Item 1A. Risk Factors
Item 1A. Risk Factors
The following risk factors add and modify the risk factors set forth in Part I, Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019 filed with the SEC on February 19, 2020.
The COVID-19 pandemic, including the response efforts of federal, state, and local government authorities, businesses, individuals and us, is adversely impacting, and likely will continue to adversely impact our business, results of operations, cash flow, liquidity, and stock price, and such impacts may be material.
The United States broadly continues to experience the COVID-19 pandemic, which has significantly disrupted, and likely will continue to significantly disrupt for some period, our nation’s economy, the senior living industry, and our business. We expect that the pandemic, and the response efforts of federal, state, and local government authorities, businesses, individuals and us, likely will continue to adversely impact our business, results of operations, cash flow, and liquidity through 2021. We cannot predict with reasonable certainty the impacts that COVID-19 ultimately will have on our business, results of operations, cash flow, liquidity, and stock price, and such impacts may be material and persist for some time. Further, our response efforts may continue to delay or negatively impact our strategic initiatives including plans for future growth.
Due to the average age and prevalence of chronic medical conditions among our residents and patients, they generally are at disproportionately higher risk of hospitalization and adverse outcomes if they contract COVID-19. Upon confirmation of positive COVID-19 exposure at a community, the Company follows government guidance regarding minimizing further exposure, including associates’ adhering to personal protection protocols, restricting new resident admissions, and in some cases isolating residents. Seeking to prevent the introduction of COVID-19 into our communities, and to help control further exposure to infections within communities, in March 2020 we began restricting visitors at all our communities to essential healthcare personnel and certain compassionate care situations, screening associates and permitted visitors, suspending group outings, modifying communal dining and programming to comply with social distancing guidelines and, in most cases, implementing in-room only dining and activities programming, requesting that residents refrain from leaving the community unless medically necessary, and requiring new residents and residents returning from a hospital or nursing home to isolate in their apartment for fourteen days. These restrictions were in place across our portfolio for the three months ended June 30,
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2020. We have adopted a framework for determining when to ease restrictions at each of our communities based on several criteria, including regulatory requirements and guidance, completion of baseline testing at the community, and the community having no current confirmed positive COVID-19 cases. Under this framework, we began easing restrictions on a community-by-community basis in July 2020 where regulatory requirements and guidance allow, which easing may have included permitting outdoor, and in some cases, indoor visits with families, reduced capacity communal dining, limited communal activities programming, and in-person prospective resident visits. Due to the vulnerable nature of our residents, we expect restrictions at our communities to continue for some time, and we may revert to more restrictive measures if the pandemic worsens or as necessary to comply with regulator requirements. We have completed baseline COVID-19 testing at all of our communities. Further testing, whether undertaken proactively or as a result of regulatory requirements, may result in significant additional expense, additional temporary restrictions on move-ins at affected communities, continued need for isolating positive residents, increased use of personal protection equipment by our associates, and increased labor costs.
The pandemic, including the related restrictions at our communities, have significantly disrupted demand for senior living communities and the sales process, which typically includes in-person prospective resident visits within communities. During the third quarter of 2020, we returned to using in-person prospective resident visits for a majority of our communities. However, several large markets continue with virtual-only prospective resident visits. Restrictions on move-ins were eased at our communities beginning in July 2020, with approximately 98% of our communities accepting new residents by the end of September 2020 compared to 86% of our communities as of June 30, 2020. On October 31, 2020, we are accepting new residents to 95% of our communities. We believe potential residents and their families are more cautious regarding moving into senior living communities while the pandemic continues, and such caution may persist for some time. Our efforts to adapt our sales and marketing efforts to meet demand may not be successful. We cannot predict with reasonable certainty whether or when demand for senior living communities will return to pre-COVID-19 levels or the extent to which the pandemic’s effect on demand may adversely affect the amount of resident fees we are able to collect from our residents.
The pandemic, including the related restrictions at our communities, began to adversely impact our occupancy and resident fee revenue significantly during March 2020, as new resident leads, visits (including virtual visits), and move-in activity declined significantly compared to typical levels. The year-over-year decrease in monthly move-ins of our same community portfolio has moderated from 64.2% in April 2020 to 22.9% in September 2020, and move-ins for the third quarter of 2020 improved 38.0% sequentially from the second quarter of 2020. Despite the slowing pace of reduced move-ins, our same community weighted average occupancy has declined in each month of the pandemic, from 83.0% in March 2020 to 74.4% in September 2020 and 74.0% in October 2020. We estimate that the pandemic, including the related restrictions at our communities, resulted in $70.8 million and $115.8 million of lost resident fee revenue in our same community portfolio for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020, respectively. Further deterioration of our resident fee revenue will result from lower move-in activity and the resident attrition inherent in our business, which may increase due to the impacts of COVID-19. In addition, our home health average daily census also began to decrease in March 2020 due to lower occupancy in our communities and fewer elective medical procedures and hospital discharges, resulting in an 18.7% and 14.4% year-over-year decline in home health average daily census for the three months ended June 30, 2020 and September 30, 2020, respectively.
