnerabilities. OCR, in partnership with the Healthcare and Public Health Sector Coordinating Council, issued cybersecurity guidelines for healthcare organizations that reflect consensus-based, voluntary practices to cost-effectively reduce cybersecurity risks for organizations of varying sizes. Although these HHS-backed guidelines, entitled “Health Industry Cybersecurity Practices: Managing Threats and Protecting Patients,” are voluntary, they are likely to serve as an important reference point for the healthcare industry, and may cause us to invest additional resources in technology, personnel and programmatic cybersecurity controls as the cybersecurity risks we face continue to evolve.

We regularly monitor, defend against and respond to attacks to our networks and other information security incidents. Despite our information security efforts, our facilities, systems, and data, as well as those of our third party service providers, may be vulnerable to privacy and information security incidents such as data breaches, viruses or other malicious code, coordinated attacks, data loss, phishing attacks, ransomware, denial of service attacks, or other security or IT incidents caused by threat actors, technological vulnerabilities or human error. If we, or any of our IT support vendors, fail to comply with laws requiring the protection of sensitive personal information, or fail to safeguard and defend personal information or other critical data assets or IT systems, we may be subject to regulatory enforcement and fines as well as private civil actions. We may be required to expend significant resources in the response, containment, mitigation of cybersecurity incidents as well as in defense against claims that our information security was unreasonable or otherwise violated applicable laws or contractual obligations.

Failure to comply with applicable data protection laws and regulations could result in government enforcement actions (which could include civil and/or criminal penalties), private litigation and/or adverse publicity and could negatively affect our operating results and business.

Reimbursement in the Clinic and Home Settings

We sell our Tablo to dialysis clinics. These clinics, in turn, are reimbursed by Medicare, Medicaid, private insurers, and other third-party payors. Most patients who require regular dialysis, that is, those with ESRD, have coverage through Medicare Part B, which, effective January 1, 2011, pays dialysis clinics through a prospective, or bundled, payment system. Reimbursement is generally provided on a per treatment basis, and it is the same whether the patient is treated in the clinic or in the home setting. We believe that the current per treatment reimbursement amount received by our customers under Medicare Part B adequately covers the amortization of the cost of capital equipment, and specifically our Tablo console, as well as the per treatment supplies and disposables cost for Tablo, whether it is in the home or the in-clinic setting. Dialysis clinics’ continuing adoption of Tablo, however, will depend on whether the cost of treatments involving Tablo (including the amortized cost of the Tablo console and other capital equipment) will continue to be adequately covered by the reimbursement that the dialysis clinics receive from these third-party payors.

Under the ESRD Prospective Payment System (PPS), CMS generally makes a single bundled payment to the dialysis facility for each dialysis treatment that covers all renal dialysis services, which is broadly defined and includes home dialysis and most drugs. On November 9, 2020, CMS published the final rule for CY 2021, which increased the base reimbursement rate per dialysis treatment to $253.13, an increase of $13.80 over the CY 2020 base rate of $239.33. CMS may adjust the base rate to account for factors that increase the cost of providing dialysis to a certain patient, for example, based on patient factors such as age, body surface area, low body mass index, and certain comorbidities, and based on facility factors like volume and geographic location. With a vast majority of U.S. ESRD patients covered by Medicare, the Medicare reimbursement rate is an important factor in a potential customer’s decision to use the Tablo and limits the fees for which we can sell or rent the Tablo.

Additionally, current CMS rules limit the number of hemodialysis treatments paid for by Medicare Part B to three times a week, unless there is medical justification provided by the dialysis facility based on information from the patient’s physician for additional treatments. Using currently available technology, most patients who receive home dialysis have been prescribed to receive more than three treatments per week. The Tablo system can allow providers to prescribe as few as three home dialysis treatments per week. However, to the extent that providers continue to prescribe more than three home dialysis treatments per week and Medicare contractors determine they will not pay for such additional treatments, adoption of the Tablo system could be adversely impacted. As there is not a uniform national standard for what constitutes medical justification, a clinic’s decision as to how much it is willing to spend on home dialysis equipment and services will be at least partly dependent on the number of weekly treatments prescribed for home dialysis with the Tablo system and, if greater than three, the level of confidence the center has in the predictability of receiving reimbursement from Medicare for additional treatments per week based on submitted claims for medical justification.

