LHC (LHCG) 10-K2020 FY Annual report

There were 31,594,333 shares of common stock, $0.01 par value, outstanding as of February 24, 2021.

The forward-looking statements included in this report reflect our current views and assumptions only as of the date this report is filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as required by law, we assume no responsibility and do not intend to release updates or revisions to forward-looking statements after the date they are made, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. The occurrence of any of the events described in Part I, Item 1A. Risk Factors in this Annual Report on Form 10-K or incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and other events that we have not predicted or assessed, could have a material adverse effect on our earnings, financial condition, and business, and any such forward-looking statements should not be relied on as a prediction of future events.

We qualify all of our forward-looking statements by this cautionary statement. In addition, with respect to all of our forward-looking statements, we claim the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

You should read this Annual Report on Form 10-K, the information incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K and the documents filed as exhibits to this Annual Report on Form 10-K completely and with the understanding that our actual future results or achievements may differ materially from what we expect or anticipate.

We provide quality, cost-effective post-acute health care services to our patients. As of December 31, 2020, we have 827 service providers in 35 states within the continental United States and the District of Columbia. Our services are classified into five segments: (1) home health services, (2) hospice services, (3) home and community-based services, (4) facility-based services, primarily offered through our long-term acute care hospitals ("LTACHs"), and (5) healthcare innovations ("HCI").

Our home health service locations offer a wide range of services, including skilled nursing, medically-oriented social services and physical, occupational, and speech therapy. The nurses, home health aides, and therapists in our home health agencies work closely with patients and their families to design and implement individualized treatment plans in accordance with a physician-prescribed plan of care. As of December 31, 2020, we operated 537 home health service locations, of which 322 are wholly-owned by us, 211 are majority-owned by us through equity joint ventures, two are under license lease arrangements, and the operations of the remaining two locations are managed by us.

Our hospices provide end-of-life care to patients with terminal illnesses through interdisciplinary teams of physicians, nurses, home health aides, counselors, and volunteers. We offer a wide range of services, including pain and symptom management, emotional and spiritual support, inpatient and respite care, homemaker services, and counseling. As of December 31, 2020, we operated 120 hospice locations, of which 56 are wholly-owned by us, 62 are majority-owned by us through equity joint ventures, and two are under license lease arrangements.

Our home and community-based locations offer assistance with activities of daily living to elderly, chronically ill, and disabled patients, performed by skilled nursing and paraprofessional personnel. As of December 31, 2020, we operated 124 locations, of which 109 are wholly-owned by us and 15 are majority-owned by us through equity joint ventures.

Our LTACH locations provide services primarily to patients with complex medical conditions who have transitioned out of a hospital intensive care unit but whose conditions remain too severe for treatment in a non-acute setting. As of December 31, 2020, our LTACHs had 377 licensed beds. We operated 11 LTACHs with 12 locations, of which all but three are located within host hospitals. As part of our facility-based services segment, we also own and operate two skilled nursing facilities, one pharmacy, a rural health clinic, one physician practice, one family health center, and 16 physical therapy clinics. Of these 34 facility-based services locations, 23 are wholly-owned by us and 11 are majority-owned by us through equity joint ventures.

Our HCI segment reports on our developmental activities outside its other business segments. The HCI segment includes (a) Imperium Health Management, LLC, an Accountable Care Organization ("ACO") enablement and management company, (b) Long Term Solutions, Inc., an in-home assessment company serving the long-term care insurance industry, and (c) certain assets operated by Advance Care House Calls, which provides primary medical care for patients with chronic and acute illnesses who have difficulty traveling to a doctor's office. These activities are intended ultimately, whether directly or indirectly, to benefit our patients and/or payors through the enhanced provision of services in our other segments. The activities all share a common goal of improving patient experiences and quality outcomes, while lowering costs. They include, but are not limited to, items such as: technology, information, population health management, risk-sharing, care-coordination and transitions, clinical advancements, enhanced patient engagement and informed clinical decision and technology enabled in-home clinical assessments. We have 12 HCI locations, 11 of which are wholly-owned and one is controlled by us through an equity joint venture.

Our net service revenue by segment for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018 was as follows (amounts in thousands):

For further information regarding the financial performance of our segments, see Note 11 to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Our objective is to become the leading provider of in-home healthcare services in the United States, while also providing a complementary suite of other post-acute healthcare service offerings through our facility-based and HCI segments. To achieve this objective, we intend to:

We provide post-acute care services in the United States by providing quality, cost-effective health care services to patients within the comfort and privacy of their home, place of residence, or long-term acute care hospital facility. Our services can be broadly classified into five principal segments: (1) home health services, (2) hospice services, (3) home and community-based, (4) facility-based services offered through our LTACHs, and (5) HCI.

Our registered nurses and licensed practical nurses provide a variety of medically necessary services to homebound patients who are suffering from acute or chronic illness, recovering from injury or surgery, or who otherwise require care, teaching or monitoring. These services include, but are not limited to:

We have also designed proprietary clinical pathways to treat chronic diseases and conditions, including diabetes, hypertension, arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease, low vision, spinal stenosis, Parkinson’s disease, osteoporosis, complex wounds, and chronic pain. Through our medical social workers, we counsel patients and their families with regard to financial, personal, and social concerns that arise from a patient’s health-related problems. We provide skilled nursing, ventilator and tracheotomy services, extended care specialties, medication administration and management, and patient and family assistance and education. We also provide management services to third-party home nursing agencies, often as an interim solution until proper state and regulatory approvals for an acquisition can be obtained.

Our physical, occupational, and speech therapists provide therapy services to patients in their home. Our therapists coordinate multi-disciplinary treatment plans with physicians, nurses, and social workers to restore basic mobility skills such as getting out of bed and walking safely with crutches or a walker. As part of the treatment and rehabilitation process, a therapist will stretch and strengthen muscles, test balance and coordination abilities, and teach home exercise programs. Our therapists assist patients and their families with improving and maintaining a patient’s ability to perform functional activities of daily living, such as the ability to dress, cook, clean, and manage other activities safely in the home environment. Our speech and language therapists provide corrective and rehabilitative treatment to patients who suffer from physical or cognitive deficits or disorders that create difficulty with verbal communication or swallowing.

All of our home nursing agencies offer 24-hour personal emergency response system and support services through a third-party service provider ("PERS") for qualified patients who require intensive medical monitoring, but want to maintain an independent lifestyle. These services consist principally of a communicator that connects to the telephone line in the patient’s home and a personal help button worn or carried by the individual patient that, when activated, initiates a telephone call from the patient’s communicator to PERS's central monitoring facilities. Their trained personnel identify the nature and extent of the patient’s particular need and notify the patient’s family members, neighbors, and/or emergency personnel, as needed. We believe our use of this system increases patient satisfaction and loyalty by providing our patients a point of contact between scheduled nursing visits. As a result, we believe that we provide a more complete regimen of care management than our competitors in the markets in which we operate by offering this service to qualified patients as part of their home health plan of care.

Our Medicare-certified hospice operations provide a full range of hospice services designed to meet the individual physical, spiritual, and psychosocial needs of terminally ill patients and their families. Our hospice services are primarily provided in a patient’s home, but can also be provided in a nursing home, assisted living facility, or hospital. The key services provided through our hospice agencies include pain and symptom management accompanied by palliative medication, emotional and spiritual support, inpatient and respite care, homemaker services, dietary counseling, and family bereavement counseling and social worker visits for up to 13 months after a patient’s death.

Our home and community-based operations offer a wide range of services to patients in their home or in a medical facility. The services range from assistance with grooming, medication reminders, meal preparation, assistance with feeding, light housekeeping, respite care, transportation, and errand services.

LTACHs is a reporting unit within our Facility-Based services segment. Our LTACHs treat patients with severe medical conditions who require a high-level of care and frequent monitoring by physicians and other clinical personnel. Patients who receive our services in an LTACH have been diagnosed as being too medically unstable for treatment in a non-acute setting. For example, our LTACHs typically serve patients suffering from respiratory failure, neuromuscular disorders, cardiac disorders, non-healing wounds, renal disorders, cancer, head and neck injuries, and mental disorders. We also treat patients diagnosed with musculoskeletal impairments that restrict their ability to perform normal activities of daily living. As part of our facility-based services, we operate an institutional pharmacy, which focuses on providing a full array of services to our LTACHs, as well as other non-related facilities. We also operate two skilled nursing facilities, family health center, a rural health clinic, a physician practice, and physical therapy providers that staff both facilities and outpatient clinics.

