Filed Pursuant to Rule 424(b)(4)
File No. 333-162186

 

10,000,000 Shares

 

 

Common Stock

 

This is an initial public offering of shares of common stock of Accretive Health, Inc.

 

Accretive Health is offering 6,666,667 of the shares to be sold in the offering. The selling stockholders identified in this prospectus are offering 3,333,333 shares. Accretive Health will not receive any of the proceeds from the sale of the shares being sold by the selling stockholders.

 

Prior to this offering, there has been no public market for our common stock. Our common stock has been approved for listing on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “AH”.

 

See “Risk Factors” beginning on page 11 to read about factors you should consider before buying shares of our common stock.

 

 

 

 

Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any other regulatory body has approved or disapproved of these securities or passed upon the accuracy or adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

 

 

 

 

 

 

To the extent that the underwriters sell more than 10,000,000 shares of common stock, the underwriters have the option to purchase up to an additional 1,000,000 shares from Accretive Health and up to an additional 500,000 shares from the selling stockholders at the initial public offering price less the underwriting discount.

 

The underwriters have agreed to reimburse Accretive Health for a portion of its offering expenses. See “Underwriting”.

 

 

 

 

The underwriters expect to deliver the shares against payment in New York, New York on May 25, 2010.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prospectus dated May 19, 2010.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

Prospectus

 

 

 

 

 

Through and including June 13, 2010 (the 25th day after the date of this prospectus), all dealers effecting transactions in these securities, whether or not participating in this offering, may be required to deliver a prospectus. This is in addition to a dealer’s obligation to deliver a prospectus when acting as an underwriter and with respect to an unsold allotment or subscription.

 

 

 

 

No dealer, salesperson or other person is authorized to give any information or to represent anything not contained in this prospectus. You must not rely on any unauthorized information or representations. This prospectus is an offer to sell only the shares offered hereby, but only under circumstances and in jurisdictions where it is lawful to do so. The information contained in this prospectus is current only as of its date.

 

PROSPECTUS SUMMARY

	•	Complexity of Revenue Cycle Management.  At most hospitals, there is a lack of standardization across operating practices, payor and patient payment methodologies, data management processes and billing systems.
	•	Lack of Integrated Systems and Processes.  Although interrelated, the individual steps in the revenue cycle are not operationally integrated across revenue cycle departments at many hospitals.
	•	Increasing Patient Financial Responsibility for Healthcare Services.  Hospitals are being forced to adapt to the need for direct-to-patient billing and collections capabilities as patients bear payment responsibility for an increasing portion of healthcare costs; however, we believe most hospitals are not very well prepared to address consumer needs regarding the patient’s payment obligation.
	•	Outdated Systems and Insufficient Resources to Upgrade Them.  Many hospitals suffer from operating inefficiencies caused by outdated technology, increasingly complex billing requirements, a general lack of standardization of process and information flow, costly in-house services that could be more economically outsourced, and an increasingly stringent regulatory environment.

	•	Gathering Complete Patient and Payor Information.  We focus on gathering complete patient information and educating the patient as to his or her potential financial responsibilities before receiving care so the services can be recorded and billed to the appropriate parties. Our systems automatically measure the completeness and accuracy of up-front patient profile information and other data, as well as billing and collections throughout the lifecycle of each patient account. Our analyses of these data show that hospitals employing our services have increased the percentage of non-emergency in-patient admissions with complete information profiles to more than 90%, enabling fewer billing delays and reduced billing cycles.
	•	Improving Claims Filing and Third-Party Payor Collections.  We implement sophisticated analytics designed to improve claims filing and collection of claims from third-party insurance payors. By employing proprietary algorithms and modeling to determine how hospital staff involved in the revenue cycle should allocate time and resources across a pool of outstanding claims prioritized by level of risk, we can increase the likelihood that patient services will be reimbursed.
	•	Identifying Alternative Payment Sources.  We use various methods to find payment sources for uninsured patients and reimbursement for services not covered by third-party insurance. After a typical implementation period, we have been able to help our customers find a third-party payment source for approximately 85% of all admitted patients who identified themselves as uninsured.
	•	Employing Proprietary Technology and Algorithms.  Our service offerings employ a variety of proprietary data analytics and predictive modeling algorithms. Our systems are designed to streamline work processes through the use of proprietary algorithms that focus effort on those accounts deemed to have the greatest potential for improving net revenue yield or charge capture.
	•	Using Analytical Capabilities and Operational Excellence.  We draw on the experience that we have gained from working with many of the best healthcare provider systems in the United States to train hospital staffs about new and innovative revenue cycle management practices.

	•	delivering tangible, long-term results for our customers by providing services that span the entire revenue cycle;
	•	continuing to develop innovative approaches to increase the collection rate on patient-owed obligations for medical services received;
	•	enhancing and developing proprietary algorithms to identify potential errors and to make process corrections in the collection of reimbursements from third-party payors;
	•	expanding our shared services program;
	•	hiring, training and retaining our personnel;
	•	continuing to diversify our customer base; and
	•	developing enhanced service offerings that offer us long-term opportunities.

	•	we may not be able to maintain or increase our profitability, and our recent growth rates may not be indicative of our future growth rates;
	•	hospitals affiliated with Ascension Health account for a majority of our net services revenue;
	•	we face competition from the internal revenue cycle management staff of hospitals as well as from a variety of external participants in the revenue cycle market;
	•	if we are unable to retain our existing customers, or if our customers fail to renew their managed service contracts with us upon expiration, our financial condition will suffer; and
	•	existing and prospective government regulation of the healthcare industry creates risks and challenges for our business.

Common stock offered by Accretive Health		6,666,667 shares
Common stock offered by the selling stockholders		3,333,333 shares
Common stock to be outstanding after this offering		90,015,707 shares
Use of proceeds		We intend to use approximately $0.9 million of our net proceeds of this offering to pay the preferred stock liquidation preferences that will be paid in cash to the holders of our outstanding preferred stock concurrently with the conversion of such shares into shares of our common stock upon the closing of this offering. We intend to use the remainder of our net proceeds of this offering for general corporate purposes, which may include financing our growth, developing new services and funding capital expenditures, acquisitions and investments. We will not receive any proceeds from the shares sold by the selling stockholders. See “Use of Proceeds” for more information.
Risk Factors		You should read the “Risk Factors” section and other information included in this prospectus for a discussion of factors to consider carefully before deciding to invest in shares of our common stock.
New York Stock Exchange symbol		“AH”

	•	3,266,668 shares of common stock issuable upon the exercise of warrants outstanding and exercisable as of April 30, 2010 at a weighted-average exercise price of $0.29 per share, which will remain outstanding after this offering if not exercised prior to this offering;
	•	16,076,525 shares of common stock issuable upon the exercise of stock options outstanding and exercisable as of April 30, 2010 at a weighted-average exercise price of $9.17 per share, of which 5,737,931 shares with a weighted average exercise price of $3.37 per share would be vested if purchased upon exercise of these options as of April 30, 2010; and
	•	8,256,778 shares of common stock available for future issuance under our equity compensation plans as of April 30, 2010.

	•	assumes no exercise by the underwriters of their option to purchase up to an additional 1,000,000 shares from us and up to an additional 500,000 shares from the selling stockholders;
	•	gives effect to the split of our common stock effected on May 3, 2010 pursuant to which each outstanding share of common stock was reclassified into 3.92 shares of common stock;
	•	gives effect to the conversion of all outstanding shares of non-voting common stock into shares of voting common stock on a share-for-share basis effected on May 19, 2010;

	•	gives effect to the automatic conversion of all outstanding shares of convertible preferred stock into 43,796,607 shares of common stock upon the closing of this offering;
	•	gives effect to our issuance of 615,649 shares of common stock upon cashless exercises of outstanding warrants prior to the closing of this offering;
	•	gives effect to our issuance of 100,000 shares of common stock to Financial Technology Partners LP and/or FTP Securities LLC, whom we collectively refer to as FT Partners, contemporaneously with the closing of this offering, which FT Partners has elected in writing to receive in satisfaction of a fee for financial advisory services in respect of this offering;
	•	gives effect to the restatement of our certificate of incorporation and amendment and restatement of our bylaws upon the closing of this offering; and
	•	gives effect to the issuance of 1,265,012 shares of common stock in satisfaction of the liquidation preference payments required to be made to the holders of our outstanding preferred stock upon the closing of this offering, based upon payment elections received from such holders.

 

SUMMARY CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL DATA

														Three Months
														Ended
		Fiscal Year Ended December 31,												March 31,
		2007				2008				2009				2009				2010
														(Unaudited)
		(In thousands, except share and per share data)
Statement of Operations Data:
Net services revenue		$	240,725			$	398,469			$	510,192			$	112,467			$	125,937
Costs of services			197,676				335,211				410,711				92,703				102,289
Operating margin			43,049				63,258				99,481				19,764				23,648
Operating expenses:
Infused management and technology			27,872				39,234				51,763				11,175				14,909
Selling, general and administrative			15,657				21,227				30,153				8,817				7,567
Total operating expenses			43,529				60,461				81,916				19,992				22,476
Income (loss) from operations			(480	)			2,797				17,565				(228	)			1,172

														Three Months
														Ended
		Fiscal Year Ended December 31,												March 31,
		2007				2008				2009				2009				2010
														(Unaudited)
		(In thousands, except share and per share data)
Net interest income (expense)			1,710				710				(9	)			44				8
Income (loss) before provision for income taxes			1,230				3,507				17,556				(184	)			1,180
Provision for income taxes			456				2,264				2,966				454				866
Net income (loss)		$	774			$	1,243			$	14,590			$	(638	)		$	314
Net income (loss) per common share:
Basic:		$	0.01			$	(0.19	)		$	0.17			$	(0.02	)		$	0.00
Diluted:			0.01				(0.19	)		$	0.15				(0.02	)			0.00
Weighted-average shares used in computing net income (loss) per common share:
Basic:			32,968,085				36,122,470				36,725,194				36,522,491				36,943,691
Diluted:			40,360,362				36,122,470				43,955,167				36,522,491				44,371,648

														Three Months
														Ended
		Fiscal Year Ended December 31,												March 31,
		2007				2008				2009				2009				2010
														(Unaudited)
Other Operating Data (unaudited):
Adjusted EBITDA (in thousands)(1)		$	6,842			$	12,220			$	32,912			$	5,644			$	4,377
Net patient revenue under management (at period end) (in billions)		$	6.7			$	9.2			$	12.0			$	10.9			$	11.6

		As of March 31, 2010
										Pro Forma
		Actual				Pro Forma				As Adjusted
		(Unaudited)
		(In thousands)
Balance Sheet Data:
Cash and cash equivalents		$	30,311			$	30,311			$	103,253
Working capital			(3,955	)			(20,022	)			68,987
Total assets			95,251				95,251				164,564
Total stockholders’ equity			23,841				7,774				93,154

(1)		We define adjusted EBITDA as net income (loss) before net interest income (expense), income tax expense (benefit), depreciation and amortization expense and share-based compensation expense. Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure and should not be considered as an alternative to net income, operating income and any other measure of financial performance calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP.
		We believe adjusted EBITDA is useful to investors in evaluating our operating performance for the following reasons:

	•	adjusted EBITDA and similar non-GAAP measures are widely used by investors to measure a company’s operating performance without regard to items that can vary substantially from company to company depending upon financing and accounting methods, book values of assets, capital structures and the methods by which assets were acquired;
	•	securities analysts often use adjusted EBITDA and similar non-GAAP measures as supplemental measures to evaluate the overall operating performance of companies; and
	•	by comparing our adjusted EBITDA in different historical periods, our investors can evaluate our operating results without the additional variations of interest income (expense), income tax expense (benefit), depreciation and amortization expense and share-based compensation expense.