Beginning January 1, 2021, more dialysis patients are expected to have coverage under a Medicare Advantage plan when changes from the 21st Century Cures Act go into effect. While Medicare Advantage plans must provide at least the same level of coverage for Medicare beneficiaries as traditional Medicare, reimbursement to dialysis facilities will depend on each Medicare Advantage plan’s contracts and network agreements with each dialysis facility. This reimbursement, and patient’s coverage for dialysis, could potentially be more favorable than Medicare Part B coverage and payment for dialysis services, but such details will vary by plan.

On November 9, 2020, CMS published a final rule to update payment policies and rates under the Medicare ESRD PPS for calendar year 2021. The final rule, among other things, encourages the development of new and innovative home dialysis machines that would give Medicare beneficiaries more dialysis treatment options in the home and to improve their quality of life. Specifically, the final rule includes capital equipment in transitional add-on payment adjustments for new and innovative equipment and supplies (TPNIES). Only capital-related assets that are new home dialysis machines cleared by FDA after January 2020 are eligible for application. Consistent with other dialysis equipment and supplies that are potentially eligible for the TPNIES, CMS will evaluate applications to determine whether the home dialysis machine represents an advance that substantially improves the diagnosis or treatment of Medicare beneficiaries compared to existing technology and meets other regulatory requirements. Under the final rule, CMS will pay 65% of the Medicare Administrative Contractor-determined pre-adjusted per treatment amount, reduced by an average per treatment offset, for two calendar years for those home dialysis machines that receive TPNIES.

We submitted a TPNIES application in January 2020 for the Tablo cartridge for use with the Tablo Hemodialysis System. In evaluating our application, CMS found the cartridge does not meet the newness eligibility criteria and that the cartridge does not show evidence of substantial clinical improvement. The updated TPNIES policy published by CMS in November 2020 as part of the calendar year 2021 ESRD PPS final rule, which provides that certain capital-related assets that are home dialysis machines may be eligible for TPNIES, afforded us a pathway to submit an application that includes the Tablo console. We submitted a TPNIES application in February 2021 for the Tablo Hemodialysis System.If we receive a favorable decision, we estimate that this would increase the per-treatment payment thatdialysis providers who use Tablo for home dialysis would receive in 2022 and 2023.CMS noted in the November 2020 ESRD PPS final rule that manufacturers are eligible to apply within three years of FDA marketing authorization.This policy would afford us a final opportunity to reapply in 2022 if CMS denies our application and determines we need to collect additional data.

Many ESRD patients also have Medicaid coverage that is supplemental to Medicare coverage, that is, it helps cover Medicare Part B coinsurance and items and services not covered by Medicare Part B, but some ESRD patients may have Medicaid as their primary coverage. Because Medicaid is a state-administered program, Medicaid reimbursement for dialysis services varies by state.

Finally, some patients may have coverage through private insurance, for example through a marketplace plan set up under the Affordable Care Act or through an employer or union group health plan. Private insurance reimbursement is generally higher than government reimbursement, but it varies by sponsor and plan.

Reimbursement in the Critical Care Setting

For Medicare patients, both acute kidney failure and fluid overload therapies provided in an in-patient hospital setting are reimbursed under the Medicare Severity Diagnosis Related Group System. Under this system, reimbursement is determined based on a patient’s diagnoses, demographics, and procedures furnished during the stay, and is intended to cover all of the hospital’s costs of treating the patient. Longer hospitalization stays and higher labor needs, which are typical for patients with acute kidney failure and fluid overload, must be managed for care of these patients to be cost-effective. Similar to dialysis clinics that are reimbursed by Medicare under the ESRD bundled payment methodology, we believe that there is a significant incentive for hospitals to find the most cost-efficient way to treat these patients in order to improve hospital economics for these therapies.

United States Health Reform

Changes in healthcare policy could increase our costs and subject us to additional legislative and regulatory requirements that may interrupt commercialization of our current and future products, decrease our revenue and adversely impact sales of, and pricing of and reimbursement for, our current and future products. The United States and some foreign jurisdictions are considering or have enacted a number of other legislative and regulatory proposals to change the healthcare system in ways that could affect our ability to sell our products profitably. Among policy makers and payors in the United States and elsewhere, there is significant interest in promoting changes in healthcare systems with the stated goals of containing healthcare costs, improving quality and/or expanding access. Current and future legislative proposals to further reform healthcare or reduce healthcare costs may limit coverage of or lower reimbursement for the procedures associated with the use of our products. The cost containment measures that payors and providers are instituting and the effect of any healthcare reform initiative implemented in the future could impact our revenue from the sale of our products.

