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Commitments and Contingencies
 9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2020
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Commitments and Contingencies Commitments and Contingencies
Professional, General and Workers' Compensation Liability Risks
The Company is subject to claims and legal actions in the ordinary course of business, including claims relating to patient treatment, employment practices and personal injuries. The Company maintains professional, general and workers' compensation liability insurance in excess of self-insured retentions, through third party commercial insurance carriers. Although management believes the coverage is sufficient for the Company's operations, some claims may potentially exceed the scope of coverage in effect. Plaintiffs in these matters may request punitive or other damages that may not be covered by insurance. The Company is not aware of any such proceedings that are reasonably possible to have a material adverse effect on the Company's business, financial position, results of operations or liquidity. Total professional, general and workers' compensation claim liabilities as of September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019 were $21.8 million and $19.4 million, respectively. The Company had expected insurance recoveries of $12.1 million as of both September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019.
Laws and Regulations
 Laws and regulations governing the Company's business, including those relating to the Medicare and Medicaid programs, are complex and subject to interpretation. These laws and regulations govern every aspect of how the Company's surgical facilities conduct their operations, from licensing requirements to how and whether the Company's facilities may receive payments pursuant to the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Compliance with such laws and regulations can be subject to future government agency review and interpretation as well as legislative changes to such laws. Noncompliance with such laws and regulations may subject the Company to significant regulatory sanctions including fines, penalties, and exclusion from the Medicare, Medicaid and other federal health care programs. From time to time, governmental regulatory agencies will conduct inquiries of the Company's practices, including, but not limited to, the Company's compliance with federal and state fraud and abuse laws, billing practices and relationships with physicians.
On October 23, 2017, the Company received several civil investigative demands ("CIDs") from the federal government under the False Claims Act (the "FCA") for documents and information dating back to January 1, 2010 relating to the medical necessity of certain drug tests conducted by the Company’s physicians and submitted to laboratories owned and operated by the Company. In addition, the Company was informed by CMS that payments to its diagnostic laboratory, Logan Laboratories, LLC ("Logan Labs"), a toxicology laboratory based in Tampa, Florida, that provides urine testing services, were suspended for a period of time, pending further investigations by CMS. CMS lifted the suspension as of December 18, 2019. On January 23, 2020, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida unsealed the Complaint in the case of Cho et al. ex rel. United States v. Surgery Partners et al., which we understand to be related to the investigation that gave rise to the CIDs.
On April 14, 2020, Logan Labs and Tampa Pain Relief Centers, Inc. ("Tampa Pain" and, together with Logan Labs, the "Companies"), a pain management medical practice based in Tampa, Florida, both indirect wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Company, entered into a settlement agreement (the "Settlement Agreement") with the United States of America, acting through the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and on behalf of the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services ("OIG"), the Defense Health Agency, acting on behalf of the TRICARE Program, the Office of Personnel Management, as the administrator of the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, the Office of Workers Compensation Programs of the United States Department of Labor, which administers federal workers compensation claims for federal employees, including the United States Postal Service, and the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (collectively, the "U.S. Parties") and certain other parties to resolve the pending DOJ investigation. As part of the Settlement Agreement, the DOJ asserted that certain urine tests ordered by Tampa Pain’s physicians and conducted at Tampa Pain and Logan Labs for patients receiving opioid therapy to manage pain were not medically necessary and the resulting claims submitted to the U.S. Parties violated the federal False Claims Act (the "Covered Conduct").
Under the terms of the Settlement Agreement, the Companies will pay a total of $40.0 million plus accrued interest from March 14, 2019, at the rate of 2.75% per annum to the U.S. Parties and participating states. The Settlement Amount is expected to be paid on the following schedule: the forfeiture of $7.5 million of approved, paid claims currently held in suspense by the U.S. Parties and the payment of $1.8 million plus accrued interest within 20 business days of the date of the Settlement Agreement and the payment of $30.7 million plus accrued interest on April 1, 2021. The Company previously recorded a litigation-related charge of $46.0 million relating to an anticipated resolution of the Covered Conduct on the consolidated statements of operations for the year ended December 31, 2018. During the nine months ended September 30, 2020, the Company recorded an additional litigation-related charge of $1.2 million relating to the resolution of the Covered Conduct on the condensed consolidated statement of operations.
Under the Settlement Agreement, the U.S. Parties agree to release the Companies from any civil or administrative monetary liability arising from the Covered Conduct. Additionally, under the Settlement Agreement, the OIG agrees, conditioned upon the Companies’ full payment of the Settlement Amount, and in consideration of Logan Labs’ and Tampa Pain’s obligations under their respective Corporate Integrity Agreements (as defined and described below), to release its permissive exclusion rights and refrain from instituting any administrative action seeking to exclude the Companies from participating in Medicare, Medicaid or other Federal health care programs as a result of the Covered Conduct.