Our HCI segment reports on our developmental activities outside our other business segments.  The HCI segment includes (a) Imperium Health Management, LLC, an ACO enablement and management company, (b) Long Term Solutions, Inc., an in-home assessment company serving the long-term care insurance industry, and (c) certain assets operated by Advanced Care House Calls, which provides primary medical care for patients with chronic and acute illnesses who have difficulty traveling to a doctor’s office. These activities are intended ultimately, whether directly or indirectly, to benefit our patients and/or payors through the enhanced provision of services in our other segments.  The activities all share a common goal of

improving patient experiences and quality outcomes, while lowering costs.  They include, but are not limited to, items such as: technology, information, population health management, risk-sharing, care-coordination and transitions, clinical advancements, enhanced patient engagement and informed clinical decision and technology enabled in-home clinical assessments.

Financial information relating to the home health, hospice, home and community-based, facility-based, and HCI operating segments of our business, including their contributions to our net service revenue, operating income, and total assets for each of the twelve months ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively, is found in Note 11 to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Our facility-based service locations are operated in one segment separated into multiple geographic regions. Our facility-based services, through our LTACHs, follow a clinical approach under which each patient is discussed in weekly, multidisciplinary team meetings. In these meetings, patient progress is assessed and compared to goals and future goals are set. We believe that this model results in higher quality care and more predictable discharge patterns and avoids unnecessary delays.

Our home health service locations use our Service Value Point system, a proprietary clinical resource allocation model and cost management system. The system is a quantitative tool that assigns a target level of resource units to a group of patients based upon their initial assessment and estimated skilled nursing and therapy needs. The Service Value Point system allows the Director of Nursing or Branch Manager to allocate adequate resources throughout the group of patients assigned to his or her care to allow for them to provide the highest quality care possible.

Patient care is coordinated on-site at the agency level of each home health service, hospice service, and home and community-based location. All coding, medical records, case management, utilization review, and medical staff credentialing are provided on-site at the hospital level of each facility-based service location. Centralized functions such as payroll, accounting, financial reporting, billing, collections, regulatory and legal compliance, risk management, information technology, and general clinical oversight accomplished by periodic on-site surveys are provided from our home offices.

Our HCI business lines primarily provide assessments and related services to the long-term care insurance industry and management services to ACOs with over 400,000 Medicare lives under management.

As of December 31, 2020, we had 83 equity joint ventures including 76 with hospital and health systems, which are comprised of over 350 hospitals, four with physicians, and three with other parties.

Our equity joint ventures are generally structured as limited liability companies in which we own a majority equity interest and our partner(s) own(s) a minority equity interest. At the time of formation, each party contributes capital to the equity joint venture in the form of cash or property. We believe that the amount contributed by each party to the equity joint venture represents their pro-rata portion of the fair market value of the equity joint venture, and we maintain processes to confirm and document those determinations. None of our equity joint venture partners are required to make or influence referrals to our equity joint ventures. In fact, agreements with our hospital joint venture partners require that they follow the same Medicare discharge planning regulations that, among other things, require the hospitals to offer each Medicare patient a list of available Medicare-certified home nursing agency options and to allow the patient to choose his or her own provider.

We structure our equity joint ventures as either manager-managed or board-managed. We control our manager-managed joint ventures, since LHC Group, Inc. is typically designated as the manager to oversee the day-to-day operations of the joint venture. We control our board-managed joint ventures, since we typically hold a majority of the votes required to take board action and/or we control the senior officer positions, although a majority of our joint ventures require super majority board approval for certain actions. Our equity joint venture partners participate in the profits and losses of the joint venture in

proportion to their equity interests. Distributions from our equity joint ventures are made pro-rata based on percentage ownership interests and are not based on referrals made to the equity joint venture by any of the partners.

Most of our equity joint ventures include a buy/sell option that grants to us and our equity joint venture partners the right to require the other party to either purchase all of the exercising member’s membership interests or sell to the exercising member all of the non-exercising member’s membership interests, at the non-exercising member’s option, within 30 days of the receipt of notice of the exercise of the buy/sell option. In some instances, the purchase price under these buy/sell provisions is based on a multiple of the historical or future earnings before income taxes, depreciation and amortization of the equity joint venture at the time the buy/sell option is exercised. In other instances, the buy/sell purchase price will be negotiated by the parties but will be subject to a fair market valuation process.

The markets supporting post-acute care are highly fragmented. According to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (“MedPac”), an independent agency that advises Congress on various Medicare issues, there were approximately 11,566 Medicare-certified home nursing agencies in the United States in 2018. MedPac estimated that in 2017 approximately 17% of Medicare-certified home health agencies provided a majority of their services in rural areas, and 88% of agencies were proprietary. MedPac also disclosed that 4,488 hospice agencies were participating in the Medicare Program in 2017. We believe we are well positioned to build and maintain long-term relationships with local hospitals, physicians, and other health care providers and to become the highest quality post-acute provider in our markets. In our experience, because most rural areas do not have the population size to support more than one or two general acute care hospitals, the local community hospital often plays a significant role in rural market health care delivery systems. Rural patients who require home nursing frequently receive care from a small home care agency or an agency that, while owned and run by the local community hospital, is not an area of focus for that hospital. Similarly, patients in these markets who require services typically offered by LTACHs are more likely to remain in the community hospital because it is often the only local facility equipped to deal with severe and complex medical conditions. We choose to enter these rural markets through affiliations with local hospitals, since we typically experience significantly less competition for the services we provide.

As we expand into new markets, we may encounter competitors that have greater resources or greater access to capital. Generally, competition in our home health service markets comes from local and regional providers. These providers include facility- and hospital-based providers, visiting nurse associations, and nurse registries. We are unaware of any competitor offering our breadth of services and focusing on the needs of rural markets.

We believe our diverse service offerings, collaborative approach to working with health care providers, concentrated house of brands market strategy, our size as one of the nation's largest home care providers, business experience gained from focusing on rural markets, and patient-oriented operating model provide our principal competitive advantages over local providers.

The LHC Group Quality Assurance and Performance Improvement Department, overseen by our Chief Clinical Officer, is responsible for formulating quality of care indicators, identifying performance improvement priorities, and facilitating best practices for quality care. Company-wide, we have adopted a “Plan, Do, Check, Act” methodology for our quality/performance improvement activities and initiatives. We also set forth a quality platform that reviews:

The Quality Department is also responsible for ensuring that the infrastructure of the quality initiatives throughout the Company is appropriate, overseeing and evaluating the effectiveness of the quality plans and initiatives, and recommending appropriate quality and performance improvement initiatives.

The Clinical Quality Committee of the Board of Directors is responsible for advising our clinical leadership, monitoring the performance of our locations based on internal and external benchmarks, overseeing and evaluating the effectiveness of the performance improvement and quality plans, facilitating best practices based on internal and external comparisons, and fostering enhanced awareness of clinical performance by the Board of Directors.

As part of our ongoing quality control, internal auditing, and monitoring programs, we conduct internal regulatory audits and mock surveys at each of our agencies and facilities at least once a year. If an agency or facility does not achieve a satisfactory rating, we require that it prepare and implement a plan of correction. We then follow-up to verify that all deficiencies identified in the initial audit and survey have been corrected.

As required under the Medicare conditions of participation, we maintain a continuous quality improvement program, which involves:

We constantly expand and refine our continuous quality improvement programs. Specific written policies, procedures, training, and educational materials and programs, as well as auditing and monitoring activities, have been prepared and implemented to address the functional and operational aspects of our business. Our programs also address specific areas identified for improvement through regulatory interpretation and enforcement activities. We believe our consistent focus on continuous quality improvement programs provide us with a competitive advantage in the markets we serve.

