Our financial assets and (liabilities) carried at fair value and measured on a recurring basis as of March 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020 consisted of the following (in thousands):

(1)	The fair value of the interest rate contracts is determined using Level 2 fair value inputs and is recorded as accrued expenses or other long-term obligations in the consolidated balance sheets.

(2)

The fair value of the foreign currency contract assets (including those designated as hedging instruments and those not designated as hedging instruments) is determined using Level 2 fair value inputs and is recorded as prepaid expenses and other current assets or other long-term assets in the consolidated balance sheets.

(3)

The fair value of the foreign currency contract liabilities (including those designated as hedging instruments and those not designated as hedging instruments) is determined using Level 2 fair value inputs and is recorded as accrued expenses or other long-term obligations in the consolidated balance sheets.

Certain of our business combinations involve the potential for the payment of future contingent consideration, generally based on a percentage of future product sales or upon attaining specified future revenue or other milestones. The contingent consideration liability is re-measured at the estimated fair value at the end of each reporting period with the change in fair value recognized within operating expenses in the accompanying consolidated statements of income (loss) for such period. We measure the initial liability and re-measure the liability on a recurring basis using Level 3 inputs as defined under authoritative guidance for fair value measurements. Changes in the fair value of our contingent consideration liabilities during the three-month periods ended March 31, 2021 and 2020 consisted of the following (in thousands):


	Three Months Ended
	March 31,
	2021		2020
Beginning balance	$	55,750	$	76,709
Contingent consideration expense		402		4,897
Contingent payments made		(403)		(12,754)
Effect of foreign exchange		5		17
Ending balance	$	55,754	$	68,869

As of March 31, 2021, approximately $19.5 million in contingent consideration liability was included in other long-term obligations and approximately $36.2 million in contingent consideration liability was included in accrued expenses in our consolidated balance sheet. As of December 31, 2020, approximately $36.9 million in contingent consideration liability was included in other long-term obligations and approximately $18.8 million in contingent consideration liability was included in accrued expenses in our consolidated balance sheet. Cash paid to settle the contingent consideration liability recognized at fair value as of the applicable acquisition date (including measurement-period adjustments) has been reflected as a cash outflow from financing activities in the accompanying consolidated statements of cash flows.

The recurring Level 3 measurement of our contingent consideration liabilities included the following significant unobservable inputs at March 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020 (amounts in thousands):


	Fair value at
	March 31,		Valuation			Weighted
Contingent consideration liability	2021		technique	Unobservable inputs	Range	Average⁽¹⁾
Revenue-based royalty payments contingent liability	$	4,047	Discounted cash flow	Discount rate	12% - 16%	15.4%
				Projected year of payments	2021-2034	2026

Revenue milestones contingent liability	$	46,807	Monte Carlo simulation	Discount rate	10% - 14%	10.4%
				Projected year of payments	2021-2030	2022

Regulatory approval contingent liability	$	4,900	Scenario-based method	Discount rate	1%
				Probability of milestone payment	100%
				Projected year of payment	2021-2024	2022


	Fair value at
	December 31,		Valuation			Weighted
Contingent consideration liability	2020		technique	Unobservable inputs	Range	Average⁽¹⁾
Revenue-based royalty payments contingent liability	$	4,545	Discounted cash flow	Discount rate	12% - 15%	13.5%
				Projected year of payments	2021-2034	2026

Revenue milestones contingent liability	$	46,305	Monte Carlo simulation	Discount rate	7.5% - 12%	9.0%
				Projected year of payments	2021-2030	2022

Regulatory approval contingent liability	$	4,900	Scenario-based method	Discount rate	1%
				Probability of milestone payment	100%
				Projected year of payment	2021-2024	2022

(1)	Unobservable inputs were weighted by the relative fair value of the instruments. No weighted average is reported for contingent consideration liabilities without a range of unobservable inputs.

