adus-10k_20211231.htm

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act. Yes ☐ No ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer”, “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

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Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act) Yes ☐ No ☒

The aggregate market value of the voting and non-voting common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant, based on the last sale price on The Nasdaq Global Market on June 30, 2021 (the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter) was approximately $1,364,290,000.

As of February 18, 2022, there were 15,952,001 shares of common stock outstanding.

When included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, or in other documents that we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) or in statements made by or on behalf of the Company, words like “believes,” “belief,” “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “projects,” “estimates,” “may,” “might,” “would,” “should,” and similar expressions are intended to be forward-looking statements as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on the beliefs and assumptions of our management based on information currently available to management. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other important factors that could cause actual results and the timing of certain events to differ materially from future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to:

Because forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, some of which cannot be predicted or quantified, you should not rely on any forward-looking statement as a prediction of future events. We expressly disclaim any obligation or undertaking and we do not intend to release publicly any updates or changes in our expectations concerning the forward-looking statements or any changes in events, conditions or circumstances upon which any forward-looking statement may be based, except as required by law. For a discussion of some of the factors discussed above as well as additional factors, see Part I, Item 1A—“Risk Factors” and Part II, Item 7—“Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates.”

Unless otherwise provided, “Addus,” “we,” “us,” “our,” and the “Company” refer to Addus HomeCare Corporation and our consolidated subsidiaries and “Holdings” refers to Addus HomeCare Corporation. When we refer to 2021, 2020 and 2019, we mean the twelve month period then ended December 31, unless otherwise provided.

A copy of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021 as filed with the SEC, including all exhibits, is available on our internet website at http://www.addus.com on the “Investors” page link. Information contained on, or accessible through, our website is not a part of, and is not incorporated by reference into, this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Addus has been providing home care services since 1979. We operate three segments: personal care, hospice, and home health. Our services are principally provided in-home under agreements with federal, state and local government agencies, managed care organizations, commercial insurers and private individuals. Our consumers are predominantly “dual eligible,” meaning they are eligible to receive both Medicare and Medicaid benefits.

As of December 31, 2021, we provided services in 22 states through approximately 206 offices. For the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, we served approximately 67,000 and 66,000 discrete consumers, respectively.

We continue to drive organic growth while also growing through acquisitions, focusing on growth in the states in which we have a presence while adding clinical care services to our offerings. As of December 31, 2021, we provide all three levels of care, personal care, home health and hospice services, in Ohio and New Mexico and strategically continue to pursue other markets.

	For the Years Ended December 31,
	2021		2020
	(Amounts in Thousands)
Personal care	$	685,854	$	647,233
Hospice		152,253		101,297
Home health		26,392		16,245
Total net service revenue by segment	$	864,499	$	764,775

Net income	$	45,126	$	33,133
Total assets		947,585		892,582

Our services and operating model address a number of crucial needs across the healthcare continuum. Care provided in the home generally costs less than facility-based care and is typically preferred by consumers and their families. By providing services in the home to the elderly and others who require long-term care and support with the activities of daily living, we lower the cost of chronic and acute care treatment by delaying or eliminating the need for care in more expensive settings. In addition, our caregivers observe and report changes in the condition of our consumers for the purpose of facilitating early intervention in the disease process, which often reduces the cost of medical services by preventing unnecessary emergency room visits and/or hospital admissions and re-admissions. We coordinate the services provided by our team with those of other healthcare providers and payors, as appropriate. Changes in a consumer’s conditions are evaluated by appropriately trained managers, which may result in a report to the consumer’s case manager at a managed care organization or other payor. By providing care in the preferred setting of the home and by providing opportunities to improve the consumer’s conditions and allow early intervention as indicated, our model also is designed to improve consumer outcomes and satisfaction.

We believe our model provides significant value to managed care organizations. States continue to implement managed care programs for Medicaid enrollees, and, as a result, managed care organizations have been increasingly responsible for the healthcare needs and the related healthcare costs of our consumers. Managed care organizations have an economic incentive to better manage the healthcare expenditures of their members, lower costs and improve outcomes. We believe that our model is well positioned to assist in meeting those goals while also improving consumer satisfaction, and, as a result, we expect increased referrals from managed care organizations.

We provide home care services that primarily include personal care services to assist with activities of daily living, as well as hospice and home health services. These services allow the elderly and other infirm adults who require long-term care and assistance with activities of daily living to maintain their independence at home with their families. Personal care services are a significant component of home and community-based services (“HCBS”), which have grown in significance and demand in recent years and during the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, the demand for personal care services is growing from managed care delivery models, including Medicaid and Medicare Advantage plans. Managed care plans aim to manage cost, utilization and quality through collaboration of health insurance plans and healthcare providers. We also offer personal care services to private pay consumers. We expect demand for HCBS to continue to grow due to the aging of the U.S. population and improved opportunities for individuals to receive home-based care as an alternative to institutional care.

Because our model serves an aging population in a home setting at a lower cost, we believe that we have favorable opportunities for growth. Historically, there were limited barriers to entry in the home-based services industry. As a result, the personal care, home health and hospice service industries developed in a highly fragmented manner, with few large participants and many small ones. Few companies have a significant market share across multiple regions or states. The lack of licensure or certification requirements in some states makes it difficult to estimate the number of home-based services agencies. We expect ongoing consolidation within our industry, driven by the desire of healthcare systems and managed care organizations to narrow their networks of service providers, and also as a result of the industry’s increasingly complex regulatory, operating and technology requirements. We believe we are well positioned to capitalize on a consolidating industry given our reputation in the market, strong payor relationships and integration of technology into our business model.

The personal care services industry is subject to increasing regulation. At the federal level, efforts have focused on improved coordination of regulation across the various types of Medicaid programs through which personal care services are offered. Federally required state mandates include implementing electronic visit verification (“EVV”), which is used to collect home visit data, and obtaining state licenses or registrations. Providers must dedicate substantial resources to ensure continuing compliance with all applicable regulations and significant expenditures may be necessary to offer new services or to expand into new markets. We believe licensing requirements and regulations, including EVV, the increasing focus on improving health outcomes, the rising cost and complexity of operations and technology and pressure on reimbursement rates due to constrained government resources may discourage new providers and may encourage industry consolidation.

The Medicare-Medicaid Coordination Office (“MMCO”) was established within the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) to improve services for consumers who are eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid, also known as “dual eligibles,” and improve coordination between the federal government and states to enhance access to quality services to which they are entitled. The MMCO works with state Medicaid agencies, other federal and state agencies, physicians and others, to make available technical assistance and educational tools to improve care coordination between Medicare and Medicaid and to reduce costs and improve beneficiary experience while reducing administrative and regulatory barriers between the programs. In addition, the MMCO and the CMS Innovation Center are considering or have implemented demonstration projects affecting reimbursement for services provided to dual eligibles.

We believe that our personal care program and our technology make us well-suited to partner with managed care organizations to address the needs of the “dual eligible” population, and we believe that our ability to identify changes in our consumers’ health and condition before acute intervention is required will lower the overall cost of care. We believe this approach to care delivery and the integration of our services into the broader healthcare continuum are particularly attractive to managed care organizations and others who are ultimately responsible for the healthcare needs of our consumers and over time will increase our business with them.

The growth of our revenues is closely correlated with the number of consumers to whom we provide our services. Our continued growth depends on our ability to provide consistently high quality care, maintain our existing payor relationships, establish relationships with new payors, increase our referral sources and our ability to attract and retain caregivers. Our continued growth is also dependent upon the authorization by state agencies of new consumers to receive our services. We believe there are several market opportunities for growth as the population ages. Moreover, we believe that individuals generally prefer to receive care in their homes. We believe that the COVID-19 pandemic has heightened this preference due to health concerns that may be associated with institutional settings for long-term care, along with concerns about the re-imposition of visitor restrictions that were imposed in many long-term care facilities in response to the pandemic. Finally, we believe the provision of home-based services is more cost-effective than the provision of similar services in institutional settings for long-term care. We plan to continue our revenue growth and margin improvement and enhance our competitive positioning by executing on the following growth strategies:

We schedule and require our caregivers to perform their services as defined within the individual plan of care. We monitor the performance of our caregivers through regular supervisory visits in the homes of consumers. Our caregivers are provided with pre-service training and orientation and an evaluation of their skills. In many cases, caregivers are also required to attend ongoing in-service education. In certain states, our caregivers are required to complete certified training programs and maintain a state certification. The training assists our caregivers with identifying changes in our consumers’ health and condition before acute intervention is required, which we believe lowers the overall cost of care.

We intend to drive organic growth through several initiatives, including continuing to build and enhance our sales and marketing capabilities, enhancing our business intelligence analytic capabilities, recruiting and retaining employees and investing in technology and operations to drive efficiencies. We also expect our organic growth will benefit from an increase in demand for our

services by an aging population and our increased alignment with referral sources and payors. We continue to selectively open new offices in existing markets when an opportunity is identified and appropriate.

As a large-scale provider of home-based care, we are partnering with managed care organizations, taking advantage of an industry shift from traditional fee-for-service Medicare and Medicaid and toward managed care models, which aim to better coordinate care. We expect this shift to lead to narrower provider networks where we can be competitive by offering a larger, more experienced partner to these organizations, as well as by providing more sophisticated technology, electronic visit records and an outcomes-driven approach to service. We believe our coordinated care model and integration of services into the broader healthcare industry are particularly attractive to managed care organizations. In particular, our expansion from primarily personal care services into hospice and home health has increased our value to our managed care partners by diversifying our home-based care offerings.

In addition to our organic growth, we have been growing through acquisitions that have expanded our presence in current markets or facilitated our entry into new markets. We completed two acquisitions in 2021, despite the continuing challenges and disruptions related to the COVID-19 pandemic: Armada Skilled Homecare of New Mexico LLC, Armada Hospice of New Mexico LLC and Armada Hospice of Santa Fe LLC (collectively, “Armada”) on August 1, 2021 and Summit Home Health, LLC (“Summit”) on October 1, 2021. Acquisitions completed in 2021 accounted for $5.7 million in net service revenues for the year ended December 31, 2021. We also completed four acquisitions in 2020: A Plus Health Care, Inc. (“A Plus”) on July 1, 2020, County Homemakers, Inc. (“County Homemakers”) on November 1, 2020, SLHC, Inc., d/b/a SunLife Home Care (“SunLife Home Care”) on December 1, 2020 and Queen City Hospice on December 4, 2020. Acquisitions completed in 2020 accounted for $82.5 million and $12.1 million in net service revenues for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively.

Our active pipeline and strong financial position support additional acquisitions. With rising consolidation pressures in the industry, our focus is on identifying growing markets with favorable demographics in states that are fiscally well managed and have a reasonable minimum wage environment and where we have the potential to become one of the leading providers in the state in order to support our managed care organization strategy. We believe our experience identifying and executing on opportunities generated by our acquisition pipeline, as well as our history of integrating acquisitions, will lead to additional growth.

We operate three business segments: (i) personal care (ii) hospice and (iii) home health. Without our services, many of our consumers would be at increased risk of placement in a long-term care institution.

Our personal care segment provides non-medical assistance with activities of daily living, primarily to persons who are at increased risk of hospitalization or institutionalization, such as the elderly, chronically ill or disabled. The services we provide include assistance with bathing, grooming, oral care, feeding and dressing, medication reminders, meal planning and preparation, housekeeping and transportation services. Many consumers need such services on a long-term basis to address chronic or acute conditions. Our personal care segment also includes staffing services, with clients including assisted living facilities, nursing homes and hospice facilities. Each payor client establishes its own eligibility standards, determines the type, amount, duration and scope of services, and establishes the applicable reimbursement rate in accordance with applicable law, regulations or contracts.

Our hospice segment provides physical, emotional and spiritual care for people who are terminally ill as well as related services for their families. The hospice services we provide include palliative nursing care, social work, spiritual counseling, homemaker services and bereavement counseling. Generally, patients receiving hospice services have a life expectancy of six months or less.

Our home health segment provides services that are primarily medical in nature to individuals who may require assistance during an illness or after hospitalization and include skilled nursing and physical, occupational and speech therapy. We generally provide home health services on a short-term, intermittent or episodic basis to individuals, typically to assist patients recovering from an illness or injury.

We measure the performance of each segment using a number of different metrics. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Results of Operations” for information regarding the Company’s segment metrics.

Our payor clients are principally federal, state and local governmental agencies and managed care organizations. The federal, state and local programs under which the agencies operate are subject to legislative and budgetary changes and other risks that can influence reimbursement rates. Managed care organizations that operate as an extension of our government payors are subject to similar economic pressures. Our commercial insurance payor clients are typically for profit companies and are continuously seeking opportunities to control costs.

Most of our services are provided pursuant to agreements with state and local governmental social and aging service agencies. These agreements generally have an initial term of one to two years and may be terminated with 60 days’ notice. They are typically renewed for one to five-year terms, provided that we have complied with licensing, certification and program standards, and other regulatory requirements. Reimbursement rates and methods vary by state and service type, but are typically based on an hourly or unit-of-service basis. Managed care organizations are becoming an increasing portion of our personal care segment payor mix as states shift from administering fee-for-service programs to utilizing managed care models. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Overview” for our revenue mix by payor type.