With the October 2020 Home Health Compare update, 82% of our providers were 4 Stars or above for the quality of care rating and 90% of our providers are at or above 4 stars for the HHCAPS (Home Health Care Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) star rating.

We have established and continually maintain a comprehensive compliance and ethics program that is designed to assist all of our employees to exceed applicable standards established by federal and state laws and regulations and industry practice. Our goal is to foster and maintain the highest standards of compliance, ethics, integrity, and professionalism in every aspect of our business dealings, and we utilize our compliance and ethics program to assist our employees toward achieving that goal.

The purpose of our compliance and ethics program is to promote and foster compliance with applicable legal and regulatory requirements, the requirements of the Medicare and Medicaid programs and other government healthcare programs, industry standards, our Code of Conduct and Ethics, and our other policies and procedures that support and enhance overall compliance within our Company. Our compliance and ethics program focuses on regulations related to the federal False Claims Act, the Stark Law, the federal Anti-Kickback Law, billing and overall adherence to health care regulations.

To ensure the independence of our compliance department staff, we have implemented the following:

Among other activities, our compliance department staff is responsible for the following activities:

All employees are required to report incidents, issues or other concerns that they believe in good faith may be in violation of our Code of Conduct and Ethics, our policies and procedures, applicable legal and regulatory requirements or the requirements of the Medicare and Medicaid programs and other government health care programs. All employees are encouraged to either contact our Chief Compliance Officer directly or to contact our 24-hour toll-free compliance hotline when they have questions or concerns about any compliance or ethics issues. All reports to our compliance hotline are kept confidential to the extent allowed by law, and employees have the option to remain anonymous. When cases reported to our compliance hotline involve a compliance or ethics issue or any possible violation of law or regulation, the matter is referred to the compliance department for investigation. Retaliation against employees in connection with reporting compliance or ethical concerns is considered a serious violation of our Code of Conduct and Ethics, and, if it occurs, will result in discipline, up to and including termination of employment.

We continually expand and refine our compliance and ethics programs. We promote a culture of compliance, ethics, integrity and professionalism within the Company through persistent messages from our senior leadership concerning the necessity of strict compliance with legal requirements and company policies and procedures. We believe our consistent focus on our compliance and ethics program provides us with a competitive advantage in the markets we serve.

Technology plays a key role in the day-to-day operation of our business, our ability to grow our business organically and through acquisitions, and in maintaining effective managerial oversight and controls. The technology solutions we use are highly scalable. We believe that our ability to implement, maintain, and leverage our technology solutions provides us with a competitive advantage that allows us to grow our business in a cost-efficient manner and provide better patient care.

Our Service Value Point system is a proprietary information system that assists us in, among other things, monitoring clinical utilization and other cost factors, supporting our health care management techniques, internal benchmarking, clinical analysis, outcomes monitoring and claims generation, revenue cycle management, and revenue reporting at our home nursing agencies. We were issued a patent for our Service Value Point system during 2009 by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. This proprietary home nursing clinical resource and cost management system is a quantitative tool that assigns a target level of resource units to each patient based upon our staff's initial assessment of the patient's estimated skilled nursing and therapy needs. We designed this system to empower our direct care employees to make appropriate day-to-day clinical care decisions while also allowing us to monitor and manage the quality and delivery of care across our system, including the cost of providing that care, on both a patient-specific and agency-specific basis. In 2019, we updated our Service Value Point system for the new PDGM payment system adopted by CMS and other payors.

All of our home nursing and hospice locations utilize our point of care ("POC") system. Our POC system allows a visiting clinician to access records and other information from the patient’s home or at the POC, complete required documentation at the POC and submit it electronically into our patient record system. HomeCare HomeBase is our solution of choice for home health and hospice operations. Currently, all of our home health and hospice locations are using HomeCare HomeBase. All of our home and community-based locations are using Continulink. Our advance practice services utilize eMD’s Aprima solution and our long-term acute care hospitals and skilled nursing facility services utilize WellSky’s HCS solution.

Each of these applications support their respective lines of business and locations with administrative, office, clinical, and operating information system needs, including assisting with the compliance of our operating systems with HIPAA requirements. Each application also assists our staff in gathering information to improve the quality of patient care, optimizing financial performance, promoting regulatory compliance, and enhancing staff efficiency. Each application (with the exception of WellSky’s HCS solution) is hosted by the vendor in a secure data center, with multiple redundancies for storage, power, bandwidth, and security. The WellSky’s HCS solution is hosted at a co-located data center that is managed by the Company.

We have built an enterprise data warehouse that aggregates data from our ERP solution, and various health record/billing systems in use. We use various third-party solutions and several LHC-developed applications to provide historical, current, and forward-looking operational performance analysis. Our dashboards and reports provide high-level and detailed, historical and current, views to measure performance against budget and deliver insights into factors that drive our execution against

our financial, operational, and compliance goals. These dashboards and reports are available in summary and detailed views to accommodate user needs from senior management down to the operators in the field.

We utilize a variety of third-party solutions for human resource management and use their services and products to manage our payroll processing, leave of absence (“LOA”) processes, flexible spending account (“FSA”) administration, time, and attendance. We also utilize third-party solutions for financial management, including budgeting, forecasting, and financial reporting, including but not limited to general ledger, accounts payable, and fixed assets.

We are also deploying solutions across all of our home health, hospice, and home and community-based locations to comply with the requirements for electronic visit verification (“EVV”). In order to comply with current and future state and federal regulations for EVV, we utilize several different solutions. In states with an “open” model, we are able to choose our EVV vendor, and we use Continulink, or HomeCare HomeBase (in partnership with CellTrak) as our preferred EVV solution provider. In “closed” systems where states mandate the EVV vendor, we utilize the state-mandated EVV solution provider. In all cases, we have built interfaces between the EVV solution providers and our electronic health record and billing systems.

Payments from non-governmental payor sources are based on episodic-based rates or per visit based rates depending upon the terms and conditions of the payor. This reimbursement category includes payors such as insurance companies, workers’ compensation programs, health maintenance organizations, preferred provider organizations, other managed care companies and employers, as well as payments received directly from patients.

Patients are generally not responsible for any difference between customary charges for our services and amounts paid by Medicare and Medicaid programs and the non-governmental payors, but are responsible for services not covered by these programs or plans, as well as co-payments for deductibles and co-insurance obligations of their coverage. Patient out-of-pocket costs for the payment of deductibles and co-insurance have increased in recent years. Collection of amounts due from individuals is typically more difficult than collection of amounts due from government or business payors. Because the majority of our billed services are paid in full by Medicare, Medicaid or private insurance, co-payments from patients do not represent a material portion of our billed revenue and corresponding accounts receivable. To further reduce their health care costs, most commercial payors such as insurance companies, health maintenance organizations, preferred provider organizations and other managed care companies have negotiated discounted fee structures or fixed amounts for services performed, rather than paying health care providers the amounts normally billed.

In response to the challenges associated with collecting from commercial payors, we began negotiating higher reimbursement rates with a majority of our commercial payors. As of December 31, 2020, our managed care contracts included over 393 different payors between all of our divisions. If we are unable to continue negotiating higher reimbursement rates with commercial payors, if commercial payor continues to outpace traditional governmental payor growth, or if commercial payors reduce health care costs through reduction in home health reimbursement, it could have a material adverse impact on our financial results.

In addition to state licensing laws, some states require a provider to obtain a certificate of need or permit of approval prior to establishing, constructing, acquiring, or expanding certain health services, operations, or facilities. In these states, approvals are required for capital expenditures exceeding certain amounts that involve certain facilities or services, including home nursing agencies. The certificate of need or permit of approval issued by the state determines the service areas for the applicable agency or program. The following U.S. jurisdictions require certificates of need or permits of approval for home nursing agencies: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Hawaii, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey,

New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. In addition, the states of Louisiana and Mississippi continue to have state issued moratorium on the issuance of new licenses for home nursing agencies that we expect to remain in effect for 2021.

State certificate of need and permit of approval laws generally provide that, prior to the addition of new capacity, the construction of new facilities or the introduction of new services, a designated state health planning agency must determine that a need exists for those beds, facilities, or services. The process is intended to promote comprehensive health care planning, assist in providing high quality health care at the lowest possible cost and avoid unnecessary duplication by ensuring that only needed health care facilities and operations are built and opened.