		Our management uses adjusted EBITDA:

	•	as a measure of operating performance, because it does not include the impact of items that we do not consider indicative of our core operating performance;
	•	for planning purposes, including the preparation of our annual operating budget;
	•	to allocate resources to enhance the financial performance of our business;
	•	to evaluate the effectiveness of our business strategies; and
	•	in communications with our board of directors and investors concerning our financial performance.

		We understand that, although measures similar to adjusted EBITDA are frequently used by investors and securities analysts in their evaluation of companies, adjusted EBITDA has limitations as an analytical tool, and you should not consider it in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of our results of operations as reported under GAAP. Some of these limitations are:

	•	adjusted EBITDA does not reflect our cash expenditures or future requirements for capital expenditures or other contractual commitments;
	•	adjusted EBITDA does not reflect changes in, or cash requirements for, our working capital needs;
	•	adjusted EBITDA does not reflect share-based compensation expense;
	•	adjusted EBITDA does not reflect cash requirements for income taxes;
	•	adjusted EBITDA does not reflect net interest income (expense);
	•	although depreciation and amortization are non-cash charges, the assets being depreciated or amortized will often have to be replaced in the future, and adjusted EBITDA does not reflect any cash requirements for these replacements; and
	•	other companies in our industry may calculate adjusted EBITDA differently than we do, limiting its usefulness as a comparative measure.

		To properly and prudently evaluate our business, we encourage you to review the GAAP financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus, and not to rely on any single financial measure to evaluate our business.

		The following table presents a reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA to net income (loss), the most comparable GAAP measure:

														Three Months
		Fiscal Year Ended												Ended
		December 31,												March 31,
		2007				2008				2009				2009				2010
		(In thousands)												(Unaudited)
Net income (loss)		$	774			$	1,243			$	14,590			$	(638	)		$	314
Net interest (income) expense(a)			(1,710	)			(710	)			9				(44	)			(8	)
Provision for income taxes			456				2,264				2,966				454				866
Depreciation and amortization expense			1,307				2,540				3,921				920				1,253
EBITDA		$	827			$	5,337			$	21,486			$	692			$	2,425
Stock compensation expense(b)			934				3,551				6,917				1,458				1,952
Stock warrant expense(b)			5,081				3,332				4,509				3,494				—
Adjusted EBITDA		$	6,842			$	12,220			$	32,912			$	5,644			$	4,377

 

An investment in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. In deciding whether to invest, you should carefully consider the following risk factors. Any of the following risks could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or prospects and cause the value of our common stock to decline, which could cause you to lose all or part of your investment. When deciding whether to invest in our common stock, you should also refer to the other information in this prospectus, including our consolidated financial statements and related notes and the “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” section of this prospectus.

 

Risks Related to Our Business and Industry

 

We may not be able to maintain or increase our profitability, and our recent growth rates may not be indicative of our future growth rates.

 

We have been profitable on an annual basis only since the year ended December 31, 2007, and we incurred net losses in the quarters ended March 31, 2007, December 31, 2007, March 31, 2008, December 31, 2008 and March 31, 2009. We may not succeed in maintaining our profitability on an annual basis and could incur quarterly or annual losses in future periods. We expect to incur additional operating expenses associated with being a public company and we intend to continue to increase our operating expenses as we grow our business. We also expect to continue to make investments in our proprietary technology applications, sales and marketing, infrastructure, facilities and other resources as we expand our operations, thus incurring additional costs. If our revenue does not increase to offset these increases in costs, our operating results would be negatively affected. You should not consider our historic revenue and net income growth rates as indicative of future growth rates. Accordingly, we cannot assure you that we will be able to maintain or increase our profitability in the future. Each of the risks described in this “Risk Factors” section, as well as other factors, may affect our future operating results and profitability.

 

Hospitals affiliated with Ascension Health currently account for a majority of our net services revenue, and we have several customers that have each accounted for 10% or more of our net services revenue in past fiscal periods. The termination of our master services agreement with Ascension Health, or any significant loss of business from our large customers, would have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

 

We are party to a master services agreement with Ascension Health pursuant to which we provide services to its affiliated hospitals that execute separate managed service contracts with us. Hospitals affiliated with Ascension Health have accounted for a majority of our net services revenue each year since our formation. In the years ended December 31, 2007, 2008 and 2009 and the three months ended March 31, 2009 and 2010, aggregate revenue from hospitals affiliated with Ascension Health were $214.2 million, $281.7 million, $307.5 million, $72.7 million and $74.7 million, respectively, representing 89.0%, 70.7%, 60.3%, 64.7% and 59.3% of our net services revenue in such periods. In some fiscal periods, individual hospitals affiliated with Ascension Health have each accounted for 10% or more of our total net services revenue. For example, in the year ended December 31, 2009, revenue from St. John Health (an affiliate of Ascension Health) was $66.5 million, equal to 13.0% of our total net services revenue. In addition, another customer, which is not affiliated with Ascension Health, accounted for 10.6% of our total net services revenue in the year ended December 31, 2008 but less than 10% of our total net services revenue in the year ended December 31, 2009 and the three months ended March 31, 2010. Additionally, another customer, not affiliated with Ascension Health, with whom we entered into a managed service contract in 2009, accounted for 10.9% of our total net services revenue in the three months ended March 31, 2010 and 9.2% of our total net services revenue in the year ended December 31, 2009.

All of our managed service contracts with hospitals affiliated with Ascension Health will expire on December 31, 2012 unless renewed. Pursuant to our master services agreement with Ascension Health and our managed service contracts with hospitals affiliated with Ascension Health, our fees are subject to adjustment in the event quarterly cash collections at these hospitals deteriorate materially after we take over revenue cycle management operations. While these adjustments have never been triggered, if they were, our future fees from hospitals affiliated with Ascension Health would be reduced. In addition, any of our other customers, including hospitals affiliated with Ascension Health, can elect not to renew their managed service contracts with us upon expiration. We intend to seek renewal of all managed service contracts with our customers, but cannot assure you that all of them will be renewed or that the terms upon which they may be renewed will be as favorable to us as the terms of the initial managed service contracts.

 

Our inability to renew the managed service contracts with hospitals affiliated with Ascension Health, the termination of our master services agreement with Ascension Health, the loss of any of our other large customers or their failure to renew their managed service contracts with us upon expiration, or a reduction in the fees for our services for these customers would have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

 

Our master services agreement with Ascension Health requires us to offer to Ascension Health’s affiliated hospitals service fees that are at least as low as the fees we charge any other similarly situated customer receiving comparable services at comparable volumes.

 

Our master services agreement with Ascension Health requires us to offer to Ascension Health’s affiliated hospitals fees for our services that are at least as low as the fees we charge any other similarly-situated customer receiving comparable services at comparable volumes. If we were to offer another similarly-situated customer receiving a comparable volume of comparable services fees that are lower than the fees paid by hospitals affiliated with Ascension Health, we would be obligated to offer such lower fees to hospitals affiliated with Ascension Health, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

 

Our agreements with hospitals affiliated with Ascension Health and with some other customers include provisions that could impede or delay our ability to enter into managed service contracts with new customers.

 

Under the terms of our master services agreement with Ascension Health, we are required to consult with Ascension Health’s affiliated hospitals before undertaking services for competitors specified by them in the managed service contracts they execute with us. As a result, before we can begin to provide services to a specified competitor, we are required to inform and discuss the situation with the Ascension Health affiliated hospital that specified the competitor but are not required to obtain the consent of such hospital. In addition, we are required to obtain the consent of one customer not affiliated with Ascension Health before providing services to competitors specified by such customer. In another instance, our managed service contract with one other customer not affiliated with Ascension Health requires us to consult with such customer before providing services to competitors specified by such customer. The obligations described above could impede or delay our ability to enter into managed service contracts with new customers.

 

The market for integrated revenue cycle management services that span the entire revenue cycle may develop more slowly than we expect, which could adversely affect our revenue and our ability to maintain or increase our profitability.

 

Our success depends, in part, on the willingness of hospitals, physicians and other healthcare providers to implement integrated solutions that span the entire revenue cycle, which encompasses patient registration, insurance and benefit verification, medical treatment documentation and coding, bill preparation and collections. Some hospitals may be reluctant or unwilling to implement our solution for a number of reasons, including failure to perceive the need for improved revenue cycle

operations and lack of knowledge about the potential benefits our solution provides. Even if potential customers recognize the need for improved revenue cycle operations, they may not select an integrated, end-to-end revenue cycle solution such as ours because they previously have made investments in internally developed solutions and choose to continue to rely on their own internal revenue cycle management staff. As a result, the market for integrated, end-to-end revenue cycle solutions may develop more slowly than we expect, which could adversely affect our revenue and our ability to maintain or increase our profitability.

 

We operate in a highly competitive industry, and our current or future competitors may be able to compete more effectively than we do, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, revenue, growth rates and market share.

 

The market for revenue cycle management solutions is highly competitive and we expect competition to intensify in the future. We face competition from a steady stream of new entrants, including the internal revenue cycle management staff of hospitals, as described above, and external participants. External participants that are our competitors in the revenue cycle market include software vendors and other technology-supported revenue cycle management business process outsourcing companies; traditional consultants; and information technology outsourcers. Our competitors may be able to respond more quickly and effectively than we can to new or changing opportunities, technologies, standards, regulations or customer requirements. We may not be able to compete successfully with these companies, and these or other competitors may introduce technologies or services that render our technologies or services obsolete or less marketable. Even if our technologies and services are more effective than the offerings of our competitors, current or potential customers might prefer competitive technologies or services to our technologies and services. Increased competition is likely to result in pricing pressures, which could negatively impact our margins, growth rate or market share.

 

If we are unable to retain our existing customers, our financial condition will suffer.

 

Our success depends in part upon the retention of our customers, particularly Ascension Health and its affiliated hospitals. We derive our net services revenue primarily from managed service contracts pursuant to which we receive base fees and incentive payments. Customers can elect not to renew their managed service contracts with us upon expiration. If a managed service contract is not renewed or is terminated for any reason, including for example, if we are found to be in violation of any federal or state fraud and abuse laws or excluded from participating in federal and state healthcare programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, we will not receive the payments we would have otherwise received over the life of contract. In addition, financial issues or other changes in customer circumstances, such as a customer change in control, may cause us or the customer to seek to modify or terminate a managed service contract, and either we or the customer may generally terminate a contract for material uncured breach by the other. If we breach a managed service contract or fail to perform in accordance with contractual service levels, we may also be liable to the customer for damages. Any of these events could adversely affect our business, financial condition, operating results and cash flows.

 

We face a variable selling cycle to secure new managed service contracts, making it difficult to predict the timing of specific new customer relationships.

 

We face a variable selling cycle, typically spanning six to twelve months, to secure a new managed service contract. Even if we succeed in developing a relationship with a potential new customer, we may not be successful in entering into a managed service contract with that customer. In addition, we cannot accurately predict the timing of entering into managed service contracts with new customers due to the complex procurement decision processes of most healthcare providers, which often involves high-level or committee approvals. Consequently, we have only a limited ability to predict the timing of specific new customer relationships.

Delayed or unsuccessful implementation of our technologies or services with our customers or implementation costs that exceed our expectations may harm our financial results.

 

To implement our solution, we utilize the customer’s existing revenue cycle management and staff and layer our proprietary technology tools on top of the customer’s existing patient accounting system. Each customer’s situation is different, and unanticipated difficulties and delays may arise. If the implementation process is not executed successfully or is delayed, our relationship with the customer may be adversely affected and our results of operations could suffer. Implementation of our solution also requires us to integrate our own employees into the customer’s operations. The customer’s circumstances may require us to devote a larger number of our employees than anticipated, which could increase our costs and harm our financial results.