Facility operating expense for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020 includes $24.5 million and $95.1 million, respectively, of incremental direct costs to prepare for and respond to the pandemic, including costs for: acquisition of additional personal protective equipment, medical equipment, and cleaning and disposable food service supplies, enhanced cleaning and environmental sanitation, increased labor expense, increased workers compensation and health plan expense, consulting and professional services, and COVID-19 testing of residents and associates where not otherwise covered by government payor or third-party insurance sources. We are not able to reasonably predict the total amount of costs we will incur related to the pandemic, and such costs are likely to be substantial. We have taken, and may take in future periods, significant impairment charges related to COVID-19 due to lower than expected operating performance at communities.
We continue to seek opportunities to enhance and preserve our liquidity, including through reducing expenses and elective capital expenditures, continuing to evaluate our financing structure and the state of debt markets, and seeking further government-sponsored financial relief related to the COVID-19 pandemic. There is no assurance that debt financing will continue to be available on terms consistent with our expectations or at all, or that our efforts will be successful in seeking further government-sponsored financial relief or regarding the amount of, or conditions required to qualify for, any such relief.
The pandemic has also caused substantial volatility in the market prices and trading volumes in the equity markets, including our stock. Our stock price and trading volume may continue to be subject to wide fluctuations as a result of the pandemic, and may decline in the future.
The ultimate impacts of COVID-19 on our business, results of operations, cash flow, liquidity, and stock price will depend on many factors, some of which cannot be foreseen, including the duration, severity, and breadth of the pandemic and any
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resurgence of the disease; the impact of COVID-19 on the nation’s economy and debt and equity markets and the local economies in our markets; the development and availability of COVID-19 testing, therapeutic agents, and vaccines and the prioritization of such resources among businesses and demographic groups; government financial and regulatory relief efforts that may become available to business and individuals, including our ability to qualify for and satisfy the terms and conditions of financial relief; perceptions regarding the safety of senior living communities during and after the pandemic; changes in demand for senior living communities and our ability to adapt our sales and marketing efforts to meet that demand; the impact of COVID-19 on our residents’ and their families’ ability to afford our resident fees, including due to changes in unemployment rates, consumer confidence, and equity markets caused by COVID-19; changes in the acuity levels of our new residents; the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on seniors generally and those residing in our communities; the duration and costs of our response efforts, including increased equipment, supplies, labor, litigation, testing, and other expenses; the impact of COVID-19 on our ability to complete financings, refinancings, or other transactions (including dispositions) or to generate sufficient cash flow to cover required interest and lease payments and to satisfy financial and other covenants in our debt and lease documents; increased regulatory requirements, including unfunded mandatory testing; increased enforcement actions resulting from COVID-19, including those that may limit our collection efforts for delinquent accounts; and the frequency and magnitude of legal actions and liability claims that may arise due to COVID-19 or our response efforts.
Significant legal actions and liability claims against us could subject us to increased operating costs and substantial uninsured liabilities, which may adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.
We have been and are currently involved in litigation and claims incidental to the conduct of our business, which we believe are generally comparable to other companies in the senior living and healthcare industries, including, but not limited to, putative class action claims from time to time regarding staffing at our communities and compliance with consumer protection laws and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Certain claims and lawsuits allege large damage amounts and may require significant costs to defend and resolve. As a result, we maintain general liability, professional liability, and other insurance policies in amounts and with coverage and deductibles we believe are appropriate, based on the nature and risks of our business, historical experience, availability, and industry standards. Our current policies provide for deductibles for each claim and contain various exclusions from coverage. Accordingly, we are, in effect, self-insured for claims that are less than the deductible amounts and for claims or portions of claims that are not covered by such policies and/or exceed the policy limits. If we experience a greater number of losses than we anticipate, or if certain claims are not covered by insurance, our results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected.
The senior living and healthcare services businesses entail an inherent risk of liability, particularly given the demographics of our residents and patients, including age and health, and the services we provide. In recent years, we, as well as other participants in our industry, have been subject to an increasing number of claims and lawsuits alleging that our services have resulted in resident injury or other adverse effects. Many of these lawsuits involve large damage claims and significant legal costs. The frequency and magnitude of such alleged claims and legal costs may increase due to the COVID-19 pandemic or our response efforts. Many states continue to consider tort reform and how it will apply to the senior living industry. We may continue to be faced with the threat of large jury verdicts in jurisdictions that do not find favor with large senior living or healthcare providers. There can be no guarantee that we will not have any claims that exceed our policy limits in the future, which could subject us to substantial uninsured liabilities.
If a successful claim is made against us and it is not covered by our insurance or exceeds the policy limits, our financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. In some states, state law may prohibit or limit insurance coverage for the risk of punitive damages arising from professional liability and general liability claims and/or litigation. As a result, we may be liable for punitive damage awards in these states that either are not covered or are in excess of our insurance policy limits. Also, our insurance policies' deductibles, or self-insured retention, are accrued based on an actuarial projection of future liabilities. If these projections are inaccurate and if there is an unexpectedly large number of successful claims that result in liabilities in excess of our accrued reserves, our operating results could be negatively affected. Claims against us, regardless of their merit or eventual outcome, also could have a material adverse effect on our ability to attract residents or expand our business and could require our management to devote time to matters unrelated to the day-to-day operation of our business. We also have to renew our policies every year and negotiate terms for coverage, exposing us to the volatility of the insurance markets, including the possibility of rate increases and changes in coverage and other terms. There can be no assurance that we will be able to obtain liability insurance in the future or, if available, that such coverage will be available on acceptable terms.
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Text extracted from the filing as submitted to EDGAR. Formatting, tables and exhibits are simplified for reading; the original document is authoritative for anything you rely on.