We are subject to claims and legal actions in the ordinary course of our business. To cover claims that may arise, we maintain commercial insurance for healthcare professional liability, general liability, automobile liability, employed lawyers liability, fiduciary liability, crime liability, information security and privacy liabilities, and workers’ compensation/employer’s liability in amounts that we believe are appropriate and sufficient for our operations. We maintain claims-made healthcare professional liability and occurrence based general liability insurance that provides primary limits of $1.0 million per incident/ occurrence and $3.0 million in annual aggregate amounts. We maintain workers’ compensation insurance that meets state statutory requirements and provides a primary employer liability limit of $1.0 million to cover claims that may arise in the states in which we operate, excluding Washington. Coverage for workers' compensation matters within the State of Washington is procured from the State's respective mandated program. Under our workers’ compensation insurance policies, the Company maintains a deductible of the first $1.0 million in workers' compensation liability. We maintain automobile liability insurance for all owned, hired and non-owned autos with a primary limit of $1.0 million. In addition, we currently maintain multiple layers of umbrella coverage in the aggregate amount of $40.0 million that provides excess coverage for healthcare professional liability, general liability, automobile liability and employer’s liability. We also maintain directors' and officers' liability insurance in the aggregate amount of $65.0 million. The cost and availability of insurance coverage has varied widely in recent years. While we believe that our insurance policies and coverage are adequate for a business enterprise of our type, we cannot guarantee that our insurance coverage is sufficient to cover all future claims or that it will continue to be available in adequate amounts or at a reasonable cost.

For the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, we received 62.1% and 64.1%, respectively, of our net service revenue from Medicare. Reductions in Medicare rates or changes in the way Medicare pays for services could cause our net service revenue and net income to decline, perhaps materially. See Part I, Item 1. Reimbursement in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information regarding reimbursements. Reductions in Medicare reimbursement could be caused by many factors, including:

We receive fixed payments from Medicare for our services based on the level of care provided to our patients. Consequently, our profitability largely depends upon our ability to manage the cost of providing these services. We cannot be assured that reimbursement payments under governmental payor programs, including Medicare, will remain at levels comparable to present levels or will be sufficient to cover the costs allocable to patients eligible for reimbursement pursuant to these programs. Any such changes could have a material adverse effect on our business and consolidated financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows. Medicare currently provides for an annual adjustment of the various payment rates, such as the base episode rate for our home nursing services, based upon the increase or decrease of the medical care expenditure, which may be less than actual inflation. This adjustment could be eliminated or reduced in any given year.

Additionally, CMS proposed changes to the Home Health Prospective Payment System case-mix adjustment methodology through the use of a new PDGM for home health payments. This change was implemented on January 1, 2020, and also includes a change in the unit of payment from a 60-day payment period to a 30-day payment period and eliminates the use of therapy visits in the determination of payments. While the changes are intended to be implemented in a budget-neutral manner to the industry, the ultimate impact will vary by provider based on factors including patient mix and admission source. Additionally, in arriving at the calculation of a rate that is budget-neutral, CMS has made numerous assumptions about behavioral changes. The application of these assumptions could negatively impact our rates of reimbursement and have a material adverse effect on our business and consolidated financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

CMS has instituted a star rating methodology for home health agencies to meet the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's ("PPACA") call for more transparent public information on provider quality. All Medicare-certified home health agencies would be eligible to receive a star rating (from 1 to 5 stars) based on a number of quality measures, such as timely initiation of care, drug education provided to patients, fall risk assessment, depression assessments, improvements in bed transferring, and bathing, among others. The “Quality of Patient Care Star Ratings” were first published in July 2015, and are updated quarterly thereafter based upon new data that is published with the ratings on the “Home Health Compare” section of the medicare.gov website. While we are pleased with the ratings received by our home health agencies and are striving to improve our results, failing to maintain satisfactory star rating scores could affect our rates of reimbursement and have a material adverse effect on our business and consolidated financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

We are subject to various routine and non-routine governmental reviews, audits and investigations. CMS engages third party contractors to conduct additional development request ("ADR") and other third party firms, including zone program integrity contractors ("ZPIC") and recovery audit contractors ("RAC"), to conduct extensive reviews of claims data and non-medical and other records to identify potential improper payments under the Medicare program. In recent years, federal and state civil and criminal enforcement agencies have heightened and coordinated their oversight efforts related to the health care industry, including with respect to referral practices, cost reporting, billing practices, joint ventures and other financial relationships among health care providers. Although we have invested substantial time and effort in implementing policies and procedures to comply with laws and regulations, we could be subject to liabilities arising from violations. A violation of the laws governing our operations, or changes in the interpretation of those laws, could result in the imposition of fines, civil or criminal penalties, and the termination of our rights to participate in federal and state-sponsored programs or the suspension or revocation of our licenses to operate. Our costs to respond to and defend reviews, audits, and investigations may be significant and could have a material adverse effect on our business and consolidated financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows. Moreover, an adverse review, audit, or investigation could result in:

These results could have a material adverse effect on our business and consolidated financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Our agencies and facilities must comply with the extensive conditions of participation in the Medicare program. These conditions of participation vary depending on the type of agency or facility, but, in general, require our agencies and facilities to meet specified standards relating to personnel, patient rights, patient care, patient records, administrative reporting, and legal compliance. If an agency or facility fails to meet any of the Medicare conditions of participation, that agency or facility may receive a notice of deficiency from the applicable state surveyor. If that agency or facility then fails to institute a plan of correction to correct the deficiency within the time period provided by the state surveyor, that agency or facility could be terminated from the Medicare program. We respond in the ordinary course to deficiency notices issued by state surveyors and none of our facilities or agencies have ever been terminated from the Medicare program for failure to comply with the conditions of participation. Any termination of one or more of our agencies or facilities from the Medicare program for failure to satisfy the Medicare conditions of participation could materially and adversely affect our net service revenue and net income.

Following the expiration of exemptions provided under the CARES Act, if our LTACHs fail to meet or maintain the standards for Medicare certification as LTACHs, such as for average minimum patient length-of-stay and restrictions on sources of referral (e.g. the 25 Percent rule), they will receive reimbursement under the prospective payment system applicable to general acute care hospitals rather than the system applicable to long-term acute care hospitals. Payments at rates applicable to general acute care hospitals would likely result in our LTACHs receiving less Medicare reimbursement than they currently receive for their patient services. If any of our LTACHs were subject to payment as general acute care hospitals, our net service revenue and net income would decline.

Overall payments made by Medicare to each hospice provider number (generally corresponding to each of our hospice agencies) are subject to an inpatient cap amount and an overall payment cap amount, which are calculated and published by the Medicare fiscal intermediary on an annual basis covering the period from October 1 through September 30. If payments received under any of our hospice provider numbers exceeds either of these caps, we may be required to reimburse Medicare for payments received in excess of the caps, which could have a material adverse effect on our business and consolidated financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Several of our joint ventures are with hospitals and physicians, which are governed by the federal Anti-Kickback Statute and similar state laws. These anti-kickback statutes prohibit the payment or receipt of anything of value in return for referrals of patients or services covered by governmental health care programs, such as Medicare. The OIG has published numerous safe

harbors that exempt qualifying arrangements from enforcement under the federal Anti-Kickback Statute. We have sought to satisfy as many safe harbor requirements as possible in structuring our joint ventures.

Our ability to expand operations in a state will depend on our ability to obtain a state license to operate. States may have a limit on the number of licenses they issue. For example, Louisiana currently has a moratorium on the issuance of new home nursing agency licenses. We cannot predict whether the moratorium in Louisiana will be extended. In addition, we cannot predict whether any other states in which we operate, or may wish to operate in the future, may adopt a similar moratorium.