 

Our quarterly results of operations may fluctuate as a result of factors that may impact our incentive and base fees, some of which may be outside of our control.

 

We recognize base fee revenue on a straight-line basis over the life of the managed service contract. Base fees for contracts which are received in advance of services delivered are classified as deferred revenue until services have been provided. Our managed service contracts generally allow for adjustments to the base fee. Adjustments typically occur at 90, 180 or 360 days after the contract commences, but can also occur at subsequent dates as a result of factors including changes to the scope of operations and internal and external audits. In addition, our fees from hospitals affiliated with Ascension Health are subject to adjustment in the event quarterly cash collections at these hospitals deteriorate materially after we take over revenue cycle management operations. While these adjustments have never been triggered, if they were, our future fees from hospitals affiliated with Ascension Health would be reduced. Further, estimates of the incentive payments we have earned from providing services to customers in prior periods could change because the laws, regulations, instructions, payor contracts and rule interpretations governing how our customers receive payments from payors are complex and change frequently. Any such change in estimates could be material. The timing of such adjustments is often dependent on factors outside of our control and may result in material increases or decreases in our revenue and operating margin. Any such changes or adjustments may cause our quarter-to-quarter results of operations to fluctuate.

 

If we lose key personnel or if we are unable to attract, hire, integrate and retain key personnel and other necessary employees, our business would be harmed.

 

Our future success depends in part on our ability to attract, hire, integrate and retain key personnel. Our future success also depends on the continued contributions of our executive officers and other key personnel, each of whom may be difficult to replace. In particular, Mary A. Tolan, our president and chief executive officer, is critical to the management of our business and operations and the development of our strategic direction. The loss of services of Ms. Tolan or any of our other executive officers or key personnel or the inability to continue to attract qualified personnel could have a material adverse effect on our business. The replacement of any of these key personnel would involve significant time and expense and may significantly delay or prevent the achievement of our business objectives. Competition for the caliber and number of employees we require is intense. We may face difficulty identifying and hiring qualified personnel at compensation levels consistent with our existing compensation and salary structure. In addition, we invest significant time and expense in training each of our employees, which increases their value to competitors who may seek to recruit them. If we fail to retain our employees, we could incur significant expenses in hiring, integrating and training their replacements and the quality of our services and our ability to serve our customers could diminish, resulting in a material adverse effect on our business.

The imposition of legal responsibility for obligations related to our employees or our customers’ employees could adversely affect our business or subject us to liability.

 

Under our contracts with customers, we directly manage our customers’ employees engaged in revenue cycle activities. Our managed service contracts establish the division of responsibilities between us and our customers for various personnel management matters, including compliance with and liability under various employment laws and regulations. We could, nevertheless, be found to have liability with our customers for actions against or by employees of our customers, including under various employment laws and regulations, such as those relating to discrimination, retaliation, wage and hour matters, occupational safety and health, family and medical leave, notice of facility closings and layoffs and labor relations, as well as similar liability with respect to our own employees, and any such liability could result in a material adverse effect on our business.

 

If we fail to manage future growth effectively, our business would be harmed.

 

We have expanded our operations significantly since inception and anticipate expanding further. For example, our net services revenue increased from $111.2 million in 2005 to $510.2 million in 2009, and the number of our employees increased from 33, all of whom were full-time, as of January 1, 2005 to 1,802 full-time employees and 172 part-time employees as of March 31, 2010. In addition, the number of customer employees whom we manage has increased from approximately 1,600 as of January 1, 2005 to approximately 6,300 as of March 31, 2010. This growth has placed significant demands on our management, infrastructure and other resources. To manage future growth, we will need to hire, integrate and retain highly skilled and motivated employees, and will need to effectively manage a growing number of customer employees engaged in revenue cycle operations. We will also need to continue to improve our financial and management controls, reporting systems and procedures. If we do not effectively manage our growth, we may not be able to execute on our business plan, respond to competitive pressures, take advantage of market opportunities, satisfy customer requirements or maintain high-quality service offerings.

 

Disruptions in service or damage to our data centers and shared services centers could adversely affect our business.

 

Our data centers and shared services centers are essential to our business. Our operations depend on our ability to operate our shared service centers, and to maintain and protect our applications, which are located in data centers that are operated for us by third parties. We cannot control or assure the continued or uninterrupted availability of these third party data centers. In addition, our information technologies and systems, as well as our data centers and shared services centers, are vulnerable to damage or interruption from various causes, including (i) acts of God and other natural disasters, war and acts of terrorism and (ii) power losses, computer systems failures, Internet and telecommunications or data network failures, operator error, losses of and corruption of data and similar events. We conduct business continuity planning and maintain insurance against fires, floods, other natural disasters and general business interruptions to mitigate the adverse effects of a disruption, relocation or change in operating environment at one of our data centers or shared services centers, but the situations we plan for and the amount of insurance coverage we maintain may not be adequate in any particular case. In addition, the occurrence of any of these events could result in interruptions, delays or cessations in service to our customers, or in interruptions, delays or cessations in the direct connections we establish between our customers and third-party payors. Any of these events could impair or prohibit our ability to provide our services, reduce the attractiveness of our services to current or potential customers and adversely impact our financial condition and results of operations.

 

In addition, despite the implementation of security measures, our infrastructure, data centers, shared services centers or systems that we interface with, including the Internet and related systems, may be vulnerable to physical break-ins, hackers, improper employee or contractor access, computer viruses, programming errors, denial-of-service attacks or other attacks by third parties seeking to

disrupt operations or misappropriate information or similar physical or electronic breaches of security. Any of these can cause system failure, including network, software or hardware failure, which can result in service disruptions. As a result, we may be required to expend significant capital and other resources to protect against security breaches and hackers or to alleviate problems caused by such breaches.

 

If our security measures are breached or fail and unauthorized access is obtained to a customer’s data, our service may be perceived as not being secure, the attractiveness of our services to current or potential customers may be reduced, and we may incur significant liabilities.

 

Our services involve the storage and transmission of customers’ proprietary information and protected health, financial, payment and other personal information of patients. We rely on proprietary and commercially available systems, software, tools and monitoring, as well as other processes, to provide security for processing, transmission and storage of such information, and because of the sensitivity of this information, the effectiveness of such security efforts is very important. The systems currently used for transmission and approval of credit card transactions, and the technology utilized in credit cards themselves, all of which can put credit card data at risk, are determined and controlled by the payment card industry, not by us. If our security measures are breached or fail as a result of third-party action, employee error, malfeasance or otherwise, someone may be able to obtain unauthorized access to customer or patient data. Improper activities by third parties, advances in computer and software capabilities and encryption technology, new tools and discoveries and other events or developments may facilitate or result in a compromise or breach of our computer systems. Techniques used to obtain unauthorized access or to sabotage systems change frequently and generally are not recognized until launched against a target, and we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or to implement adequate preventive measures. Our security measures may not be effective in preventing these types of activities, and the security measures of our third-party data centers and service providers may not be adequate. If a breach of our security occurs, we could face damages for contract breach, penalties for violation of applicable laws or regulations, possible lawsuits by individuals affected by the breach and significant remediation costs and efforts to prevent future occurrences. In addition, whether there is an actual or a perceived breach of our security, the market perception of the effectiveness of our security measures could be harmed and we could lose current or potential customers.

 

We may be liable to our customers or third parties if we make errors in providing our services, and our anticipated net services revenue may be lower if we provide poor service.

 

The services we offer are complex, and we make errors from time to time. Errors can result from the interface of our proprietary technology tools and a customer’s existing patient accounting system, or we may make human errors in any aspect of our service offerings. The costs incurred in correcting any material errors may be substantial and could adversely affect our operating results. Our customers, or third parties such as our customers’ patients, may assert claims against us alleging that they suffered damages due to our errors, and such claims could subject us to significant legal defense costs and adverse publicity regardless of the merits or eventual outcome of such claims. In addition, if we provide poor service to a customer and the customer therefore realizes less improvement in revenue yield, the incentive fee payments to us from that customer will be lower than anticipated.

 

We offer our services in many jurisdictions and, therefore, may be subject to state and local taxes that could harm our business or that we may have inadvertently failed to pay.

 

We may lose sales or incur significant costs should various tax jurisdictions be successful in imposing taxes on a broader range of services. Imposition of such taxes on our services could result in substantial unplanned costs, would effectively increase the cost of such services to our customers and may adversely affect our ability to retain existing customers or to gain new customers in the areas

in which such taxes are imposed. For example, in 2008 Michigan began to impose a tax based on gross receipts in addition to tax based on net income. For the year ended December 31, 2009, we recorded a tax provision of $3.0 million, of which $1.5 million was attributable to the Michigan gross receipts tax.

 

Our growing operations in India expose us to risks that could have an adverse effect on our costs of operations.

 

We employ a significant number of persons in India and expect to continue to add personnel in India. While there are cost advantages to operating in India, significant growth in the technology sector in India has increased competition to attract and retain skilled employees and has led to a commensurate increase in compensation costs. In the future, we may not be able to hire and retain such personnel at compensation levels consistent with our existing compensation and salary structure in India. In addition, our reliance on a workforce in India exposes us to disruptions in the business, political and economic environment in that region. Maintenance of a stable political environment is important to our operations, and terrorist attacks and acts of violence or war may directly affect our physical facilities and workforce or contribute to general instability. Our operations in India require us to comply with local laws and regulatory requirements, which are complex and of which we may not always be aware, and expose us to foreign currency exchange rate risk. Our Indian operations may also subject us to trade restrictions, reduced or inadequate protection for intellectual property rights, security breaches and other factors that may adversely affect our business. Negative developments in any of these areas could increase our costs of operations or otherwise harm our business.

 

Negative public perception in the United States regarding offshore outsourcing and proposed legislation may increase the cost of delivering our services.

 

Offshore outsourcing is a politically sensitive topic in the United States. For example, various organizations and public figures in the United States have expressed concern about a perceived association between offshore outsourcing providers and the loss of jobs in the United States. In addition, there has been recent publicity about the negative experience of certain companies that use offshore outsourcing, particularly in India. Current or prospective customers may elect to perform such services themselves or may be discouraged from transferring these services from onshore to offshore providers to avoid negative perceptions that may be associated with using an offshore provider. Any slowdown or reversal of existing industry trends towards offshore outsourcing would increase the cost of delivering our services if we had to relocate aspects of our services from India to the United States where operating costs are higher.

 

Legislation in the United States may be enacted that is intended to discourage or restrict offshore outsourcing. In the United States, federal and state legislation has been proposed, and enacted in several states, that could restrict or discourage U.S. companies from outsourcing their services to companies outside the United States. For example, legislation has been proposed that would require offshore providers to identify where they are located. In addition, legislation has been enacted in at least one state that requires that state contracts for services be performed within the United States, while several other states provide a preference to state contracts that are performed within the state. It is possible that legislation could be adopted that would restrict U.S. private sector companies that have federal or state government contracts, or that receive government funding or reimbursement, such as Medicare or Medicaid payments, from outsourcing their services to offshore service providers. Any changes to existing laws or the enactment of new legislation restricting offshore outsourcing in the United States may adversely affect our ability to do business, particularly if these changes are widespread, and could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

Regulatory Risks

 

The healthcare industry is heavily regulated. Our failure to comply with regulatory requirements could create liability for us, result in adverse publicity and negatively affect our business.

