AMN Healthcare Services (AMN) Risk Analysis

If our clients are able to increase the effectiveness of their staffing and recruitment functions through analytics, automation or otherwise, their need for our services may decline. With the advent of technology and more sophisticated staffing management and recruitment processes, clients may be able to successfully increase the efficiency and effectiveness of their internal staffing management and recruiting efforts, through more effective planning and analytic tools, internet- or social media-based recruiting or otherwise. Such new technologies and processes could reduce the demand for our services, which could negatively affect our business.

We maintain goodwill on our balance sheet, which represents the excess of the total purchase price of our acquisitions over the fair value of the net assets and indefinite-lived intangibles we acquired. We evaluate goodwill and indefinite-lived intangibles for impairment annually, or when evidence of potential impairment exists. If we identify an impairment, we record a charge to earnings. An impairment charge to goodwill or indefinite-lived intangibles would decrease our earnings or increase our losses, as the case may be.

To achieve our strategic objectives and to remain competitive, we must continue to develop and enhance our workforce solutions technology offerings and capabilities. This may require the acquisition of equipment and software and the development of new proprietary software and capabilities, either internally or through independent consultants. If we are unable to design, develop, implement and utilize, in a cost-effective manner, technology and information systems that provide the capabilities necessary for us to compete effectively, or for any reason any interruption or loss of our information processing capabilities occurs, this could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Security breaches, including cyber incidents can result from deliberate attacks or unintentional events. These incidents can include, but are not limited to, gaining unauthorized access to digital systems for purposes of misappropriating assets or sensitive information, corrupting data, or causing operational disruption. In the ordinary course of our business, we collect and store sensitive data, such as our proprietary business information and that of our clients as well as personally identifiable information of our healthcare professionals and employees, including full names, social security numbers, addresses, birth dates and payroll-related information, in our data centers, on our networks and in hosted SaaS-based solutions provided by third parties. Our employees may also have access to, receive and use personal health information in the ordinary course of our business. The secure processing, maintenance and transmission of this information is critical to our operations. Despite our security measures and business controls, our information technology and infrastructure, including the third party SaaS-based technology in which we store personally identifiable information and other sensitive information of our healthcare professionals and employees, may be vulnerable to attacks by hackers, breached due to employee error, malfeasance or other disruptions or subject to the inadvertent or intentional unauthorized release of information. Because the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access, disable or degrade service, or sabotage systems change frequently and may not immediately produce signs of intrusion, we may be unable to anticipate these incidents or techniques, timely discover them, or implement adequate preventative measures. Our information technology and other security protocols may not provide sufficient protection, and as a result a security reach could compromise our networks and significant information about us, our employees, healthcare professionals, patients or clients may be accessed, disclosed, lost or stolen. Any such access, disclosure or other loss of information could (1) result in legal claims or proceedings, liability under laws that protect the privacy of personal information and regulatory penalties, (2) disrupt our operations and the services we provide to our clients and (3) damage our reputation, any of which could adversely affect our profitability, revenue and competitive position.

We, along with our clients and healthcare professionals, are subject to investigations, claims and legal actions alleging malpractice or related legal theories. At times, plaintiffs name us in these lawsuits and actions regardless of our contractual obligations, the competency of the healthcare professionals, the standard of care provided by the healthcare professionals, the quality of service that we provided or our actions. In certain instances, we are contractually required to indemnify our clients against some or all of these potential legal actions. Like all employers, we must also comply with various laws and regulations relating to employment and pay practices. We are also subject to certain laws and regulations applicable to recruitment and employment placement agencies with which we must comply in order to continue to conduct business in that specific state. We are also subject to possible claims alleging discrimination, sexual harassment and other similar activities in which we or our hospital and healthcare facility clients and their agents have allegedly engaged. We are also subject to examination of our payroll practices from various federal and state taxation authorities from time to time. Because of the nature of our business, the impact of these employment and payroll laws and regulations may have a more pronounced effect on our business. There is a risk that we could be subject to payment of significant additional wages, insurance and employment, and payroll-related taxes and sizeable statutory penalties negatively impacting our financial position, results of operations and cash flows. These laws and regulations may also impede our ability to grow the size and profitability of our operations. As we grow and increase our leadership position, we are at greater risk for anti-competitive conduct claims such as violation of federal and state antitrust laws and unfair business practices arising from our agreements with our employees, contractors, clients and vendors. The size and nature of our business requires us to collect substantial personal information of healthcare professionals and other team members that is subject to a myriad of privacy-related laws from multiple jurisdictions that regulate the use and disclosure of such information. In addition, many of our healthcare professionals have access to client proprietary information systems and patient confidential information. We may be required to incur significant costs to comply with mandatory privacy and security standards and protocols imposed by law, regulation, industry standards or contractual obligations with our clients. In addition, an inherent risk of the collection and access to such information includes possible claims from unintentional or intentional misuse, disclosure or use of this information. Such claims may result in negative publicity, injunctive relief, criminal investigations or charges, civil litigation, payment by us of monetary damages or fines, or other adverse effects on our business, which may be material. We maintain various types of insurance coverage for these types of claims, including professional liability, errors and omissions, employment practices and cyber, through commercial insurance carriers and a wholly-owned captive insurance company. The cost of defending such claims, even if groundless, could be substantial and the associated negative publicity could adversely affect our ability to attract, retain and place qualified employees and healthcare professionals in the future. We may also experience increased insurance premiums and retention and deductible accruals that we may not be able to pass on to our clients, thereby reducing our profitability. Moreover, our insurance coverage and reserve accruals may not be sufficient to cover all claims against us.