We compete with national, regional, and local home nursing and hospice companies, hospitals and other businesses that provide post-acute health care services, some of which are large, established companies that have significantly greater resources than we do. We expect our competitors to develop joint ventures with providers, referral sources, and payors, which could result in increased competition. The introduction by our competitors of new and enhanced service offerings, in combination with industry consolidation and the development of strategic relationships by our competitors, could cause a decline in our net service revenue and loss of market acceptance of our services. Future increases in competition from existing competitors or new entrants may limit our ability to maintain or increase our market share. Additionally, we compete with a number of non-profit organizations that can finance acquisitions and capital expenditures on a tax-exempt basis or receive charitable contributions that are unavailable to us. We may not be able to compete successfully against current or future competitors and competitive pressures may have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Managed care organizations and other third party payors continue to consolidate, which enhances their ability to influence the delivery of health care services. Consequently, the health care needs of patients in the United States are increasingly served by a smaller number of managed care organizations, and these organizations generally enter into service agreements with a limited number of providers. Our business and consolidated financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows could be materially adversely affected if these organizations do not contract with us as a provider and/or engage our competitors as a preferred or exclusive providers. In addition, should private payors, including managed care payors, seek to negotiate additional discounted fee structures or the assumption by health care providers of all or a portion of the financial risk through prepaid capitation arrangements, our business and consolidated financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows could be materially adversely affected.

If we are unable to react competitively to new developments, our operating results may suffer. State certificates of need or permit of approval laws often limit the ability of competitors to enter into a given market, are not uniform throughout the United States and are frequently the subject of efforts to limit or repeal such laws. If states remove existing certificates of need

or permit of approvals, we could face increased competition in these states. There can be no assurances that states will not seek to eliminate or limit their existing certificates of need or permit of approval programs, which could lead to increased competition in these states. Further, we may not be able to compete successfully against current or future competitors, which could have a material adverse effect on our business and consolidated financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

The sources and amounts of our patient revenue are determined by a number of factors, including the mix of patients and the rates of reimbursement among payors. Changes in the case mix of the patients, payment methodologies, or payor mix among private pay, Medicare, and Medicaid may significantly affect our results of operations and cash flows.

We rely on our ability to attract and retain qualified nurses and other health care professionals. The availability of qualified nurses nationwide has declined in recent years and competition for these and other health care professionals has increased, especially under the healthcare and economic crises experienced throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and, therefore, salary and benefit costs have risen accordingly. Our ability to attract and retain nurses and other health care professionals depends on several factors, including our ability to protect our staff during the COVID-19 pandemic by providing adequate personal protective equipment and provide desirable assignments and competitive benefits and salaries. We may not be able to attract and retain qualified nurses or other health care professionals in the future. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we have experienced increased costs to attract and retain qualified skilled nursing and paraprofessional personnel and faced challenges in staffing patient care due to reductions in available work force. If these increased costs of attracting and retaining these professionals and providing them with attractive benefit packages or we are unable to overcome the challenges with workforce availability, our net income could decline. Moreover, if we are unable to attract and retain qualified professionals, the quality of services offered to our patients may decline or our ability to grow may be constrained. In addition, if we expand our operations into geographic areas where health care providers historically have been unionized, or if any of our care center employees become unionized, being subject to a collective bargaining agreement may have a negative impact on our ability to timely and successfully recruit qualified personnel and may increase our operating costs.

Additionally, a number of states require that direct care workers, such as our nurses, receive state-mandated minimum wage and/or overtime pay. Opponents of such policies argue that the new protections will make in-home care more expensive for government programs that pay for such services, and that these new rules and regulations could result in a reduction in covered services. We will continue to evaluate the effect of these various new rules and regulations on our operations.

Our growth strategy involves the acquisition of agencies throughout the United States. These acquisitions involve significant risks and uncertainties, including difficulties integrating acquired personnel and other corporate cultures into our business, the potential loss of key employees or patients of acquired agencies, the delay in payments associated with change in ownership, control, and the internal process of the Medicare fiscal intermediary, and the exposure to unforeseen liabilities of acquired agencies. Additionally, operations that we acquire must be integrated into our various information systems in an efficient and effective manner. If we are unable to integrate and transition any acquired business into our information systems, we could incur unanticipated expenses, suffer disruptions in service, experience regulatory issues, lose revenue from the operation of such business and fail to realize the anticipated benefits of such acquisitions.

In addition, as we continue to expand our markets, our growth could strain our resources, including management, information and accounting systems, regulatory compliance, logistics, and other internal controls. Our resources may not keep pace with our anticipated growth. If we do not manage our expected growth effectively, our future prospects could be affected adversely.

We intend to continue growing through the acquisition of additional home-based and hospice agencies and the formation of joint ventures with hospitals for the operation of home-based and hospice agencies. We face competition for acquisition and joint venture candidates, which may limit the number of acquisition and joint venture opportunities available to us or lead to the payment of higher prices for our acquisitions and joint ventures. We cannot guarantee that we will be able to identify suitable acquisition or joint venture opportunities in the future or that any such opportunities, if identified, will be consummated on favorable terms, if at all. Without successful acquisitions or joint ventures, our future growth rate could decline. In addition, we cannot guarantee that any future acquisitions or joint ventures, if consummated, will result in further growth.

Changes in federal laws or regulations may materially adversely impact our ability to acquire home nursing agencies or open new start-up home nursing agencies. For example, CMS has adopted a regulation known as the “36 Month Rule” that is applicable to home health agency acquisitions. Subject to certain exceptions, the 36 Month Rule prohibits buyers of certain home health agencies - those that either enrolled in Medicare or underwent a change in ownership fewer than 36 months prior to the acquisitions - from assuming the Medicare billing privileges of the acquired agency. Instead, the acquired home health agencies must enroll as new providers with Medicare. As a result, the 36 Month Rule may further increase competition for acquisition targets that are not subject to the rule, and may cause significant Medicare billing delays for the purchases of home health agencies that are subject to the rule.

In conjunction with the Almost Family Merger, we obtained controlling interests in (a) Imperium Health Management, LLC, an Accountable Care Organization ("ACO") enablement and management company, (b) Long Term Solutions, Inc., a provider of in-home nursing assessments for the long-term care insurance industry, and (c) certain assets operated by Advanced Care House Calls, which provides primary medical care for home-bound or home-limited patients with chronic and acute illnesses who have difficulty traveling to a doctor's office. These investments, which make up our HCI segment, are highly speculative, at risk and we may choose to make further investments, all of which may ultimately provide no return and could lead to a total loss of our investment.

Furthermore, portions of our HCI segment compete in new and developing markets with new competitors or solutions developed and introduced to the market regularly. Such new products may capture market share more quickly or may have access to more capital than the capital we have allocated for such projects. Our efforts to bring new solutions to the market may prove unsuccessful, may prove to be unprofitable, or may prove to be costlier to bring to market than anticipated. Our investments in these activities are highly speculative in nature and subject to loss. Specifically, our assessment subsidiary competes with larger, better capitalized competitors, while also being particularly reliant on a small number of large customers, the loss of which could significantly and adversely impact its results.

We depend upon reliable and secure information systems to provide valuable tools by which we manage our business, comply with legal requirements, provide services, and bill and collect for our services. In addition to our Service Value Point system, our business is also substantially dependent on non-proprietary software provided by third-party vendors. For example, we utilize third-party software information systems for billing and maintaining patient claim receivables. Our business also depends on a comprehensive payroll and human resources system for basic payroll functions and reporting, payroll tax reporting, managing wage assignments and garnishments. Our business also supports the use of Electronic Visit Verification ("EVV") to collect visit submission information through our delivery of home and community-based, and we rely on third-party software vendors to provide continual maintenance, enhancements, as well as security of collected data. To the extent that our EVV vendors fail to support these processes, our internal operations could be negatively affected.

Our agencies also depend upon our information systems for accounting, billing, collections, risk management, quality assurance, payroll, education tracking, and operational performance. If we experience a reduction in the performance, reliability, availability, or accuracy of our information systems, our operations and financial performance, and ability to report timely and accurate information, could be adversely affected.