 

The healthcare industry is heavily regulated and is subject to changing political, legislative, regulatory and other influences. Many healthcare laws are complex, and their application to specific services and relationships may not be clear. In particular, many existing healthcare laws and regulations, when enacted, did not anticipate the services that we provide. There can be no assurance that our operations will not be challenged or adversely affected by enforcement initiatives. Our failure to accurately anticipate the application of these laws and regulations to our business, or any other failure to comply with regulatory requirements, could create liability for us, result in adverse publicity and negatively affect our business. Federal and state legislatures and agencies periodically consider proposals to revise aspects of the healthcare industry or to revise or create additional statutory and regulatory requirements. Such proposals, if implemented, could impact our operations, the use of our services and our ability to market new services, or could create unexpected liabilities for us. We are unable to predict what changes to laws or regulations might be made in the future or how those changes could affect our business or our operating costs.

 

Developments in the healthcare industry, including national healthcare reform, could adversely affect our business.

 

The healthcare industry has changed significantly in recent years and we expect that significant changes will continue to occur. The timing and impact of developments in the healthcare industry are difficult to predict. We cannot be sure that the markets for our services will continue to exist at current levels or that we will have adequate technical, financial and marketing resources to react to changes in those markets. The federal healthcare reform legislation (known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010) that was enacted in March 2010 could, for example, encourage more companies to enter our market, provide advantages to our competitors and result in the development of solutions that compete with ours. Moreover, healthcare reform remains a major policy issue at the federal level, and additional healthcare legislation in the future could have adverse consequences for us or the customers we serve.

 

If a breach of our measures protecting personal data covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act or Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act occurs, we may incur significant liabilities.

 

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, as amended, and the regulations that have been issued under it, which we refer to collectively as HIPAA, contain substantial restrictions and requirements with respect to the use and disclosure of individuals’ protected health information. Under HIPAA, covered entities must establish administrative, physical and technical safeguards to protect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of electronic protected health information maintained or transmitted by them or by others on their behalf. In February 2009 HIPAA was amended by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health, or HITECH, Act to add provisions that impose certain of the HIPAA privacy and security requirements directly upon business associates of covered entities. New regulations that took effect in late 2009 also require business associates to notify covered entities, who in turn must notify affected individuals and government authorities of data security breaches involving unsecured protected health information. Most of our customers are covered entities and we are a business associate to many of those customers under HIPAA and the HITECH Act as a result of our contractual obligations to perform certain functions on behalf of and provide certain services to those customers. We have implemented and maintain physical, technical and administrative safeguards intended to protect all personal data and have processes in place to assist us in complying with applicable laws and regulations regarding the protection of this data and properly responding to any security incidents. A knowing breach of the HITECH Act’s requirements could expose us to criminal liability. A breach of our safeguards and

processes that is not due to reasonable cause or involves willful neglect could expose us to civil penalties and the possibility of civil litigation.

 

If we fail to comply with federal and state laws governing submission of false or fraudulent claims to government healthcare programs and financial relationships among healthcare providers, we may be subject to civil and criminal penalties or loss of eligibility to participate in government healthcare programs.

 

A number of federal and state laws, including anti-kickback restrictions and laws prohibiting the submission of false or fraudulent claims, apply to healthcare providers, physicians and others that make, offer, seek or receive referrals or payments for products or services that may be paid for through any federal or state healthcare program and, in some instances, any private program. These laws are complex and their application to our specific services and relationships may not be clear and may be applied to our business in ways that we do not anticipate. Federal and state regulatory and law enforcement authorities have recently increased enforcement activities with respect to Medicare and Medicaid fraud and abuse regulations and other healthcare reimbursement laws and rules. From time to time, participants in the healthcare industry receive inquiries or subpoenas to produce documents in connection with government investigations. We could be required to expend significant time and resources to comply with these requests, and the attention of our management team could be diverted by these efforts. Furthermore, if we are found to be in violation of any federal or state fraud and abuse laws, we could be subject to civil and criminal penalties, and we could be excluded from participating in federal and state healthcare programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. The occurrence of any of these events could give our customers the right to terminate our managed service contracts with them and result in significant harm to our business and financial condition.

 

The federal healthcare anti-kickback law prohibits any person or entity from offering, paying, soliciting or receiving anything of value, directly or indirectly, for the referral of patients covered by Medicare, Medicaid and other federal healthcare programs or the leasing, purchasing, ordering or arranging for or recommending the lease, purchase or order of any item, good, facility or service covered by these programs. Many states have adopted similar prohibitions against kickbacks and other practices that are intended to induce referrals, and some of these state laws are applicable to all patients regardless of whether the patient is covered under a governmental health program or private health plan. We seek to structure our business relationships and activities to avoid any activity that could be construed to implicate the federal healthcare anti-kickback law and similar laws. We cannot assure you, however, that our arrangements and activities will be deemed outside the scope of these laws or that increased enforcement activities will not directly or indirectly have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations. Any determination by a federal or state agency or court that we have violated any of these laws could subject us to civil or criminal penalties, could require us to change or terminate some portions of our operations or business, could disqualify us from providing services to healthcare providers doing business with government programs, could give our customers the right to terminate our managed service contracts with them and, thus, could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations. Moreover, any violations by and resulting penalties or exclusions imposed upon our customers could adversely affect their financial condition and, in turn, have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

 

There are also numerous federal and state laws that forbid submission of false information or the failure to disclose information in connection with the submission and payment of healthcare provider claims for reimbursement. In particular, the federal False Claims Act, or the FCA, prohibits a person from knowingly presenting or causing to be presented a false or fraudulent claim for payment or approval by an officer, employee or agent of the United States. In addition, the FCA prohibits a person from knowingly making, using, or causing to be made or used a false record or statement material to such a claim. Violations of the FCA may result in treble damages, significant monetary penalties, and other collateral consequences including, potentially, exclusion from participation in federally funded

healthcare programs. The scope and implications of the recent amendments to the FCA pursuant to the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009, or FERA, have yet to be fully determined or adjudicated and as a result it is difficult to predict how future enforcement initiatives may impact our business. Pursuant to the healthcare reform legislation enacted in March 2010, a claim that includes items or services resulting from a violation of the federal anti-kickback law constitutes a false or fraudulent claim for purposes of the FCA.

 

These laws and regulations may change rapidly, and it is frequently unclear how they apply to our business. Errors created by our proprietary tools or services that relate to entry, formatting, preparation or transmission of claim or cost report information may be determined or alleged to be in violation of these laws and regulations. Any failure of our proprietary tools or services to comply with these laws and regulations could result in substantial civil or criminal liability and could, among other things, adversely affect demand for our services, invalidate all or portions of some of our managed service contracts with our customers, require us to change or terminate some portions of our business, require us to refund portions of our base fee revenues and incentive payment revenues, cause us to be disqualified from serving customers doing business with government payers, and give our customers the right to terminate our managed service contracts with them, any one of which could have an adverse effect on our business.

 

Our failure to comply with debt collection and consumer credit reporting regulations could subject us to fines and other liabilities, which could harm our reputation and business.

 

The U.S. Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, or FDCPA, regulates persons who regularly collect or attempt to collect, directly or indirectly, consumer debts owed or asserted to be owed to another person. Certain of our accounts receivable activities may be subject to the FDCPA. Many states impose additional requirements on debt collection communications, and some of those requirements may be more stringent than the comparable federal requirements. Moreover, regulations governing debt collection are subject to changing interpretations that may be inconsistent among different jurisdictions. We are also subject to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, or FCRA, which regulates consumer credit reporting and which may impose liability on us to the extent that the adverse credit information reported on a consumer to a credit bureau is false or inaccurate. We could incur costs or could be subject to fines or other penalties under the FCRA if the Federal Trade Commission determines that we have mishandled protected information. We or our customers could be required to report such breaches to affected consumers or regulatory authorities, leading to disclosures that could damage our reputation or harm our business, financial position and operating results.

 

Potential additional regulation of the disclosure of health information outside the United States may increase our costs.

 

Federal or state governmental authorities may impose additional data security standards or additional privacy or other restrictions on the collection, use, transmission and other disclosures of health information. Legislation has been proposed at various times at both the federal and the state levels that would limit, forbid or regulate the use or transmission of medical information pertaining to U.S. patients outside of the United States. Such legislation, if adopted, may render our operations in India impracticable or substantially more expensive. Moving such operations to the United States may involve substantial delay in implementation and increased costs.

 

Risks Related to Intellectual Property

 

We may be unable to adequately protect our intellectual property.

 

Our success depends, in part, upon our ability to establish, protect and enforce our intellectual property and other proprietary rights. If we fail to establish or protect our intellectual property rights, we may lose an important advantage in the market in which we compete. We rely upon a combination of patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret law and contractual terms and conditions to protect

our intellectual property rights, all of which provide only limited protection. We cannot assure you that our intellectual property rights are sufficient to protect our competitive advantages. Although we have filed four U.S. patent applications, we cannot assure you that any patents that will be issued from these applications will provide us with the protection that we seek or that any future patents issued to us will not be challenged, invalidated or circumvented. We have also been issued one U.S. patent, but we cannot assure you that it will provide us with the protection that we seek or that it will not be challenged, invalidated or circumvented. Legal standards relating to the validity, enforceability and scope of protection of patents are uncertain. Any patents that may be issued in the future from pending or future patent applications or our one issued patent may not provide sufficiently broad protection or they may not prove to be enforceable in actions against alleged infringers. Also, we cannot assure you that any trademark registrations will be issued for pending or future applications or that any of our trademarks will be enforceable or provide adequate protection of our proprietary rights.

 

We also rely in some circumstances on trade secrets to protect our technology. Trade secrets may lose their value if not properly protected. We endeavor to enter into non-disclosure agreements with our employees, customers, contractors and business partners to limit access to and disclosure of our proprietary information. The steps we have taken, however, may not prevent unauthorized use of our technology, and adequate remedies may not be available in the event of unauthorized use or disclosure of our trade secrets and proprietary technology. Moreover, others may reverse engineer or independently develop technologies that are competitive to ours or infringe our intellectual property.

 

Accordingly, despite our efforts, we may be unable to prevent third parties from infringing or misappropriating our intellectual property and using our technology for their competitive advantage. Any such infringement or misappropriation could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. Monitoring infringement of our intellectual property rights can be difficult and costly, and enforcement of our intellectual property rights may require us to bring legal actions against infringers. Infringement actions are inherently uncertain and therefore may not be successful, even when our rights have been infringed, and even if successful may require a substantial amount of resources and divert our management’s attention.

 

Claims by others that we infringe their intellectual property could force us to incur significant costs or revise the way we conduct our business.

 

Our competitors protect their intellectual property rights by means such as patents, trade secrets, copyrights and trademarks. We have not conducted an independent review of patents issued to third parties. Additionally, because patent applications in the United States and many other jurisdictions are kept confidential for 18 months before they are published, we may be unaware of pending patent applications that relate to our proprietary technology. Although we have not been involved in any litigation related to intellectual property rights of others, from time to time we receive letters from other parties alleging, or inquiring about, possible breaches of their intellectual property rights. Any party asserting that we infringe its proprietary rights would force us to defend ourselves, and possibly our customers, against the alleged infringement. These claims and any resulting lawsuit, if successful, could subject us to significant liability for damages and invalidation of our proprietary rights or interruption or cessation of our operations. The software and technology industries are characterized by the existence of a large number of patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets and by frequent litigation based on allegations of infringement or other violations of intellectual property rights. Moreover, the risk of such a lawsuit will likely increase as our size and scope of our services and technology platforms increase, as our geographic presence and market share expand and as the number of competitors in our market increases. Any such claims or litigation could:

 

 

 

Intellectual property litigation can be costly. Even if we prevail, the cost of such litigation could deplete our financial resources. Litigation is also time-consuming and could divert management’s attention and resources away from our business. Furthermore, during the course of litigation, confidential information may be disclosed in the form of documents or testimony in connection with discovery requests, depositions or trial testimony. Disclosure of our confidential information and our involvement in intellectual property litigation could materially adversely affect our business. Some of our competitors may be able to sustain the costs of complex intellectual property litigation more effectively than we can because they have substantially greater resources. In addition, any uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of any litigation could significantly limit our ability to continue our operations and could harm our relationships with current and prospective customers. Any of the foregoing could disrupt our business and have a material adverse effect on our operating results and financial condition.