The implementation of the Affordable Care Act in the United States, for example, has changed healthcare financing and delivery by both governmental and private insurers substantially, and affected medical device manufacturers significantly. The Affordable Care Act, among other things, implemented payment system reforms including a national pilot program on payment bundling to encourage hospitals, physicians and other providers to improve the coordination, quality and efficiency of certain healthcare services through bundled payment models. Additionally, the Affordable Care Act encouraged expanded eligibility criteria for Medicaid programs and created a new Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to oversee, identify priorities in, and conduct comparative clinical effectiveness research, along with funding for such research.

There have been legislative modifications and judicial challenges with respect to certain aspects of the Affordable Care Act. For example, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, among other things, included a provision eliminating, effective January 1, 2019, the tax-based shared responsibility payment, or penalty, imposed by the Affordable Care Act on certain individuals who fail to maintain qualifying health coverage for all or part of a year that is commonly referred to as the “individual mandate.” The Further Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020, Pub. L. No. 116-94, signed into law December 20, 2019, fully repealed the Affordable Care Act’s “Cadillac Tax” on certain high cost employer-sponsored insurance plans, the annual fee imposed on certain health insurance providers based on market share (repeal effective in 2021), and the medical device excise tax on non-exempt medical devices. Currently, the U.S. Supreme Court is considering whether the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate, post-repeal of its associated tax penalty, is unconstitutional, and, if so, whether the remaining provisions of the Affordable Care Act are inseverable from the mandate; a ruling could produce any of a number of results, including invalidation of the Affordable Care Act in its entirety based on a finding of inseverability, and is expected by mid-2021.

In addition, other legislative changes have been proposed and adopted since the Affordable Care Act was enacted. For example, the Budget Control Act of 2011, among other things, resulted in reductions in payments to Medicare providers of 2% per fiscal year, which went into effect on April 1, 2013 and, due to subsequent legislative amendments to the statute, will remain in effect through 2030 unless additional Congressional action is taken, with the exception of a temporary suspension of the 2% cut in Medicare payments from May 1, 2020 through March 31, 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, among other things, reduced CMS payments to several types of providers, including hospitals, and increased the statute of limitations period for the government to recover Medicare overpayments to providers from three to five years.

Moreover, other legislative and executive actions have encouraged the development of new payment and care models for ESRD patients. For example, in July 2019, President Trump signed an executive order directing the Secretary of Health and Human Services to develop, among other things, payment models designed to identify and treat at-risk populations earlier in disease development, and in connection with the executive order, HHS announced a goal of having 80% of new ESRD patients in 2025 either receive dialysis at home or receive a transplant. CMS subsequently published a final rule on September 29, 2020, to implement the End-Stage Renal Disease Treatment Choices (ETC) Model. The ETC Model is a mandatory payment model that adjusts certain Medicare payments to selected ESRD facilities, nephrologists, and other clinicians managing beneficiaries with ESRD starting January 1, 2021, and continuing through June 30, 2027. Specifically, the ETC Model will adjust ESRD facilities’ treatment base rates under the ESRD PPS and managing clinicians’ monthly Medicare capitation payments to incentivize greater use of home dialysis and kidney transplants. CMS is also preparing to implement the Kidney Care Choices Model, a voluntary Medicare payment model with four distinct payment options designed to help providers reduce costs and improve quality of care for patients with late-stage chronic kidney disease and ESRD, to delay the need for dialysis and to encourage kidney transplantation. Finally, the BETTER Kidney Care Act was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives (H.R. 8254) and the U.S. Senate (S. 4574) on September 15, 2020. Similar legislation has not been introduced in the new Congress to date. However, if enacted, the BETTER Kidney Care Act would require HHS to establish a voluntary integrated care demonstration program for Medicare beneficiaries with ESRD.