Our systems require constant maintenance, upgrades, and enhancements to preserve system capabilities and security and to meet our operational needs. Our information systems require an ongoing commitment of significant resources to maintain, protect, and enhance existing systems and develop new systems to keep pace with continuing changes in technology, evolving industry and regulatory standards, and changing customer preferences. Problems with, or the failure of, our information systems or software could negatively impact our clinical performance and our management and reporting capabilities. To the extent third-party software vendors fail to support our licensed software or systems, or if we lose our licenses, our operations could be materially and negatively affected. Any significant problems with or failures of our information systems or software could materially and adversely affect our operations and reputation, result in significant costs to us, cause delays in our ability to bill and collect from Medicare or other payors for our services, or impair our data capture, medical documentation, or ability to provide our services in the future. The costs incurred in correcting any errors or problems with our proprietary and non-proprietary software may be substantial and could adversely affect our net income.

Additionally, operations that we acquire must be integrated into our various information systems in an efficient and effective manner. For certain aspects, we rely upon third party contractors to assist us with those activities. If we are unable to integrate and transition any acquired business into our information systems, due to our failures or any failure of our third party contractors, we could incur unanticipated expenses, suffer disruptions in service, experience regulatory issues, and lose revenue from the operation of such business.

Our information systems are networked via public network infrastructure and standards based encryption tools that meet regulatory requirements for transmission of protected health information over such networks. We have built redundancy into our networks and installed privacy protection systems on our network and POC devices to prevent unauthorized access to proprietary, sensitive, and legally protected information. However, our technology may fail to adequately secure the confidential health information and personally identifiable information we maintain in our databases. Additionally, threats from computer viruses, instability of the public network on which our data transit relies, or other instances that might render those networks unstable or disabled would create operational difficulties for us, including difficulties effectively transmitting claims and maintaining efficient clinical oversight of our patients, as well as disrupting revenue reporting and billing and collections management, which could adversely affect our business or operations. If personal information or protected information of our patients, employees, or others with whom we do business is tampered with, stolen, or otherwise improperly

accessed, we may incur fines and penalties associated with the breach of security or be required to take other action in response to judicial or regulatory actions arising out of the incident, including under HIPAA or other judicial acts.

Our information systems are also subject to damage or service interruption due to natural disasters, floods, fires, loss of power, loss of telecommunications connectivity, and other events that may be beyond our immediate control. While we maintain and test various disaster recovery plans and procedures, our failure to successfully implement and execute upon such plans and procedures, and restore the full operational capabilities of our information systems and software in an effective and efficient manner, could have a material adverse effect on the functionality of our information systems and our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows, and cause a possible significant disruption of our operations and services.

We develop and maintain proprietary software systems to collect assessment data, log patient visits, generate medical orders, and monitor treatments and outcomes in accordance with established medical standards. These systems integrate billing and collections functionality as well as accounting, human resource, payroll, and employee benefits programs provided by third parties. Problems with, or the failure of, such technologies and systems could negatively impact data capture, billing, collections, and management and reporting capabilities. Any such problems or failures could adversely affect our operations and reputation, result in significant costs to us, and impair our ability to provide our services in the future. The costs incurred in correcting any errors or problems may be substantial and could adversely affect our profitability.

We have been, and likely will continue to be, subject to attempts of computer hacking, vandalism and theft, malware, computer viruses, ransomware, and other malicious codes, phishing, employee error and malfeasance, catastrophes, unforeseen events, or other cyber-attacks. To date, we have seen no material impact on our business or operations from these attacks or events. Any future significant compromise or breach of our data security, whether external or internal, or misuse of patient, employee, third-party or Company data, could result in significant costs, lost sales, fines, lawsuits, and damage to our reputation. The proliferation of ever-evolving threats mean that we and our third-party service providers and vendors must continually evaluate and adapt our respective systems and processes and overall security environment, as well as those of any operations we acquire, and incur significant expenses on such security measures. There is no guarantee that these measures will be adequate to safeguard against all data security breaches, system compromises, or misuses of data.

A cybersecurity or ransomware attack or other incident that affects our information systems security could cause a security breach that may lead to a material disruption to our information systems infrastructure or business and may involve a significant loss of business or patient health information. If a cybersecurity attack or other unauthorized attempt to access our systems or facilities were to be successful, it could result in the theft, destruction, loss, misappropriation, or release of confidential information or intellectual property, and could cause operational or business delays that may materially impact our ability to provide various healthcare services. Any successful cybersecurity attack or other unauthorized attempt to access our systems or facilities also could result in negative publicity which could damage our reputation or brand with our patients, referral sources, payors, or other third parties and could subject us to substantial sanctions, fines, and damages and other additional civil and criminal penalties under HIPAA, HITECH, the Omnibus Rule and other federal and state privacy laws, in addition to litigation with those affected.

While we provide our employees with training and regular reminders on important measures they can take to prevent breaches or phishing schemes, given the rapidly evolving nature and proliferation of cyber threats, there can be no assurance our training and network security measures or other controls will detect, prevent, or remediate security or data breaches in a timely manner or otherwise prevent unauthorized access to, damage to, or interruption of our systems and operations.

We may be required to expend significant capital and other resources to protect against the threat of security breaches or to alleviate problems caused by breaches, including unauthorized access to patient data and personally identifiable information stored in our information systems, and the introduction of computer viruses or other malicious software programs to our systems, and cyber-attacks, email phishing schemes, malware, and ransomware. Moreover, a security breach, or threat thereof, could require that we expend significant resources to repair or improve our information systems and infrastructure and could distract management and other key personnel from performing their primary operational duties. In the case of a material breach or cyber-attack, the associated expenses and losses may exceed our current insurance coverage for such events. Some adverse consequences are not insurable, such as reputational harm and third-party business interruption. Failure to maintain proper function, security, or availability of our information systems or protect our data against unauthorized access could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position, results of operations, and cash flows.

Our business is characterized by delays in reimbursement, from the time we request payment for our services to the time we receive reimbursement or payment. Beginning in 2021, we can no longer bill for and receive a portion of our estimated reimbursement at the commencement of the 30-day billing period. Instead, we are required to bill for and collect the entirety of our services upon completion of the 30-day billing period, and we expect to be paid within 14 to 17 days from the billing date. If we have information system problems or issues arise with Medicare or other payors, we may encounter further delays in our payment cycle. For example, in the past we have experienced delays resulting from problems arising out of the implementation by Medicare of new or modified reimbursement methodologies or as a result of natural disasters, such as hurricanes. We have also experienced delays in reimbursement resulting from our implementation of new information systems related to our accounts receivable and billing functions.

In addition, timing delays in billings and collections may cause working capital shortages. Working capital management, including prompt and diligent billing and collection, is an important factor in achieving our financial results and maintaining liquidity. It is possible that documentation support, system problems, Medicare, state Medicaid, or other payor issues, or industry trends may extend our collection period, which may materially adversely affect our working capital, and our working capital management procedures may not successfully mitigate this risk.

On an ongoing basis, we review historical net cash realization for Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance revenue that we will not be able to collect. This allows us to calculate the expected loss on our revenue for the period we are reporting. Our implicit price concessions may underestimate actual uncollectible revenue for various reasons, including:

If our implicit price concessions are insufficient to cover losses on our revenue, our business, financial position and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

Financial markets may experience significant disruptions, which could impact liquidity in the debt markets, making financing terms for borrowers less attractive and, in certain cases, significantly reducing the availability of certain types of debt financing. While we have not experienced any individual lender limitations to extend credit under our revolving credit facility, the obligations of each of the lending institutions in our revolving credit facility are independent and the availability of future borrowings under our revolving credit facility could be impacted by further volatility and disruptions in the financial credit markets or other events. Our inability to access our revolving credit facility or refinance the revolving credit facility would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position, results of operations and liquidity.

Based on our current plan of operations, including acquisitions, we believe our existing cash balance, when combined with expected cash flows from operations and amounts available under our revolving credit facility, will be sufficient to fund our growth strategy and to meet our anticipated operating expenses, capital expenditures, and debt service obligations for at least the next 12 months. If our future net service revenue or cash flow from operations is less than we currently anticipate, we may not have sufficient funds to implement our growth strategy. Further, we cannot readily predict the timing, size, and success of

our acquisition and internal development efforts and the associated capital commitments. If we do not have sufficient cash resources, our growth could be limited unless we are able to obtain additional equity or debt financing.

