CareCloud, Inc. - Annual Report: 2020 (Form 10-K)

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

Form 10-K

(Mark one)

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020

or

For the transition period from        to      

Commission File Number: 001-36529

MTBC, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

(732) 873-5133

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes [  ] No [X]

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes [  ] No [X]

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes [X] No [  ]

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes [X] No [  ]

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. [  ]

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. [  ]

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). Yes [  ] No [X]

As of June 30, 2020, the aggregate market value of the registrant’s Common Stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant was approximately $57.9 million, based on the last reported trading price of the Common Stock on that date, as reported on the Nasdaq Global Market.

At February 10, 2021, the registrant had 14,052,460 shares of common stock, par value $0.001 per share, outstanding.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the Proxy Statement for the Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be held on May 25, 2021 are incorporated by reference into Part III, Items 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Table of Contents

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements that we make from time to time, including statements contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act. All statements other than statements of historical fact contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are forward-looking statements. These statements relate to anticipated future events, future results of operations or future financial performance. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may,” “might,” “will,” “should,” “intends,” “expects,” “plans,” “goals,” “projects,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “potential,” or “continue” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. Our operations involve risks and uncertainties, many of which are outside our control, and any one of which, or a combination of which, could materially affect our results of operations and whether the forward-looking statements ultimately prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K include, without limitation, statements reflecting management’s expectations for future financial performance and operating expenditures (including our ability to continue as a going concern, to raise additional capital and to succeed in our future operations), expected growth, profitability and business outlook, increased sales and marketing expenses, and the expected results from the integration of our acquisitions.

Forward-looking statements are only predictions, are uncertain and involve substantial known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause our (or our industry’s) actual results, levels of activity or performance to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity or performance expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These factors include, among other things, the unknown risks and uncertainties that we believe could cause actual results to differ from these forward-looking statements as set forth under the heading, “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. New risks and uncertainties emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict all of the risks and uncertainties that could have an impact on the forward-looking statements, including without limitation, risks and uncertainties relating to:

Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements. Except as required by law, we are under no duty to update or revise any of such forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, after the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Summary Risk Factors

The following is a summary of the principal risks and uncertainties that could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. You should read this summary together with the more detailed description of each risk factor contained in “Risk Factors” in Part 1, Item 1A below.

Risks Related to Our Acquisition Strategy

Risks Related to our Business, Industry and Operations

Regulatory Risks

Risks Related to Ownership of Shares of Our Common Stock

Risks Related to Ownership of Shares of Our Preferred Stock

PART I

Item 1. Business

Overview

MTBC, Inc. (“MTBC” and together with its consolidated subsidiaries, the “Company”, “we”, “us” and/or “our”) is a healthcare information technology company that provides a full suite of proprietary cloud-based solutions, together with related business services, to healthcare providers and hospitals throughout the United States. Our Software-as-a-Service (“SaaS”) platform includes revenue cycle management (“RCM”), practice management (“PM”), electronic health record (“EHR”), business intelligence, telehealth, patient experience management (“PXM”) solutions and complementary software tools and business services for high-performance medical groups and health systems.

At a high level, these solutions can be categorized as follows:

Our solutions enable clients to increase financial and operational performance, streamline clinical workflows, get better insight through data, and make better business and clinical decisions, resulting in improvement in patient care and collections while reducing administrative burdens and operating costs.

The modernization of the healthcare industry is transforming nearly every aspect of a healthcare organization from policy to providers; clinical care to member services, devices to data, and ultimately the quality of the patient’s experience as a healthcare consumer. We create elegant, user-friendly applications that solve many of the challenges facing healthcare organizations. We partner with organizations to develop customized, best-in-class solutions to solve their specific challenges while ensuring they also meet future regulatory and organizational requirements and market demands.

Industry

Market Overview

In February 2020, Healthcare Finance reported that healthcare spending in the U.S. is projected to rise to $8.3 trillion by 2040. They reported that nearly 60% of the total cost goes toward hospitals, physicians and clinical services. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) also projected that U.S healthcare spending will grow 5.4% annually on average during years 2021 through 2028, reaching $6.2 trillion by 2028. CMS also projected that health spending will grow 1.1% faster than gross domestic product (“GDP”) annually during the years 2019 through 2028; and as a result, the healthcare share of GDP is expected to rise from 17.7% in 2018 to 19.7% by 2028.

Additionally, analysts from by Markets & Markets have estimated the US Healthcare IT industry market to be approximately $177 billion with its largest sub-segment RCM to be approximately $87 billion in 2019, growing at a 12% compound annual growth rate (“CAGR”). The North American EHR market has been estimated to be approximately $40 billion, growing at a CAGR of 6% per year. The Analytics and AI sub-segment was estimated to be approximately $30 billion, growing at a 27% CAGR and the Telehealth market is estimated to be approximately $20 billion with a CAGR of 17%. Standalone billing and practice management solutions are reported to be declining in the market today as medical practices move towards integrated, end-to-end systems that incorporate front and back office data flows, provide seamless access to clinical data from EHRs, and streamline the entire revenue cycle management process.

Our Market Opportunity

Considering the evolving needs of our clients and the market, we believe we continue to be uniquely positioned to provide tremendous value and support for our clients. We believe there are dynamics at play that are significantly increasing market need for our products and services. We are constantly monitoring and focused on how our role can address the evolving, day-to-day challenges our clients face so that they can focus on providing excellent patient care and expanding their businesses.

