Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

American CareSource Holdings, Inc. (“ACS,” “Company,” the “Registrant,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) is an ancillary services company that offers cost effective access to a comprehensive national network of ancillary healthcare service providers. The Company sells its services to a number of healthcare companies including preferred provider organizations ("PPOs"), third party administrators (“TPAs”), insurance companies, large self-funded organizations and various employee groups. The Company offers payors this solution by:


•	lowering its payors’ ancillary care costs throughout our network of high quality, cost effective providers that the Company has under contract at more favorable terms than they could generally obtain on their own; generally we provide our payor clients with 8-12% incremental savings on their ancillary healthcare services expenditures;


•	providing payors with a comprehensive network of ancillary healthcare services providers that is tailored to each payor’s specific needs and is available to each payor’s covered persons for covered services;


•	providing payors with claims management, reporting and processing and payment services;


•	performing network/needs analysis to assess the benefits to payors of adding additional/different service providers to the payor -specific provider networks; and


•	credentialing network service providers for inclusion in the payor -specific provider networks.

Basis of Presentation

The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company and its one wholly-owned subsidiary, Ancillary Care Services, Inc. All material intercompany accounts and transactions are eliminated in consolidation.

Cash and Cash Equivalents

The Company considers all highly-liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less to be cash equivalents. Cash and cash equivalents include amounts in deposit accounts in excess of federally insured limits of $250,000. The Company has not experienced any losses in such accounts.

Revenue Recognition

The Company recognizes revenue on the services that it provides, which includes (i) providing payor clients with a comprehensive network of ancillary healthcare providers, (ii) providing claims management, reporting, processing and payment services, (iii) providing network/need analysis to assess the benefits to payor clients of adding additional/different service providers to the client-specific provider networks and (iv) providing credentialing of network services providers for inclusion in the client payor-specific provider networks. Revenue is recognized when services are delivered, which occurs after processed claims are billed to the client payors and collections are reasonably assured. The Company estimates revenues and costs of revenues using average historical collection rates and average historical margins earned on claims. Periodically, revenues are adjusted to reflect actual cash collections so that revenues recognized accurately reflect cash collected.

The Company determines whether it is acting as a principal or agent in the fulfillment of the services rendered. After careful evaluation of the key gross and net revenue recognition indicators, the Company acknowledges that while the determination of gross versus net reporting is highly judgmental in nature, the Company has concluded that its circumstances are most consistent with those key indicators that support gross revenue reporting.

Following are the key indicators that support the Company’s conclusion that it acts as a principal when settling claims for service providers through its contracted service provider network:

•

The Company is the primary obligor in the arrangement. The Company has assessed its role as primary obligor as a strong indicator of gross reporting. The Company believes that it is the primary obligor in its transactions because it is responsible for providing the services desired by its client payors. The Company has distinct, separately negotiated contractual relationships with its client payors and with the ancillary health care providers in its networks. The Company does not negotiate “on behalf of” its client payors and does not hold itself out as the agent of the client payors when negotiating the terms of the Company’s ancillary healthcare service provider agreements. The Company’s agreements contractually prohibit client payors and service providers to enter into direct contractual relationships with one another. The client payors have no control over the terms of the Company’s agreements with the service providers. In executing transactions, the Company assumes key performance-related risks. The client payors hold the Company responsible for fulfillment, as the provider, of all of the services the client payors are entitled to under their contracts; client payors do not look to the service providers for fulfillment. In addition, the Company bears the pricing/margin risk as the principal in the transactions. Because the contracts with the client payors and service providers are separately negotiated, the Company has complete discretion in negotiating both the prices it charges its client payors and the financial terms of its agreements with the service providers. Since the Company’s profit is the spread between the amounts received from the client payors and the amount paid to the service providers, it bears significant pricing/margin risk. There is no guaranteed mark-up payable to the Company on the amount the Company has contracted. Thus, the Company bears the risk that amounts paid to the service provider will be greater than the amounts received from the client payors, resulting in a loss or negative claim.


•	The Company has latitude in establishing pricing. As stated above, the Company has complete latitude in negotiating the price to be paid to the Company by each client payor and the price to be paid to each contracted service provider. This type of pricing latitude indicates that the Company has the risks and rewards normally attributed to a principal in the transactions.

•

The Company changes the product or performs part of the services. The Company provides the benefits associated with the relationships it builds with the client payors and the services providers. While the parties could deal with each other directly, the client payors would not have the benefit of the Company’s experience and expertise in assembling a comprehensive network of service providers, in claims management, reporting and processing and payment services, in performing network/needs analysis to assess the benefits to client payors of adding additional/different service providers to the client payor-specific provider networks, and in credentialing network service providers.