The agreement and instruments governing our revolving credit facility contain, and the agreements and instruments governing future debt agreements may contain various restrictive covenants that, among other things, require us to seek consent or comply with or maintain certain financial tests and ratios in order to:

In addition, events beyond our control could affect our ability to comply with and maintain such financial tests and ratios. Any failure by us to comply with or maintain all applicable financial tests and ratios and to comply with all applicable covenants could result in an event of default with respect to our revolving credit facility or any other future debt agreements. An event of default could lead to the acceleration of the maturity of any outstanding loans and the termination of the commitments to make further extensions of credit. Even if we are able to comply with all applicable covenants, the restrictions on our ability to operate our business at our sole discretion could harm our business by, among other things, limiting our ability to take advantage of financing, mergers, acquisitions and other corporate opportunities.

As of December 31, 2020, we had $1.6 billion of goodwill and intangible assets. We review goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets annually for impairment or whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate potential impairment. The goodwill assessment includes comparing the estimated fair value of each reporting unit to the carrying value of the reporting unit. If we determine that the estimated fair value of our goodwill or intangible assets is less than the applicable book value or carrying value, we could be required to record a non-cash impairment charge to our consolidated statements of operations. Because goodwill and intangible assets represent a significant portion of the assets reflected on our consolidated balance sheets, any future impairment of these assets could result in a non-cash charge to our consolidated statements of operations and have a material adverse effect on our earnings, debt covenants, and ability to access capital.

While our services are not typically sensitive to general declines in the federal and state economies, the erosion in the tax base caused by a general economic downturn has caused, and will likely cause, restrictions on the federal and state governments’ abilities to obtain financing and a decline in spending. As a result, we may face reimbursement rate cuts or reimbursement delays from Medicare and Medicaid and other governmental payors, which could adversely impact our results of operations and cash flows.

Adverse developments in the United States could lead to a reduction in federal government expenditures, including governmentally funded programs in which we participate, such as Medicare and Medicaid. In addition, if at any time the federal government is not able to meet its debt payments unless the federal debt ceiling is raised, and legislation increasing the debt ceiling is not enacted, the federal government may stop or delay making payments on its obligations, including funding for government programs in which we participate, such as Medicare and Medicaid. Failure of the government to make payments under these programs could have a material adverse effect on our business and consolidated financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Further, any failure by the United States Congress to complete the federal budget process and fund government operations may result in a federal government shutdown, potentially causing us to incur substantial costs without reimbursement under the Medicare program, which could have a material adverse effect on our business and consolidated financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Historically, state budget pressures have resulted in reductions in state spending. Given that Medicaid outlays are a significant component of state budgets, we can expect continuing cost containment pressures on Medicaid outlays for our services.

Delaware law and our governing documents contain provisions that may enable our Board of Directors to resist a change in control of us. These provisions include:

In addition, the Company leases two off-campus office buildings in Lafayette, Louisiana, where we occupy 22,571 and 24,416 square feet. We anticipate consolidating activities currently conducted in these two off-campus sites to the principal executive office location once the home office campus expansion project is completed.

Of our operating service locations, eight are owned by us and the remaining locations are in leased facilities. Most of our operating service locations are located in general commercial office space. Generally, the office leases have initial terms ranging from one to five years. Most of the leases either contain multiple options to extend the lease period ranging in one to three year increments or convert to a month-to-month lease upon the expiration of the initial term.

Ten of our LTACHs are HwHs, meaning we have a lease or sublease for space with the host hospital. Generally, our leases or subleases for LTACHs have initial terms of five years, but range from three to ten years. Most of our leases and subleases for our LTACHs contain multiple options to extend the term in the range of one to five year increments.

We believe that our properties and facilities are well maintained and are generally suitable and adequate for the purposes for which they are used.

We provide services in a highly regulated industry and are a party to various proceedings (regulatory and other governmental), and internal audits and investigations in the ordinary course of business (including audits by ZPICs, RACs, and investigations resulting from our obligation to self-report suspected violations of law). We cannot predict the ultimate outcome of any regulatory and other governmental and internal audits and investigations. While such audits and investigations are the subject of administrative appeals, the appeals process, even if successful, may take several years to resolve. The Department of Justice, CMS, or other federal and state enforcement and regulatory agencies may conduct additional investigations related to our businesses in the future. These audits and investigations have caused and could potentially continue to cause delays in collections and recoupments from governmental payors. Currently, the Company has recorded $16.9 million in other assets, which are from government payors related to the disputed finding of pending ZPIC audits. Additionally, these audits may subject us to sanctions, damages, extrapolation of damage findings, additional recoupments, fines, and other penalties (some of which may not be covered by insurance), which may, either individually or in the aggregate, have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition and results of operations.

We are involved in various legal proceedings arising in the ordinary course of business. Although the results of litigation cannot be predicted with certainty, we believe the outcome of pending litigation will not have a material adverse effect, after considering the effect of our insurance coverage, on our consolidated financial information.

agencies, such that, as of December 31, 2020, we operated 827 locations in 35 states within the continental United States and the District of Columbia.

On April 1, 2018, we completed our Merger with Almost Family, whereby Almost Family became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company. The accompanying audited results of operations for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 include the results of Almost Family for the twelve month periods and operations for the year ended December 31, 2018 includes the results of operations for Almost Family for the period April 1, 2018 to December 31, 2018.

Our services are classified into five segments: (1) home health, (2) hospice, (3) home and community-based, (4) facility-based services, offered primarily through our LTACHs, and (5) HCI.

Through our home health services segment we offer a wide range of services, including skilled nursing, medically-oriented social services, and physical, occupational and speech therapy. As of December 31, 2020, we operated 537 home health service locations, of which 322 are wholly-owned by us, 211 are majority-owned or controlled by us through equity joint ventures, two are controlled by us through license lease arrangements, and the remaining two are only managed by us.

Through our hospice services segment, we offer a wide range of services, including pain and symptom management, emotional and spiritual support, inpatient and respite care, homemaker services, and counseling. As of December 31, 2020, we operated 120 hospice locations, of which 56 are wholly-owned by us, 62 are majority-owned by us through equity joint ventures and two, are controlled by us through license lease arrangements.

Through our home and community-based, our services are performed by paraprofessional personnel, and include assistance to elderly, chronically ill, and disabled patients with activities of daily living. As of December 31, 2020, we operated 124 community-based services locations, of which 109 are wholly-owned and 15 are majority-owned through an equity joint venture.

We provide facility-based services principally through our LTACHs. As of December 31, 2020, we operated 11 LTACHs with 12 locations, of which all but three are located within host hospitals. We also operate two skilled nursing facilities, one pharmacy, a rural health clinic, one physician practice, one family health center, and 16 physical therapy clinics. Of these 34 facility-based services locations as of December 31, 2020, 23 are wholly-owned by us and 11 are controlled by us through equity joint ventures.

Our HCI segment reports on our developmental activities outside its other business segments. The HCI segment includes (a) Imperium Health Management, LLC, an ACO enablement and management company, (b) Long Term Solutions, Inc., an in-home assessment company serving the long-term care insurance industry, and (c) certain assets operated by Advanced Care House Calls, which provides primary medical care for patients with chronic and acute illnesses who have difficulty traveling to a doctor’s office. These activities are intended ultimately, whether directly or indirectly, to benefit our patients and/or payors through the enhanced provision of services in our other segments. The activities all share a common goal of improving patient experiences and quality outcomes, while lowering costs. They include, but are not limited to, items such as: technology, information, population health management, risk-sharing, care-coordination and transitions, clinical advancements, enhanced patient engagement and informed clinical decision and technology enabled in-home clinical assessments. We have 12 HCI locations, with 11 being wholly-owned and one controlled by us through an equity joint venture.