Demand for staffing services is sensitive to changes in economic activity. As economic activity slows, hospitals and other healthcare entities typically experience decreased attrition and reduce their use of temporary employees before undertaking layoffs of their regular employees, which results in decreased demand for many of our service offerings. In times of economic downturn and high unemployment rates, permanent full-time and part-time healthcare facility staff are generally inclined to work more hours and overtime, resulting in fewer available vacancies and less demand for our services. Fewer placement opportunities for our temporary clinicians, physicians and leaders also impairs our ability to recruit and place them both on a temporary and permanent basis. In addition, many healthcare facilities utilize temporary healthcare professionals to accommodate an increase in hospital admissions. Conversely, when hospital admissions decrease in economic downturns, due to reduced consumer spending, a rise in unemployment causing an increase in under- and uninsured patients or other factors, the demand for our temporary healthcare professionals typically declines. This may have an even greater negative effect on demand for physicians in certain specialties such as surgery, radiology and anesthesiology. In addition, we may experience more competitive pricing pressure during periods of decreased patient occupancy and hospital admissions, negatively affecting our revenue and profitability. During challenging economic times, our clients, in particular those that rely on state government funding, may face issues gaining access to sufficient credit, which could result in an impairment of their ability to make payments to us, timely or otherwise, for services rendered. If that were to occur, we may increase our allowance for doubtful accounts and our days sales outstanding would be negatively affected.

We could be negatively affected by the widespread outbreak of an illness or any other public health crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the global economy and created significant volatility and disruption of financial markets. There remains a significant risk that the "shelter-in-place" orders, quarantines and restrictions on travel and mass gatherings that were ordered earlier in the year to slow the spread of the virus may be reinstituted as COVID-19 rates continue to climb in many parts of the country. In addition, many "non-essential" businesses continue to restrict their operations or shift to a remote working environment, which restricts the delivery of non-emergency healthcare. Demand for our staffing services and workforce technology solutions is sensitive to changes in economic activity and has fluctuated significantly over the course of the COVID-10 pandemic. Demand for non-essential and elective healthcare has been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many hospitals and other healthcare entities have significantly decreased their utilization of temporary healthcare professionals, interpreters, coders and permanent recruitment and placement services, which has resulted in decreased demand for many of our service offerings and utilization of our workforce technology platforms. We expect this decreased demand will have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Many individuals may continue to forgo non-essential and elective healthcare even after "safer at home" restrictions and recommendations are lifted. We are unable to predict the duration and extent to which demand for our services will be negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the significant spike in unemployment that has resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic will likely cause an increase in under- and uninsured patients, which generally results in a reduction in overall healthcare utilization and a decrease in demand for our services. At this time, we are unable to predict the duration and extent to which our businesses will be negatively impacted by the increased unemployment and under- and uninsured rates resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic, and any other outbreak of illness or other public health crises, may also disrupt our operations due to the unavailability of our corporate team members or healthcare professionals due to illness, risk of illness, quarantines, travel restrictions or other factors that limit our existing or potential workforce and pool of candidates. In addition, we may experience negative financial effects of the COVID-19 due to higher workers' compensation and health insurance costs, for which we are largely self-insured. We may also be subject to claims regarding the health and safety of our healthcare professionals and our corporate team members. Given the economic impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the financial condition of many hospitals and healthcare systems, many of our clients have experienced cash flow issues and difficulty gaining access to sufficient credit, which has, in some cases, impaired their ability to make payments to us, timely or otherwise, for services rendered and we have already experienced an increase to our allowance for credit losses for accounts receivable. We may also be subject to claims from these clients relating to the ability to provide services under terms and conditions that they believe are fair and reasonable. The foregoing and other continued disruptions to our business as a result of COVID-19 could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. The extent of the impact of COVID-19 on our operational and financial performance will depend on future developments, including the duration and spread of the COVID-19 outbreak, which is highly uncertain and cannot be predicted at this time.