Medical practices and health systems alike are transitioning to increasingly complex reimbursement delivery models. As an example, the industry has been gradually shifting from fee-for-service payments to value-based / clinical outcomes-based care payments. This transition comes in a multitude of forms including reimbursement models associated with quality incentive programs, capitation payments models, bundled payments and at-risk payer contracts.

There are continuing legislative and regulatory reform efforts, as well as growing compliance requirements mandated by the federal government and other governmental agencies. This ever-evolving regulatory landscape increases the pressure placed on healthcare organizations to stay abreast of these changes and in compliance.

Our clients also have to factor in the rising cost of health insurance, changes in health benefit plan design, and the impact that these factors have had on the increase in patient consumerism. Patients are seeking lower cost care in response to insurance carriers shifting more of the cost burden onto patients, causing healthcare organizations to reconsider the full patient experience. Healthcare providers now need to think more deeply about patient expectations. This is especially true as COVID-19 has reshaped the sector and accelerated its digital transformation.

Strategic-thinking healthcare organizations across the country are aggressively addressing these new realities and are finding opportunities for growth and expansion. We see medical groups across the country and within all specialties and market segments, growing through consolidation and investing in their businesses at an accelerated pace. This is also leading clients to focus on delivering emerging and disruptive care delivery settings. Much of this change is driving executives and leaders to assess their IT and data strategy, reevaluating what it means for the future of their organizations.

The healthcare industry has seen tremendous change over the past decade. Our study of the evolving needs of our clients leads us to believe that there will be a continuing need for our services and products and emerging needs for the products and services that we are already developing. These trends will fuel growth over the next several years. In order for healthcare organizations to continue to succeed, these new realities require robust solutions and careful execution. Legacy tools that once powered these healthcare organizations are insufficient to support their growth and long-term strategies. Our solutions facilitate the transition needed by these organizations to drive their future growth. Our expansive product and services portfolio enables us to displace competitors and gain market share. We will continue to pursue this vast addressable market, from the small group ambulatory practices, to large, complex enterprise medical groups and health systems across a vast array of specialties and care settings which are focused on providing excellent care to patients across the country.

Our Business Strategy

Our objective is to be a market leading provider of integrated, end-to-end SaaS and business services solutions to the healthcare organizations. Our mission is to create flexible and comprehensive products and services for our client segments. To that end, we invest significant resources in improving our current offerings and architecting a new platform that will be the backbone of our long-term strategic initiatives. We expect to have increased software capabilities and offer additional complementary business services that will address the needs of the ever-changing, dynamic market conditions of the U.S. healthcare space.

To achieve our objective and mission, we employ the following strategies:

Providing comprehensive product and services suite to medical practices and hospitals. We believe that healthcare providers are in need of an integrated, end-to-end solution and a flexible service delivery model to manage the different facets of their businesses, from care delivery software, to claim submission, financial reporting, and data analytics.

Enhancing our solutions. We intend to continue to enhance our solutions with new functionality and features leveraging our own teams, partnerships and acquisitions. We will continue to dedicate significant resources to research and development to bolster our existing applications and drive new opportunities for innovation on behalf of our clients.

Expanding into new categories / specialties / markets. We are focused on always reassessing the market landscape, seeking new opportunities to meet the needs of the clients in our addressable market with our products and services. This means developing new and exciting technologies, launching new services, entering new specialties that can leverage our solutions and enable growth for our clients or expanding into adjacent markets that we may not serve today.

Expanding our client base. We believe the market for our expansive value proposition is underserved, and we will continue to make investments to capture market share. We will invest in our sales and marketing activities, partners, and products to expand our client footprint.

Extending our relationships with existing clients. We intend to increase the number of SaaS subscription licenses and services purchased by our current clients as they use our solutions. We are also focused on converting SaaS clients into higher revenue per client offerings such as revenue cycle management and other business services. This expansion of services typically represents an increase in overall revenue per client.

Strengthening our client community. We realize that our success is tied directly to our clients’ success. Accordingly, a substantial portion of our highly trained and educated workforce is devoted to client service.

Leveraging significant cost advantages provided by our technology and global workforce. Our unique business model includes our web-based software and a cost-effective offshore workforce located primarily in Pakistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (together, the “Pakistan Offices”). We believe that this operating model provides us with significant cost advantages compared to other revenue cycle management companies and it allows us to significantly reduce the operational costs of the companies we acquire.

Pursue acquisitions. We intend to continue to pursue acquisitions over time. As with most of our acquisition transactions, our goal is to retain the acquired clients over the long-term and migrate those clients to our platforms soon after closing and cross-sell our products and services to this newly acquired client base.

Developing our partner ecosystem. We offer an integrated partner ecosystem providing healthcare organizations access to a variety of innovative solutions that complement our suite of products and services. Our partner ecosystem is a comprehensive collection of apps, services, specialty solutions, and clinical connections. This is an integral part of our vision to be the premier cloud-based platform for healthcare.

Additionally, given the nature of our large data repository, which is ever-growing as each patient encounter is captured, we will begin utilizing this data to provide clinical and other process insights that will drive improvements in day-to-day workflows of our clients. We may build or partner for some or all of these solutions as we continue to broaden our product set. In the longer term, we also envision how this will allow for frictionless flow of information, care-coordination capabilities between medical providers and their patients supplanting what is today a very archaic paper, phone and fax-based infrastructure still deployed at scale in the industry.

Our Offerings

Our solutions are designed to systematically drive clinical quality and patient outcomes, while streamlining staff and provider workflows and reimbursements, to support different settings of care and healthcare models. Our product and service strategy is simple: we build products and deliver solutions that meet clients where their needs are.