The Settlement Agreement contains no admissions of liability on the part of the Companies or the Company.
In connection with the resolution of this matter and in exchange for the OIG’s agreement not to exclude the Companies from participating in the federal health care programs, on April 14, 2020, Tampa Pain entered into a five-year corporate integrity agreement with the OIG and Logan Labs entered into a three-year corporate integrity agreement with the OIG (together, the “Corporate Integrity Agreements”).
Acquired Facilities
The Company, through its wholly-owned subsidiaries or controlled partnerships and limited liability companies, has acquired and will continue to acquire surgical facilities with prior operating histories. Such facilities may have unknown or contingent liabilities, including liabilities for failure to comply with health care laws and regulations, such as billing and reimbursement laws and regulations, the Stark Law, the Anti-Kickback Statute, the FCA, and similar fraud and abuse laws. Although the Company attempts to assure that no such liabilities exist, obtain indemnification from prospective sellers covering such matters and institute policies designed to conform centers to its standards following completion of acquisitions, there can be no assurance that the Company will not become liable for past activities that may later be asserted to be improper by private plaintiffs or government agencies. There can be no assurance that any such matter will be covered by indemnification or, if covered, that the liability sustained will not exceed contractual limits or the financial capacity of the indemnifying party.
The Company cannot predict whether federal or state statutory or regulatory provisions will be enacted that would prohibit or otherwise regulate relationships which the Company has established or may establish with other health care providers or have materially adverse effects on its business or revenues arising from such future actions. Management believes, however, that it will be able to adjust the Company's operations so as to be in compliance with any statutory or regulatory provision as may be applicable.
Potential Physician Investor Liability
A majority of the physician investors in the partnerships and limited liability companies which operate the Company's surgical facilities carry general and professional liability insurance on a claims-made basis. Each partnership or limited liability company may, however, be liable for damages to persons or property arising from occurrences at the surgical facilities. Although the various physician investors and other surgeons generally are required to obtain general and professional liability insurance with tail coverage that extends beyond the period of any claims-made policies, such individuals may not be able to obtain coverage in amounts sufficient to cover all potential liability. Since most insurance policies contain exclusions, the physician investors will not be insured against all possible occurrences. In the event of an uninsured or underinsured loss, the value of an investment in the partnership interests or limited liability company membership units and the amount of distributions could be adversely affected.
Tax Receivable Agreement
On May 9, 2017, the Company entered into an agreement to amend that certain Income Tax Receivable Agreement, dated September 30, 2015 (as amended, the "TRA"), by and between the Company, and the other parties referred to therein, which amendment became effective on August 31, 2017. Pursuant to the amendment to the TRA, the Company agreed to make payments to H.I.G. Capital, LLC., the Company's former controlling shareholder, in its capacity as the stockholders representative pursuant to a fixed payment schedule. The amounts payable under the TRA are calculated as the product of (i) an annual base amount and (ii) the maximum corporate federal income tax rate for the applicable year plus three percent. The amounts payable under the TRA are related to the Company’s projected realized tax savings over the next five years and are not dependent on the Company’s actual tax savings over such period. The calculation of amounts payable pursuant to the TRA is thus dependent on the maximum corporate federal income tax rate. To the extent that the Company is unable to make payments under the TRA, such payments will be deferred and will accrue interest at a rate of the LIBOR plus 500 basis points until paid. If the terms of credit agreements and other debt documents cause the Company to be unable to make payments under the TRA and such terms are not materially more restrictive than those existing as of September 30, 2015, such payments will be deferred and will accrue interest at a rate of LIBOR plus 300 basis points until paid.
Assuming the Company's tax rate is 24%, calculated as the maximum corporate federal tax rate plus three percent, throughout the remaining term of the TRA, the Company estimates the total remaining amounts payable under the TRA was approximately $60.1 million as of both September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019. As a result of the amendment to the TRA, the Company was required to value the liability under the TRA by discounting the fixed payment schedule using the Company’s incremental borrowing rate. The carrying value of the liability under the TRA, reflecting the discount, was $52.5 million and $48.7 million as of September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively. The current portion of the liability was $16.9 million as of both September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively, and is included as a component of other current liabilities in the condensed consolidated balance sheets. The long-term portion is included as a component of other long-term liabilities in the condensed consolidated balance sheets.