 

Risks Related to this Offering and Ownership of Shares of Our Common Stock

 

The trading price of our common stock is likely to be volatile, and you may not be able to sell your shares at or above the initial public offering price.

 

Our common stock has no prior trading history, and an active public market for these shares may not develop or be sustained after this offering. The initial public offering price for our common stock was determined through negotiations with the representatives of the underwriters. This price does not necessarily reflect the price at which investors in the market will be willing to buy and sell our shares following this offering. In addition, the trading price of our common stock is likely to be highly volatile and could be subject to wide fluctuations in response to various factors. In addition to the risks described in this section, factors that may cause the market price of our common stock to fluctuate include:

 

 

In addition, if the stock market in general experiences a loss of investor confidence, the trading price of our common stock could decline for reasons unrelated to our business, financial condition or results of operations.

 

Some companies that have had volatile market prices for their securities have had securities class actions filed against them. If a suit were filed against us, regardless of its merits or outcome, it would likely result in substantial costs and divert management’s attention and resources. This could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition.

Our securities have no prior market and our stock price may decline after the offering.

 

Prior to this offering, there has been no public market for shares of our common stock. Although our common stock has been approved for listing on the New York Stock Exchange, an active public trading market for our common stock may not develop or, if it develops, may not be maintained after this offering. For example, the New York Stock Exchange imposes certain securities trading requirements, including minimum trading price, minimum number of stockholders and minimum market capitalization. We and the representatives of the underwriters negotiated to determine the initial public offering price. The initial public offering price may be higher than the trading price of our common stock following this offering. As a result, you could lose all or part of your investment.

 

Future sales of shares by existing stockholders could cause our stock price to decline.

 

If our existing stockholders sell, or indicate an intention to sell, substantial amounts of our common stock in the public market after the contractual lock-up agreements described below expire and other restrictions on resale lapse, the trading price of our common stock could decline below the initial public offering price. Based on shares outstanding as of April 30, 2010, upon the closing of this offering, we will have outstanding 90,015,707 shares of common stock. Of these shares, 10,309,374 shares of common stock will be eligible for sale in the public market and 79,706,333 shares of common stock will be subject to a 180-day contractual lock-up with the underwriters. Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, acting as representatives of the underwriters, may permit our officers, directors, employees and current stockholders who are subject to the contractual lock-up to sell shares prior to the expiration of the lock-up agreements. Upon expiration of the contractual lock-up agreements with the underwriters, and based on shares outstanding as of April 30, 2010, an additional 79,706,333 shares will be eligible for sale in the public market.

 

Some of our existing stockholders have demand and incidental registration rights to require us to register with the SEC up to 75,259,073 shares of our common stock, following the closing of this offering and expiration of the lock-up agreements, assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares. If we register these shares of common stock, the stockholders would be able to sell those shares freely in the public market.

 

See “Shares Eligible for Future Sale” for further details regarding the number of shares eligible for sale in the public market after this offering.

 

Insiders will continue to have substantial control over us after this offering and will be able to determine substantially all matters requiring stockholder approval.

 

Upon the closing of this offering, our directors and executive officers and their affiliates will beneficially own, in the aggregate, approximately 52.8% of our outstanding common stock, assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares. As a result, these stockholders will be able to determine substantially all matters requiring stockholder approval, including the election of directors and approval of significant corporate transactions, such as a merger or other sale of our company or its assets. This concentration of ownership could limit your ability to influence corporate matters and may have the effect of delaying or preventing a third-party from acquiring control over us. For information regarding the ownership of our outstanding stock by our executive officers and directors and their affiliates, see “Principal and Selling Stockholders”.

 

You will experience substantial dilution as a result of this offering and future equity issuances.

 

The initial public offering price per share is substantially higher than the pro forma net tangible book value per share of our common stock outstanding prior to this offering. As a result, investors purchasing common stock in this offering will experience immediate dilution of $10.98 per share. In addition, we have issued options to acquire common stock at prices significantly below the initial

public offering price. To the extent outstanding options are ultimately exercised, there will be further dilution to investors in this offering. This dilution is due in large part to the fact that our earlier investors paid substantially less than the initial public offering price when they purchased their shares of common stock. In addition, if the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares from us, if outstanding warrants to purchase our common stock are exercised or if we issue additional equity securities, you will experience additional dilution.

 

Anti-takeover provisions in our charter documents and Delaware law could discourage, delay or prevent a change in control of our company and may affect the trading price of our common stock.

 

We are a Delaware corporation and the anti-takeover provisions of the Delaware General Corporation Law may discourage, delay or prevent a change in control by prohibiting us from engaging in a business combination with an interested stockholder for a period of three years after the person becomes an interested stockholder, even if a change in control would be beneficial to our existing stockholders. In addition, our restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws may discourage, delay or prevent a change in our management or control over us that stockholders may consider favorable. Our restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws, which will be in effect upon the closing of this offering:

 

 

For additional information regarding these and other anti-takeover provisions, see “Description of Capital Stock — Anti-Takeover Effects of Our Charter and Bylaws and Delaware Law”.

 

We do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on our capital stock in the foreseeable future following the closing of this offering.

 

Although we paid cash dividends on our capital stock in July 2008 and September 2009, we do not expect to pay cash dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future following the closing of this offering. Any future dividend payments will be within the discretion of our board of directors and will depend on, among other things, our financial condition, results of operations, capital requirements, capital expenditure requirements, contractual restrictions, provisions of applicable law and other factors that our board of directors may deem relevant. In addition, our revolving credit facility does not permit us to pay dividends without the lender’s prior consent. We may not generate sufficient cash from operations in the future to pay dividends on our common stock. See “Dividend Policy”.

 

This prospectus contains forward-looking statements that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included in this prospectus regarding our strategy, future operations, future financial position, future revenue, projected costs, prospects, plans, objectives of management and expected market growth are forward-looking statements. The words “anticipate”, “believe”, “estimate”, “expect”, “intend”, “may”, “plan”, “predict”, “project”, “will”, “would” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. These forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements about:

 

 

We may not actually achieve the plans, intentions or expectations disclosed in our forward-looking statements, and you should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. Actual results or events could differ materially from the plans, intentions and expectations disclosed in the forward-looking statements we make. We have included important factors in the cautionary statements included in this prospectus, particularly in the “Risk Factors” section, that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements that we make. Our forward-looking statements do not reflect the potential impact of any future acquisitions, mergers, dispositions, joint ventures or investments we may make.

 

You should read this prospectus and the documents that we have filed as exhibits to the registration statement, of which this prospectus is a part, completely and with the understanding that our actual future results may be materially different from what we expect. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

 

We obtained the industry and market data in this prospectus from our own research as well as from industry and general publications, surveys and studies conducted by third parties. Industry and general publications, studies and surveys generally state that they have been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, although they do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of such information. While we believe that these publications, studies and surveys are reliable, we have not independently verified the data contained in them. In addition, while we believe that the results and estimates from our internal research are reliable, such results and estimates have not been verified by any independent source.

 

We estimate that we will receive net proceeds from this offering of approximately $69.0 million, or $80.3 million if the underwriters fully exercise their option to purchase additional shares from us, after deducting the underwriting discount and estimated offering expenses payable by us. We will not receive any proceeds from the sale of shares of common stock by the selling stockholders.

 

We intend to use approximately $0.9 million of our net proceeds of this offering to pay the preferred stock liquidation preferences that will be paid in cash to the holders of our outstanding preferred stock concurrently with the conversion of such shares into shares of our common stock upon the closing of this offering. See “Related Person Transactions — Preferred Stock Liquidation Preferences” for more information. We intend to use the remainder of our net proceeds of this offering for general corporate purposes, which may include financing our growth, developing new services and funding capital expenditures, acquisitions and investments. In addition, the other principal purposes for this offering are to:

 

 

Except for the preferred stock liquidation preference payments described above, we have not yet determined with any certainty the manner in which we will allocate our net proceeds. Our management will retain broad discretion in the allocation and use of our net proceeds of this offering. The amounts and timing of these expenditures will vary depending on a number of factors, including the amount of cash generated by our operations, competitive and technological developments, and the rate of growth, if any, of our business. For example, if we were to expand our operations more rapidly than anticipated by our current plans, a greater portion of the proceeds would likely be used for the development or enhancement of our proprietary technologies. Alternatively, if we were to engage in an acquisition that required a significant cash outlay, some or all of the proceeds might be used for that purpose.

 

Although we may use a portion of the proceeds for the acquisition of, or investment in, companies, technologies or assets that complement our business, we have no present understandings, commitments or agreements to enter into any acquisitions or make any material investments. We cannot assure you that we will make any acquisitions or investments in the future.

 

Pending specific utilization of the net proceeds as described above, we intend to invest the net proceeds of the offering in short-term investment grade and U.S. government securities.

 

We declared a cash dividend in the aggregate amount of $15.0 million, or $0.18 per common-equivalent share, to holders of record as of July 11, 2008 of our common stock and preferred stock. We declared an additional cash dividend in the aggregate amount of $14.9 million, or $0.18 per common equivalent share, to holders of record as of September 1, 2009 of our common stock and preferred stock.

 

We currently intend to retain earnings, if any, to finance the growth and development of our business, and we do not expect to pay any cash dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future following the closing of this offering. Payment of future dividends, if any, will be at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend on our financial condition, results of operations, capital requirements, restrictions contained in current or future financing instruments, provisions of applicable law, and other factors the board deems relevant. In 2009, we entered into a $15 million revolving line of credit, which does not permit us to pay any future dividends without the lender’s prior consent.

 

The following table sets forth our cash and cash equivalents and capitalization as of March 31, 2010:

 

 

You should read this table together with our financial statements and the related notes appearing at the end of this prospectus and the “Use of Proceeds” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” sections of this prospectus.

 

 

 

The table above is based on the number of shares of common stock outstanding as of March 31, 2010, and excludes:

 

 

If you invest in our common stock, your interest will be diluted immediately to the extent of the difference between the initial public offering price per share you will pay in this offering and the pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share of our common stock after this offering. Our pro forma historical net tangible book value as of March 31, 2010 was $6.3 million, or $0.08 per share of common stock. Our pro forma net tangible book value per share set forth below represents our total tangible assets less total liabilities and convertible preferred stock, divided by the number of shares of our common stock outstanding on March 31, 2010, after giving effect to (1) the split of our common stock effected on May 3, 2010 pursuant to which each outstanding share of common stock was reclassified into 3.92 shares of common stock, (2) the conversion of all outstanding shares of non-voting common stock into shares of common stock prior to the closing of this offering, (3) the automatic conversion of all outstanding shares of convertible preferred stock into shares of common stock upon the closing of this offering and (4) the mandatory preferred stock preference payment of $16.1 million payable to the holders of outstanding preferred stock upon the completion of this offering.