Our product and services portfolio is organized across four critical areas:

Core Software Products - the core systems that power medical practices across clinical, financial and patient workflows, including our Practice Management systems, Electronic Health Records solutions and our Patient Experience Management applications.

Tech-enabled & Business Services - software-enabled revenue cycle management offerings and other business services, such as medical coding, credentialing, authorization management and the like. These solutions are geared to drive patient and insurance collections across the reimbursement life cycle.

Our Apps and App Ecosystem Partners - additional proprietary software products, including our business intelligence platform, robotic process automation bots, telemedicine applications, mobile apps and more of those applications that consume our APIs or other interfaces built by the market at large.

On-demand Workforce (MTBC Force) - leveraging our unique resources, and in turn selling this capacity at scale directly to partners and clients at a reduced rate as compared to other competitors in the same space. These on-demand workforce capabilities include offshore engineering capacity for development and offshore revenue cycle management operations personnel.

This categorization approach allows us to be both methodical and nimble across medical specialties and market segments while providing us a framework to create solution sets for the market today and, more importantly, for what our clients will need tomorrow.

We believe that our fully integrated solutions uniquely address the challenges in the industry. Our solutions are designed to simplify the complexities inherent in the claim reimbursement process and thereby deliver objectively superior results, such as reduced claim denial rates, improved client days in accounts receivable, reduced patient no-shows, increased well visit encounters and reimbursements.

Our fully integrated suite of technology and business service solutions is designed to enable healthcare practices to thrive in the midst of a rapidly changing environment in which managing reimbursements, clinical workflows and day-to-day administrative tasks is becoming increasingly complex, costly and time-consuming. Moreover, in most cases the standard fee for our complete, integrated, end-to-end solution is based upon a percentage of a practice’s healthcare-related revenues, with a monthly minimum fee, plus a nominal one-time setup fee, and is competitively priced.

Additional Business Services

Group Purchasing Organization. MTBC’s group purchasing organization (GPO) is a trusted partner to more than 4,000 physician and mid-level provider members. Our GPO includes our negotiation of discounts with pharmaceutical manufacturers, along with other products and services that can benefit a medical practice.

Research and Development

Our research and development focus is on enhancing and expanding our service offerings while ensuring all offerings meet regulatory compliance standards. We continually update our software and technology infrastructures, regularly execute releases of new software enhancements and adapt our offerings to better serve our medical group and health system clients confronting rapid changes in the healthcare market space.

Our agile software development life cycle methodology is designed to ensure that each software release is properly designed, built, tested, and released. Our product, engineering, quality assurance and DevOps teams are located both onshore and offshore. We complement our internal efforts with services from third-party technology providers for infrastructure, healthcare ecosystem connectivity needs such as labs and prescriptions, or specific application requirements.

We also employ product management, user experience and product marketing personnel who work continually on improvements to our products and services design.

Clients

We estimate that as of December 31, 2020, we provided services to approximately 40,000 providers (which we define as physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, therapists, physician assistants and other clinicians that render bills for their services) practicing in approximately 2,600 independent medical practices and hospitals, representing 80 specialties and subspecialties in 50 states.

In addition, we served approximately 200 clients that are not medical practices, but are primarily service organizations who serve the healthcare community. The foregoing numbers include clients leveraging any of our products or services, and are based in part upon estimates where the precise number of practices or providers is unknown.

We service clients ranging from small practices to large groups and health systems. Our clients span from the single doctor independent medical practice to a large 2,200 provider of physical, occupational and speech therapy services organization located across multiple states, and a large major academic medical institution with a service area covering millions of patients.

Sales and Marketing

We have developed sales and marketing capabilities aimed at driving growth in our client base, including small medical practices, large groups, and health systems. We expect to expand by selling our complete suite of services to new clients and up-selling additional services into our existing client base. We have a direct sales force, which we augment through our MTBC Force deals and partner initiatives and marketing campaigns.

Our Growth Levers

We believe that we are in a great position to grow by executing across several growth vectors:

Organic Growth and Direct Sales.

We have organized our sales force into different segments for sales of all of our products and services in order to best address our clients’ needs and our markets. With this design, our sales team can address a client’s specific needs, whether a new client is seeking our products or services for the first time, or a current client in need of additional solutions.

Our marketing team operates in support of our sales force and provides specialized demand generation capabilities for product marketing and sales efforts. Our sales approach is consultative in nature for most of our offerings, which generally includes needs analysis for prospective clients, crafting service proposals, and negotiating contracts that culminates in the commencement of services.

Partnerships. In addition to our direct sales force, we maintain business relationships with third parties that utilize, promote or support our sales or services within specific industries or geographic regions. Some of these partners are customers through MTBC Force and others are more traditional channel partners who help promote our solutions. We believe we can further accelerate organic growth through industry participants, whereby we utilize them as channel partners to offer integrated solutions to their clients. We have entered into such arrangements with industry participants, and from which we began to derive revenue from them starting in mid-2014. We have developed application interfaces with numerous EHR systems, together with device and lab integration to support these relationships.

Acquisitions. The Healthcare IT service industry is highly fragmented, with many local and regional RCM companies serving small medical practices and hospitals. We believe that the industry is ripe for consolidation and that we can achieve significant growth through acquisitions. We further believe that it is becoming increasingly difficult for traditional RCM companies, together with a variety of other healthcare industry vendors and healthcare IT companies, to meet the growing technology and business service needs of healthcare providers without a significant investment in an information technology infrastructure and the utilization of a talented, cost-efficient global team. Since the Company went public in July 2014, we have completed 16 transactions, acquiring complementary assets to grow our business. We typically leverage our technology and our cost-effective offshore team to quickly deliver additional value to the newly acquired customer base, while reducing costs. Often, we will incur initial costs associated with the integration of the acquired business with our existing operations, but this early investment is designed to increase customer satisfaction and retention, while laying the foundation for long-term accretion.