We believe our industry is highly competitive, fragmented and market specific. Each local market has its own competitive profile and no single competitor has significant market share across all of our markets. Our competition consists of personal care service providers, home health providers, hospice providers, private caregivers, larger publicly held companies, privately held companies, privately held single-site agencies, hospital-based agencies, not-for-profit organizations, community-based organizations, managed care organizations and self-directed care programs. In addition, certain governmental payors contract for services with independent providers such that our relationships with these payors are not exclusive. We have experienced, and expect to continue to experience, competition from new entrants into our markets. Increased competition may result in pricing pressures, loss of or failure to gain market share or loss of consumers or payors, any of which could harm our business. In addition, some of our competitors may have greater financial, technical, political and marketing resources, as well as name recognition with consumers and payors.

We focus on initiating and maintaining working relationships with state and local governmental agencies responsible for the provision of the services we offer. We target these agencies in our current markets and in geographical areas that we have identified as potential markets for expansion. We also seek to identify service needs or changes in the service delivery or reimbursement systems of governmental entities and attempt to work with and provide input to the responsible government personnel, provider associations and consumer advocacy groups.

We establish new referral relationships with various managed care organizations that contract with the states for the servicing of the state Medicaid programs. We have met with many contracted managed care organizations in markets we serve and believe we are building the relationships necessary to generate continued referrals of new clients.

We receive substantially all of our personal care consumers through third-party referrals, including state departments on aging, rehabilitation, mental health and children’s services, county departments of social services, managed care organizations, the Veterans Health Administration and city departments on aging. Generally, family members of potential consumers are made aware of available in-home or alternative living arrangements through state or local case management systems. These systems are operated by governmental or private agencies.

We provide ongoing education and outreach in our target communities in order to inform the community about state and locally-subsidized care options and to communicate our role in providing quality personal care services. We also utilize consumer-directed sales, marketing and advertising programs designed to attract consumers.

With respect to our hospice and home health patients, we receive substantially all of our referrals through other health care providers, such as hospitals, physicians, nursing homes and assisted living facilities. We have a team of community liaisons in our hospice and home health operations that educate and develop relationships with other health care providers and the community at large.

We are reimbursed for substantially all of our services by federal, state and local government programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid state programs, managed care organizations, other state agencies and the Veterans Health Administration. In addition, we are reimbursed by commercial insurance and private pay consumers. Depending on the type of service, coverage for services may be predicated on a case manager, physician or nurse determination that the care is necessary or on the development of a plan for care in the home.

A significant amount of our net service revenues from our personal care segment are derived from one specific payor client, the Illinois Department on Aging, which accounted for 21.4% and 23.0% of our net service revenues for 2021 and 2020, respectively. The Illinois Department on Aging coordinates programs and community-based services intended to improve quality of life and preserve the independence of older individuals. The Illinois Department on Aging is funded by Medicaid and general revenue funds of the state of Illinois, and also receives funding available under the federal Older Americans Act (“OAA”). The Department on Aging’s Community Care Program (“CCP”) provides adult day services, emergency home response and in-home services, which consist of personal care services, to individuals who are age 60 and over and meet other eligibility requirements. Some of these services are provided through Medicaid waivers granted by CMS.

Consumers are identified by “care coordinators” contracted independently with the Illinois Department on Aging. Once a consumer has been evaluated and determined to be eligible for a program, an assigned care coordinator refers the consumer to a list of authorized providers, from which the consumer selects the provider. We provide our services in accordance with a care plan developed by the care coordinator and under administrative directives from the Illinois Department on Aging. We are reimbursed on an hourly fee-for-service basis.

Medicare is a federal program that provides medical services to persons aged 65 or older and other qualified persons with disabilities or end-stage renal disease. Each of our hospice and home care agencies must comply with the extensive conditions of participation in the Medicare program in order to continue receiving Medicare reimbursement.

Medicare beneficiaries who have a terminal illness and a life expectancy of six months or less may elect to receive hospice benefits (i.e., palliative services for management of a terminal illness) in lieu of standard Medicare coverage for treatment. Hospice services are paid under the Medicare Hospice Prospective Payment System (“HPPS”), under which CMS sets a daily rate for each day a patient is enrolled in the hospice benefit. CMS requires hospice providers to submit quality reporting data each year and updates hospice payment rates annually using a market basket index. Hospices that do not satisfy quality reporting requirements are subject to a 2 percentage point reduction to the market basket percentage update. Beginning in 2024, the reduction to the market basket update for failure to satisfy quality reporting requirements will increase to 4 percentage points. Additionally, hospice providers are subject to two specific payment limit caps under the Medicare program each federal fiscal year: the inpatient cap and the aggregate cap, as discussed further in Note 1 to the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.

CMS reimburses home health agencies under a prospective payment system, paying a national, standardized 30-day period payment rate if a period of care meets a threshold of home health visits. The daily home health payment rate is adjusted for case-mix and area wage levels. CMS uses the Patient-Driven Groupings Model (“PDGM”) as the case-mix classification model to place periods of care into payment categories, classifying patients based on clinical characteristics. An outlier adjustment may be paid for periods of care in which costs exceed a specific threshold amount. CMS updates home health payment rates annually using a market basket index. Home health agencies that do not submit required quality data are subject to a 2 percentage point reduction to the market basket update. In addition, effective January 1, 2022, CMS began implementing a nationwide expansion of the Home Health Value-Based Purchasing (“HHVBP”) Model. Under the HHVBP Model, home health agencies will receive increases or reductions to their Medicare fee-for-service payments of up to 5%. Data collected in each performance year beginning in calendar year 2023 will impact Medicare payments two years later. The HHVBP Model is designed to support greater quality and efficiency of care by shifting from volume-based payments to a model where payments are tied to quality performance.

Effective January 1, 2022, Medicare requires home health agencies to submit a one-time Notice of Admission (“NOA”) for each patient that establishes that the beneficiary is under a Medicare home health period of care. Failure to submit the NOA within five

calendar days from the start of care date will result in a reduction to the 30-day period payment amount for each day from the start of care date until the date the NOA is submitted.

Medicaid is a state-administered program that provides certain social and medical services to qualified low-income individuals and is jointly funded by the federal government and individual states. Reimbursement rates and methods vary by state and service type, but are typically based on an hourly or unit-of-service basis. Rates are subject to adjustment based on statutory and regulatory changes, administrative rulings, government funding limitations and interpretations of policy by individual state agencies. Within guidelines established by federal statutes and regulations, and subject to federal oversight, each state establishes its own eligibility standards, determines the type, amount, duration and scope of services, sets the rate of payment for services and administers its own program. States typically cover intermittent home health services for Medicaid beneficiaries, but cover continuous services for children and young adults with complicated medical conditions and home and community-based services for seniors and people with disabilities.

Payment models vary by state. Currently, home health services are often reimbursed by state Medicaid programs on a fee-for-service basis. For hospice services, the state pays an amount for each day that a beneficiary is under the care of a hospice provider based on the type and intensity of services furnished. Many states are moving the administration of their Medicaid hospice and home health care programs to managed care organizations in order to effectively manage costs.

Currently, personal care services and other HCBS are largely reimbursed on a fee-for-service basis. Some states have received permission from CMS to provide HCBS under waivers of traditional Medicaid requirements. In an effort to control escalating Medicaid costs, states are increasingly requiring Medicaid beneficiaries to enroll in managed care plans for better coordination of HCBS and health care services. For example, over three-quarters of Medicaid beneficiaries in Illinois are a part of the Health Choice Illinois statewide managed care program, which is serviced by various managed care organizations. Reimbursement from the managed care organizations for personal care services is generally on an hourly, fee-for-service basis with rates consistent with or as a percentage of the individual state funded rates, where applicable.

The Veterans Health Administration operates the nation’s largest integrated healthcare system, with more than 1,200 healthcare facilities, and provides healthcare benefits, including personal care, hospice and home health services, to eligible military veterans. The Veterans Health Administration provides funding to regional and local offices and facilities that support the in-home care needs of eligible aged and disabled veterans. Services are funded by local Veterans Medical Centers and the aid and attendance pension, which reimburses veterans for their otherwise unreimbursed health and long-term care expenses. We currently have relationships and agreements with the Veterans Health Administration to provide personal care services in several states, principally in New Mexico, Illinois and California.

Other sources of funding are available to support personal care, hospice and home health services in different states and localities. For example, many states appropriate general funds or special use funds through targeted taxes or lotteries to finance personal care services for senior citizens and individuals with disabilities. Depending on the state, these funds may be used to supplement existing Medicaid programs or for distinct programs that serve non-Medicaid eligible consumers.

Federal and state governments have passed legislation, promulgated regulations, and taken other administrative actions intended to assist healthcare providers in providing care to COVID-19 patients and other patients during the public health emergency. These temporary measures include relief from Medicare conditions of participation requirements for healthcare providers, relaxation of licensure requirements for healthcare professionals, relaxation of privacy restrictions for telehealth remote communications, promoting use of telehealth by expanding the scope of services for which Medicare reimbursement is available, and limited waivers of fraud and abuse laws for activities related to COVID-19 during the emergency period. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—“Overview” and “Liquidity and Capital Resources” for detailed information regarding COVID-19 pandemic relief.

Most long-term care insurance policies contain benefits for in-home services. Policies are generally subject to dollar limitations on the amount of daily, weekly or monthly coverage provided.

Our private pay services are provided on an hourly or type of services basis. Our rates are established to achieve a pre-determined gross margin, and are competitive with those of other local providers. We bill our private pay consumers for services rendered weekly, bi-monthly or monthly. Other private payors include workers’ compensation programs/insurance, preferred provider organizations and employers.

We maintain workers’ compensation, general and professional liability, cyber, automobile, directors’ and officers’ liability, fiduciary liability and excess liability insurance. We offer various health insurance plans to eligible full-time and part-time employees. We believe our insurance coverage and self-insurance reserves are adequate for our current operations. However, we cannot be certain that any potential losses or asserted claims will not exceed such insurance coverage and self-insurance reserves.

The following is a breakdown of our part- and full-time employees, including the employees in our corporate support center, as of December 31, 2021:

Our caregivers, excluding agency staff, provide substantially all of our services and comprise approximately 95.2% of our total workforce. They undergo a criminal background check and are provided with pre-service training and orientation and an evaluation of their skills. In many cases, caregivers are also required to attend ongoing in-service education. In certain states, our caregivers are required to complete certified training programs and maintain a state certification. Approximately 52.1% of our total employees are represented by labor unions. We maintain strong working relationships with these labor unions. We have numerous collective bargaining agreements with the Service Employees International Union (“SEIU”), which are renegotiated from time to time.

We value our employees and believe they are the reason for our success. We strive to provide the following, among other things.

Addus continues to prioritize the health and safety of our employees. We recognize the importance of employee health and well-being, which can be assessed by measures such as employee satisfaction, work-related injuries and access to healthcare services. Our benefits strategy is to provide an attractive package for our eligible employees with quality care choices that fit their needs. Along with health insurance, we provide a number of benefits to encourage and support the health and safety of our employees, such as dental and vision insurance, disability and life insurance, a 401(k) plan and an employee assistance program.

As the COVID-19 pandemic persists, we recognize the challenges presented and have adjusted our operations to comply with health and safety standards, regulations and guidance provided by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”), the United States Department of Labor and other regulatory bodies that focus on the safety of employees. The steps taken included, but were not limited to, the following:

Employee recruiting and retention remains a top priority each year for Addus, as we are committed to hiring and retaining excellent employees. As the labor market continues to be tight and unemployment has declined in comparison to earlier levels, the competition for new caregivers has increased, which will continue to impact our ability to attract and retain new caregivers.

We believe that a strong workplace culture focused on employee engagement enables ongoing learning and promotes the development of individual career growth, necessary to successfully retain and develop diverse talent. Addus recognizes the importance of employee engagement and we have implemented programs focused on new hire experiences and integration, ongoing learning opportunities though the Addus Learning Academy and Addus Institute of Skilled Care Education (“AISCE”), and mentoring through leadership training. The Addus Learning Academy allows employees to access training and resources necessary to build the skills specifically related to their respective positions at Addus. AISCE provides continuing education courses to support licensing and re-certification for our clinical employees.

We are committed to fostering employee satisfaction and wellness through employee recognition programs, communications and services. We have developed two primary communication tools to distribute information to our branches and administrative employees, the SC Connect and Addus Ink newsletters. Addus Ink is a quarterly newsletter that features local branch content from around the country that is focused on fulfilling our Addus Mission and Values. SC Connect is a biweekly newsletter that features important Company updates, information and resources. We have also implemented the Addus Elite Program, which has three levels of recognition; peer to peer, quarterly recognition and Addus Elite Hall of Fame, designed to celebrate the amazing work our employees do on a daily basis. We believe it is important to acknowledge our colleagues, managers, and direct reports who are living our Addus Mission and Values every day.

We are committed to efforts to make a difference in our communities. Our local investments include providing monetary and personnel contributions to faith based organizations, public housing authorities, public school systems and other non-profit community organizations. For example, we partner with organizations such as The Hope Foundation, which provides resources to families in need of additional help outside of the hospice benefit; the National Minority Health Association, which seeks to mobilize homecare workers to increase vaccination confidence and rates in underserved communities through its Flex for Checks community-based program; and National Association of Area Agencies on Aging, a network of agencies responsible for local planning of home and community based services delivered to older Americans. Additionally, our employees are involved in various local events such as taking part in town parades, holding food drives and providing health and PPE to first responders.