•

The Company has discretion in supplier selection. The Company has complete discretion in supplier selection. One of the key factors considered by client payors who engage the Company is to have the Company undertake the responsibility for identifying, qualifying, contracting with and managing the relationships with the ancillary healthcare service providers. As part of the contractual arrangement between the Company and its client payors, the payors identify their obligations to their respective covered persons and then work with the Company to determine the types of ancillary healthcare services required in order for the payors to meet their obligations. The Company may select the providers and contract with them to provide services at its discretion.

•

The Company is involved in the determination of product or service specifications. The Company works with its client payors to determine the types of ancillary healthcare services required in order for the payors to meet their obligations to their respective covered persons. In some respects, the Company is customizing the product through its efforts and ability to assemble a comprehensive network of providers for its payors that is tailored to each payor’s specific needs. In addition, as part of its claims processing and payment services, the Company works with the client payors, on the one hand, and the providers, on the other, to set claims review, management and payment specifications.


•	The supplier (and not the Company) has credit risk. The Company believes it has some level of credit risk, but that risk is mitigated because the Company does not remit payment to providers unless and until it has received payment from the relevant client payors following the Company’s processing of a claim.


•	The amount that the Company earns is not fixed. The Company does not earn a fixed amount per transaction nor does it realize a per-person per-month charge for its services.

The Company has evaluated the other indicators of gross and net revenue recognition, including whether or not the Company has general inventory risk. The Company does not have any general inventory risk, as its business is not related to the manufacture, purchase or delivery of goods and it does not purchase in advance any of the services to be provided by the ancillary healthcare service providers. While the absence of this risk would be one indicator in support of net revenue reporting, as described in detail above, the Company has carefully evaluated all of the key gross and net revenue recognition indicators and has concluded that its circumstances are most consistent with those key indicators that support gross revenue reporting.

If the Company were to report its revenues net of provider payments rather than on a gross reporting basis, for the years ended December 31, 2011 and December 31, 2010, its net revenues would have been $11.3 million and $15.4 million, respectively.

The Company records a provision for refunds based on an estimate of historical refund amounts. Refunds are paid to payors for overpayments on claims, claims paid in error, and claims paid for non-covered services. In some instances, we will recoup payments made to the ancillary service provider if the claim has been fully resolved. The evaluation is performed periodically and is based on historical data. We present revenue net of the provision for refunds on the consolidated statement of operations.

Provider Payments

Payments to providers is the largest component of our cost of revenues and it consists of our payments for ancillary care services in accordance with contracts negotiated separately with providers for specific ancillary services.

Use of Estimates

The preparation of the financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual amounts could differ from those estimates.

Property and Equipment

Property and equipment are recorded at original cost and increased by the cost of any significant improvements subsequent to purchase. The Company expenses repairs and maintenance as incurred. Depreciation and amortization is calculated using the straight-line method over the shorter of the asset’s estimated useful life or the term of the lease in the case of leasehold improvements. The Company capitalizes costs associated with software developed for internal use. During 2011 and 2010, we capitalized approximately $611,000 and $402,000 of internally developed software costs, respectively.

Research and Development

Research and development costs are expensed as incurred.

Income Taxes

Income taxes are accounted for under the asset and liability method. Deferred taxes arise because of different treatment between financial statement accounting and tax accounting, known as “temporary differences”. The Company records the tax effect of these temporary differences as “deferred tax assets” (generally items that can be used as a tax deduction or credit in the future periods) and “deferred tax liabilities” (generally items that we received a tax deduction for, which have not yet been recorded in the statement of operations). The deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using enacted tax rules and laws that are expected to be in effect when the temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled. A valuation allowance is established to reduce deferred tax assets considered to be more likely than not that the deferred tax assets will not be realized.

Stock Compensation

The Company records all stock-based payments to employees in the consolidated financial statements based on their estimated fair values as of the measurement date of the respective awards. Additional information about the Company’s stock-based payment plan is presented in Note 8.

Segment and Related Information

The Company uses the “management approach” for reporting information about segments in our annual and interim financial statements. The management approach is based on the way the chief operating decision-maker organizes segments within a company for making operating decisions and assessing performance. Reportable segments are based on products and services, geography, legal structure, management structure and any other manner in which management disaggregates a company. Based on the “management approach” model, the Company determined that our business is comprised of a single operating segment.

Fair Value of Financial Instruments

The Company’s financial instruments consist primarily of cash and cash equivalents, accounts receivable, accounts payable and accrued expenses. The fair value of instruments is determined by reference to various market data and other valuation techniques, as appropriate. Unless otherwise disclosed, the fair value of short-term financial instruments approximates their recorded values due to the short-term nature of the instruments.