Competition

The market for practice management, EHR and RCM solutions and related services is highly competitive, and we expect competition to increase in the future. We face competition from other providers of both integrated and stand-alone practice management, EHR and RCM solutions, including competitors who utilize a web-based platform and providers of locally installed software systems.

Many of our competitors have longer operating histories, greater brand recognition and greater financial, marketing. We also compete with various regional RCM companies, some of which may continue to consolidate and expand into broader markets. We expect that competition will continue to increase as a result of incentives provided by various governmental initiatives, and consolidation in both the information technology and healthcare industries. In addition, our competitive edge could be diminished or completely lost if our competition develops similar offshore operations in Pakistan or other countries, such as India and the Philippines, where labor costs are lower than those in the U.S. (although higher than in Pakistan). Pricing pressures could negatively impact our margins, growth rate and market share.

We believe we have a competitive advantage, as we are able to deliver our industry-leading solutions at competitive prices because we leverage a combination of our proprietary software, which automates our workflows and increases efficiency, together with a global team that includes more than 600 experienced health industry experts onshore. These experts are supported by our highly educated and specialized offshore workforce of approximately 3,100 team members at labor costs that we believe are approximately one-tenth the cost of comparable U.S. employees.

Our unique business model has allowed us to become a leading consolidator in our industry sector, gaining us a reputation for acquiring and positively transforming distressed competitors into profitable operations of MTBC.

Employees

Including the employees of our subsidiaries, as of December 2020, the Company employed approximately 3,700 people worldwide on a full-time basis. We also utilize the services of a small number of part time employees. In addition, all officers of the Company work on a full-time basis. Over the next twelve months, we anticipate increasing our total number of employees only if our revenues increase, our operating requirements warrant such hiring, or we are hiring for specific functions where we place additional emphasis, such as marketing and sales.

Voting Rights of Our Directors, Executive Officers, and Principal Stockholders

As of December 31, 2020, approximately 40% of both the shares of our common stock and voting power of our common stock are held by our directors and executive officers. Therefore, they have the ability to control the outcome of matters submitted to our stockholders for approval, including the election of our directors, as well as the overall management and direction of our Company.

Corporate Information

We were incorporated in Delaware on September 28, 2001 under the name Medical Transcription Billing, Corp., and legally changed our name to MTBC, Inc. on February 6, 2019. Our principal executive offices are located at 7 Clyde Road, Somerset, New Jersey 08873, and our telephone number is (732) 873-5133. Our website address is www.mtbc.com. Information contained on, or that can be accessed through, our website is not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and you should not consider information on our website to be part of this document.

MTBC, MTBC.com, A Unique Healthcare IT Company, CareCloud and other trademarks and service marks of MTBC appearing in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are the property of MTBC. Trade names, trademarks and service marks of other companies appearing in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are the property of their respective holders.

We were an emerging growth company as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, or the JOBS Act until December 31, 2019. As a smaller reporting company and a non-accelerated filer, we may take advantage of specified reduced reporting requirements and are relieved of certain other significant requirements that are otherwise generally applicable to public companies, including not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, as amended, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our Annual Report, periodic reports and proxy statements and providing only two years of audited financial statements in our Annual Report and our periodic reports.

Where You Can Find More Information

Our website, which we use to communicate important business information, can be accessed at: www.mtbc.com. We make our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and all amendments to those reports available free of charge on or through our website as soon as reasonably practicable after such material is electronically filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Materials we file with or furnish to the SEC may also be read and copied at the SEC’s Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, NE, Washington, D.C. 20549. Information on the operation of the Public Reference Room may be obtained by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. Also, the SEC Internet website (www.sec.gov) contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information that we file electronically with the SEC.

Item 1A. Risk Factors

Risks Related to Our Acquisition Strategy

If we do not manage our growth effectively, our revenue, business and operating results may be harmed.

Our strategy is to expand through organic growth, and through synergistic, accretive acquisitions of healthcare IT companies. Since 2006, we have completed 26 transactions acquiring the assets or businesses of RCM, HCIT, and related companies. The majority of these transactions have occurred since we went public in July 2014. Our future acquisitions may require greater than anticipated investment of operational and financial resources as we seek to migrate customers of these companies to our solutions. Acquisitions also require the integration of different software and services, assimilation of new employees, diversion of management and IT resources, and increases in administrative costs. Acquisitions may also require additional costs associated with any debt or equity financings undertaken to pay for such acquisitions. We cannot assure you that any acquisition we undertake will be successful. Future growth will also place additional demands on our customer support, sales, and marketing resources, and may require us to hire and train additional employees. We will need to expand and upgrade our systems and infrastructure to accommodate our growth. The failure to manage our growth effectively will materially and adversely affect our business.

We may be unable to retain customers following their acquisition, which may result in a decrease in our revenues and operating results.

Customers of the businesses we acquire often have the right to terminate their service contracts for any reason at any time upon notice of 90 days or less. These customers may elect to terminate their contracts as a result of our acquisition or choose not to renew their contracts upon expiration. Legal and practical limitations on our ability to enforce non-competition and non-solicitation provisions against customer representatives and sales personnel that leave the businesses we acquire to join competitors may result in the loss of acquired customers. In the past, our failure to retain acquired customers has at times resulted in decreases in our revenues. Our inability to retain customers of businesses we acquire could adversely affect our ability to benefit from those acquisitions and to grow our future revenues and operating income.

