PART II - OTHER INFORMATION
Item 1. Legal Proceedings
We expect that audits, inquiries and investigations from government authorities and agencies will occur in the ordinary course of business. Such audits, inquiries and investigations and their ultimate resolutions, individually or in the aggregate, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and the trading price of our securities.
In the ordinary course of our business, we become involved in pending and threatened legal actions and proceedings, most of which involve claims of medical malpractice related to medical services provided by our affiliated physicians. Our contracts with hospitals generally require us to indemnify them and their affiliates for losses resulting from the negligence of our affiliated physicians and other clinicians. We may also become subject to other lawsuits that could involve large claims and significant defense costs. We believe, based upon a review of pending actions and proceedings, that the outcome of such legal actions and proceedings will not have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows or the trading price of our securities. The outcome of such actions and proceedings, however, cannot be predicted with certainty and an unfavorable resolution of one or more of them could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and the trading price of our securities.
Although we currently maintain liability insurance coverage intended to cover professional liability and certain other claims, we cannot assure that our insurance coverage will be adequate to cover liabilities arising out of claims asserted against us in the future where the outcomes of such claims are unfavorable to us. With respect to professional liability risk, we self-insure a significant portion of this risk through our wholly owned captive insurance subsidiary. Liabilities in excess of our insurance coverage, including coverage for professional liability and certain other claims, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and the trading price of our securities.
On July 10, 2018, a securities class action lawsuit was filed against our company and certain of our officers and a director in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida (Case No.
that purports to state a claim for alleged violations of Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Exchange Act, and Rule
10b-5
thereunder, based on statements made by the defendants primarily concerning our former anesthesiology business. The complaint was seeking unspecified damages, interest, attorneys’ fees and other costs. We filed a motion to dismiss in April 2019, which was granted in October 2019; however, the plaintiff filed a second amended complaint on October 25, 2019. On November 25, 2019, we filed a motion to dismiss the second amended complaint, and on February 7, 2020 a final order granting our motion to dismiss the second amended complaint with prejudice was issued.
On March 20, 2019, a separate derivative action was filed by plaintiff Beverly Jackson on behalf of MEDNAX, Inc. against MEDNAX, Inc. and certain of its officers and directors in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit in and for Broward County, Florida (Case Number
The plaintiff purported to bring suit derivatively on behalf of our company against certain of our officers and directors for breach of fiduciary duties and unjust enrichment. The derivative complaint repeated many of the allegations in the securities class action described above. We filed a motion to dismiss in December 2019, and on March 16, 2020, an order granting our motion to dismiss without prejudice was issued. On April 6, 2020, the plaintiff filed an amended complaint, and on April 30, 2020, we filed a motion to dismiss the amended complaint. On September 24, 2020, our motion to dismiss was granted, but the plaintiff was granted 20 days to amend their complaint, and on October 14, 2020, the plaintiff filed a second amended complaint. We filed our motion to dismiss the second amended complaint on October 26, 2020.
Item 1A. Risk Factors in our most recent Annual Report on Form
10-K
includes a discussion of our risk factors. The information presented below updates, and should be read in conjunction with, the risk factors disclosed in our most recent Annual Report on Form
10-K.
Except as presented below, there have been no material changes to the risk factors disclosed in our most recent Annual Report on Form
10-K.
Our financial condition and results of operations for fiscal year 2020 and beyond may be materially adversely affected by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic
(COVID-19).
The outbreak of
COVID-19
has evolved into a global pandemic. The coronavirus has spread to most regions of the world, including virtually all of the United States. The full extent to which
COVID-19
will impact our business and operating results will depend on future developments that are highly uncertain and cannot be accurately predicted, including new information that may emerge concerning
COVID-19
and the actions to contain it or treat its impact, such as the potential for further shutdown or stay at home orders, and shifts toward GHC Programs if changes occur in population demographics within geographic locations in which we provide services, including an increase in unemployment and underemployment as well as losses of commercial health insurance.
Our anesthesiology services medical group, which we divested on May 6, 2020, experienced a significant decline in the number of elective surgeries at a number of the facilities where its affiliated clinicians provide anesthesia services as a result of
COVID-19.
A significant portion of this decline was due to the closure of operating suites or facilities following federal advisories to cancel
non-urgent
procedures and the prohibition of such procedures by several states. Within our radiology services medical group, which in September 2020 we entered into an agreement to divest, orders for radiological studies declined by a meaningful amount from historically normal levels as a result of
COVID-19,
with much of this reduction focused in
non-urgent
studies. Additionally, our office-based practices, which specialize in maternal-fetal medicine, pediatric cardiology, and numerous pediatric subspecialties, saw a significant elevation of appointment cancellations compared to historical normal levels as a result of
COVID-19.
To date, we have not experienced, nor do we currently anticipate, any significant impact to our NICU patient volumes as a result of
COVID-19,
however, there is no assurance that
COVID-19
will not adversely affect our NICU patient volumes or otherwise adversely affect our NICU and related neonatology business. Overall, our operating results since
mid-March
2020 have been significantly impacted by the
COVID-19
pandemic, but volumes did begin to normalize in May 2020 and substantially recovered during the months of June 2020 through September 2020.