Third-Party Reimbursement
Our fees are primarily paid directly by our customers rather than through direct reimbursement from third-party payors, such as Medicare or Medicaid. We do not bill the patient, the insurer or other third-party payors directly for services provided for hospital or alternate site provider inpatients or outpatients. Sometimes our customers are eligible to receive third-party reimbursement for our services. Consequently, the reimbursement policies of such third-party payors have a direct effect on the ability of healthcare providers to pay for our services and an indirect effect on our level of charges. Also, in certain circumstances, third-party payors may take regulatory or other action against service providers even though the service provider does not receive direct reimbursement from third-party payors.
Hospitals and alternate site providers face cost containment pressures from public and private insurers and other managed care providers, such as health maintenance organizations, preferred provider organizations and managed fee-for-service plans, as these organizations continue to place controls on the reimbursement and utilization of healthcare services. We believe that these payors have followed or will follow the government in limiting the services that are reimbursed and in exerting downward pressure on prices. In addition to promoting managed care plans, employers are increasingly self-funding their benefit programs and shifting costs to employees through increased deductibles, co-payments and employee contributions. Hospitals and healthcare facilities are also experiencing an increase in uncompensated care or “charity care,” which causes increased economic pressures on these organizations. We believe that these cost reduction efforts will place additional pressures on healthcare providers’ operating margins and will encourage efficient equipment management practices such as the use of our outsourcing and 360 on-site managed solutions.
Liability and Insurance
Our business entails the risk of claims related to the manufacturing, outsourcing, sale and service of medical equipment. In addition, our instruction of hospital and alternate site provider employees with respect to the use of equipment and our professional consulting services are sources of potential claims. We have not suffered a material loss due to a claim. However, any such claim, if made, could have a material adverse effect on our business. While we do not currently provide any services that require us to work directly with patients, expansion of services in the future could involve such activities and subject us to claims from patients.
We maintain a number of insurance policies, including commercial general liability coverage (product and premises liability insurance), automobile liability insurance, worker’s compensation insurance and professional liability insurance. We also maintain excess liability coverage. Our policies are subject to annual renewal. We believe that our current insurance coverage is adequate. Claims exceeding such coverage may be made and we may not be able to continue to obtain liability insurance at acceptable levels of cost and coverage.
Facilities
Our corporate headquarters are in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where we lease 55,197 square feet of office space as of December 31, 2021. We also have domestic offices in Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Road Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
We lease all of our facilities. We believe that our facilities are adequate for our current needs and anticipate that suitable additional space will be readily available to accommodate any foreseeable expansion of our operations.
Our Principal Stockholder
Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P., our principal stockholder, is an affiliate of Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P. (“THL”). THL is a premier private equity firm that invests in middle market growth companies, headquartered primarily in North America, exclusively in three sectors: Financial Services, Healthcare and Technology & Business Solutions. The firm couples its deep sector expertise with dedicated internal operating resources to transform and build great companies of