Acquisitions may subject us to liability with regard to the creditors, customers, and shareholders of the sellers.

While we attempt to limit our exposure to the liabilities associated with the businesses we acquire, we cannot guarantee that we will be successful in avoiding all material liability. Regardless of how we structure the acquisition, whether as an asset purchase, stock purchase, merger or other business combination, creditors, customers, vendors, governmental agencies and other parties at times seek to hold us accountable for unpaid debts, breach of contract claims, regulatory violations and other liabilities that relate to the business we acquired. Disaffected shareholders of the businesses we acquire have also attempted to interfere with our business acquisitions or brought claims against us. We attempt to minimize all of these risks through thorough due diligence, negotiating indemnities and holdbacks, obtaining relevant representations from sellers, procuring insurance coverage and leveraging experienced professionals when appropriate.

Through the CareCloud transaction, we acquired its software technology and related business, of which certain elements have been subject to a civil investigation since July of 2018 to determine compliance with certain federal regulatory requirements pre-acquisition. The Company has continued to cooperate with the inquiry as CareCloud has historically done. This element was considered as part of the transaction and we believe that the continued investigation will have no material impact on our consolidated financial statements and that we have properly protected ourselves from liability through the negotiated structure of the transaction, including a portion of the consideration held in escrow. The Company currently believes that any potential settlement will be substantially within the range covered by the escrowed funds. However, the outcome cannot yet be determined. In the event of an unfavorable outcome, our business, reputation, and financial condition could be materially and adversely affected.

We may be unable to implement our strategy of acquiring additional companies.

We have no unconditional commitments with respect to any acquisition as of the date of this Form 10-K. Although we expect that one or more acquisition opportunities will become available in the future, we may not be able to acquire additional companies at all or on terms favorable to us. We will likely need additional financing for such acquisitions, but there is no assurance that we will be able to borrow funds or raise capital through the issuance of our equity on favorable terms. Certain of our larger, better capitalized competitors may seek to acquire some of the companies we may be interested in. Competition for acquisitions would likely increase acquisition prices and result in us having fewer acquisition opportunities.

Depending on the type of businesses we acquire (e.g., RCM, practice management, EHR), we may have varying cost saving and/or cross-selling opportunities with the acquired business. However, there is no assurance that we will achieve anticipated cost savings and cross-selling on our acquisitions, and failure to do so may mean we overpaid for such acquisitions.

In completing any future acquisitions, we will rely upon the representations, warranties and indemnities made by the sellers with respect to each acquisition as well as our own due diligence investigation. We cannot be assured that such representations and warranties will be true and correct or that our due diligence will uncover all materially adverse facts relating to the operations and financial condition of the acquired companies or their customers. To the extent that we are required to pay for obligations of an acquired company, or if material misrepresentations exist, we may not realize the expected benefit from such acquisition and we will have overpaid in cash and/or stock for the value received in that acquisition.

Future acquisitions may result in potentially dilutive issuances of equity securities, the incurrence of indebtedness and increased amortization expense.

Future acquisitions may result in dilutive issuances of equity securities, the incurrence of debt, the assumption of known and unknown liabilities, the write-off of software development costs and the amortization of expenses related to intangible assets, all of which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Risks Related to Our Business

Our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth could be harmed by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

We are subject to risks related to the public health crises such as the global pandemic associated with the coronavirus (COVID-19). In December 2019, a novel strain of coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, was reported to have surfaced in Wuhan, China. Since then, SARS-CoV-2, and the resulting disease COVID-19, has spread to most countries, and all 50 states within the United States. In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic. Further, the President of the United States declared the COVID-19 pandemic a national emergency, invoking powers under the Stafford Act, the legislation that directs federal emergency disaster response, and under the Defense Production Act, the legislation that facilitates the production of goods and services necessary for national security and for other purposes. Numerous governmental jurisdictions, including the State of New Jersey where we maintain our principal executive offices, and those in which many of our U.S. and international offices are based, have imposed, and others in the future may impose, “shelter-in-place” orders, quarantines, executive orders and similar government orders and restrictions for their residents to control the spread of COVID-19. Most states and the federal government, including the State of New Jersey, together with foreign jurisdictions in which we have operations centers, have declared a state of emergency related to the spread of COVID-19. Such orders or restrictions, and the perception that such orders or restrictions could occur, have resulted in business closures, work stoppages, slowdowns and delays, work-from-home policies, travel restrictions and cancellation of events, among other effects, thereby negatively impacting our customers, employees, and offices, among others. We may experience further limitations on employee resources in the future, because of sickness of employees or their families.

Healthcare organizations around the world, including our health care provider customers, have faced and will continue to face, substantial challenges in treating patients with COVID-19, such as the diversion of staff and resources from ordinary functions to the treatment of COVID-19, supply, resource and capital shortages and overburdening of staff and resource capacity. In the United States, governmental authorities have also recommended, and in certain cases required, that elective, specialty and other procedures and appointments, including certain primary care services, be suspended or canceled to avoid non-essential patient exposure to medical environments and potential infection with COVID-19 and to focus limited resources and personnel capacity toward the treatment of COVID-19. These measures and challenges will likely continue for the duration of the pandemic, which is uncertain, and will disproportionately harm the results of operations, liquidity and financial condition of these health care organizations and our health care provider customers. As a result, our health care provider customers may seek contractual accommodations from us in the future. To the extent such health care provider customers experience challenges and difficulties, it will adversely affect our business operation and results of operations. We note, for example, that approximately 65% of our revenue is directly tied to the cash collected by our health care provider customers, which means that our short-term revenue has and may in the future decline as less patients visit their doctors during periods of social distancing. Further, a recession or prolonged economic contraction as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic could also harm the business and results of operations of our enterprise customers, resulting in potential business closures, layoffs of employees and a significant increase in unemployment in the United States and elsewhere which may continue even after the pandemic. The occurrence of any such events may lead to reduced income for customers and reduced size of workforces, which could reduce our revenue and harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The widespread COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in, and may continue to result in, significant volatility and uncertainty in U.S. and international financial markets, reducing our ability to access capital, which could in the future negatively affect our liquidity. In addition, a recession or market correction resulting from the spread of COVID-19 could materially affect our business and the value of our common stock and Preferred Stock.