 

On a pro forma as adjusted basis, after giving effect to (1) the items described in the preceding paragraph, including satisfaction of the $16.1 million payable to the holders of outstanding preferred stock upon the completion of this offering through the payment of an aggregate of $0.9 million in cash and the issuance of an aggregate of 1,265,012 shares of common stock, based on payment elections received from such holders, (2) our issuance and sale of 6,666,667 shares of common stock in this offering, after deducting the underwriting discount and estimated offering expenses payable by us, (3) our issuance of 615,649 shares of common stock upon cashless exercises of outstanding warrants prior to the closing of this offering, and (4) our issuance of 100,000 shares of common stock to FT Partners contemporaneously with the closing of this offering, which FT Partners has elected in writing to receive in satisfaction of a fee for financial advisory services in respect of this offering, the pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value as of March 31, 2010 would have been $91.7 million, or $1.02 per share. This represents an immediate increase in net tangible book value to existing stockholders of $0.94 per share, of which $0.76 per share is attributable to the sale of shares in this offering and $0.18 per share is due to the combination of the adjustments discussed above. Accordingly, new investors who purchase shares of common stock in this offering will suffer an immediate dilution of their investment of $10.98 per share. The following table illustrates this per share dilution to the new investors purchasing shares of common stock in this offering without giving effect to the option to purchase additional shares from us granted to the underwriters:

 

 

If the underwriters fully exercise their option to purchase additional shares from us, the pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value will increase to $1.13 per share, representing an immediate increase to existing stockholders of $1.05 per share, of which $0.88 per share is attributable to the sale of shares in this offering and $0.17 per share is due to the combination of the adjustments discussed above. Accordingly, new investors who purchase shares of common stock will suffer an immediate dilution of $10.87 per share. If any shares are issued upon exercise of outstanding options or warrants, you will experience further dilution.

 

The following table summarizes, on a pro forma as adjusted basis as of March 31, 2010, the differences between the number of shares of common stock purchased from us, the total consideration paid to us, and the average price per share paid by existing stockholders and by new investors purchasing shares of common stock in this offering. The calculation below is based on the initial public

offering price of $12.00 per share, before the deduction of the underwriting discount and estimated offering expenses payable by us:

 

 

 

 

The foregoing tables and calculations are based on the number of shares of our common stock outstanding as of March 31, 2010 after giving effect to (1) the split of our common stock effected on May 3, 2010 pursuant to which each outstanding share of common stock was reclassified into 3.92 shares of common stock, (2) the conversion of all outstanding shares of non-voting common stock into shares of voting common stock effected on May 19, 2010, (3) the automatic conversion of all outstanding shares of convertible preferred stock into shares of common stock, (4) the issuance of 615,649 shares of common stock upon cashless exercises of outstanding warrants prior to the closing of this offering, (5) the satisfaction of the $16.1 million payable to the holders of outstanding preferred stock upon the completion of this offering through the payment of an aggregate of $0.9 million in cash and the issuance of an aggregate of 1,265,012 shares of common stock, based on payment elections received from such holders, (6) our issuance of 6,666,667 shares of common stock in this offering, and (7) the issuance of 100,000 shares of common stock to FT Partners contemporaneously with the closing of this offering, and excludes:

 

 

The sale of 3,333,333 shares of common stock to be sold by the selling stockholders in this offering will reduce the number of shares held by existing stockholders to 79,974,283, or 88.9% of the total shares outstanding, and will increase the number of shares held by new investors to 10,000,000, or 11.1% of the total shares outstanding. If the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares in full, the shares held by existing stockholders will further decrease to 79,474,283, or 87.4% of the total shares outstanding, and the number of shares held by new investors will further increase to 11,500,000, or 12.6% of the total shares outstanding.

 

The following tables summarize our consolidated financial data for the periods presented. You should read the following selected consolidated financial data in conjunction with our financial statements and the related notes appearing at the end of this prospectus and the “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” section of this prospectus.

 

We derived the statement of operations data for the years ended December 31, 2007, 2008 and 2009 and the balance sheet data as of December 31, 2008 and 2009 from our audited consolidated financial statements, which are included in this prospectus. We derived the statement of operations data for the years ended December 31, 2005 and 2006 and the balance sheet data as of December 31, 2005, 2006 and 2007 from our audited consolidated financial statements, which are not included in this prospectus.

 

The summary statements of operations for the three months ended March 31, 2009 and 2010 and the summary balance sheet data as of March 31, 2010 are derived from our unaudited financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus. Our unaudited financial statements have been prepared on the same basis as the audited financial statements and notes thereto and, in the opinion of our management, include all adjustments (consisting of normal recurring adjustments) necessary for a fair statement of the information for the unaudited interim periods. Our historical results for prior interim periods are not necessarily indicative of results to be expected for a full year or for any future period.

 

 

 

We believe adjusted EBITDA is useful to investors in evaluating our operating performance for the following reasons:

 

 

Our management uses adjusted EBITDA:

 

 

 

We understand that, although measures similar to adjusted EBITDA are frequently used by investors and securities analysts in their evaluation of companies, adjusted EBITDA has limitations as an analytical tool, and you should not consider it in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of our results of operations as reported under GAAP. Some of these limitations are:

 

 

To properly and prudently evaluate our business, we encourage you to review the GAAP financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus, and not to rely on any single financial measure to evaluate our business.

 

The following table presents a reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA to net income (loss), the most comparable GAAP measure:

 

(a) Interest income results from earnings associated with our cash and cash equivalents. Interest income declined subsequent to 2007 due to reductions in market interest rates. No debt or other interest-bearing obligations were outstanding during any of the periods presented. Interest expense for the year ended December 31, 2009 is a result of a $150 origination fee paid in connection with establishing our new revolving line of credit and has been shown net of interest income earned during the year.

 

(b) Stock compensation expense and stock warrant expense collectively represent the share-based compensation expense reflected in our financial statements. Of the amounts presented above, $928, $921, $1,736 and $721 was classified as a reduction in net services revenue for the years ended December 31, 2007, 2008 and 2009 and the three months ended March 31, 2009, respectively. No such reduction was recorded for the three months ended March 31, 2010 as all warrants had been earned and therefore there was no stock warrant expense.

 

You should read the following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations together with our financial statements and the related notes and other financial information included elsewhere in this prospectus. Some of the information contained in this discussion and analysis or set forth elsewhere in this prospectus, including information with respect to our plans and strategy for our business and related financing, includes forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. You should review the “Risk Factors” section of this prospectus for a discussion of important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results described in or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in the following discussion and analysis.

 

Overview

 

Our Background

 

Accretive Health is a leading provider of healthcare revenue cycle management services. Our business purpose is to help U.S. hospitals, physicians and other healthcare providers to more efficiently manage their revenue cycle operations, which encompass patient registration, insurance and benefit verification, medical treatment documentation and coding, bill preparation and collections. Our integrated technology and services offering, which we refer to as our solution, spans the entire revenue cycle and helps our customers realize sustainable improvements in their operating margins and improve the satisfaction of their patients, physicians and staff. We enable these improvements by helping our customers increase the portion of the maximum potential patient revenue they receive, while reducing total revenue cycle costs.

 

Our customers typically are multi-hospital systems, including faith-based or community healthcare systems, academic medical centers and independent ambulatory clinics, and their affiliated physician practice groups. To implement our solution, we assume full responsibility for the management and cost of a customer’s revenue cycle operations and supplement the existing staff involved in the customer’s revenue cycle with seasoned Accretive Health personnel. A customer’s net revenue improvements and cost savings generally increase over time as we deploy additional programs and as the programs we implement become more effective, which in turn provides visibility into our future revenue and profitability. In 2009, for example, approximately 87% of our net services revenue, and nearly all of our net income, was derived from customer contracts that were in place as of January 1, 2009.

 

Our customers have historically achieved significant net revenue yield improvements within 18 to 24 months of implementing our solution, with customers operating under mature managed service contracts typically realizing 400 to 600 basis points in yield improvements in the third or fourth contract year. All of a customer’s yield improvements during the period we are providing services are attributed to our solution because we assume full responsibility for the management of the customer’s revenue cycle. Our methodology for measuring yield improvements excludes the impact of external factors such as changes in reimbursement rates from payors, the expansion of existing services or addition of new services, volume increases and acquisitions of hospitals or physician practices, which may impact net revenue but are not considered changes to net revenue yield. We and our customers share financial gains resulting from our solution, which directly aligns our objectives and interests with those of our customers. Both we and our customers benefit — on a contractually agreed-upon basis — from net revenue yield increases realized by the customers as a result of our services. To date, we have experienced a contract renewal rate of 100% (excluding exploratory new services offerings, a consensual termination following a change of control and a customer reorganization). Coupled with the long-term nature of our managed service contracts and the fixed nature of the base fees under each contract, our historical renewal experience provides a core source of recurring revenue.

 

We believe that current macroeconomic conditions will continue to impose financial pressure on healthcare providers and will increase the importance of managing their revenue cycles effectively and efficiently. Additionally, the continued operating pressures facing U.S. hospitals coupled with some of

the underlying themes of recently enacted healthcare reform legislation make the efficient management of the revenue cycle and collection of the full amount of payments due for patient services among the most critical challenges facing healthcare providers today.

 

Our corporate headquarters are located in Chicago, Illinois, and we operate shared services centers and offices in Michigan, Missouri, Florida and India. As of March 31, 2010, we had 1,802 full-time employees and managed approximately 6,300 of our customers’ employees who are involved in patient registration, health management information, procedure coding, billing and collections. We refer to these functions collectively as the revenue cycle, and to the personnel involved in a customer’s revenue cycle as revenue cycle staff.

 

In evaluating our business performance, our management monitors various financial and non-financial metrics. On a monthly basis, our chief executive officer, chief financial officer and other senior leaders monitor our overall net patient revenue under management, aggregate net services revenue, revenue cycle operating costs, corporate-level operating expenses, cash flow and adjusted EBITDA. When appropriate, decisions are made regarding action steps to improve these overall operational measures. Our senior operational leaders also monitor the performance of each customer’s revenue cycle operations through ten to twelve hospital-specific operating reviews each year. Such reviews typically focus on planned and actual revenue cycle operating results being achieved on behalf of our customers, progress against our operating metrics and planned and actual operating costs for that site. During these regular reviews, our senior operational leaders communicate to the operating teams suggestions to improve contract and operations performance and monitor the results of previous efforts. In addition, our senior management also monitors our ability to attract, hire and retain a sufficient number of talented employees to staff our growing business, and the development and performance of our proprietary technology.

 

Net Services Revenue

 

We derive our net services revenue primarily from service contracts under which we manage our customers’ revenue cycle operations. Revenues from managed service contracts consist of base fees and incentive payments:

 

 

In addition, we earn revenue from other services, which primarily include our share of revenues associated with the collection of dormant patient accounts (more than 365 days old) under some of our service contracts. We also receive revenue from other services provided to customers that are not part of our integrated service offerings, such as procedure-by-procedure fee schedule reviews, physician advisory services or consulting on the billing for individuals receiving emergency room treatment.

 

Some of our service contracts entitle customers to receive a share of the cost savings we achieve from operating their revenue cycle. This share is returned to customers as a reduction in subsequent base fees. Our services revenue is reported net of cost sharing, and we refer to this as our net services revenue.

The following table summarizes the composition of our net services revenue for the year ended December 31, 2009 and the three months ended March 31, 2010 on a percentage basis:

 

 

See “Results of Operations” for more information.

 

Costs of Services

 

Under our managed service contracts, we assume responsibility for all costs necessary to conduct our customers’ revenue cycle operations. Costs of services consist primarily of the salaries and benefits of the customers’ employees engaged in revenue cycle activities and managed on-site by us, the salaries and benefits of our employees who are engaged in revenue cycle activities, the costs associated with vendors that provide services integral to the customers’ revenue cycle and the costs associated with operating our shared services centers.

 

Under our managed service contracts, we assume responsibility for all costs necessary to conduct our customers’ revenue cycle operations. Costs of services consist primarily of:

 

 

Operating Margin

 

Operating margin is equal to net services revenue less costs of services. Our operating model is designed to improve margin under each managed service contract as the contract matures, for several reasons:

 

 

Infused Management and Technology Expenses

 

We refer to our management and staff revenue cycle employees that we devote on-site to customer operations as infused management. Infused management and technology expenses consist primarily of the wages, bonuses, benefits, share based compensation, travel and other costs associated with deploying our employees on customer sites to guide and manage our customers’

revenue cycle operations. The employees we deploy on customer sites typically have significant experience in revenue cycle operations, technology, quality control or other management disciplines. The other significant portion of these expenses is an allocation of the costs associated with maintaining, improving and deploying our integrated proprietary technology suite and an allocation of the costs previously capitalized for developing our integrated proprietary technology suite.

