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Legal And Regulatory Matters | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2024
Legal And Regulatory Matters [Abstract] |
Legal And Regulatory Matters | 18. Legal and Regulatory Matters The VITAS segment of the Company’s business operates in a heavily-regulated industry. As a result, the Company is subjected to inquiries and investigations by various government agencies, which can result in penalties including repayment obligations, funding withholding, or debarment, as well as to lawsuits, including qui tam actions. In addition, both businesses are subject to legal proceedings and claims covering a wide range of matters in the ordinary course of business, including personal injury, employment claims, and general commercial issues. The following sections describe the various ongoing material lawsuits and investigations of which the Company is currently aware. Other than as described below, it is not possible at this time for us to estimate either the timing or outcome of any of those matters, or whether any potential loss, or range of potential losses, is probable or reasonably estimable. Regulatory Matters and Litigation VITAS is one of a group of hospice providers selected by the Office of the Inspector General’s (“OIG”) Office of Audit Services (“OAS”) for inclusion in an audit of the provision of elevated level-of-care hospice services. On July 14, 2022, VITAS received the final audit report from OAS. Per this report, the OAS audit examined VITAS inpatient and continuous care claims for the period April 2017 to March 2019. The audit covered a total population of 50,850 claims representing total Medicare reimbursement of $210.0 million during this two-year time period. From this population, OAS selected 100 claims, representing $688,000 of reimbursement, for detailed review. The final OAS audit report includes a series of recommendations, including that VITAS repay approximately $140.0 million of the $210.0 million VITAS received from Medicare for hospice services during this two-year period, despite the fact that at the time of the release of the results of the audit, many of the disputed claims were time-barred from being challenged. On August 29, 2022, six weeks subsequent to the OAS finalizing its audit, VITAS received a demand letter from its Medicare Administrative Contractor (“MAC”) seeking repayment of $50.3 million. VITAS timely filed its initial appeal of the overpayment decision and deposited $50.3 million under the “Immediate Recoupment” process to preserve its appeal rights. To date, VITAS has been refunded $3.3 million of the amount deposited and continues to appeal the remaining claims through the Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals process. The amount deposited has been recorded as an “other long-term asset” in the consolidated balance sheets, as detailed in Note 12. On February 3, 2025, an Administrative Law Judge ruled that VITAS’ care met Medicare’s hospice standards for the applicable higher level of care as originally billed for all but one of the claims appealed, and therefore VITAS was entitled to receive payment for all such claims. With respect to the one claim that the judge did not fully side with VITAS, the judge found that four of the five days billed met the applicable standard and only one day did not. That is, across the 36 appealed claims, the judge approved all billings except for one day of billing a higher-level of care. CMS may attempt to appeal the ruling but has not yet done so. VITAS’ MAC has not provided a new calculation of the amount of the remaining deposit that it believes should be returned to VITAS. Regardless of the outcome of the preceding matter, dealing with the various regulatory agencies and opposing parties can adversely affect us through defense costs, potential payments, withholding of governmental funding, diversion of management time, and related publicity.

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