We currently utilize multiple applications to support our various lines of business and locations for patient accounting. Each application supports its respective line of business and locations with administrative, office, clinical and operating information system needs, including compliance of our operating systems with federal and state privacy, security and interoperability requirements. Each assists our staff in gathering information to improve the quality of consumer care, optimize financial performance, promote regulatory compliance and enhance staff efficiency. Each application is hosted by the vendor in a secure data center, which provides multiple redundancies for storage, power, bandwidth and security.

In order to comply with current and future state and federal regulations around EVV use, we utilize several different vendors and have built interfaces between the EVV vendor and the patient accounting system utilized in the respective branch location. Our caregivers use a mix of Interactive Voice Response (“IVR”) and mobile applications for EVV. In addition, we use these technologies to record basic information about each visit, record start and end times for a scheduled shift, track mileage reimbursement, send text messages to the caregivers and communicate basic payroll information.

We license the Qlik Business Intelligence (“Qlik”) platform to provide historical, current, and forward-looking operational performance analysis. We currently have our personal care and hospice segments integrated into Qlik. Qlik provides high-level historical and current analytical views to measure performance against budget and deliver insight into the various factors driving our execution against our financial, operational, and compliance goals. This analysis is available in summary and detailed views to accommodate user needs at all levels, from senior management to operators in the field.

We utilize the ADPVantage Suite as our base human resources and payroll processing system and use their services and products to manage our leave of absence processes, benefits, 401(k) and flexible spending account administration, garnishment services, payroll tax filings, ACA compliance and filings, and time and attendance. For financial management, we utilize Oracle’s

Planning Budgeting Cloud Service as our solution for budgeting, forecasting, and financial reporting and Oracle Fusion for the general ledger, accounts payable and fixed assets.

Our business is subject to extensive federal, state and local regulation. Changes in the laws and regulations, including as a result of governmental responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, or new interpretations of existing laws and regulations may have a material impact on the definition of permissible activities, the relative cost of doing business, and the methods and amounts of payment for care by both governmental and other payors. In addition, differences among state laws may impede our ability to expand into certain markets. If we fail to comply with applicable laws and regulations, we could suffer administrative civil or criminal penalties, including the loss of our licenses to operate and our ability to participate in federal or state programs. In addition, the healthcare industry has experienced, and is expected to continue to experience, extensive and dynamic change. It is difficult to predict the effect of these changes on budgetary allocations for our services. See further discussion at “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—“Liquidity and Capital Resources.”

To participate in and qualify for reimbursement under Medicare, our home health agencies and hospices must comply with extensive conditions of participation. Likewise, to participate in Medicaid programs, our personal care services, home health agencies and hospices are subject to various requirements imposed by federal and state authorities. If we were to violate the applicable federal and state regulations governing Medicare or Medicaid participation, we could be excluded from participation in federal and state healthcare programs and be subject to substantial administrative, civil and criminal penalties.

The U.S. Congress and certain state legislatures have passed many laws and regulations in recent years intended to effect major change within the national healthcare system, the most prominent of which is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (collectively, “ACA”). The ACA affects how healthcare services are delivered and reimbursed through the expansion of public and private health insurance coverage, reduction of growth in Medicare and Medicaid program spending, and the establishment and expansion of programs that tie reimbursement to quality and integration. The law has been subject to legislative and regulatory changes and court challenges. Although the current presidential administration has indicated its intent to protect the ACA, it is possible that there may be continued changes to the ACA, its implementation or interpretation.

Many states are exploring payment and delivery reform initiatives, including quality of care incentives. Some states use or have applied to use Medicaid waivers granted by CMS to implement the ACA’s Medicaid expansion provisions, impose different eligibility or enrollment restrictions, or otherwise implement programs that vary from federal standards. However, President Biden issued an executive order in 2021 that instructed certain federal governmental agencies to review and reconsider their existing policies and rules that limit access to health insurance coverage and CMS subsequently reduced certain Medicaid program flexibilities it had previously granted. Enrollment in managed Medicaid plans has increased in recent years, as state governments seek to control the cost of Medicaid programs. Managed Medicaid programs enable states to contract with one or more entities for patient enrollment, care management and claims adjudication. The states usually do not relinquish program responsibilities for financing, eligibility criteria and core benefit plan design.

The CMS Innovation Center tests innovative payment and service delivery systems to reduce Medicare and Medicaid program expenditures while maintaining or enhancing quality. For example, the CMS Innovation Center has supported testing of new models of care for “dual eligibles,” funding of home health providers that offer chronic care management services, and establishment of pilot programs that bundle acute care hospital services with physician services and post-acute care services, which may include home health services for certain patients. The Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation Act of 2014 (“IMPACT Act”) requires HHS, in conjunction with the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, to propose a unified post-acute care payment model by 2023. A unified post-acute care payment model would pay post-acute care providers, such as long-term care facilities, skilled nursing facilities, and home health agencies, under a single framework according to a patient’s characteristics, rather than the post-acute care setting where the patient receives treatment. These systems could have a material impact on our business. It is difficult to predict the nature and success of future financial or delivery system reforms implemented by HHS, the CMS Innovation Center and other industry participants.

There is uncertainty regarding the potential impact of health reform efforts at the federal and state levels. For example, some members of Congress have proposed measures that would expand government-sponsored coverage, including single-payor models. Some states have implemented or are considering measures such as individual health insurance mandates and public health insurance

options. Other industry participants, such as private payers and large employer groups and their affiliates, may also introduce financial or delivery system reforms. Health reform initiatives and proposals from the government or the private sector may impact prices, our relationships with patients, payers or ancillary providers, and our competitive position, among other effects.

Our hospice, home health and personal care services are authorized and/or licensed under various state and county requirements, which cover a variety of topics including standards regarding the provision of medical or care services, clinical records, personnel, infection control and care plans. Additionally, health care professionals at our agencies are required to be individually licensed or certified under state law. Although our personal care service caregivers are generally not subject to licensure requirements, certain states require them to complete pre- and post-employment training programs, background checks, and, in certain instances, maintain state certification. We believe we are currently licensed appropriately as required by the laws of the states in which we operate in all material respects, but additional licensing requirements may be imposed upon us in existing markets or markets that we enter in the future.

Some states also require a provider to obtain a certificate of need or permit of approval (“CON”) before establishing, constructing, acquiring or expanding certain health services, operations or facilities or making certain capital expenditures. These requirements are intended to avoid unnecessary duplication of services. In order to obtain a CON, a state health planning agency must determine that a need exists for the project.

The laws and regulations governing our operations, including the terms of participation in Medicare, Medicaid and other government programs, impose certain requirements and limitations on our operations, business arrangements and our interactions with providers and consumers. These laws include, but are not limited to, the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, the federal Stark law, the federal False Claims Act (“FCA”), the federal Civil Monetary Penalties Law, other federal and state fraud and abuse, insurance fraud, and fee-splitting laws, which may extend to services reimbursable by any payer, including private insurers.

The fraud and abuse laws and regulations to which we are subject include but are not limited to:

Penalties for violation of various fraud and abuse laws or other failure to substantially comply with the numerous conditions of participation in the Medicare or Medicaid programs may result in criminal penalties, civil sanctions, including substantial civil monetary penalties, and exclusion from participation in federal healthcare programs, including Medicare and Medicaid.

We are subject to routine and periodic surveys and audits by various governmental agencies and other payors. From time to time, we receive and respond to survey reports containing statements of deficiencies. Periodic and random audits conducted or directed by these agencies could result in a delay in receipt or an adjustment to the amount of reimbursements due or received under federal or state programs.

CMS and state Medicaid agencies contract with third parties to promote the integrity of the Medicaid and Medicare programs through reviews of quality concerns and detections and corrections of improper payments. For example, CMS and state Medicaid agencies contract with recovery audit contractors (“RACs”) on a contingency fee basis to conduct post-payment reviews to detect and correct improper payments in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. In addition, CMS engages unified program integrity contractors (“UPICS”) to perform proactive analysis, audits, investigations and other program integrity functions across the Medicare and Medicaid programs, with the goal of identifying and deterring fraud and abuse to avoid improper payments.

From time to time, various federal and state agencies, such as HHS, issue pronouncements that identify practices and provider types that may be subject to heightened scrutiny, as well as practices that may violate fraud and abuse laws. We believe, but cannot assure you, that our operations comply with the principles expressed by HHS in these reports, advisories and guidance.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, as amended (“HIPAA”) and its implementing regulations require the use of uniform electronic data transmission standards and code sets for certain healthcare claims and reimbursement payment transactions submitted or received electronically. HIPAA extensively regulates the use, disclosure, confidentiality, availability and integrity of individually identifiable health information, known as “protected health information,” and provides for a number of individual rights with respect to such information. As a “covered entity” subject to HIPAA, we are required to maintain privacy and security policies, train workforce members, maintain physical, administrative, and technical safeguards, enter into confidentiality agreements with vendors that handle protected health information (“business associates”), and permit individuals to access and amend their protected health information. In addition, we must report any breaches of unsecured protected health information. HIPAA violations may result in criminal penalties and significant civil penalties. Other federal and state laws and regulations that apply to the collection, use, retention, protection, security, disclosure, transfer and other processing of personal data, such as the California Consumer Protection Act, which was recently significantly modified by the California Privacy Rights Act, may impose additional or inconsistent obligations and/or result in additional penalties. Health care providers and industry participants are also subject to a growing number of requirements intended to promote the interoperability and exchange of patient health information, including prohibitions on information blocking.

We are subject to federal, state and local regulations governing the storage, transport, use and disposal of hazardous materials and waste products. In the event of an accident involving such hazardous materials, we could be held liable for any damages that result, and any liability could exceed the limits or fall outside the coverage of our insurance. We may not be able to maintain insurance on acceptable terms, or at all.

In addition, we could be affected by climate change to the extent that climate change results in severe weather conditions or other disruptions impacting the communities in which we conduct operations or adversely impacts general economic conditions, including in communities in which we conduct operations. At the current time, our compliance with environmental legal requirements, including legal requirements relating to climate change, do not have a material effect on our capital expenditures, financial results or operations, and we did not incur material capital expenditures for environmental matters during the year ended December 31, 2021. However, it is possible that developments may arise in the future arising from climate change or other environmental developments that we are unable to currently predict.

Through our website, www.addus.com, we make available, free of charge, our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and all amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”) as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the SEC. In addition to our website, the SEC maintains an internet site that contains our reports, proxy and information statements, and other information that we file electronically with the SEC at www.sec.gov. The references to our website address in this Form 10-K do not constitute incorporation by reference of the information contained on the website and should not be considered part of this document.

Any of the risks described below, and the risks described elsewhere in this Form 10-K, could have a material adverse effect on our business and consolidated financial condition, results of operations and cash flows, cause the trading price of our common stock to decline and cause the actual outcome of matters to differ materially from our current expectations as reflected in forward-looking statements made in this Form 10-K. The considerations and risks that follow are organized within relevant headings but may be relevant to other headings as well. The risk factors described below and elsewhere in this Form 10-K are not the only risks we face. Our business and consolidated financial condition, results of operations and cash flows may also be materially adversely affected by factors that are not currently known to us, by factors that we currently consider immaterial or by factors that are not specific to us, such as general economic conditions.

You should refer to the explanation of the qualifications and limitations on forward-looking statements under “Special Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements.” All forward-looking statements made by us are qualified by the risk factors described below.

The COVID-19 pandemic could negatively affect our operations, business and financial condition, and our liquidity could also be negatively impacted, particularly if the U.S. economic and/or public health conditions deteriorate in connection with the pandemic.

On January 31, 2020, the Secretary of HHS declared a national public health emergency due to a novel coronavirus. In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of COVID-19, the disease caused by this novel coronavirus, a pandemic. The disease continues to be widespread throughout the United States and other parts of the world and continues to affect the overall economic conditions in the United States. In response to the emergence of new variants and increasing cases, various governmental authorities and private businesses have continued or are re-imposing certain measures intended to contain the spread of the virus, such as masking and vaccine mandates. At this time, it is difficult to predict the future impact of the pandemic on economic conditions in the United States and our business.

Our home health and hospice providers have experienced difficulty in accessing facility-based patients because of concerns about the spread of COVID-19, and we expect that this difficulty will continue. As front-line providers of healthcare services and personal care services, our employees that contract COVID-19 could be unable to continue to perform their duties, and we could face litigation if our employees or customers contract COVID-19 while our employees perform their duties. In addition, we have incurred and will continue to incur additional costs related to protecting the health and well-being, and meeting the needs, of our patients, employees, and contractors as we implement operational changes in response to the pandemic. Staffing, equipment, pharmaceutical and medical supplies shortages may impact our ability to schedule and treat patients. While the COVID-19 pandemic has not had a material effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations, the extent of future impact will depend on future developments that cannot be accurately predicted at this time, including the severity and transmission rate of prevalent strains of COVID-19, the extent and effectiveness of containment actions taken, the timing, availability and effectiveness of medical treatments, vaccines and booster shots, and the impact of any mutations of the virus.