Further, given the dislocation and government-imposed travel related limitations as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, our ability to complete acquisitions in the near-term may be delayed. Future acquisitions may be subject to difficulties in evaluating potential acquisition targets as a result of the inability to accurately predict the duration or long-term economic and business consequences resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition, any difficulties we may experience in connection with the integration of CareCloud or Meridian could delay or prevent us from realizing such expected benefits and enhancing our business, and our business, financial condition and results of operation could be materially and adversely impacted. While we are working diligently to accelerate integration activities, the employee disruptions and communication challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic present particular challenges to our integration of CareCloud and Meridian and could make it difficult to effectively and timely complete our integration goals.

The global outbreak of COVID-19 continues to rapidly evolve. We have taken steps intended to mitigate the effects of the pandemic and to protect our global workforce including, but not limited to: moving a significant portion of our workforce to remote operations when and as needed, enacting social distancing and hygiene guidelines set forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and World Health Organization at our offices, and discontinuing company travel and events, among others. Although we believe we have taken the appropriate actions, we cannot guarantee that these measures will mitigate all or any negative effects of the pandemic. The ultimate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic or a similar health epidemic is highly uncertain and subject to change. We cannot at this time precisely predict what effects the COVID-19 outbreak will have on our business, results of operations and financial condition, including the uncertainties relating to the ultimate geographic spread of the virus, the severity of the disease, the duration of the pandemic, the availability of vaccinations, and the governmental responses to the pandemic. However, we will continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation closely and are committed to continuing to make appropriate changes as and when needed.

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

The market for practice management, healthcare IT solutions and related services is highly competitive, and we expect competition to increase in the future. We face competition from other providers of both integrated and stand-alone practice management, EHR and RCM solutions, including competitors who utilize a web-based platform and providers of locally installed software systems. Our competitors include larger healthcare IT companies, such as athenahealth, Inc., eClinicalWorks, Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Inc. and Greenway Medical Technologies, Inc., all of which may be able to respond more quickly and effectively than we can to new or changing opportunities, technologies, standards, regulations or customer needs and requirements. Many of our competitors have longer operating histories, greater brand recognition and greater financial, marketing and other resources than us. We also compete with various regional RCM companies, some of which may continue to consolidate and expand into broader markets. We expect that competition will continue to increase as a result of incentives provided by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (“HITECH”) Act, and consolidation in both the information technology and healthcare industries. Competitors may introduce products or services that render our products or services obsolete or less marketable. Even if our products and services are more effective than the offerings of our competitors, current or potential customers might prefer competitive products or services to our products and services. In addition, our competitive edge could be diminished or completely lost if our competition develops similar offshore operations in Pakistan or other countries, such as India and the Philippines, where labor costs are lower than those in the U.S. (although higher than in Pakistan). Pricing pressures could negatively impact our margins, growth rate and market share.

If we are unable to successfully introduce new products or services or fail to keep pace with advances in technology, we would not be able to maintain our customers or grow our business, which will have a material adverse effect on our business.

Our business depends on our ability to adapt to evolving technologies and industry standards and upgrade existing and introduce new products and services accordingly. If we cannot adapt to changing technologies and industry standards, including changing requirements of third-party applications and software and meet the requirements of our customers, our products and services may become obsolete, and our business would suffer significantly. Because both the healthcare industry and the healthcare IT technology market are constantly evolving, our success will depend, in part, on our ability to continue to enhance our existing products and services, develop new technology that addresses the increasingly sophisticated and varied needs of our customers, respond to technological advances and emerging industry standards and practices on a timely and cost-effective basis, educate our customers to adopt these new technologies, and successfully assist them in transitioning to our new products and services. The development of our proprietary technology entails significant technical and business risks. We may not be successful in developing, using, marketing, selling, or maintaining new technologies effectively or adapting our proprietary technology to evolving customer requirements, emerging industry standards or changing third party applications, and, as a result, our business and reputation could materially suffer. We may not be able to introduce new products or services on schedule, or at all, or such products or services may not achieve market acceptance or existing products or services may cease to function properly. A failure by us to timely adapt to ever changing technologies or our failure to regularly upgrade existing or introduce new products or to introduce these products on schedule could cause us to not only lose our current customers but also fail to attract new customers.

The continued success of our business model is heavily dependent upon our offshore operations, and any disruption to those operations will adversely affect us.

The majority of our operations, including the development and maintenance of our web-based platform, our customer support services and medical billing activities, are performed by our highly educated workforce of approximately 3,100 employees in our Pakistan Offices and Sri Lanka. Approximately 98% of our offshore employees are in our Pakistan offices and our remaining employees are located at our smaller offshore operation center in Sri Lanka. The performance of our operations in our Pakistan Offices, and our ability to maintain our offshore offices, is an essential element of our business model, as the labor costs where our Pakistan Offices are located are substantially lower than the cost of comparable labor in India, the United States and other countries, and allows us to competitively price our products and services. Our competitive advantage will be greatly diminished and may disappear altogether if our operations in our Pakistan Offices are negatively impacted.