 

Selling, General and Administrative Expenses

 

Selling, general and administrative expenses consist primarily of expenses for executive, sales, corporate information technology, legal, regulatory compliance, finance and human resources personnel, including wages, bonuses, benefits and share-based compensation; fees for professional services; share-based expense for stock warrants; insurance premiums; facility charges; and other corporate expenses. Professional services consist primarily of external legal, tax and audit services. We expect selling, general and administrative expenses to increase in absolute dollars as we continue to add information technology, human resources, finance, accounting and other administrative personnel as we expand our business.

 

We also expect to incur additional professional fees and other expenses resulting from future expansion and the compliance requirements of operating as a public company, including increased audit and legal expenses, investor relations expenses, increased insurance expenses, particularly for directors’ and officers’ liability insurance, and the costs of complying with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. While these costs may initially increase as a percentage of our net services revenue, we expect that in the future these expenses will increase at a slower rate than our overall business volume, and that they will eventually represent a smaller percentage of our net services revenue.

 

Although we cannot predict future changes to the laws and regulations affecting us or the healthcare industry generally, we do not expect that any associated changes to our compliance programs will have a material effect on our selling, general and administrative expenses.

 

Interest Income (Expense)

 

Interest income is derived from the return achieved from our cash balances. We invest primarily in highly liquid, short-term investments, primarily those insured by the U.S. government. Our return on our cash investments declined in 2008 and 2009 as a result of the general decrease in overall interest rates. Interest expense for the year ended December 31, 2009 resulted from origination fees associated with our revolving line of credit, which we entered into on September 30, 2009.

 

Income Taxes

 

Income tax expense consists of federal and state income taxes in the United States and India. Although we had net operating loss carryforwards in 2008, our effective tax rate in 2008 was approximately 65%. This was due principally to the fact that a large portion of our operations is conducted in Michigan, which in 2008 began to impose a tax based on gross receipts in addition to tax based on net income. Although we continued to pay the Michigan gross receipts tax in 2009, our effective tax rate declined to approximately 17% in 2009, principally due to the release of $3.5 million of valuation allowances for deferred tax assets. We expect our overall effective tax rate to be approximately 45% in 2010 and 40% in future years because we no longer have any net operating loss carryforwards and the impact of the Michigan gross receipts tax will become less significant in relation to other income-based taxes. We also expect our income tax expense to increase in absolute dollars as our income increases.

 

Application of Critical Accounting Policies and Use of Estimates

 

Our consolidated financial statements reflect the assets, liabilities and results of operations of Accretive Health, Inc. and our wholly-owned subsidiaries. All intercompany transactions and balances

have been eliminated in consolidation. Our consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with GAAP.

 

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the amounts reported in our consolidated financial statements and the accompanying notes. We regularly evaluate the accounting policies and estimates we use. In general, we base estimates on historical experience and on assumptions that we believe to be reasonable given our operating environment. Estimates are based on our best knowledge of current events and the actions we may undertake in the future. Although we believe all adjustments considered necessary for fair presentation have been included, our actual results may differ materially from our estimates.

 

We believe that the accounting policies described below involve our more significant judgments, assumptions and estimates and, therefore, could have the greatest potential impact on our consolidated financial statements. In addition, we believe that a discussion of these policies is necessary to understand and evaluate the consolidated financial statements contained in this prospectus. For further information on our critical and other significant accounting policies, see note 2 to our consolidated financial statements contained elsewhere in this prospectus.

 

Revenue Recognition

 

Our managed service contracts generally have an initial term of four to five years and various start and end dates. After the initial terms, these contracts renew annually unless canceled by either party. Revenue from managed service contracts consists of base fees and incentive payments.

 

We record revenue in accordance with the provisions of Staff Accounting Bulletin 104. As a result, we only record revenue once there is persuasive evidence of an arrangement, services have been rendered, the amount of revenue has become fixed or determinable and collectibility is reasonably assured. We recognize base fee revenues on a straight-line basis over the life of the managed service contract. Base fees for contracts which are received in advance of services delivered are classified as deferred revenue in the consolidated balance sheets until services have been provided.

 

Our managed service contracts generally allow for adjustments to the base fee. Adjustments typically occur at 90, 180 or 360 days after the contract commences, but can also occur at subsequent dates as a result of factors including changes to the scope of operations and internal and external audits. All adjustments, which can increase or decrease revenue and operating margin, are recorded in the period the changes are known and collectibility of any additional fees is reasonably assured. Any such adjustments may cause our quarter-to-quarter results of operations to fluctuate. Adjustments may vary in direction, frequency and magnitude and generally have not materially affected our annual revenue trends, margin trends, and visibility.

 

We record revenue for incentive payments once the calculation of the incentive payment earned is finalized and collectibility is reasonably assured. We use a proprietary technology and methodology to calculate the amount of benefit each customer receives as a result of our services. Our calculations are based in part on the amount of revenue each customer is entitled to receive from commercial and private insurance carriers, Medicare, Medicaid and patients. Because the laws, regulations, instructions, payor contracts and rule interpretations governing how our customers receive payments from these parties are complex and change frequently, estimates of a customer’s prior period benefits could change. All changes in estimates are recorded when new information is available and calculations are completed.

 

Incentive payments are based on the benefits a customer has received throughout the life of the managed service contract with us. Each quarter, we record the increase in the total benefits received to date. If a quarterly calculation indicates that the cumulative benefits to date have decreased, we record a reduction in revenue. If the decrease in revenue exceeds the amount previously paid by the customer, the excess is recorded as deferred revenue.

Our services also include collection of dormant patient accounts receivable that have aged 365 days or more directly from individual patients. We share all cash generated from these collections with our customers in accordance with specified arrangements. We record as revenue our portion of the cash received from these collections when each customer’s cash application is complete.

 

Accounts Receivable and Allowance for Uncollectible Accounts

 

Base fees are billed to customers quarterly. Base fees received prior to when services are delivered are classified as deferred revenue. Accordingly, the timing of customer payments can result in short-term fluctuations in cash, accounts receivable and deferred revenue.

 

We assess our customers’ creditworthiness as a part of our customer acceptance process. We maintain an estimated allowance for doubtful accounts to reduce our gross accounts receivable to the amount that we believe will be collected. This allowance is based on our historical experience, our continuing assessment of each customer’s ability to pay and the status of any ongoing operations with each applicable customer.

 

We perform quarterly reviews and analyses of each customer’s outstanding balance and assess, on an account-by-account basis, whether the allowance for doubtful accounts needs to be adjusted based on currently available evidence such as historical collection experience, current economic trends and changes in customer payment terms. In accordance with our policy, if collection efforts have been pursued and all avenues for collections exhausted, accounts receivable would be written off as uncollectible.

 

Software Development

 

We apply the provisions of Accounting Standards Codification, or ASC, 350-40, Intangibles — Goodwill and Other — Internal-Use Software, which requires the capitalization of costs incurred in connection with developing or obtaining internal use software. In accordance with ASC 350-40, we capitalize the costs of internally-developed, internal use software when an application is in the development stage. This generally occurs after the overall design and functionality of the application has been approved and our management has committed to the application’s development. Capitalized software development costs consist of payroll and payroll-related costs for employee time spent developing a specific internal use software application or related enhancements, and external costs incurred that are related directly to the development of a specific software application.

 

Goodwill

 

Goodwill represents the excess purchase price over the net assets acquired for a business that we acquired in May 2006. In accordance with ASC 350, Intangibles — Goodwill and Other, goodwill is not subject to amortization but is subject to impairment testing at least annually. Our annual impairment assessment date is the first day of our fourth quarter. We conduct our impairment testing on a company-wide basis because we have only one operating and reporting segment. Our impairment tests are based on our current business strategy in light of present industry and economic conditions and future expectations. As we apply our judgment to estimate future cash flows and an appropriate discount rate, the analysis reflects assumptions and uncertainties. Our estimates of future cash flows could differ from actual results. Our most recent impairment assessment did not result in goodwill impairment.

 

Impairments of Long-Lived Assets

 

We evaluate all of our long-lived assets, such as furniture, equipment, software and other intangibles, for impairment in accordance with ASC 360, Property, Plant and Equipment, when events or changes in circumstances warrant such a review. If an evaluation is required, the estimated future undiscounted cash flows associated with the asset are compared to the asset’s carrying amount to determine if an adjustment to fair value is required. This evaluation is significantly impacted by estimates and assumptions of future revenue, expenses and other factors, which are in turn affected by changes in the business climate, legal matters and competition.

Income Taxes

 

We record deferred tax assets and liabilities for future income tax consequences that are attributable to differences between the carrying amount of assets and liabilities for financial statement purposes and the income tax bases of such assets and liabilities. We base the measurement of deferred tax assets and liabilities on enacted tax rates that we expect will apply to taxable income in the year we expect to settle or recover those temporary differences. We recognize the effect on deferred income tax assets and liabilities of any change in income tax rates in the period that includes the enactment date. We provide a valuation allowance for deferred tax assets if, based upon the available evidence, it is more likely than not that some or all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized.

 

As of December 31, 2008 and in all prior periods, a valuation allowance was provided for all of our net deferred tax assets. As a result of our improved operations, in 2009 we determined that it was no longer necessary to maintain a valuation allowance for all of our deferred tax assets.

 

The primary sources of our deferred taxes are:

 

 

Beginning January 1, 2008, with the adoption of ASC 740-10, Income Taxes — Overall, we recognize the financial statement effects of a tax position only when it is more likely than not that the position will be sustained upon examination. Tax positions taken or expected to be taken that are not recognized under the pronouncement are recorded as liabilities. Interest and penalties relating to income taxes are recognized in our income tax provision in the statements of consolidated operations.

 

Share-Based Compensation Expense

 

Our share-based compensation expense results from issuances of shares of restricted common stock and grants of stock options and warrants to employees, directors, outside consultants, customers, vendors and others. We recognize the costs associated with option and warrant grants using the fair value recognition provisions of ASC 718, Compensation — Stock Compensation. Generally, ASC 718 requires the value of share-based payments to be recognized in the statement of operations based on their estimated fair value at date of grant amortized over the grant’s vesting period.

 

Restricted Stock Plan.  Our restricted stock plan was adopted by our board of directors in March 2004, amended in June 2004, August 2004 and February 2005. As of April 30, 2010, there were 25,871,807 shares of common stock outstanding under our restricted stock plan, all of which were vested. We have made the following grants to employees, directors and consultants under the restricted stock plan:

 

 

Ascension Health Stock and Warrants.  In October 2004, Ascension Health became our founding customer. Since then, in exchange for its initial start-up assistance and subsequent sales and marketing assistance, we have issued common stock and granted warrants to Ascension Health, as described below:

 

 

In 2007, 2008 and 2009, we granted Ascension Health the right to purchase 228,046, 91,183 and 136,372 shares of common stock for $0.003 per share, respectively, pursuant to the protection warrant agreement. We accounted for the costs associated with these purchase rights as a reduction in base fee revenues due to us from Ascension Health because we could not reasonably estimate the fair value of the services provided by Ascension Health. Accordingly, we reduced the amount of our base fee revenues from Ascension Health by $928,108, $921,445 and $1,736,345 in 2007, 2008 and 2009, respectively. For additional information regarding our relationship with Ascension Health, see “Related Person Transactions — Transactions With Ascension Health”.