If general economic conditions or public health conditions deteriorate, our liquidity and ability to repay our outstanding debt may be harmed. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has previously caused disruption in the financial markets and the businesses of financial institutions and may do so again, potentially causing a slowdown in the decision-making of these institutions. This may affect the timing on which we may obtain any additional funding and there can be no assurance that we will be able to raise additional funds on terms acceptable to us, if at all. Depending on the severity and length of any potential economic downturn, states could face significant fiscal challenges and revise their revenue forecasts and adjust their budgets, and sales tax collections and income tax withholdings could be depressed in fiscal year 2021 (which began July 1 in most states), and, potentially, future fiscal years. In this regard, Illinois, New Mexico and New York, our top three personal care markets, previously revised revenue estimates downward for the 2021 fiscal year as the result of earlier negative economic conditions arising from the pandemic. Also in response to reduced revenues, the state of New York authorized the issuance of short-term bonds and implemented uniform reductions to Medicaid payments. Effective for dates of service on or after April 2, 2020, the uniform reduction rate is 1.5%. The reduction applies to home health services but hospice services are exempt. We cannot determine the impact that COVID-19 may have on states’ budgets for 2022 or beyond, or if additional federal stimulus measures will be provided. However, such impacts could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Due to the widespread availability of vaccinations and other factors, various restrictions that previously limited non-essential employment opportunities in most states that we operate in have been lifted. As the labor market continues to be tight and unemployment has declined in comparison to earlier levels, the competition for new caregivers has increased, which will continue to impact our ability to attract and retain new caregivers. In addition, the competition for skilled healthcare staff has increased significantly, which continues to impact our ability to attract and retain qualified skilled healthcare staff.

OSHA adopted a rule in November 2021 which would require all employers with 100 or more employees to require their workforce to be fully vaccinated or, alternatively, to provide a negative COVID-19 test result on a weekly basis. CMS also issued an interim rule in November 2021 requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for workers in Medicare- and Medicaid-certified providers and suppliers, including hospices and home health agencies, and covers clinical staff, individuals providing services under arrangements, volunteers and staff who are not involved in direct patient care. On January 13, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the implementation of the OSHA rule but allowed the CMS interim rule to take effect. In response, President Biden rescinded the private employer mandate and called on states and businesses to voluntarily institute vaccination requirements to protect workers, customers and the broader community. We are monitoring developments related to these plans as information becomes available to assess how these plans, including any national, state or local vaccine mandates, may impact our workforce in personal care, home health, hospice and our corporate support centers. It is currently difficult to predict the impact that any of these vaccine mandates may have on us or the extent to which these vaccine mandates will ultimately become effective. However, these vaccine mandates, to the extent they become effective, could result in the loss of personnel who are unvaccinated, including at our hospitals and other healthcare facilities, in a manner that adversely affects us.

The foregoing and other continued disruptions to our business as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic could result in an adverse effect on our business, result of operations, financial condition, liquidity, cash flows and our ability to service our indebtedness. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic could heighten the risks in certain of the other risk factors described in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

We are unable to predict the ultimate impact of the CARES Act and other existing or future stimulus or relief legislation, if any, or the effect that such legislation and other governmental responses intended to assist healthcare providers in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic may have on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. There can be no assurance as to the total amount of financial assistance we will receive, or that we will be able to benefit from provisions intended to increase access to resources and ease regulatory burdens for healthcare providers.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, federal and state governments have passed legislation, promulgated regulations and taken other administrative actions intended to assist healthcare providers in providing care to COVID-19 and other patients and to provide financial relief to healthcare providers. Together, the CARES Act, the PPPHCE Act, the CAA and the ARPA authorize over $186 billion in funding to be distributed to health care providers through the Provider Relief Fund. These funds are intended to reimburse eligible providers, including public entities and Medicare and/or Medicaid-enrolled providers and suppliers, for healthcare-related expenses or lost revenues attributable to COVID-19. Recipients are not required to repay these funds, provided that they attest to and comply with certain terms and conditions, including not using Provider Relief Fund payments to reimburse expenses or losses that other sources are obligated to reimburse and submitting reports as required by HHS. The Company has acquired and may in the future acquire companies that have received funds from the Provider Relief Fund. The Company has also received amounts from the Provider Relief Fund and utilized a portion of those funds to offset increased healthcare related expenses attributable to COVID-19 that were unreimbursed by other sources and returned any unused funds. Recipients of Provider Relief Fund payments are subject to audit requirements, and we expect that recipients of funds from the Provider Relief Fund will be subject to significant scrutiny by the federal government. We have structured and will continue to structure our use of these funds in accordance with the terms and conditions, but federal regulators may disagree with our interpretation of these terms and conditions and require that we repay some or all amounts received at our facilities and pay or impose other penalties.

The CARES Act also makes other forms of financial assistance available to healthcare providers, including through Medicare and Medicaid payment adjustments and an expansion of the Medicare Accelerated and Advance Payment Program, which makes available advance payments of Medicare funds in order to increase cash flow to providers. Hospice and home health providers were able to request an advance or accelerated payment of up to 100% of the Medicare payment amount for a three-month period (not including Medicare Advantage payments). In addition to financial assistance, the CARES Act and related legislation include provisions intended to increase access to medical supplies and equipment and ease legal and regulatory burdens on healthcare providers, as well as certain federal income and other tax changes, including the deferral of the employer portion of Social Security payroll taxes.

Many of these measures, such as flexibilities related to the provision of telehealth services, are effective only for the duration of the public health emergency. The current public health emergency determination expires April 16, 2022, but HHS has indicated it will provide states with 60 days’ notice prior to termination of the declaration. The HHS Secretary may choose to renew the declaration for successive 90-day periods for as long as the emergency continues to exist and may terminate the declaration whenever he determines that the public health emergency no longer exists. It is unclear for how long the public health emergency declaration will be extended. The CARES Act also includes numerous income tax provisions including changes to the net operating loss rules and business interest expense deduction rules.

There is still a high degree of uncertainty surrounding the CARES Act and related legislation, and the pandemic continues to evolve. The federal government may consider additional stimulus and relief efforts, but we are unable to predict whether additional measures will be enacted or their impact. There can be no assurance as to the total amount of financial and other types of assistance

we will receive under existing or future legislation, if any, and it is difficult to predict the impact of such legislation on our operations or how it will affect operations of our competitors. Further, there can be no assurance that the terms and conditions of the Provider Relief Fund or other programs will not change in ways that affect funding we may receive, our ability to comply with such terms and conditions in the future or our eligibility to participate. We continue to assess the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and government responses to the pandemic, including the CARES Act and related legislation, on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

We may be more vulnerable to the effects of a public health emergency than other businesses due to the nature of our consumers and the physical proximity required by our operations.

The majority of our consumers and patients are older individuals, many of whom may be more vulnerable than the general public during a pandemic or in a public health emergency due to complex medical conditions or other socioeconomic factors. Our employees are also at greater risk of contracting contagious diseases due to their increased exposure to vulnerable consumers. Due to the physical proximity required to offer many of our services, our employees could have difficulty attending to our consumers if social distancing policies or quarantines are instituted in response to a public health emergency. In addition, the Company may expand existing internal policies in a manner that may have a similar effect. At times of high COVID-19 prevalence during the Company’s most recently completed fiscal year, a significant number of our employees were unable to provide services because of quarantine policies. If another pandemic were to occur, or the existing COVID-19 pandemic does not abate or worsens, we could again suffer significant losses to our consumer population or a reduction in the availability of our employees. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, older adults and people with certain underlying medical conditions are at a higher risk for serious illness from COVID-19. Although the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our results of operations has not been material, the extent to which it may impact our results in the longer term is uncertain. Accordingly, certain public health emergencies could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

Our growth strategy depends on our ability to manage growing and effectively integrating operations and we may not be successful in managing this growth.

Our business plan calls for significant growth in business over the next several years through the expansion of our services in existing markets and the establishment of a presence in new markets. This growth has placed and continues to place significant demands on our management team, systems, internal controls and financial and professional resources. In addition, we will need to further develop our financial controls and reporting systems to accommodate our growth. This could require us to incur expenses for hiring additional qualified personnel, retaining professionals to assist in developing the appropriate control systems and expanding our information technology infrastructure. Our inability to effectively manage growth could have a material adverse effect on our financial results.

Previously completed or future acquisitions, or growth initiatives, may be unsuccessful and could expose us to unforeseen liabilities.

Our growth strategy includes geographical expansion into new markets and the addition of new services in existing markets through the acquisition of local service providers. These acquisitions involve significant risks and uncertainties, including difficulties assimilating acquired personnel and other corporate cultures into our business, the potential loss of key employees or consumers of acquired providers, regulatory risks, the assumption of liabilities, exposure to unforeseen liabilities of acquired providers, and the diversion of the management team’s attention. In the past, we have made acquisitions that have not performed as expected or that we have been unable to successfully integrate with our existing operations. In addition, our due diligence review of acquired businesses may not successfully identify all potential issues. Further, following completion of an acquisition, we may not be able to maintain the growth rate, levels of revenue, earnings or operating efficiency that we and the acquired business have achieved or might achieve separately. While we continue to seek out and pursue acquisition opportunities, we are doing so with additional caution and diligence due to COVID-19 related considerations. The failure to effectively integrate future acquisitions could have a material adverse impact on our operations.

We have grown our business through de novo offices and we may in the future selectively open new offices in existing and new states. De novo offices involve risks, including those relating to licensing, accreditation, and payor program enrollment, hiring new personnel, establishing relationships with referral sources and delays or difficulty in installing our operating and information systems. We may not be successful in generating sufficient business activity to sustain the operating costs of such de novo operations.

We may be unable to pursue acquisitions or expand into new geographic regions without obtaining additional capital or consent from our lenders.

At December 31, 2021 and 2020, we had cash balances of $168.9 million and $145.1 million, respectively, and $224.9 million and $196.6 million, respectively, of outstanding debt on our credit facility. After giving effect to the amount drawn on our credit facility, approximately $8.2 million and $9.0 million of outstanding letters of credit at December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively, and borrowing limits based on an advanced multiple of Adjusted EBITDA (as defined in the Credit Agreement), we had $143.6 million and $112.6 million available for borrowing under our credit facility as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. Since our credit facility provides for borrowings based on a multiple of an Adjusted EBITDA ratio, any declines in our Adjusted EBITDA would result in a decrease in our available borrowings under our credit facility.

We cannot predict the timing, size and success of our acquisition efforts, our efforts to expand into new geographic regions or the associated capital commitments. If we do not have sufficient cash resources or availability under our credit facility, our growth could be limited unless we obtain additional equity or debt financing. In the future, we may elect to issue additional equity securities in conjunction with raising capital, completing an acquisition or expanding into a new geographic region. Such issuances could be dilutive to existing shareholders. In addition, our ability under our credit facility to consummate acquisitions is restricted if we exceed certain Total Net Leverage Ratio (as defined in the Credit Agreement, and subject to adjustments as provided therein) thresholds, without the consent of the lenders; provided, however, in certain circumstances, in connection with a Material Acquisition (as defined in the Credit Agreement), we can elect to increase our Total Net Leverage Ratio compliance covenant for the then current fiscal quarter and the three succeeding fiscal quarters. Further, our credit facility requires, among other things, that we are in pro forma compliance with the financial covenants set forth therein and that no event of default exists before and after giving effect to any proposed acquisition. Our ability to expand in a manner consistent with historic practices may be limited if we are unable to obtain such consent from our lenders.

We fund operations primarily through the collection of accounts receivable, but there is a delay between the time that we provide services and the time that we receive reimbursement or payment for these services. These delays may result from such factors as changes by payors to data submission requirements, requests by fiscal intermediaries for additional data or documentation, other Medicare or Medicaid issues, or information system problems. Further, many of the states in which we operate are operating with budget deficits for the 2021 fiscal year and the ongoing economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic could impact fiscal year 2022 state budgets. These and other states may in the future delay reimbursement, which would adversely affect our liquidity. In addition, from time to time, procedural issues require us to resubmit claims before payment is remitted, which contributes to our aged receivables. Additionally, we may experience unanticipated delays in receiving reimbursement from state programs due to changes in their policies or billing or audit procedures. Delays in receiving reimbursement or payments from Medicare, Medicaid and other payors may adversely impact our working capital. As a result, working capital management, including prompt and diligent billing and collection, is an important factor in our results of operations and liquidity. Our working capital management procedures may not successfully negate this risk.

We are and have been subject to routine and periodic surveys, audits and investigations by various governmental agencies. In addition to surveys to determine compliance with the conditions of participation, CMS has engaged a number of contractors (including Medicare Administrative Contractors ("MACs"), RACs and UPICs) to conduct audits and investigations to evaluate billing practices and identify overpayments. These audits and investigations can result in recoupments by Medicare and other payors of amounts previously paid to us. In addition to audits by CMS contractors, individual states are implementing similar integrity programs using Medicaid RACs. We are unable to predict what additional government regulations, if any, affecting our business may be enacted in the future, how existing or future laws and regulations might be interpreted or whether we will be able to comply with such laws and regulations either in the markets in which we presently conduct, or wish to commence, business. In certain states, payment of claims may be impacted by the Review Choice Demonstration for Home Health Services, a program intended to identify and prevent fraud, reduce the number of Medicare appeals, and improve provider compliance with Medicare program requirements. The program is limited to home health agencies in Illinois, Ohio, North Carolina, Florida and Texas. Providers in these states may initially select from the following claims review and approval processes: pre-claim review, post-payment review, or a minimal post-payment review with a 25% payment reduction. Home health agencies that maintain high compliance levels will be eligible for additional, less burdensome options. We are currently unable to predict what impact, if any, this program may have on our result of operations or financial position.