We believe that there will continue to be proposals and other actions by legislators and other policymakers at both the federal and state levels, and by regulators and third-party payors to reduce costs and/or expand individual healthcare coverage. Changes to federal and state legislatures and executive offices following the November 2020 elections could result in further healthcare policy changes. The Biden administration has taken several executive actions that signal changes in policy from the prior administration. On January 20, 2021, the Biden administration directed all federal departments and agencies to consider taking steps to withdraw or delay certain regulations and guidance issued by the Trump administration that had not become effective as of January 20, 2021 to permit the Biden administration to review such actions for questions of fact, law, and policy. And, on January 28, 2021, President Biden issued the “Executive Order on Strengthening Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act,” among other things revoking certain executive orders of the previous administration, stating that it is the current administration’s policy “to protect and strengthen Medicaid and the ACA and to make high-quality healthcare accessible and affordable for every American,” and directing heads of relevant executive departments and agencies immediately to review agency actions to determine whether any such actions are inconsistent with this policy. Other actions by the Biden administration, the Congress, state governments, and third-party payors could impact our business in ways that are difficult to predict but that could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition. For example, certain of these changes could impose additional limitations on the rates we will be able to charge for our current and future products or the amounts of reimbursement available for our current and future products from governmental agencies or third-party payors. Current and future healthcare reform legislation and policies could also have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition.

Human Capital Resources

As of December 31, 2020, we had 313 full-time employees, with 44% in our field sales and service teams and 56% in the rest of the company. Our workforce hails from across industries, including technology, medical devices, life sciences and retail management.

We recently established a manufacturing facility in Tijuana, Mexico that we operate in collaboration with our outsourced business administration service provider, Tacna, and have collaborators in subassembly, integration, quality, testing, and supply chain. Tacna facilitates the hiring of new collaborators and is responsible for human resource functions and payroll processing.

Talent Philosophy and Principles

We are committed to attracting the best talent we can find, while providing our employees with challenging work in a fast-paced environment. We recruit broadly and welcome diverse candidates. We have a principle that “everyone is a recruiter” and often hold crowd recruiting sessions to identify candidates collectively, and welcome employee referrals.

Our environment is goal-driven, and we believe in paying for outstanding performance and future potential. We offer competitive, market-based salaries, an annual cash bonus program tied to individual and company performance, a broad-based equity incentive compensation program including an employee stock purchase plan, a comprehensive benefits package, team incentives and peer incentives. We believe that preparing our employees for growth and development is a key business activity and managers have two key performance conversations a year with their team members. Our yearbook conversation is typically held in February and is focused on evaluating the success and learnings of the past year. Our passport conversation is typically held in August and is focused on skill development and future growth opportunities. We strongly believe in growing from within and have numerous avenues for in-role stretch assignments, cross-group short assignments, internal mobility, and promotions. In addition, we conduct employee surveys to gauge employee engagement and identify areas of focus.

Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity Strategy

In mid-2020, we brought together an engaged group of employees to design our inclusion, diversity, and equity strategy. We defined three key areas of focus: 1) raising awareness of patient disparities in kidney care due to race, 2) providing internal education on bias, and 3) impactful community outreach with students to advocate for careers in the medical device industry.

Employee Safety

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we defined two values that guided our decisions: 1) employee safety, and 2) business continuity to enable us to meet the needs of our patients and clinical customers. Since we qualified as an essential business, we continued to operate our facility in San Jose, California through the shelter-in-place orders, and immediately categorized our workforce based on the essentialness of working onsite. For roles that required employees to be physically onsite, such as our R&D and manufacturing technical staff, we implemented safety precautions including increased sanitization standards, infection reduction and control, distribution of protective equipment to employees, as well as enforcement of mask-wearing and social distancing protocols. When testing became available, we implemented onsite testing in our facilities.

Corporate Information

We were incorporated in the State of Delaware in 2003 under the name Home Dialysis Plus, Ltd. We changed our name to Outset Medical, Inc. in January 2015. Our principal executive offices are located at 3052 Orchard Dr., San Jose, California 95134, and our telephone number is (669) 231-8200.

Available Information

We make our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports, available free of charge at our website as soon as reasonably practicable after they have been filed with the SEC. Our website address is www.outsetmedical.com. Information on our website is not part of this report. The SEC maintains a website that contains the materials we file with the SEC at www.sec.gov.

