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Business Operations
3 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2020
Organization Consolidation And Presentation Of Financial Statements [Abstract]  
Business Operations

Note 2. – Business Operations

SunLink Health Systems, Inc., through subsidiaries, owns businesses which are providers of healthcare services in certain markets in the United States. SunLink’s subsidiaries’ businesses are composed of two business segments:

Healthcare Services

 

A subsidiary which owns and operates Trace Regional Hospital and Floy Dyer Nursing Home (“Trace”), an 84 licensed-bed acute care hospital, located in Houston, Mississippi, which includes an 18-bed geriatric psychology unit (“GPU”), and a 66-bed nursing home. This facility focuses primarily on senior healthcare services.   

 

A subsidiary, SunLink Health Systems Technology (“SHS Technology”), which provides information technology (IT) services to outside customers and to SunLink subsidiaries.

 

A subsidiary which owns approximately five (5) acres of unimproved land in Houston, Mississippi.

 

  A subsidiary which owns approximately 25 acres of unimproved land in Ellijay, Georgia.

Pharmacy

The Pharmacy segment is composed of three operational areas which are conducted primarily in markets in     southern Louisiana:

 

Retail pharmacy products and services, consisting of retail pharmacy sales conducted in Crowley, Louisiana;

 

Institutional pharmacy services consisting of the provision of specialty and non-specialty pharmaceutical and biological products to institutional clients or to patients in institutional settings, such as nursing homes, assisted living facilities, behavioral and specialty hospitals, hospice, and correctional facilities; and,

 

Durable medical equipment products and services (“DME”), consisting primarily of the sale and rental of products for institutional clients or to patients in institutional settings and patient-administered home care.

SunLink subsidiaries have conducted the Healthcare Services business since 2001 and the Pharmacy operations since 2008. Our Pharmacy segment currently is operated through Carmichael’s Cashway Pharmacy, Inc. (“Carmichael”), a subsidiary of our SunLink ScriptsRx, LLC subsidiary.

 

COVID-19 Pandemic

A novel strain of coronavirus (“COVID-19”) was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020. We have been monitoring the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on our operations, and we have taken significant steps intended to minimize the risk to our employees and patients. Certain employees have been working remotely, but we believe these remote work arrangements have not materially affected our ability to maintain critical business operations, which are being conducted substantially in accordance with our understanding of applicable government health and safety protocols and guidance issued in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, although such protocols and guidance are very recent, rapidly changing and at times, unclear. Nevertheless, as in many healthcare environments, we have experienced COVID-19 illness, including deaths, and some employees have tested positive and were placed on leave or in quarantine.

In our Healthcare businesses, we have experienced material reductions in demand and net revenues due to the COVID-19 outbreak. There appears to be minimal current demand for nursing home admissions, and clinic visits and hospital services have substantially decreased as well in part due to the abrupt retirement of one physician and reduced capacity of other physicians and providers, all as a result of the effects of the pandemic. The availability and cost of medical supplies have adversely affected our Healthcare businesses, especially with respect to access to personal protective equipment, cleaning supplies and COVID-19 testing materials. We continue to monitor supplies and seek additional sources of many supply items. A reduction in the availability of qualified employees has also occurred and despite good faith efforts to do so, we have not yet been able to rehire or fully replace staff reductions which were previously furloughed, laid off or retired.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, our Pharmacy business has experienced reduced sales trends in certain areas, increased costs and reduced staff.  Many of our primary physician referral sources have been operating at substantially reduced capacity.  Until these referral sources are at full capacity, we believe the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to affect the demand for DME products and Retail and Institutional Pharmacy drugs and products. Reductions in employee hours have been made in response to the lower demand. Nursing homes and other customers of such Institutional Pharmacy services are currently being adversely affected by the spreading of the COVID-19 pandemic, and this may be expected to have a further negative effect on such demand.  Our Institutional Pharmacy services have experienced increased costs and operational inefficiencies due to measures taken to protect our employees and by access controls and other restrictions implemented by our institutional customers. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected our supply processes, especially with respect to access to respiratory equipment and certain personal protective equipment and cleaning products. We believe the effect of the COVID–19 pandemic and public and governmental responses to it negatively affected our last three fiscal quarters results.

