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Commitments and Contingencies
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2022
Commitments And Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Commitments and Contingencies

NOTE 11. COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

Regulatory Matters

Laws and regulations governing federal Medicare and state Medicaid programs are complex and subject to interpretation. Compliance with such laws and regulations can be subject to future governmental review and interpretation as well as significant regulatory action including fines, penalties, and exclusion from certain governmental programs. As of June 30, 2022, all of the Company’s facilities operated by Regional or leased and subleased to third-party operators and managed for third-parties are certified by CMS and are operational. See Note 6 - Leases.

Legal Matters

The Company is a party to various legal actions and administrative proceedings and is subject to various claims arising in the ordinary course of business, including claims that the services the Company provided during the time it operated SNFs resulted in injury or death to the patients of the Company’s facilities and claims related to professional and general negligence, employment, staffing requirements and commercial matters. Although the Company intends to vigorously defend itself in these matters, there is no assurance that the outcomes of these matters will not have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, results of operations and financial condition.

The Company previously operated, and the Company and its tenants now operate, in an industry that is highly regulated. As such, in the ordinary course of business, the Company and its tenants are continuously subject to state and federal regulatory scrutiny, supervision and control. Such regulatory scrutiny often includes inquiries, investigations, examinations, audits, site visits and surveys, some of which are non-routine. In addition, the Company believes that there has been, and will continue to be, an increase in governmental investigations of long-term care providers, particularly in the area of Medicare and Medicaid false claims, as well as an increase in enforcement actions resulting from these investigations. Adverse determinations in legal proceedings or governmental investigations against or involving the Company or its tenants, whether currently asserted or arising in the future, could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, results of operations and financial condition.

Professional and General Liability Claims

Claims on behalf of the Company’s Former Patients Prior to the Transition

As of June 30, 2022, the Company is a defendant in one professional and general liability action commenced on behalf of one of our former patients who received care at one of our facilities prior to the Transition. The plaintiff in this action alleges negligence due to failure to provide adequate and competent staff resulting in injuries, pain and suffering, mental anguish and malnutrition and seeks unspecified actual and compensatory damages, and unspecified punitive damages. This action is covered by insurance, except that any punitive damages awarded would be excluded from coverage.

Claims on behalf of the Company’s Prior or Current Tenant’s Former Patients after the Transition

 

As of June 30, 2022, the Company is a defendant in an aggregate of 10 additional professional and general liability actions. These 10 additional professional and general liability actions were commenced on behalf of former patients of our current or prior tenants. These actions generally seek unspecified compensatory and punitive damages for former patients who were allegedly injured or died due to professional negligence or understaffing at the applicable facility operated by our tenants. These actions all relate to events which occurred after the Company transitioned the operations of the facilities in question to a third-party operator (and of which four such actions relate to events which occurred after the Company sold such facilities) and are subject to such operators’ indemnification obligations in favor of the Company. There is no assurance that our tenants will have sufficient assets, income, access to financing and insurance coverage to enable them to satisfy their respective indemnification obligations.

As of June 30, 2022, the Company is a defendant in an aggregate of 13 professional and general liability actions which set forth claims relating to time periods after the Transition, on behalf of former patients of our current or prior tenants.

During the six months ended June 30, 2022, the following professional and general liability action (included in the 10 actions mentioned above) related to our current or former tenant’s former patients were filed against the Company.

On February 8, 2022, a negligence action was filed in the State of South Carolina, County of Sumter, in the Court of Common Pleas for the Third Judicial Circuit, by Ronald and Sarah Ross against affiliates of Symmetry Health Management (“Symmetry” or “Symmetry Healthcare”) and the Company, on behalf of, and alleging the wrongful sexual assault of a patient at the facility known as Blue Ridge of Sumter, which is operated by an affiliate of Symmetry. The plaintiff is seeking an unspecified amount actual damages, consequential damages, and punitive damages to be decided by Jury trial. The Company is indemnified by affiliates of Symmetry in this action. The Company believes that this action lacks merit against the Company and the Company intends to take action most favorable to the Company. There is no guarantee that the Company will prevail in this action.

Dismissed Claims on behalf of the Company’s Prior or Current Tenant’s Former Patients after the Transition

On January 10, 2022, the State Court of Gwinnett County granted our motion to dismiss the Company and the Company’s Chief Executive Officer from a medical negligence and wrongful death action filed in the State Court of Gwinnett County, Georgia, against Wellington, other legal entities unaffiliated with the Company, the Company, and the Company’s Chief Executive Officer.

 

On January 13, 2022, the State Court of Chatham County, Georgia dismissed with prejudice a wrongful death action was filed on July 27, 2020, by Jerold Kaplan against affiliates of Peach Health and the Company, on behalf of, and alleging the wrongful death of a patient at the facility known as Oceanside Health and Rehab, which is operated by an affiliate of Peach Health. On July 27, 2020, The plaintiff is seeking an amount in excess of $10,000 for pain and suffering and damages and an unspecified amount of punitive damages. The Company was indemnified by affiliates of Peach Health in this action.

On February 24, 2022, the Superior Court of Laurens County State of Georgia dismissed with prejudice the civil action against Southland Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center et al, and all parties were released.

The Company established a self-insurance reserve for its professional and general liability claims, included within Accrued expenses on the Company’s consolidated balance sheets of $0.1 million and $0.2 million as of June 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021, respectively. Additionally, as of June 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021, $0.1 million and $0.1 million, respectively, was reserved for settlement amounts in Accounts payable on the Company’s consolidated balance sheets. For additional information regarding the Company’s self-insurance reserve, see Note 14 – Commitments and Contingencies in Part II, Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, included in the Annual Report.