Our revenues are concentrated in a small number of states which makes us particularly sensitive to regulatory and economic changes in those states.

Our revenues are particularly sensitive to regulatory and economic changes in states in which we generate a significant portion of our revenues including Illinois, New Mexico and New York. Accordingly, any change in the current demographic, economic, competitive or regulatory conditions in these states could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations. Changes to the Medicaid programs in these states could also have a disproportionately adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

Future efforts to reduce the costs of the Illinois Department on Aging programs could adversely affect our service revenues and profitability.

For the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, we derived approximately 21.4% and 23.0%, respectively, of our revenue from the Illinois Department on Aging programs. Previous state government officials have attempted to reduce government spending by proposing changes aimed at reducing expenditures by this department. The nature and extent of any proposed future cost reduction initiatives is unknown. If future reforms impact the eligibility of consumers for services, the number of hours authorized or otherwise restrict services provided to existing consumers, our service revenues, results of operations, financial position and growth may be adversely affected.

Failure to renew a significant payor agreement or group of related payor agreements may materially impact our revenue.

Each of our agreements is generally in effect for a specific term, but they are also generally terminable with 60 days’ notice. Our ability to renew or retain our agreements depends on our quality of service and reputation, as well as other factors over which we have little or no control, such as state appropriations and changes in provider eligibility requirements. Additionally, failure to satisfy any of the numerous technical renewal requirements in connection with our proposals for agreements could result in a proposal being rejected even if it contains favorable pricing terms. Failure to obtain, renew or retain agreements with major payors may negatively impact our results of operations and revenue. We can give no assurance these agreements will be renewed on commercially reasonable terms or at all.

Negative publicity or changes in public perception of our services may adversely affect our ability to receive referrals, obtain new agreements and renew existing agreements.

Our success in receiving referrals, obtaining new agreements and renewing our existing agreements depends upon maintaining our reputation as a quality service provider among governmental authorities, physicians, hospitals, discharge planning departments, case managers, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, advocacy groups, consumers and their families, other referral sources and the public. While we believe that the services that we provide are of high quality, if our quality measures, which are published online by CMS, are deemed to be not of the highest value, our reputation could be negatively affected. Negative publicity, changes in public perceptions of our services or government investigations of our operations could damage our reputation and hinder our ability to receive referrals, retain agreements or obtain new agreements. Increased government scrutiny may also contribute to an increase in compliance costs and could discourage consumers from using our services. Any of these events could have a negative effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.

We are subject to a risk of work stoppages and other labor relations matters because our hourly workforce is highly unionized. As of December 31, 2021, 52.1% of our workforce was represented by labor unions. We have numerous agreements with local SEIU affiliates which are renegotiated from time to time. These negotiations are often initiated when we receive increases in our hourly rates from various state agencies. Upon expiration of these collective bargaining agreements, we may not be able to negotiate labor agreements on satisfactory terms with these labor unions. A strike, work stoppage or other slowdown could result in a disruption of our operations and/or higher ongoing labor costs, which could adversely affect our business. Moreover, potential changes to federal labor laws and regulations, including those supported by the current presidential administration, could increase the likelihood of employee unionization activity and the ability of employees to unionize. Labor costs are the most significant component of our total expenditures and, therefore, an increase in the cost of labor could significantly harm our business.

If we were required to write down all or part of our goodwill and/or our intangible assets, our net earnings and net worth could be materially adversely affected.

Goodwill and intangible assets with finite lives represent a significant portion of our assets. Goodwill represents the excess of cost over the fair market value of net assets acquired in business combinations. For example, if our market capitalization drops significantly below the amount of net equity recorded on our balance sheet, it might indicate a decline in our fair value and would require us to further evaluate whether our goodwill has been impaired. If as part of our annual review of goodwill and intangibles, we were required to write down all or a significant part of our goodwill and/or intangible assets, our net earnings and net worth could be

materially adversely affected, which could affect our flexibility to obtain additional financing. In addition, if our assumptions used in preparing our valuations for purposes of impairment testing differ materially from actual future results, we may record impairment charges in the future and our financial results may be materially adversely affected. We had $504.4 million and $469.1 million of goodwill and $64.3 million and $71.5 million of intangible assets recorded on our Consolidated Balance Sheets at December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively.

It is not possible at this time to determine if there will be any future impairment charge, or if there is, whether such charges would be material. We will continue to review our goodwill and other intangible assets for possible impairment. We cannot be certain that a downturn in our business or changes in market conditions will not result in an impairment of goodwill or other intangible assets and the recognition of resulting expenses in future periods, which could adversely affect our results of operations for those periods.

If we fail to maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, such failure could adversely impact our business and stock price.

Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, requires our management to report on, and requires our independent registered public accounting firm to attest to, the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. Compliance with SEC regulations adopted pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes Oxley Act requires annual management assessments of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. Compliance with Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act has increased our legal and financial compliance costs making some activities more difficult, time-consuming or costly and may also place strain on our personnel, systems and resources.

Accordingly, we are required to have an audit of our internal control over financial reporting. Our management previously determined that a material weakness in our internal control existed as of December 31, 2018, and that two additional material weaknesses existed as of December 31, 2019. Although each of these material weaknesses was remediated as of December 31, 2020 and management determined that our internal control over financial reporting was effective as of that date, as discussed in Item 9A of Part II of the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, we cannot assure you that we will not identify another material weakness in the future.

To the extent that we now or in the future have deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting that are not remediated, our ability to accurately and timely report our financial position, results of operations, cash flows or key operating metrics could be impaired, which could result in a material misstatement in our financial statements, late filings of our annual and quarterly reports under the Exchange Act, restatements of our consolidated financial statements or other corrective disclosures, or other material adverse effects on our business, reputation, results of operations, financial condition or liquidity and could create a perception that our financial results do not fairly state our financial condition or results of operations, any of which could have an adverse effect on the value of our stock.

Compliance with changing laws and regulations including specific program compliance may result in additional expenses and pose challenges for our management team.

The state agencies that contract for our services require us to comply with various laws and regulations affecting the services we provide. We have a compliance officer who monitors and reports on our compliance efforts. The laws and regulations governing our operations are subject to change. The implementation of these changes may require us to increase our efforts to remain compliant, may reduce the authorizations for services to be provided, and may result in certain consumers no longer being eligible for our services, any of which may result in lower revenues and increased costs, reducing our operating performance and profitability. If we continue to serve our consumers without addressing changes in laws and regulations, we are at risk for non-compliance with program requirements and potential penalties.

Our hospice operations are subject to annual Medicare caps. If we exceed the caps, our business and consolidated financial condition, results of operations and cash flows could be materially adversely affected.

Overall payments made by Medicare to each hospice provider number (generally corresponding to each of our hospice agencies) are subject to an inpatient cap and an aggregate cap, which are set each federal fiscal year. The inpatient cap limits the number of days of inpatient care to no more than 20% of total patient care days. The aggregate cap limits the amount of Medicare reimbursement a hospice may receive, based on the number of Medicare patients served. If a hospice’s Medicare payments exceed its inpatient or aggregate caps, it must repay Medicare for the excess amount. If payments received under any of our hospice provider numbers exceed these caps, we may be required to reimburse Medicare such excess amounts, which could have a material adverse effect on our business and consolidated financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Reductions in reimbursement and other changes to Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal, state and local medical and social programs could adversely affect our consumer caseload, units of service, revenues, gross profit and profitability.

A significant portion of our caseload and revenues are derived from government healthcare programs, primarily Medicare and Medicaid. For the year ended December 31, 2021, we derived approximately 58.0% of our net service revenues from state and local governmental agencies, primarily through Medicaid state programs. However, changes in government healthcare programs may decrease the reimbursement we receive or limit access to, or utilization of, our services. As federal healthcare expenditures continue to increase and as some state governments navigate budgetary pressures, federal and state governments have made, and may continue to make, significant changes to the Medicare and Medicaid programs and reimbursement received for services rendered to beneficiaries of such programs. For example, the Budget Control Act of 2011 requires automatic spending reductions to reduce the federal deficit, including Medicare spending reductions of up to 2% per fiscal year, with a uniform percentage reduction across all Medicare programs. CMS began imposing a 2% reduction on Medicare claims in April 2013, and these reductions have been extended through 2030, although the CARES Act and related legislation temporarily suspend this 2% reduction from May 1, 2020, through March 31, 2022, and reduce the sequestration adjustments from 2% to 1% from April 1 through June 30, 2022. The full 2% reduction is currently scheduled to resume July 1, 2022 and the reductions for 2030 have been increased to 2.25% for the first six months and to 3% for the second six months. As a result of the ARPA, an additional Medicare payment reduction of up to 4% was required to take effect in January 2022, although Congress has delayed implementation of this reduction until 2023.

The Medicaid program, which is jointly funded by the federal and state governments, is often a state’s largest program. Governmental agencies generally condition their agreements upon a sufficient budgetary appropriation. Almost all of the states in which we operate have experienced periodic financial pressures and budgetary shortfalls due to challenging economic conditions, including as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the rising costs of healthcare. Reductions to federal support for state Medicaid or other programs could also result in budgetary shortfalls. As a result, many states have made, are considering or may consider making changes in their Medicaid or other state and local medical and social programs, including enacting legislation designed to reduce Medicaid expenditures.

Certain of these measures have been implemented by, or are proposed in, states in which we operate. For example, we provide support services as a fiscal intermediary to the New York Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (“CDPAP”), a self-directed care alternative program that allows eligible individuals who need help with activities of daily living or skilled nursing services to choose their caregivers. In 2019, New York initiated a new Request For Offer (“RFO”) process to competitively procure CDPAP fiscal intermediaries. We were not selected in the initial RFO process. We submitted a formal protest in response to the selection process, which was filed and accepted in March 2021, but have not yet received a response to the formal protest. The Company recognized approximately $42 million and $3 million in net service revenue and operating income, respectively, from the program for the year ended December 31, 2021.

The New York fiscal year 2022 state budget included a provision to add additional fiscal intermediaries (one or two entities per county with specified population sizes, plus entities that meet various other requirements) to those awarded contracts as a Lead Fiscal Intermediary under the initial RFO process, based on the scoring of the original RFO. As scoring of RFOs was not publicly released, it is unknown at this time if the Company’s score ranked high enough to qualify for these additional awards. The Company has submitted a response to the survey issued by the New York Department of Health to determine the additional contract awards. The New York Department of Health published an anticipated contract start date for all awards to be no earlier than November 1, 2021, but has not yet announced the exact start date. No later than the contract start date, we will be required to begin transitioning patients within the CDPAP to a fiscal intermediary that has been awarded a contract and cease providing services to those patients. We continue to consider other arrangements and to pursue our protest of the award. Given the uncertainty surrounding the program, the Company has suspended materially all of its new patient admissions under the New York CDPAP program.

Additionally, New York has identified significant expenses in excess of its Medicaid budget and exceeded a cap on the state’s Medicaid growth rate that was established by New York statute. In 2020, New York established a new Medicaid Redesign Team (“MRT II”), which is tasked with restoring financial sustainability to the state’s Medicaid program, among other objectives. Many of the MRT II’s recommended savings measures relate to long-term care services and were enacted in the state budget for state fiscal year 2021, although some were deferred as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The New York Department of Health has issued regulatory amendments based on the recommendations that would, among other things, limit eligibility for and access to home care services. Parts of the regulatory amendments related to personal care services and CDPAP, such as limiting consumers to one fiscal intermediary, became effective in November 2021, while other provisions, such as changes to the minimum needs (i.e., eligibility) criteria for consumers, have been delayed. The implementation of these changes and other MRT II recommendations could affect our operations and financial performance. It is not yet clear what healthcare-related initiatives the current governor, who took office in mid-2021, will pursue.

In 2021, we derived approximately 38.2% of our net service revenues from services provided in Illinois, 18.3% of our net service revenues in New Mexico and 11.5% of our net service revenues in New York. Because a substantial portion of our business is concentrated in these states, any significant reduction in expenditures that pay for our services or other significant changes in these states may have a disproportionately negative impact on our future operating results. We cannot predict whether states material to our operating results will timely pass budgets in subsequent years or experience changes or other challenges that negatively impact our ability to be reimbursed for our services in a timely manner.

The ACA made significant changes to Medicare and Medicaid policy and funding, among other broad changes across the healthcare industry, promoting a shift toward value-based care, including implementation of alternative payment models. The ACA also resulted in expanded Medicaid eligibility in many states and the establishment of various demonstration projects and Medicaid programs under which states may apply to test new or existing approaches to payment and delivery of Medicaid benefits. Future health reform efforts or make additional significant changes to the ACA could impact both federal and state programs.

If changes in Medicare, Medicaid or other state and local medical and social programs result in a reduction in available funds for the services we offer, a reduction in the number of beneficiaries eligible for our services or a reduction in the number of hours or amount of services that beneficiaries eligible for our services may receive, then our revenues and profitability could be negatively impacted. Our profitability depends principally on the levels of government-mandated payment rates and our ability to manage the cost of providing services. In some cases, commercial insurance companies and other private payors rely on government payment systems to determine payment rates. As a result, changes to government healthcare programs that reduce Medicare, Medicaid or other payments may negatively impact payments from private payors, as well. Any reduction in reimbursements or imposition of copayments that dissuade the use of our services, or any reduction in reimbursement from private payors, could also materially adversely affect our profitability.