Information About Our Executive Officers

The following table sets forth information concerning our executive officers and directors as of the date of this Annual Report:

Name Age Position(s)

Executive Officers

Leslie Trigg 50 President, Chief Executive Officer and Director

John L. Brottem 47 General Counsel and Secretary

Rebecca Chambers 43 Chief Financial Officer

Martín Vazquez 51 Chief Operating Officer

Steve Williamson 48 Chief Commercial Officer

Leslie Trigg

Leslie Trigg has served as our President and Chief Executive Officer since November 2014. Ms. Trigg joined the Company from Warburg Pincus, a private equity firm, where she was an Executive in Residence from March 2012 to March 2014. Prior to that, Ms. Trigg served in several roles at Lutonix (acquired by CR Bard), a medical device company, from January 2010 to February 2012, most recently as Executive Vice President, and as Chief Business Officer of AccessClosure (acquired by Cardinal Health), a medical device company, from September 2006 to June 2009. She also previously held positions with FoxHollow Technologies (acquired by ev3/Covidien), a manufacturer of devices to treat peripheral artery disease, Cytyc, a diagnostic and medical device company, Pro-Duct Health (acquired by Cytyc), a medical device company, and Guidant, a cardiovascular medical device company. Ms. Trigg has served on the board of directors of Adaptive Biotechnologies Corporation, a biotechnology company, since March 2021, and on the board of directors of ARYA Sciences Acquisition Corp IV, a special purpose acquisition company, since March 2021. Ms. Trigg also serves on the board of directors of the Medical Device Manufacturers Association. Ms. Trigg holds a B.S. degree from Northwestern University and an M.B.A. from The Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley.

John L. Brottem

John L. Brottem has served as our General Counsel and Secretary since May 2020. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Brottem served in a number of roles at Omnicell, Inc., a leading provider of medication management automation solutions and adherence tools for healthcare systems and pharmacies: as Vice President, Legal and Deputy General Counsel from September 2019 to May 2020; as Vice President, Legal and Associate General Counsel from April 2016 to September 2019; and Senior Director, Legal and Associate General Counsel from November 2011 to April 2016. Prior to Omnicell, Mr. Brottem was Corporate Counsel at Brocade Communications Systems, Inc., a networking solutions company, from January 2009 to November 2011; Corporate Counsel at Foundry Networks, Inc., a networking solutions company, from February 2008 to January 2009; and Associate at Cooley Godward Kronish LLP, an international law firm, from November 2001 to February 2008. Mr. Brottem holds a B.A. from Occidental College and a J.D. from the University of California, Davis, School of Law.

Rebecca Chambers

Rebecca Chambers has served as our Chief Financial Officer since June 2019. Ms. Chambers joined the Company from Illumina, a genetic tools company, where she served in a number of roles: as the Vice President, Financial Planning and Analysis from July 2017 to May 2019, as Vice President, Investor Relations and Treasury from April 2015 to June 2017, and as Senior Director, Investor Relations from October 2012 to April 2015. Previously, Ms. Chambers served as Head of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications at Myriad Genetics, a molecular diagnostic company, from January 2011 to October 2012, and Senior Manager, Investor Relations at Life Technologies, a biotechnology company, from May 2009 to December 2010. She also previously held positions with Bank of America, a financial services company, and Millennium Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company. Ms. Chambers holds a B.S. from John Carroll University and an M.B.A. from The S.C. Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University.

Martín Vazquez

Martín Vazquez has served as our Chief Operating Officer since November 2017. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Vazquez was Vice President of North America Operations and Global Sales and Operations Planning at Abbott Rapid Dx (formerly Alere), a rapid point-of-care diagnostics company, from July 2015 to November 2017. Prior to that, Mr. Vazquez served as Vice President, Manufacturing Management/WW Operations at Becton Dickinson, a medical technology company, from March 2012 to June 2015, and Director Operations Mexico at Smiths Medical, a manufacturer of specialty medical devices, from May 2009 to March 2012. He also previously held positions with Integer Holdings (formerly Greatbatch Medical), a medical device manufacturing company, Alcon Laboratories, a subsidiary of Novartis AG focused on eye care products, Venusa, a medical device manufacturing company, and Ethicon (J&J), a medical device company. Mr. Vazquez holds a B.S. from University of Texas at El Paso and an M.B.A. from The Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California.

Steve Williamson

Steve Williamson has served as our Chief Commercial Officer since November 2020. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Williamson was Worldwide President, Peripheral Intervention at Becton, Dickinson and Company, a medical technology company, from January 2018 to November 2020, and President, Peripheral Vascular at C.R. Bard (now part of Becton, Dickinson and Company) from August 2012 to December 2017. Prior to that, he was Senior Vice President and General Manager, Gyn Surgical Products from December 2009 to August 2012 and Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Gyn Surgical Products from October 2007 to December 2009 with Hologic, Inc., a medical technology company. Mr. Williamson holds a B.B.A. from University of Massachusetts Amherst and an M.B.A. from Bentley University.

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