Pakistan and Sri Lanka have in the past experienced, and could in the future continue to experience periods of political and social unrest, war and acts of terrorism. Our operations in our offshore locations may be negatively impacted by these and a number of other factors, including currency fluctuations, cost of labor and supplies, power grid and infrastructure issues, vandalism, and changes in local law, as well as laws within the United States relating to these countries. Client mandates or preferences for onshore service providers may also adversely impact our business model. Our operations in our Pakistan Offices and Sri Lanka may also be affected by trade restrictions, such as tariffs or other trade controls. If we are unable to continue to leverage the skills and experience of our highly educated workforce, particularly in our Pakistan Offices, we may be unable to provide our products and services at attractive prices, and our business would be materially and negatively impacted or discontinued.

We believe that the labor costs in our Pakistan Offices and Sri Lanka are approximately 10% of the cost of comparably educated and skilled workers in the U.S. If there were potential disruptions in any of these locations, they could have a negative impact on our business.

Our offshore operations expose us to additional business and financial risks which could adversely affect us and subject us to civil and criminal liability.

The risks and challenges associated with our operations outside the United States include laws and business practices favoring local competitors; compliance with multiple, conflicting and changing governmental laws and regulations, including employment and tax laws and regulations; and fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates. Foreign operations subject us to numerous stringent U.S. and foreign laws, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”), and comparable foreign laws and regulations that prohibit improper payments or offers of payments to foreign governments and their officials and political parties by U.S. and other business entities for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business. Safeguards we implement to discourage these practices may prove to be less than effective and violations of the FCPA and other laws may result in severe criminal or civil sanctions, or other liabilities or proceedings against us, including class action lawsuits and enforcement actions from the SEC, Department of Justice and overseas regulators.

Changes in the healthcare industry could affect the demand for our services and may result in a decrease in our revenues and market share.

As the healthcare industry evolves, changes in our customer base may reduce the demand for our services, result in the termination of existing contracts, and make it more difficult to negotiate new contracts on terms that are acceptable to us. For example, the current trend toward consolidation of healthcare providers may cause our existing customer contracts to terminate as independent practices are merged into hospital systems or other healthcare organizations. Such larger healthcare organizations may have their own practice management, and EHR and RCM solutions, reducing demand for our services. If this trend continues, we cannot assure you that we will be able to continue to maintain or expand our customer base, negotiate contracts with acceptable terms, or maintain our current pricing structure, which would result in a decrease in our revenues and market share.

Certain lawmakers have been critical of the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) and have taken steps toward materially revising or even repealing it. On December 14, 2018, a federal judge in Texas ruled the ACA unconstitutional. The decision declared that key parts of the legislation were inconsistent with the Constitution. The decision is still making its way through the courts and has not made an impact on the exchanges which are still open. As of now, there has been no impact to the coverage plans and no final ruling. The ACA included specific reforms for the individual and small group marketplace, including an expansion of Medicaid. We can give no assurances that healthcare reform initiatives, if passed, will not have a material adverse impact on our operational results or the manner in which we operate our business.

If providers do not purchase our products and services or delay in choosing our products or services, we may not be able to grow our business.

Our business model depends on our ability to sell our products and services. Acceptance of our products and services may require providers to adopt different behavior patterns and new methods of conducting business and exchanging information. Providers may not integrate our products and services into their workflow and may not accept our solutions and services as a replacement for traditional methods of practicing medicine. Providers may also choose to buy our competitors’ products and services instead of ours. Achieving market acceptance for our solutions and services will continue to require substantial sales and marketing efforts and the expenditure of significant financial and other resources to create awareness and demand by providers. If providers fail to broadly accept our products and services, our business, financial condition and results of operations will be adversely affected.

If the revenues of our customers decrease, or if our customers cancel or elect not to renew their contracts, our revenue will decrease.

Under most of our customer contracts, we base our charges on a percentage of the revenue that our customer collects through the use of our services. Many factors may lead to decreases in customer revenue, including:

We have incurred operating losses and net losses, and we may not be able to achieve or subsequently maintain profitability in the future.

We incurred net losses of approximately $8.8 million and $872,000 for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. Our net loss for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, includes approximately $8.1 million and $1.9 million of non-cash amortization expense of purchased intangible assets, respectively.

We may not succeed in achieving the efficiencies we anticipate from our acquisitions and possible future acquisitions, including moving sufficient labor to our offshore locations to offset increased costs resulting from these acquisitions, and we may continue to incur losses in future periods. We expect to incur additional operating expenses as 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, sales and marketing, infrastructure, facilities and other resources as we seek to grow, thereby incurring additional costs. If we are unable to generate adequate revenue growth and manage our expenses, we may continue to incur losses in the future and may not be able to achieve or maintain profitability.

Member participation in our Group Purchasing Organization (“GPO”) programs may be terminated with limited or no notice and without significant termination payments. If our members reduce activity levels or terminate or elect not to renew their contracts, our revenue and results of operations may decrease.

As part of the Orion acquisition in 2018, we acquired GPO program relationships. The GPO participation agreements are generally for an initial two-year term, and the option to renew for additional one-year terms. The GPO participation agreements are generally terminable by either party by providing written notice to the other.

There can be no assurance that the members will extend or renew their GPO participation agreements. Failure of these members to renew their GPO participation agreements may have a small impact on our revenue and results of operations.