Federal and state regulation may impair our ability to consummate acquisitions or open new agencies.

Federal laws or regulations may adversely impact our ability to acquire home health agencies or open new start-up home health agencies. For example, a Medicare regulation known as the “36 Month Rule” prohibits buyers of Medicare-certified home health agencies from assuming the Medicare billing privileges of an acquired agency if the acquired agency either enrolled in Medicare or underwent a change in majority ownership fewer than 36 months prior to the acquisition, subject to certain exceptions. Instead, the buyer must enroll the acquired home health agencies as new providers with Medicare. The 36 Month Rule can 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. Further, in the past, CMS has limited enrollment of new home health agencies. If another moratorium is imposed on enrollment of new providers in a geographic area we desire to service, our ability to expand operations may be impacted.

Our ability to expand operations in a state will depend on our ability to obtain a state license to operate, and where required, CON approval. States may limit the number of licenses they issue. The failure to obtain any required CON or license could impair our ability to operate or expand our business.

The implementation of alternative payment models and the transition of Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries to managed care organizations may limit our market share and could adversely affect our revenues.

Many government and commercial payors are transitioning providers to alternative payment models that are designed to promote cost-efficiency, quality and coordination of care. For example, accountable care organizations (“ACOs”) incentivize hospitals, physician groups, and other providers to organize and coordinate patient care while reducing unnecessary costs. Several states have implemented, or plan to implement, accountable care models for their Medicaid populations. If we are not included in these programs, or if ACOs establish programs that overlap with our services, we are at risk for losing market share and for a loss of our current business.

We may be similarly impacted by increased enrollment of Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries in managed care plans, resulting in a shift from traditional fee-for-service models. Under the managed Medicare program, also known as Medicare Advantage, the

federal government contracts with private health insurers to provide Medicare benefits. Insurers may choose to offer supplemental benefits, including in-home support services, and impose higher plan costs on beneficiaries. Over 40% of Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan, a figure that continues to grow. While hospice services are currently reimbursed as a traditional fee-for-service program under Medicare Part A, hospice services may eventually be offered under Medicare Advantage plans, which could result in reduced reimbursement, limited utilization, and increased competition for managed care contracts.

Enrollment in managed Medicaid plans is also growing, as states are increasingly relying on managed care organizations to deliver Medicaid program services as a strategy to control costs and manage resources. We may experience increased competition for managed care contracts due to state regulation and limitations. For instance, New York law limits the number of home care providers with which a managed Medicaid long-term care plan can contract. We cannot assure you that we will be successful in our efforts to be included in plan networks, that we will be able to secure favorable contracts with all or some of the managed care organizations, that our reimbursement under these programs will remain at current levels, that the authorizations for services will remain at current levels or that our profitability will remain at levels consistent with past performance. In addition, operational processes may not be well defined as a state transitions beneficiaries to managed care. For example, membership, new referrals and the related authorization for services to be provided may be delayed, which may result in delays in service delivery to consumers or in payment for services rendered. Difficulties with operational processes may negatively affect our revenue growth rates, cash flow and profitability for services provided. Other alternative payment models may be presented by the government and commercial payors to control costs that subject our Company to financial risk. We cannot predict at this time what effect alternative payment models may have on our Company.

We compete with personal care service providers, hospice providers, home health providers, private caregivers, larger publicly held companies, privately held companies, privately held single-site agencies, hospital-based agencies, not-for-profit organizations, community-based organizations and self-directed care programs. Some of our competitors may have greater financial, technical, political and marketing resources, name recognition or a larger number of consumers and payors than we do. In addition, some of these organizations offer more services than we do in the markets in which we operate. These competitive advantages may limit our ability to attract and retain referrals in local markets and to increase our overall market share.

In many states, there are limited barriers to entry in providing personal care services. However, some states require entities to obtain a license before providing home care services. Licensure is generally required of agencies providing home health and hospice services, though requirements vary by state. Some states also require a provider to obtain a CON before establishing certain health services, operations or facilities. CON restrictions may reduce the level of competition in a given industry or in a particular geographic region. In addition, economic changes such as increases in minimum wage and changes in Department of Labor rules can also impact the ease of entry into a market. These factors may affect competition in the states in which we operate.

Often our contracts with payors are not exclusive. Local competitors may develop strategic relationships with referral sources and payors. This could result in pricing pressures, loss of or failure to gain market share or loss of consumers or payors, any of which could harm our business. In addition, existing competitors may offer new or enhanced services that we do not provide, or be viewed by consumers as a more desirable local alternative. The introduction of new and enhanced service offerings, in combination with the development of strategic relationships by our competitors, could cause a decline in revenue, a loss of market acceptance of our services and a negative impact on our results of operations.

If we fail to comply with the laws and extensive regulations governing our business, we could be subject to penalties or be required to make changes to our operations, which could negatively impact our profitability.

The federal government and the states in which we operate regulate our industry extensively. The laws and regulations governing our operations, along with the terms of participation in various government programs, impose certain requirements on the way in which we do business, the services we offer, and our interactions with providers and consumers. These requirements include matters related to:

These laws include, but are not limited to the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, the federal Stark law, the federal FCA, the federal Civil Monetary Penalties Law, other federal and state fraud and abuse, insurance fraud, and fee-splitting laws, which may extend to services reimbursable by any payer, including private insurers, and federal and state laws governing the security and privacy of health information.

We currently have contractual relationships with current and potential referral sources and recipients, including hospitals and health systems, skilled nursing facilities and certain physicians who provide medical director and clinical services to our Company. We attempt to structure our relationships to meet applicable regulatory requirements, but we cannot provide assurance that every relationship is fully compliant.

Federal and state government agencies have heightened and coordinated civil and criminal enforcement efforts throughout the healthcare industry. While we endeavor to comply with applicable laws and regulations, we cannot assure you that our practices are fully compliant or that courts or regulatory agencies will not interpret those laws and regulations in ways that will adversely affect our practices. We may also fail to discover instances of noncompliance by businesses we acquire, which could subject us to adverse consequences. The laws and regulations governing our business are subject to change, interpretations may evolve and enforcement focus may shift. These changes could subject us to allegations of impropriety or illegality, require restructuring of relationships with referral sources and recipients or otherwise require changes to our operations. Failure to comply with applicable laws and regulations could lead to civil sanctions and criminal penalties, the termination of rights to participate in federal and state healthcare programs, exclusion from federal healthcare programs, the suspension or revocation of licenses and nonpayment or delays in our ability to bill and collect for services provided, any of which could adversely affect our business, results of operations, or financial results.

In addition, as a result of our participation in Medicaid, Medicare and Veterans Health Administration programs and other state and local governmental programs, and pursuant to certain of our contractual relationships, we are subject to various reviews, compliance audits and investigations by governmental authorities and other third parties to verify our compliance with these programs and agreements as well as applicable laws, regulations and conditions of participation. Each of our home care and hospice agencies must comply with the extensive conditions of participation in the Medicare program. If any of our agencies fail to meet any of the conditions of participation or coverage with respect to state licensure or our participation in Medicaid, Medicare programs, Veterans Health Administration programs and other state and local governmental programs, we may receive a notice of deficiency from the applicable surveyor or authority. Failure to implement a plan of action to correct the deficiency within the period provided by the surveyor or authority could result in civil or criminal penalties, damage to our reputation, cancellation of our agreements, suspension or revocation of our licenses, requirements to repay amounts received, disqualification from federal and state healthcare programs, deactivation or revocation of billing privileges, bars on re-enrollment and other negative consequences. These actions may adversely affect our ability to provide certain services, to receive payments from other payors and to continue to operate which could adversely affect our revenues and profitability. Additionally, we could face liability under the FCA if we submit claims to Medicare or Medicaid while not in compliance with certain conditions of participation. Further, actions taken against one of our offices may subject our other offices to adverse consequences.

We are subject to federal, state and local laws and regulations that govern our employment practices, including minimum wage, living wage, and paid time-off requirements. Failure to comply with these laws and regulations, or changes to these laws and regulations that increase our employment-related expenses, could adversely impact our operations.

We are required to comply with all applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations relating to employment, including OSHA requirements, wage and hour and other compensation requirements, employee benefits, providing leave and sick pay, employment insurance, proper classification of workers as employees or independent contractors, immigration and equal employment opportunity laws. These laws and regulations can vary significantly among jurisdictions and can be highly technical. Costs and expenses related to these requirements are a significant operating expense and may increase as a result of, among other things, changes in federal, state or local laws or regulations, or the interpretation thereof, requiring employers to provide specified benefits or rights to employees, increases in the minimum wage and local living wage ordinances, increases in the level of existing benefits or the

lengthening of periods for which unemployment benefits are available. Since our personal care operations are concentrated in Illinois, New Mexico and New York, we are particularly sensitive to changes in laws and regulations in these states. Additionally, the current presidential administration has signaled its support for increases in minimum wage. We may not be able to offset any increased costs and expenses. Furthermore, any failure to comply with these laws, including even a seemingly minor infraction, can result in significant penalties which could harm our reputation and have a material adverse effect on our business. The COVID-19 pandemic has increased some of these risks, with certain states modifying occupational health and safety guidelines in a manner that increases scrutiny and complexity of operations with respect to appropriate training and use in the workplace of PPE and the possibility of corresponding regulatory audit activity with respect to the adequacy of our practices and procedures. The COVID-19 pandemic has also resulted in states modifying standards associated with payment amounts and required justifications to qualify for sick leave and unemployment benefits. These modifications may result in increased operational costs to us, which may adversely impact our financial performance.

In addition, certain individuals and entities, known as excluded persons, are prohibited from receiving payment for their services rendered to Medicaid, Medicare and other federal and state healthcare program beneficiaries. If we inadvertently hire or contract with an excluded person, or if any of our current employees or contractors becomes an excluded person in the future without our knowledge, we may be subject to substantial civil penalties, including civil monetary penalties, an assessment of up to three times the amount claimed and exclusion from the program.

Each of our subsidiaries that employ an average of at least 50 full-time employees in a calendar year are required to offer a minimum level of health coverage for 95% of our full-time employees in 2021 or be subject to an annual penalty.

Our business may be adversely impacted by healthcare reform efforts, including significant modifications to the ACA.

In recent years, the U.S. Congress and certain state legislatures have considered and passed a large number of laws intended to result in significant changes to the healthcare industry, including the ACA. The ACA affects how healthcare services are delivered and reimbursed through the expansion of public and private health insurance coverage, reduction of growth in Medicare and Medicaid program spending, and the establishment and expansion of programs that tie reimbursement to quality and integration. The ACA has been subject to legislative and regulatory changes and court challenges. Although the current presidential administration has indicated that it generally intends to protect and strengthen the ACA, it is possible that there may be continued changes to the ACA, its implementation or its interpretation. Changes by Congress or government agencies could eliminate or alter provisions beneficial to us, while leaving in place provisions reducing our reimbursement or otherwise negatively impacting our business.

There is also uncertainty regarding whether, when and what other health reform measures will be adopted, and the impact of such efforts on providers as well as other healthcare industry participants. Some members of Congress have proposed expanding government-funded coverage, including proposals to expand coverage of federally-funded insurance programs as an alternative to private insurance or to establish a single payor system (such reforms are often referred to as "Medicare for All"), and some states have implemented or proposed public health insurance options.

In addition, CMS administrators may make changes to Medicaid payment models or grant various flexibilities to states in the administration of state Medicaid programs, including by expanding the scope of waivers under which states may implement Medicaid expansion provisions, impose different eligibility or enrollment restrictions, or otherwise implement programs that vary from federal standards. Other industry participants, such as private payors, may also introduce financial or delivery system reforms. We are unable to predict the nature and success of such initiatives. Healthcare reform initiatives, including changes to the ACA, may have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and operating results.

The industry trend toward value-based purchasing may negatively impact our revenues.

There is a trend in the healthcare industry toward value-based purchasing of healthcare services among both government and commercial payors. Generally, value-based purchasing programs emphasize quality of outcome and efficiency of care provided, rather than quantity of care provided. For example, Medicare requires hospices and home health agencies to report certain quality data in order to receive full reimbursement. Failure to report quality data or poor performance may negatively impact the amount of reimbursement received. In addition, CMS publishes home health and hospice quality measure data online, through its Care Compare website, to allow consumers and others to search and compare data for Medicare-certified providers. Alongside this quality and public reporting effort, CMS began implementing a nationwide expansion of the HHVBP Model in January 2022. Under the model, home health agencies will receive increases or decreases to their Medicare fee-for-service payments of up to 5%, based on performance against specific quality measures relative to the performance of other home health providers. Data collected in each performance year will impact Medicare payments two years later. Calendar year 2023 is the first performance year under the expanded HHVBP Model, which will affect payments in calendar year 2025.

In the future, CMS may establish new value-based purchasing programs affecting a broader range of providers. Other initiatives aimed at improving quality and cost of care include alternative payment models, including ACOs and bundled payment arrangements.

There are also several state-driven value-based care initiatives. For example, some states have aligned quality metrics across payors through legislation or regulation. Commercial payors are shifting toward value-based reimbursement arrangements as well.