 

During the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020, our Healthcare and Pharmacy segments received approximately $4,586 and in the first quarter of fiscal 2021 we received $106 in general and targeted Provider Relief Fund (“PRF”) distributions. During the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020, we also received $3,234 in Paycheck Protection Programs (“PPP”) loans, administered by the Small Business Administration (“SBA”). Both the PRF and PPP funds are provided for under the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act, and we have received a total of $7,926 of such funding.

The distributions from the PRF are not subject to repayment provided we are able to attest to and comply with the terms and conditions of the funding, including demonstrating that the funds received have been used for healthcare-related expenses or “Lost Revenues” (as defined by HHS) attributable to COVID-19. Such funds under the PRF are accounted for as government grants and are recognized on a systematic and rational basis once there is reasonable assurance that the applicable terms and conditions required to retain the funds have been met. HHS has released “CARES Act Provider Relief Fund Frequently Asked Questions” (“FAQ”) numerous times since April 3, 2020 through October 28, 2020 to clarify PRF requirements and has provided expansive examples of the reporting requirements in efforts to demonstrate amounts of the PRF received may be considered to have been earned and which may be retained. The Company continues to review and analyze the FAQ which it believes still leaves substantial uncertainty as to the proper use and reporting of PRF funds. We are reporting $31 of PRF in other income (expense) in our consolidated statement of operations for our fiscal quarter ended September 30, 2020 for COVID-19 related expenses. The unrecognized amount of the PRF are recorded under the caption “Unearned CARES Act Funds” in our consolidated balance sheets. We will continue to monitor compliance with the terms and conditions of the PRF and the impact of the pandemic on our revenues and expenses. If we are unable to attest to or comply with current or future terms and conditions, and there is no assurance we will be able to do so, our ability to retain some or all of the distributions received may be impacted. We currently believe we may not be able to utilize a portion of the PRF funds received under the currently existing interpretations by HHS and may have to return the unutilized portions funds in the future.

Forgiveness of PPP loans may be available if the loans are used to pay wages, rent, utilities and interest on certain debt during the eight-week period following receipt of the loan proceeds subject, to Federally-established terms and conditions.  During July 2020, the allowable period for the use of PPP loan proceeds was amended to allow for a 24-week utilization period. The borrowing subsidiaries must apply for loan forgiveness with the lending bank within ten months after the end of the allowable period. The forgiveness applications are to be reviewed by both the lender and the SBA and a loan forgiveness amount, if any, will be determined. There can be no assurance, however, that any of the PPP loans to us will be forgiven, or if forgiven, the amount of such forgiveness. Loan proceeds not forgiven are payable over two years at a 1% annual interest rate. The two-year loan repayment begins two months after the loan forgiveness amount is determined by SBA. The Company has not yet applied for forgiveness of any of its PPP loans and recorded no income relating to the PPP loans through September 30, 2020.

Going forward, the Company is unable to determine the extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to affect its assets and operations. Our ability to make estimates of the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on revenues, expenses or changes in accounting judgments that have had or are reasonably likely to have a material effect on our financial statements is currently limited.  The nature and extent of the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on our balance sheet and results of operations will depend on the severity and length of the pandemic; government actions to mitigate the pandemic’s effect; regulatory changes in response to the pandemic, especially those that affect our hospital, nursing home and pharmacy operations; and existing and potential government assistance that may be provided, including the requirements of  PRF receipts and PPP loans.

We believe that existing funds, cash generated from operations and additional sources of and access to financing from COVID-19 related government loans and grants will likely be adequate to satisfy our needs for working capital and capital expenditures in the next twelve months. However, if the COVID-19 pandemic continues for an extended period, we expect to experience significant losses and additional financial assistance will likely be required.