The percentage of net service revenue contributed from each reporting segment for the each of the periods ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018 was as follows:

The Affordable Care Act established ACOs as a tool to improve quality and lower costs through increased care coordination in the Medicare fee-for-service ("FFS") program, also known as "Original Medicare." The Medicare FFS program covers approximately 70% of the Medicare recipients or approximately 36 million eligible Medicare beneficiaries. ACOs are typically formed as legal entities by groups of doctors and other healthcare providers who endeavor to work together to provide high quality services and care for their patients through three-year contracts with CMS. Provider and beneficiary participation in an ACO is purely voluntary and Medicare beneficiaries retain their current ability to seek treatment from any provider they wish. Beneficiaries are assigned to ACOs using an "attribution" model based on a plurality of services provided by the primary care physician. Beneficiaries retain the right to use any doctor or hospital who accepts Medicare, at any time.

CMS established the MSSP to facilitate coordination and cooperation among providers to improve the quality of care for Medicare FFS beneficiaries and to reduce costs. Eligible providers, hospitals, and suppliers may participate in the MSSP by creating, participating in or contracting with an ACO. The MSSP is designed to improve beneficiary outcomes and increase value of care by (1) promoting accountability for the care of Medicare FFS beneficiaries, (2) requiring coordinated care for all services provided under Medicare FFS, and (3) encouraging investment in infrastructure and redesigned care processes. The MSSP will reward ACOs that provide healthcare services at a cost for the ACO's patients during a relevant measurement

year that is below the ACO's benchmark costs established by CMS, while also meeting performance standards on quality of care. Under the final MSSP rules, Medicare is to reimburse individual providers and suppliers for specific items and services as Medicare currently does under the FFS payment methodologies. MSSP rules require CMS to develop a benchmark for savings to be achieved by each ACO, if the ACO is to receive shared savings or for ACOs that have elected to accept responsibility for losses. An ACO that meets the program's quality performance standards will be eligible to receive a share of the savings to the extent its assigned beneficiary medical expenditures are below its own medical expenditure benchmark provided by CMS. The Company's HCI services provides specialized management services to ACOs, and in return, the Company shares in any MSSP payments received by the ACO.

This section of this Annual Report on Form 10-K generally discusses 2020 and 2019 items and year-to-year comparisons between 2020 and 2019. Discussions of 2018 items and year-to-year comparisons between 2019 and 2018 that are not included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K can be found in "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in Part II, Item 7 of the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019 filed on February 27, 2020.

The decrease in our consolidated net service revenue in 2020 as compared to 2019 was due to several factors. Our home health revenue per episode decreased due to the 4.3% behavioral adjustment associated with the implementation of PDGM during 2020. In addition, COVID-19 caused our Medicare reimbursement to decline. The Medicare reimbursement was negatively impacted from the increase in LUPAs, a decrease in patient acuity, and a decrease in institutional admissions. Patient volumes declined in our home and community-based segment due to the continued impact of COVID-19.

Consolidated income tax expense for the year ended December 31, 2020 was $36.0 million compared to $26.6 million for the same period in 2019. The increase in income tax expense was primarily attributable to the increase in our results of operations in 2020 as compared to 2019.

Effective January 1, 2020, PDGM became the new payment model for the services provided to Medicare patients with dates of service on or after the effective date, including certain Medicare Advantage patients. Under PDGM, the initial certification of Medicare patient eligibility, plan of care, and comprehensive assessment is for a 60-day episode of care; however, unlike the former Medicare prospective payment system ("PPS"), where each 60-day episode of care could not be final billed until the episode was completed, PDGM provides for each 30-day period within the episode of care to be final billed upon completion.

We record revenue based upon the date of service at amounts equal to the estimated payment rates. We receive one of four predetermined daily rates based upon the level of care provided by us, which can be routine care, general inpatient care, continuous home care and respite care. There are two separate payment rates for routine care: payments for the first 60 days of care and care beyond 60 days. In addition to the two routine rates, we may also receive a service intensity add-on (“SIA”). The SIA is based on visits made in the last seven days of life by a registered nurse or medical social worker for patients in a routine level of care.

Gross revenue is recorded as services are provided under the LTACH prospective payment system. Each patient is assigned a long-term care diagnosis-related group. Payments are made at a predetermined fixed amount intended to reflect the average cost of treating a Medicare LTACH patient classified in that particular long-term care diagnosis-related group. For selected LTACH patients, the amount may be further adjusted based on length-of-stay and facility-specific costs, as well as in instances where a patient is discharged and subsequently re-admitted, among other factors. We calculate the adjustments based on historical averages of these types of adjustments for LTACH claims paid. Similar to other Medicare prospective payment systems, the rate is also adjusted for geographic wage differences. Net service revenue adjustments resulting from reviews and audits of Medicare cost report settlements are considered implicit price concessions for LTACHs and are measured at expected value.

Other sources of net service revenue for all our segments fall into Medicaid, managed care or other payors of our services. Our Medicaid reimbursement is based on a predetermined fee schedule applied to each service provided. Therefore, revenue is recognized for Medicaid services as services are provided based on this fee schedule. Our managed care and other payors reimburse us based upon a predetermined fee schedule or an episodic basis, depending on the terms of the applicable contract. Accordingly, we recognize revenue from managed care and other payors as services are provided, such costs are incurred, and estimates of expected payments are known for each different payor, thus our revenue is recorded at the estimated transaction price.

The Company’s HCI segment provides strategic health management services to ACOs that have been approved to participate in the MSSP.  The HCI segment has service agreements with ACOs that provide for sharing of MSSP payments received by the ACO, if any.  ACOs are legal entities that contract with CMS to provide services to the Medicare fee-for-service population for a specified annual period with the goal of providing better care for individuals, improving health for populations and lowering costs.  ACOs share savings with CMS to the extent that the actual costs of serving assigned beneficiaries are below certain trended benchmarks of such beneficiaries and certain quality performance measures are achieved.  The generation of shared savings is the performance obligation of each ACO, which only become certain upon the final issuance of unembargoed calculations by CMS, generally in the third quarter of each year. During the year ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, the HCI segment recorded net service revenue of $9.6 million and $2.9 million, respectively, related to the 2019 and 2018 ACO respective service periods, as certain ACO's served by the HCI segment received unembargoed calculations from CMS confirming the performance obligation had been met.

The Company maintains disclosure controls and procedures that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by the Company in the reports filed or submitted under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to the Company’s management, including its Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

Under the supervision and with the participation of the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, the Company's management evaluated the effectiveness of the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures as of December 31, 2020. The term “disclosure controls and procedures,” as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) under the Exchange Act, means controls and other procedures of an issuer that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by an issuer in the reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act, is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported, within the time periods specified in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s rules and forms. Disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by an issuer in the reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to the issuer’s management, including its principal executive and principal financial officers, or persons performing similar functions, as appropriate to

allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure. Management recognizes that any controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance of achieving their objectives and management necessarily applies its judgment in evaluating the cost-benefit relationship of possible controls and procedures. Based on that evaluation, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and its Chief Financial Officer concluded that the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures were effective as of December 31, 2020.

The attestation report of KPMG LLP, the independent registered public accounting firm that audited the financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, is included herein.

There have not been any changes in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting, as such term is defined in Rule 13a-15(f) of the Exchange Act, during the Company’s fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2020 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, the Company’s internal control over financial reporting.

Basis for Opinion

Definition and Limitations of Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

The information required by this Item 10 regarding our directors and executive officers is incorporated by reference from the information contained under the heading “Information About Directors, Nominees and Management” in the definitive Proxy Statement relating to the Company’s 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.

The information required by this Item 10 regarding compliance with Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act is incorporated by reference from the information contained under the heading “Section 16(a) Beneficial Ownership Reporting Compliance” in the definitive Proxy Statement relating to the Company’s 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.

The information required by this Item 10 regarding our corporate governance Nominating Committee and Audit Committee is incorporated by reference from the information contained under the heading “The Board of Directors and Corporate Governance” in the definitive Proxy Statement relating to the Company’s 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.

The following table provides information as of December 31, 2020, regarding shares of common stock that may be issued under the Company's existing equity compensation plans:

(1) Includes 1,873,199 shares remaining available for issuance under the LHC Group, Inc. 2018 Long-Term Incentive Plan (all of which are available for issuance pursuant to grants of full-value stock awards) and 118,136 shares remaining available for issuance under the Amended and Restated LHC Group, Inc.'s 2006 Employee Stock Purchase Plan.