The contingent consideration liability is re-measured to fair value each reporting period. Significant increases or decreases in projected revenues, based on our most recent internal operational budgets and long-range strategic plans, discount rates or the time until payment is made would have resulted in a significantly lower or higher fair value measurement. Our determination of the fair value of the contingent consideration liability could change in future periods based upon our ongoing evaluation of these significant unobservable inputs. We intend to record any such change in fair value to operating expenses in our consolidated statements of income (loss).

Contingent Payments to Related Parties

During the three-month period ended March 31, 2020, we made contingent payments of approximately $800,000 to a current director of Merit and former shareholder of Cianna Medical, Inc. (“Cianna Medical”), which we acquired in 2018. We made no such payments during the three-month period ended March 31, 2021. The terms of the acquisition, including contingent consideration payments, were determined prior to the appointment of the former Cianna Medical shareholder as a Merit director. As a former shareholder of Cianna Medical, the Merit director may be eligible for additional payments for the achievement of sales milestones specified in our merger agreement with Cianna Medical.

Fair Value of Other Financial Instruments

The carrying amount of cash and cash equivalents, receivables, and trade payables approximate fair value because of the immediate, short-term maturity of these financial instruments. Our long-term debt re-prices frequently due to variable rates and entails no significant changes in credit risk and, as a result, we believe the fair value of long-term debt approximates carrying value. The fair value of assets and liabilities whose carrying value approximates fair value is determined using Level 2 inputs, with the exception of cash and cash equivalents, which use Level 1 inputs.

Impairment Charges

We recognize or disclose the fair value of certain assets, such as non-financial assets, primarily property and equipment, right-of-use operating lease assets, equity investments, intangible assets and goodwill in connection with impairment evaluations. All our nonrecurring valuations use significant unobservable inputs and therefore fall under Level 3 of the fair value hierarchy.

Intangible Assets. During the three-month periods ended March 31, 2021 and 2020, we had no losses related to acquired intangible assets (see Note 6).

Equity Investments and Purchase Options. During the three-month period ended March 31, 2021, we had no losses related to equity investments and purchase options. During the three-month period ended March 31, 2020 we recorded a charge of $3.5 million due to our write-off of our purchase option to acquire Bluegrass Vascular Technologies, Inc. (“Bluegrass Vascular”) due to our decision not to exercise the option. Our equity investments in privately held companies, including options to acquire these companies, were approximately $12.0 million and $12.0 million as of March 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, respectively, which are included within other long-term assets in our consolidated balance sheets. We analyze our investments in privately-held companies to determine if they should be accounted for using the equity method based on our ability to exercise significant influence over operating and financial policies of the company in which we have invested. Investments not accounted for under the equity method of accounting are accounted for at cost minus impairment, if applicable, plus or minus changes in valuation resulting from observable transactions for identical or similar investments.

Property and Equipment. During the three-month period ended March 31, 2021, we had no losses related to the measurement of property and equipment at fair value, compared to losses of $359,000 for the three-month period ended March 31, 2020 based on restructuring activities associated with changes to our distribution agreement with NinePoint Medical, Inc. (“NinePoint”).

Notes Receivable

Our outstanding long-term notes receivable, including accrued interest and our allowance for current expected credit losses, were approximately $2.0 million and $2.2 million as of March 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, respectively. As of March 31, 2021, we had an allowance for current expected credit losses of $932,000 associated with these notes receivable and our contractual obligation to extend credit to Selio. We assess the allowance for current expected credit losses on an individual security basis, due to the limited number of securities, using a probability of default model, which is based on relevant information about past events, including historical experience, current conditions and reasonable and supportable forecasts that affect the expected collectability of securities, and other security specific factors. During the three-month periods ended March 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively, we adjusted the probability of default for all notes receivable for certain periods during the loan term due to changes in current macroeconomic conditions and our expectations of collectability as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The table below presents a rollforward of the

allowance for current expected credit losses on our notes receivable for the three month periods ended March 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively (in thousands):


	Three Months Ended
	March 31,
	2021		2020
Beginning balance	$	730	$	—
Cumulative effect adjustment upon adoption of ASU 2016-13, Credit Losses		—		575
Provision for credit loss expense		202		95
Ending balance	$	932	$	670