We expect value-based purchasing programs, including programs that condition reimbursement on patient outcome measures, to become more common and to involve a higher percentage of reimbursement amounts. It is unclear whether alternative models will successfully coordinate care and reduce costs or whether they will decrease overall reimbursement. While we believe we are adapting our business strategies to compete in a value-based reimbursement environment, we are unable at this time to predict how this trend will affect our results of operations. If we perform at a level below the outcomes demonstrated by our competitors, fail to satisfy quality data reporting requirements, are unable to meet or exceed quality performance standards under any applicable value-based purchasing program, or otherwise fail to effectively provide or coordinate the efficient delivery of quality healthcare services, our reputation in the industry may be negatively impacted, we may receive reduced reimbursement amounts and we may owe repayments to payors, causing our revenues, financial position, results of operations and cash flows to decline.

Operating in the personal care services industry exposes us to an inherent risk of wrongful death, personal injury, professional malpractice and other potential claims or litigation brought by our consumers and employees. From time to time, we are subject to claims alleging that we did not properly treat or care for a consumer that we failed to follow internal or external procedures that resulted in death or harm to a consumer or that our employees mistreated our consumers, resulting in death or harm. We are also subject to claims arising out of accidents involving vehicle collisions brought by consumers whom we are transporting, from employees driving to or from home visits or other affected individuals. We may also be subject to lawsuits from patients, employees and others exposed to COVID-19 at our facilities or in connection with the services provided by our workforce in client residences and third party facilities. Our professional and general liability insurance may not cover all claims against us.

In addition, regulatory agencies may initiate administrative proceedings alleging violations of statutes and regulations arising from our services and seek to impose monetary penalties on us. We could be required to pay substantial amounts to respond to regulatory investigations or, if we do not prevail, damages or penalties arising from these legal proceedings. We also are subject to potential lawsuits under the federal FCA or other federal and state whistleblower statutes designed to combat fraud and abuse in our industry. This and other similar lawsuits can involve significant monetary awards or penalties which may not be covered by our insurance. If our third-party insurance coverage and self-insurance coverage reserves are not adequate to cover these claims, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. Even if we are successful in our defense, civil lawsuits or regulatory proceedings could distract us from running our business or irreparably damage our reputation.

Although we maintain insurance consistent with industry practice, the insurance we maintain may not be sufficient to satisfy all claims made against us. We cannot assure you that claims will not be made in the future in excess of the limits of our insurance, and any such claims, if successful and in excess of such limits, may have a material adverse effect on our business or assets. We utilize historical data to estimate our reserves for our insurance programs. If losses on asserted claims exceed the current insurance coverage and accrued reserves, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected. Changes in our annual insurance costs and self-insured retention limits depend in large part on the insurance market, and insurance coverage may not continue to be available to us at commercially reasonable rates, in adequate amounts or on satisfactory terms.

Our business depends on the proper functioning, availability, and security of our information systems. Our operations may be disrupted if we are unable to effectively integrate, manage and maintain the security of our information systems.

Our business depends on effective and secure information systems that assist us in, among other things, gathering information to improve the quality of consumer care, optimizing financial performance, adjusting consumer mix, monitoring regulatory compliance and enhancing staff efficiency. We rely on external service providers to provide continual maintenance, upgrading, and enhancement of our primary information systems used for our operational needs. The software we license for our various patient information systems supports intake, personnel scheduling, office clinical and centralized billing and receivables management in an integrated database, enabling us to standardize the care delivered across our network of offices and monitor our performance and consumer outcomes. Information systems may be vulnerable to damage from a variety of sources, including telecommunications or network failures, human acts and natural disasters.

To the extent providers fail to support the software or systems, or if we lose our licenses, our operations could be negatively affected. 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. We rely on an external service provider, ADP, to provide

continual maintenance, upgrading and enhancement of our primary human resource and payroll systems. To the extent that ADP fails to support the software or systems, or any of the related support services provided by them, our internal operations could be negatively affected.

Our business also supports the use of EVV to collect visit submission information through our delivery of home care services. Our solution uses a combination of IVR and GPS enabled smartphones to capture time in and time out, mileage and travel time, as well as the completed care plan tasks. We license this software through CellTrak along with partnering with states who utilize other software. We rely on these providers to provide continual maintenance, enhancements, as well as security of any protected data. To the extent that our EVV vendors fail to support these processes, our internal operations could be negatively affected. Under the 21^st Century Cures Act, as amended, states had until January 1, 2020 to establish standards for EVV for Medicaid-funded personal care services. States that failed to meet this deadline could potentially lose, without an application for a good cause extension, an escalating amount of their funding. To the extent that the states fail to properly implement EVV and lose an amount of their funding or to the extent states adopt standards for EVV that are not compatible with our operations, our internal operations could be negatively affected.

The COVID-19 pandemic also has led to a substantial increase in administrative employees working remotely and, consequently, accessing our system remotely. As a result, we are more dependent on our systems that facilitate remote access and potentially could experience increased risks.

We have taken precautionary measures to prevent unanticipated problems that could affect our information systems. We have implemented backup of our key information systems that are designed to allow our operations to failover to our geographically separate disaster recovery datacenter with a quick return to operations for all sites and systems in the event our main datacenter becomes inoperable because of a natural disaster, attacks or other cause. All of our sites and branch offices have redundant connections to our primary and backup datacenters using data lines and cellular connections through VPN or MPLS. The key business functions for our main sites also have redundancies with key functions geographically split between our two main facilities, should one not be available due to the above mentioned scenarios. While we believe these measures are reasonable, no system of information security is able to eliminate the risk of business disruptions, and we or our third-party vendors that we rely upon may experience system failures.

If we experience a reduction in the performance, reliability, or availability of our information systems, our operations and ability to process transactions and produce timely and accurate reports could be adversely affected. If we experience difficulties with the transition and integration of information systems or are unable to implement, maintain, or expand our systems properly, we could suffer from, among other things, operational disruptions, regulatory problems, and increases in administrative expenses. The occurrence of any system failure could result in interruptions, delays, the loss or corruption of data and cessations or interruptions in the availability of systems, all of which could have a material, adverse effect on our financial position and results of operations and harm our business reputation.

A cyber-attack or security breach could cause a loss of confidential consumer data, give rise to remediation and other expenses, expose us to liability under HIPAA, consumer protection laws, common law and other legal theories, subject us to litigation and federal and state governmental inquiries, damage our reputation, and otherwise be disruptive to our business.

We rely extensively on computer systems to manage clinical and financial data, to communicate with our consumers, payors, vendors and other third parties, and to summarize and analyze our operating results. We frequently exchange clinical and financial data with third parties in connection with our routine operations and in order to meet our contractual and regulatory obligations. We are required to comply with the federal and state privacy and security laws and requirements, including HIPAA.

In addition, various states, including California, Colorado, Illinois, Nevada, New York, Massachusetts and Virginia have enacted, and other states are expected to enact, laws and regulations concerning privacy, data protection and information security. To the extent we are subject to such legislation, the potential effects of new legislation are often far-reaching and may require us to modify our data processing practices and policies and to incur substantial costs and expenses in an effort to comply. These laws often provide for civil penalties for violations, as well as a private right of action for data breaches that may increase data breach litigation.

We have invested in security measures designed to protect against the threat of security breaches, including cyber attacks, email phishing schemes, malware and ransomware. However, our technology, and that of our third-party service providers, may fail to adequately secure the protected health information and personally identifiable information we create, receive, transmit and maintain in our databases. In such circumstances, we may be held liable to our patients and regulators, which could result in fines, litigation or adverse publicity that could have a material adverse effect on our business and consolidated financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Even if we are not held liable, any resulting negative publicity could harm our business and distract the attention of management.

In spite of our policies, procedures and other security measures used to protect our computer systems and data, occasionally, we have experienced breaches that have required us to notify affected consumers and the government, and we have worked with

consumers and the government to resolve such issues. While these past breaches have not had a significant adverse impact on our business or results of operations, there can be no assurance that we will not be subject to additional and/or more severe cyber-attacks or security breaches in the future. Such attacks or breaches could result in loss of protected patient medical data or other information subject to privacy laws, disrupt our information technology systems or business, subject us to governmental enforcement actions and litigation (the losses associated with which may not be covered by insurance) and otherwise materially and adversely impact our business and results of operations.

We may not be able to attract and retain qualified personnel or we may incur increased costs in doing so.

We must attract and retain qualified non-executive personnel in the markets in which we operate in order to provide our services. We compete for personnel with other providers of social and medical services as well as companies in other service-based industries. As the labor market continues to be tight and unemployment has declined in comparison to earlier levels, the competition for employees has increased, which will continue to impact our ability to attract and retain new caregivers. In addition, the competition for skilled healthcare staff has increased significantly, which continues to impact our ability to attract and retain qualified skilled healthcare staff. To the extent that the United States continues to have lower unemployment levels and shortages of caregivers and skilled healthcare staff, it may continue to hinder our ability to attract and retain sufficient caregivers and skilled healthcare staff to meet the continuing demand for both our non-clinical and clinical services. Moreover, the increased staffing challenges have resulted in, and may continue to result in, increased labor cost to satisfy our staffing requirements. In addition, labor shortages could be further exacerbated by COVID-19 vaccination requirements.

We may not be able to offset higher labor costs by increasing the rates we charge for our services. In addition, if we fail to attract and retain qualified and skilled personnel, our ability to conduct our business operations effectively and our results of operations would be harmed.

Competition may be greater for managers, such as regional and agency directors. Our ability to attract and retain personnel depends on several factors, including our ability to provide employees with attractive assignments and competitive benefits and salaries. The loss of one or more of the members of the executive management team or the inability of a new management team to successfully execute our strategies may adversely affect our business. If we are unable to attract and retain qualified personnel, we may be unable to provide our services, the quality of our services may decline, and we could lose consumers and referral sources.

Our success depends upon the continued employment of certain members of our executive team to manage several of our key functional areas, including operations, business development, accounting, finance, human resources, marketing, information systems, contracting and compliance. Moreover, the current competitive labor market may make it more difficult to retain or hire members of our executive team. The departure of any member of our executive team may materially adversely affect our operations.

Restrictive covenants in the agreements governing our indebtedness may adversely affect us.

Our credit facility contains various covenants that limit our ability to take certain actions, including our ability to:

In addition, our credit facility contains restrictive covenants and requires us to maintain specified financial ratios and satisfy other financial condition tests. Our ability to meet these restrictive covenants and financial ratios and tests may be affected by events beyond our control, and we cannot assure you that we will meet those tests.

A breach of any of these covenants could result in a default under our credit facility. Upon the occurrence of an event of default under our credit facility, all amounts outstanding under our credit facility may become immediately due and payable and all commitments under our credit facility to extend further credit may be terminated. The acceleration of any such indebtedness will result in an event of default under all of our other long-term indebtedness.

The potential cessation or modification of LIBOR may increase our interest expense or otherwise adversely affect us.

A substantial portion of our indebtedness under the credit facility bears interest at variable interest rates that use the London Inter-Bank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) as a benchmark rate. On July 27, 2017, the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority, which regulates LIBOR, announced that it intends to stop persuading or compelling banks to submit LIBOR quotations after 2021 (the “FCA Announcement”). The FCA Announcement indicates that the continuation of LIBOR on the current basis cannot and will not be assured after 2021, and LIBOR may cease to exist or otherwise be unsuitable for use as a benchmark. Recent proposals for LIBOR reforms may result in the establishment of new methods of calculating LIBOR or the establishment of one or more alternative benchmark rates. The Amended 2021 Credit Agreement contemplates a transition from LIBOR and specifically identifies the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”) as the replacement reference rate and details the mechanism for transition at LIBOR cessation, which is anticipated to occur on June 30, 2023. The transition to SOFR is not expected to have a material impact on the Company’s results of operations or liquidity.

Inclement weather, natural disasters, acts of terrorism, pandemics, riots, civil insurrection or social unrest, looting, protests, strikes or street demonstrations may impact our ability to provide services.

Adverse weather conditions, natural disasters, acts of terrorism, pandemics, riots, civil insurrection or social unrest, looting, protests, strikes or street demonstrations may prevent our employees from providing authorized services. We are not paid for authorized services that are not delivered due to these events. Furthermore, prolonged disruptions as a result of such events in the markets in which we operate could disrupt our relationships with consumers, patients, caregivers and employees and referral sources located in affected areas and, in the case of our corporate office, our ability to provide administrative support services, including billing and collection services. For example, one of our support centers and a number of our agencies are located in the Midwestern United States, New York and California, increasing our exposure to blizzards and other major snowstorms, ice storms, tornadoes, flooding, wildfires and earthquakes. The impact of disasters and similar events is inherently uncertain. Moreover, adverse weather conditions may become more frequent and/or severe as the result of climate change. Future adverse weather conditions, natural disasters, acts of terrorism, pandemics, riots, civil insurrection or social unrest, looting, protests, strikes or street demonstrations may adversely affect our reputation, business and consolidated financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

We do not own any real property. We lease administrative offices for our local branches, none of which are individually material. We lease approximately 59,000 and 106,000 square feet of office space in Downers Grove, Illinois and Frisco, Texas, respectively, which serve as our support centers. We sublease approximately 21,000 and 15,500 square feet of our office space in Downers Grove and Frisco, respectively, to third parties.