 

 

We recorded the costs associated with the purchase rights under the supplemental warrant agreement as marketing expense for the periods in which the purchase rights were earned. During December 2007, Ascension Health earned the right to purchase 874,532 shares of common stock for $4.43 per share, and we recorded $4,153,163 in selling, general and administrative expense. During March 2008, Ascension Health earned the right to purchase 437,268 shares of common stock for $10.25 per share, and we recorded $2,410,790 in marketing expense. During March 2009, Ascension Health earned the right to purchase 437,264 shares of common stock for $13.02 per share, and we recorded $2,772,953 in marketing expense.

Licensing and Consulting Warrant.  In conjunction with the start of our business, in February 2004, we executed a term sheet with a consulting firm and its principal contemplating that we would grant the consulting firm a warrant, with an exercise price equal to the fair market value of our common stock upon grant, to purchase shares of our common stock then representing 2.5% of our equity in exchange for exclusive rights to certain revenue cycle methodologies, tools, technology, benchmarking information and other intellectual property, plus up to another 2.5% of our equity at the time of grant if the consulting firm’s introduction of us to senior executives at prospective customers resulted in the execution of managed service contracts between us and such customers. In January 2005, we formalized the warrant grant contemplated by the term sheet and granted the consulting firm a warrant to purchase 3,266,668 shares of our common stock for $0.29 per share, representing 5% of our equity at that time. In 2005, we recorded $483,334 in selling, general and administrative expense in conjunction with this warrant grant. The warrant expires on the earlier of January 15, 2015 or a change of control of our company.

 

We used the Black-Scholes option pricing model to determine the estimated fair value of the above purchase rights at the date earned. The following table sets forth the significant assumptions used in the model during 2007, 2008 and 2009:

 

 

 

Stock Option Plan.  In December 2005, our board of directors approved a stock option plan, which provides for the grant of stock options to employees, directors and consultants. The plan was amended and restated in February 2006 and further amended in May 2007, October 2008, January 2009, November 2009 and April 2010. As of April 30, 2010, the plan permitted the issuance of a maximum of 28,033,974 shares of common stock and 8,256,778 shares were available for grant. Under the terms of the plan, all options will expire if they are not exercised within ten years after the grant date. The majority of options granted vest over four years at a rate of 25% per year on each grant date anniversary. Options can be exercised immediately upon grant, but upon exercise the shares issued are subject to the same vesting and repurchase provisions that applied before exercise.

 

We use the Black-Scholes option pricing model to determine the estimated fair value of each option as of its grant date. These inputs are subjective and generally require significant analysis and judgment to develop. The following table sets forth the significant assumptions used in the Black-Scholes model to calculate stock-based compensation cost for grants made during 2007, 2008, 2009. Stock options were granted during the three months ending March 31, 2010. However, as the exercise price of these grants was not determinable as of March 31, 2010, no stock compensation expense was recorded for these grants during the three months ended March 31, 2010.

 

 

Since our stock is not actively traded, we estimated its expected volatility by reviewing the historical volatility of the common stock of public companies that operate in similar industries or are

similar in terms of stage of development or size and then projecting this information toward our future expected results. We used judgment in selecting these companies, as well as in evaluating the available historical and implied volatility for these companies.

 

We aggregate all employees into one pool for valuation purposes. The risk-free rate is based on the U.S. treasury yield curve in effect at the time of grant.

 

The plan has not been in existence a sufficient period for us to use our historical experience to estimate expected life. Furthermore, data from other companies is not readily available. Therefore, we have estimated our stock options’ expected life using a simplified method based on the average of each option’s vesting term and original contractual term.

 

An estimated forfeiture rate derived from our historical data and our estimates of the likely future actions of option holders has been applied when recognizing the share-based compensation cost of the options.

 

We will continue to use judgment in evaluating the expected term, volatility and forfeiture rate related to our share-based compensation on a prospective basis, and in incorporating these factors into the Black-Scholes pricing model. Higher volatility and longer expected lives result in an increase to total share-based compensation expense determined at the date of grant. In addition, any changes in the estimated forfeiture rate can have a significant effect on reported share-based compensation expense, as the cumulative effect of adjusting the rate for all expense amortization is recognized in the period that the forfeiture estimate is changed. If a revised forfeiture rate is higher than the previously estimated forfeiture rate, an adjustment is made that will result in a decrease to the share-based compensation expense recognized in our consolidated financial statements. If a revised forfeiture rate is lower than the previously estimated forfeiture rate, an adjustment is made that will result in an increase to the share based compensation expense recognized in our consolidated financial statements. These adjustments will affect our infused management and technology expenses and selling, general and administrative expenses.

 

As of March 31, 2010, we had $18.5 million of total unrecognized share-based compensation cost related to employee stock options. We expect to recognize this cost over a weighted-average period of 2.8 years after April 1, 2010. The allocation of this cost between selling, general and administrative expenses and infused management and technology expenses will depend on the salaries and work assignments of the personnel holding these stock options.

 

On February 3, 2010, our board of directors granted options to purchase 5,197,257 shares to executive officers, employees and non-employee directors. Subsequent to March 31, 2010, we determined that these options have an exercise price equal to $14.71 per share (the fair value of our common stock on February 3, 2010, as determined by the board of directors). The unrecognized compensation cost that will be recognized over the vesting period of these options is approximately $33.0 million. On April 22, 2010, we granted options to purchase 1,119,160 shares to various employees. These options have an exercise price of $12.00, which is the initial public offering price. The unrecognized compensation cost that will be recognized over the vesting period of these options is approximately $5.8 million.

 

Determination of Fair Value.  Valuing the share price of a privately-held company is complex. We believe that we have used reasonable methodologies, approaches and assumptions in assessing and determining the fair value of our common stock for financial reporting purposes.

 

We determine the fair value of our common stock through periodic internal valuations that are approved by our board of directors. The fair value approved by our board is used for all option grants until such time as a new determination of fair value is made. To date, and as permitted by our stock option plan, our chief executive officer has selected option recipients and determined the number of shares covered by, and the timing of, option grants.

Our board considers the following factors when determining the fair value of our common stock:

 

 

From June 2005 to January 2008, we used the market approach to estimate our enterprise value. The market approach estimates the fair market value of a company by applying market multiples of publicly-traded firms in the same or similar lines of business to the results and projected results of the company being valued. When choosing companies for use in the market approach, we focused on businesses that provide outsourcing, consulting or technology services or that have high rates of growth. To obtain our preliminary enterprise value, we calculated the multiple of the market valuations of the comparable companies to their annual revenues and applied this multiple to our revenue run rate, defined as our total projected revenues for the next 12 months from existing customers. We then discounted the preliminary enterprise value by a percentage determined by our board to reflect our company’s relative immaturity in relation to the comparable companies. This discount changed over time as we matured. The resulting value was then divided by the number of shares of common stock outstanding on a fully-diluted basis to obtain the fair value per share of common stock. We performed a new valuation in this manner each time we signed a managed service contract with a new customer.

 

For all valuations since January 2008, we used both the market approach and the income approach to estimate our aggregate enterprise value at each valuation date. The change in valuation method was in recognition that in 2007 we had achieved some significant milestones, particularly positive net income and positive adjusted EBITDA for the year, and that an initial public offering or other type of liquidity event would eventually be considered. When choosing companies to be used for the market approach since January 2008, we focused on businesses with high rates of growth and relatively low profitability that provide services to hospitals or other medical providers, or that provide business outsourcing solutions. The comparable companies have remained largely unchanged since January 2008. The income approach involves applying an appropriate risk-adjusted discount rate to projected debt-free cash flows, based on forecasted revenue and costs. The financial forecasts were based on assumed revenue growth rates that took into account our past experience and future expectations. We assessed the risks associated with achieving these forecasts and applied an appropriate cost of capital rate based on our board’s view of our company’s stage of development and risks, the experience of our directors in managing companies backed by private equity investors, and our management’s review of academic research on this topic.

 

We averaged the two values derived under the market approach and the income approach and then added our current cash position and cash and tax benefits, assuming that all outstanding options and warrants were exercised, to create an enterprise value. Next, we allocated the enterprise value to our securities with rights and preferences that are superior to our common stock, using the option-pricing method set forth in the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Practice Aid, Valuation of Privately-Held-Company Equity Securities Issued as Compensation. We then discounted the remaining value by 10% to reflect the fact that our stockholders could not freely trade our common stock in the public markets. We based the 10% discount for lack of marketability primarily on the results of a study of this topic by Bajaj, Denis, Ferris and Sarin entitled “Firm Value and Marketability

Discounts” (February 26, 2001). The resulting value was then divided by the number of shares of common stock outstanding on a fully-diluted basis to obtain the fair value per share of common stock.

 

Prior to this offering, stock options and certain warrants represented the right to purchase shares of our non-voting common stock. All outstanding non-voting common stock converted into voting common stock on a share-for-share basis effective May 19, 2010, and accordingly, stock options and warrants to purchase non-voting common stock represent stock options and warrants to purchase voting common stock, with no other changes in their terms. For all valuations prior to May 18, 2009, we determined the fair value of the voting common stock and applied it to the non-voting common stock without a discount.

 

Beginning on May 18, 2009, we refined our valuation methodology because of the increased potential for an initial public offering or company sale. We continued to use both the market approach and the income approach, but applied a discount to the fair value of the non-voting common stock and modified other variables as described below.

 

Because of the increased potential for an initial public offering, in late December 2009 we stopped granting stock options with exercise prices that were fixed at the time of grant. All stock options granted between January 1, 2010 and April 21, 2010 had an exercise price equal to the greater of $14.71 per share (the fair value of our common stock as of such date, as determined by the board of directors) and the price per share at which shares would initially be offered to the public in this offering if this offering had occurred prior to May 15, 2010 or within 90 days after the applicable grant date. Between April 22, 2010 and the closing of this offering, all stock options have been granted with an exercise price equal to the price per share at which shares will be initially offered to the public in this offering, provided that, if this offering had not occurred within 90 days after the applicable grant date, our board of directors would have made a new determination of the fair value of our common stock and the exercise price of these options would have equaled such fair value.

 

There is inherent uncertainty in these forecasts and projections. If we had made different assumptions and estimates than those described above, the amount of our share-based compensation expense, net income or loss and related per-share amounts could have been materially different.

 

Information regarding the number of shares of common stock subject to option grants from January 1, 2008 through April 30, 2010 is summarized in the table below:

 

 

The analyses undertaken in determining the fair value of our common stock for all grants between January 1, 2008 and April 30, 2010 are summarized below. The methodology for the fair value determination made on September 4, 2007 is summarized above. All analyses since then used the market approach and the income approach summarized above, with the additional assumptions described below.

 

 

 

Based on the initial public offering price of $12.00, the aggregate intrinsic value of our vested outstanding stock options as of March 31, 2010 was $49.5 million and the aggregate intrinsic value of our unvested outstanding stock options as of March 31, 2010 was $14.0 million.

 

Legal Proceedings

 

In the normal course of business, we are involved in legal proceedings or regulatory investigations. We evaluate the need for loss accruals using the requirements of ASC 450, Contingencies. When conducting this evaluation we consider factors such as the probability of an unfavorable outcome and the ability to make a reasonable estimate of the amount of loss. We record an estimated loss for any claim, lawsuit, investigation or proceeding when it is probable that a liability has been incurred and the amount of the loss can reasonably be estimated. If the reasonable estimate of a probable loss is a range, and no amount within the range is a better estimate, then we record the minimum amount in the range as our loss accrual. If a loss is not probable or a probable loss cannot be reasonably estimated, no liability is recorded.

Results of Operations

 

The following table sets forth consolidated operating results and other operating data for the periods indicated.