From time to time, we are subject to legal and/or administrative proceedings incidental to our business. It is the opinion of management that the outcome of pending legal and/or administrative proceedings will not have a material effect on our financial position and results of operations.

Further information with respect to this item may be found in Note 12 to the Consolidated Financial Statements in Part II, Item 8—“Financial Statements and Supplementary Data,” which is incorporated herein by reference.

Our common stock is listed on The Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol “ADUS.”

As of December 31, 2021, 2.0% of our shares of common stock were held by our officers and directors and approximately 98.0% of our common stock was held by 278 institutional investors. An insignificant amount of common stock is held by individual holders. As of February 17, 2022, Addus HomeCare Corporation had approximately 16,930 shareholders of its common stock, including 74 shareholders of record.

We have never paid dividends on our common stock, including in the two most recent fiscal years, and we do not intend to pay any dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future. We currently plan to retain any earnings to support the operation, and to finance the growth, of our business rather than to pay cash dividends. Payments of any cash dividends in the future will depend on our financial condition, capital requirements, credit facility limitations, earnings, as well as other factors deemed relevant by our Board. Our credit facility restricts our ability to declare or pay any dividend or other distribution to Holdings unless no default or event of default has occurred and is continuing or would arise as a result thereof and the aggregate amount of dividends and distributions paid in any fiscal year does not exceed $7.5 million per annum.

You should read the following discussion together with our Consolidated Financial Statements and the related notes included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. This discussion contains forward-looking statements about our business and operations. Our actual results may differ materially from those we currently anticipate as a result of the factors we describe under “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K and other risks as well as other factors that are not currently known to us, that we currently consider immaterial or that are not specific to us, such as general economic conditions. The discussion of our financial condition and results of operations for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to the year ended December 31, 2019, included in Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations (“MD&A”) can be found in the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020.

We are a home care services provider operating three segments: personal care, hospice and home health. Our services are principally provided in-home under agreements with federal, state and local government agencies, managed care organizations, commercial insurers and private individuals. Our consumers are predominantly “dual eligible,” meaning they are eligible to receive both Medicare and Medicaid benefits. Managed care revenues accounted for 37.2%, 38.6% and 37.8% of our revenue during the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020, and 2019 respectively.

A summary of certain consolidated financial and statistical data results for 2021, 2020 and 2019 are provided in the table below.

	For the Years Ended December 31,
	2021		2020		2019
	(Amounts in Thousands, except States and Locations)
Net service revenues - continuing operations	$	864,499	$	764,775	$	648,791
Net income from continuing operations		45,126		33,133		25,811
Loss from discontinued operations		—		—		(574	)
Net income	$	45,126	$	33,133	$	25,237
Total assets	$	947,585	$	892,582	$	636,748

Adjusted EBITDA ⁽¹⁾	$	97,661	$	76,907	$	58,697
States served at period end		22		22		26
Locations at period end		206		214		198

COVID-19, the disease caused by a novel coronavirus, continues to be widespread throughout the United States and other parts of the world. Although vaccines became widely available in 2021, there continues to be a significant number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the United States. In response, various governmental authorities and private businesses in the United States have implemented, or reinstituted, certain mitigation strategies, such as masking and vaccine requirements. Economic conditions in the United States significantly improved during 2021 compared to earlier pandemic levels, although inflationary pressures and supply chain disruptions have recently impacted the U.S. economy. The long-term trends of new cases and deaths in the United States and the future impact of the pandemic continues to be unknown.

In September 2021, President Biden announced a federal six-point plan for responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of this plan, OSHA adopted a rule in November 2021 which would require all employers with 100 or more employees to require their

workforce to be fully vaccinated or, alternatively, to provide a negative COVID-19 test result on a weekly basis. Also, CMS issued an interim rule in November 2021 requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for workers in Medicare- and Medicaid-certified providers and suppliers, including hospices and home health agencies, that covers clinical staff, individuals providing services under arrangements, volunteers and staff who are not involved in direct patient care. On January 13, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the implementation of the OSHA rule but allowed the CMS interim rule to take effect. In response, President Biden rescinded the private employer mandate and called on states and businesses to voluntarily institute vaccination requirements to protect workers, customers and the broader community. Additionally, some states have implemented, or may implement in the future, vaccine mandates with respect to healthcare personnel. It is currently difficult to predict the impact that any of these vaccine mandates may have on us or the extent to which these vaccine mandates will ultimately become effective. However, we expect that these rules, to the extent that they become effective, will impact our home health and hospice segments.

We are monitoring developments as information becomes available, including with respect to national, state and local vaccine mandates, to access the possible impact on our workforce in personal care, home health, hospice and our corporate support centers. While the Company has not mandated vaccines for our employees, we have developed a multistep program in order to strongly encourage our employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine, which included offering a vaccine stipend and incentives as well as creating educational and motivational leadership communication. These educational and motivational leadership communications are ongoing. We are actively engaged in an effort to track vaccination rates among caregivers and to continue to improve those rates. However, it is difficult to predict the future impact of the pandemic or the federal six-point COVID-19 plan and state and local vaccine mandates on economic conditions in the United States and our business at this time.

For the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, COVID-19-related expenses in our personal care segment were approximately $16.5 million and $7.0 million, respectively, which were offset by $12.3 million and $1.4 million, respectively, related to the utilization of the amounts received from the Provider Relief Fund in November 2020 and are included in cost of service revenues on the Consolidated Statements of Income. Additionally, we recognized revenue of $7.1 million and $4.9 million attributable to temporary rate increases from certain payors in our personal care segment for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively.

For the year ended December 31, 2021, COVID-19-related expenses in our hospice segment were approximately $1.9 million, which were offset by $1.9 million related to the utilization of a portion of the funds received from the Queen City Hospice Provider Relief Fund and included in cost of service revenues on the Consolidated Statements of Income.

As of December 31, 2021, the Company deferred the recognition of $6.5 million of payments received from payors for COVID-19 reimbursement, included within accrued expenses, which will be recognized as we incur specific expenses related to the pandemic, such as expenses related to acquiring additional PPE and COVID-19 related paid time off, or will be returned to the extent COVID-19-related expenses are not incurred. We are not able to reasonably predict the total costs we will incur related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and such costs could be substantial.

As the labor market has tightened and unemployment has declined in comparison to earlier levels, the competition for new caregivers, including skilled healthcare staff, has increased significantly. To the extent that we continue to experience a shortage of caregivers, it may continue to hinder our ability to attract and retain sufficient caregivers to meet the continuing demand for both our non-clinical and clinical services. The increased staffing challenges may also result in increased labor cost to satisfy our staffing requirements.

Federal and state agencies continue to issue regulations and guidance related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the public health situation continues to evolve, and, therefore, we cannot currently predict with certainty the extent to which our business, results of operations, financial condition or liquidity will ultimately be impacted by the pandemic. We will continue to assess the impact and consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and government responses to the pandemic, including the enactment and implementation of the CARES Act, the PPPHCE Act, the CAA, the ARPA and other stimulus and relief legislation, as well as the implementation of the President’s federal six-point COVID-19 plan and any federal and state vaccine mandates on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows. Given the dynamic nature of these circumstances, the related financial effect cannot be reasonably estimated at this time but is not expected to materially adversely impact our business. See Part I, Item 1A—Risk Factors — “The COVID-19 pandemic could negatively affect our operations, business and financial condition, and our liquidity could also be negatively impacted, particularly if the U.S. economy remains unstable for a significant amount of time” of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, filed with the SEC on March 1, 2021.

See “Liquidity and Capital Resources” below for additional information regarding funds received related to COVID-19 pandemic relief.

In addition to our organic growth, we have grown through acquisitions that have expanded our presence in current markets, with the goal of having all three levels of in-home care in our markets, or facilitating our entry into new markets where in-home care has been moving to managed care organizations.

On July 1, 2020, we completed the acquisition of A Plus Health Care, Inc. (“A Plus”) for approximately $14.5 million, including the amount of excess cash held by A Plus at the closing of the acquisition (approximately $2.8 million), with funding provided by available cash. With the purchase of A Plus, we expanded our personal care services in the state of Montana.

On November 1, 2020, we completed the acquisition of County Homemakers, Inc. (“County Homemakers”) for approximately $15.8 million, including the amount of acquired excess cash held by County Homemakers at the closing of the acquisition (approximately $1.1 million), with funding provided by available cash. With the purchase of County Homemakers, we expanded our personal care services in the state of Pennsylvania.

On December 4, 2020, we completed the acquisition of Queen City Hospice for approximately $194.8 million, including the amount of acquired excess cash held by Queen City Hospice at the closing of the acquisition (approximately $15.4 million). With the purchase of Queen City Hospice, we expanded our hospice services in the state of Ohio. Additionally, on December 1, 2020, we completed the acquisition of SunLife Home Care (“SunLife”) for approximately $1.7 million. With the purchase of SunLife, we expanded our personal care services in the state of Arizona. We funded these acquisitions through a combination of our revolving credit facility and available cash.

On August 1, 2021, we completed the acquisition of Armada Skilled Homecare of New Mexico LLC, Armada Hospice of New Mexico LLC and Armada Hospice of Santa Fe LLC (collectively, “Armada”) for approximately $29.8 million, including the amount of acquired excess cash held by Armada at the closing of the acquisition (approximately $0.7 million), with funding provided by our revolving credit facility. With the purchase of Armada, we expanded our home health and hospice services in the state of New Mexico.

On October 1, 2021, we completed the acquisition of Summit Home Health, LLC (“Summit”) for approximately $8.1 million, with funding provided by available cash. With the purchase of Summit, we added clinical services in Illinois to our home health segment.

Our payor clients are principally federal, state and local governmental agencies and managed care organizations. The federal, state and local programs under which the agencies operate are subject to legislative and budgetary changes and other risks that can influence reimbursement rates. We are experiencing a transition of business from government payors to managed care organizations, which we believe aligns with our emphasis on coordinated care and the reduction of the need for acute care.

For the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, our revenue by payor and significant states by segment were as follows:

	Personal Care
	2021					2020					2019
	Amount (in Thousands)		% of Segment Net Service Revenues			Amount (in Thousands)		% of Segment Net Service Revenues			Amount (in Thousands)		% of Segment Net Service Revenues
State, local and other governmental programs	$	338,325		49.3	%	$	324,670		50.2	%	$	303,479		52.2	%
Managed care organizations		311,801		45.5			287,032		44.3			239,559		41.3
Private pay		19,991		2.9			20,398		3.2			21,765		3.7
Commercial insurance		9,820		1.4			9,991		1.5			9,204		1.6
Other		5,917		0.9			5,142		0.8			6,721		1.2
Total personal care segment net service revenues	$	685,854		100.0	%	$	647,233		100.0	%	$	580,728		100.0	%
Illinois	$	328,619		47.9	%	$	288,326		44.6	%	$	247,524		42.6	%
New York		99,732		14.5			115,510		17.8			108,403		18.7
New Mexico		97,784		14.3			86,618		13.4			75,666		13.0
All other states		159,719		23.3			156,779		24.2			149,135		25.7
Total personal care segment net service revenues	$	685,854		100.0	%	$	647,233		100.0	%	$	580,728		100.0	%

	Hospice
	2021					2020					2019
	Amount (in Thousands)		% of Segment Net Service Revenues			Amount (in Thousands)		% of Segment Net Service Revenues			Amount (in Thousands)		% of Segment Net Service Revenues
Medicare	$	142,086		93.3	%	$	94,068		92.9	%	$	49,649		92.6	%
Managed care organizations		5,664		3.7			4,931		4.9			2,768		5.2
Other		4,503		3.0			2,298		2.2			1,184		2.2
Total hospice segment net service revenues	$	152,253		100.0

Delaware		20-5340172
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)		(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)
6303 Cowboys Way, Suite 600 Frisco, TX		75034
(Address of principal executive offices)		(Zip Code)

Title of each class	Trading Symbol(s)	Name of each exchange on which registered
Common Stock, $0.001 par value	ADUS	The Nasdaq Global Market


Auditor Firm PCAOB Id:	238	Auditor Name:	PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP	Auditor Location:	Dallas, Texas

PART I		3
Item 1.	Business	3
Item 1A.	Risk Factors	15
Item 1B.	Unresolved Staff Comments	30
Item 2.	Properties	30
Item 3.	Legal Proceedings	30
Item 4.	Mine Safety Disclosures	30

PART II		31
Item 5.	Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities	31
Item 6.	[Reserved]	31
Item 7.	Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations	32
Item 7A.	Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk	52
Item 8.	Financial Statements and Supplementary Data	52
Item 9.	Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure	52
Item 9A.	Controls and Procedures	52
Item 9B.	Other Information	53
Item 9C.	Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections	53

PART III		54
Item 10.	Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance	54
Item 11.	Executive Compensation	54
Item 12.	Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters	54
Item 13.	Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence	54
Item 14.	Principal Accounting Fees and Services	54

PART IV		55
Item 15.	Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules	55
Item 16.	Form 10-K Summary	58

	Full-time		Part-time		Total
Caregivers and agency staff		5,005		26,488		31,493
Corporate support centers		411		11		422
		5,416		26,499		31,915

Large Accelerated Filer	☒	Accelerated Filer	☐
Non-Accelerated Filer	☐	Smaller Reporting Company	☐
		Emerging Growth Company	☐