Our success in retaining member participation in our GPO program depends upon our reputation, strong relationships with such members and our ability to deliver consistent, reliable and high quality products and services; a failure in any of these areas may result in the loss of members. In addition, members may seek to reduce, cancel or elect not to renew their contracts due to factors that are beyond our control and are unrelated to our performance, including their business or financial condition, changes in their strategies or business plans, their acquisition, or economic conditions in general. When contracts are reduced, canceled or not renewed for any reason, we lose the anticipated future revenue associated with such contracts and consequently, our revenue and results of operations may decrease.

As a result of our variable sales and implementation cycles, we may be unable to recognize revenue from prospective customers on a timely basis and we may not be able to offset expenditures.

The sales cycle for our services can be variable, typically ranging from two to four months from initial contact with a potential customer to contract execution, although this period can be substantially longer. During the sales cycle, we expend time and resources in an attempt to obtain a customer without recognizing revenue from that customer to offset such expenditures. Our implementation cycle is also variable, typically ranging from two to four months from contract execution to completion of implementation. Each customer’s situation is different, and unanticipated difficulties and delays may arise as a result of a failure by us or by the customer to meet our respective implementation responsibilities. During the implementation cycle, we expend substantial time, effort, and financial resources implementing our services without recognizing revenue. Even following implementation, there can be no assurance that we will recognize revenue on a timely basis or at all from our efforts. In addition, cancellation of any implementation after it has begun may involve loss to us of time, effort, and expenses invested in the canceled implementation process, and lost opportunity for implementing paying customers in that same period of time.

As a result of the Wayfair decision and changes in various states’ laws, we are required to collect sales and use taxes on certain products and services we sell in certain jurisdictions. We may be subject to liability for past sales and incur additional related costs and expenses, and our future sales may decrease.

We may lose sales or incur significant expenses should states be successful in imposing additional state sales and use taxes on our products and services. A successful assertion by one or more states that we should collect sales or other taxes on the sale of our products and services that we are currently not collecting could result in substantial tax liabilities for past sales, decrease our ability to compete with healthcare IT vendors not subject to sales and use taxes, and otherwise harm our business. Each state has different rules and regulations governing sales and use taxes, and these rules and regulations are subject to varying interpretations that may change over time. We review these rules and regulations periodically and, when we believe that our products or services are subject to sales and use taxes in a particular state, we voluntarily approach state tax authorities in order to determine how to comply with their rules and regulations. We cannot assure you that we will not be subject to sales and use taxes or related penalties for past sales in states where we believe no compliance is necessary.

If the federal government were to impose a tax on imports or services performed abroad, we might be subject to additional liabilities. At this time, there is no way to predict whether this will occur or estimate the impact on our business.

Vendors of products and services like us are typically held responsible by taxing authorities for the collection and payment of any applicable sales and similar taxes. If one or more taxing authorities determine that taxes should have, but have not, been paid with respect to our products or services, we may be liable for past taxes in addition to taxes going forward. Liability for past taxes may also include very substantial interest and penalty charges. Nevertheless, customers may be reluctant to pay back taxes and may refuse responsibility for interest or penalties associated with those taxes. If we are required to collect and pay back taxes and the associated interest and penalties, and if our customers fail or refuse to reimburse us for all or a portion of these amounts, we will have incurred unplanned expenses that may be substantial. Moreover, imposition of such taxes on our products and services going forward will effectively increase the cost of those products and services to our customers and may adversely affect our ability to retain existing customers or to gain new customers in the states in which such taxes are imposed.

We may also become subject to tax audits or similar procedures in states where we already pay sales and use taxes. The incurrence of additional accounting and legal costs and related expenses in connection with, and the assessment of, taxes, interest, and penalties as a result of audits, litigation, or otherwise could be materially adverse to our current and future results of operations and financial condition.

If we lose the services of Mahmud Haq or other members of our management team, or if we are unable to attract, hire, integrate and retain other necessary employees, our business would be harmed.

Our future success depends in part on our ability to attract, hire, integrate and retain the members of our management team and other qualified personnel. In particular, we are dependent on the services of Mahmud Haq, our founder, principal stockholder and Executive Chairman, Stephen Snyder, our Chief Executive Officer and A. Hadi Chaudhry, our President. Mr. Haq is instrumental in managing our offshore operations in our Pakistan Offices and coordinating those operations with our U.S. activities. The loss of Mr. Haq, who would be particularly difficult to replace, could negatively impact our ability to effectively manage our cost-effective workforce in our Pakistan Offices, which enables us to provide our products and solutions at attractive prices. Our future success also depends on the continued contributions of our other executive officers and certain key employees, each of whom may be difficult to replace, and upon our ability to attract and retain additional management personnel. Competition for such personnel is intense, and we compete for qualified personnel with other employers. We may face difficulty identifying and hiring qualified personnel at compensation levels consistent with our existing compensation and salary structure. 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.

We may be unable to adequately establish, protect or enforce our patents, trade secrets and other intellectual property rights.

Our success depends in part upon our ability to establish, protect and enforce our patents, trade secrets and other intellectual property and proprietary rights. If we fail to establish, protect or enforce these rights, we may lose customers and important advantages in the market in which we compete. We rely on a combination of patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret law and contractual obligations to protect our key intellectual property rights, all of which provide only limited protection. Our intellectual property rights may not be sufficient to help us maintain our position in the market and our competitive advantages.

Trade secrets may not be protectable if not properly kept confidential. We strive to enter into non-disclosure agreements with our employees, customers, contractors and business partners to limit access to and disclosure of our proprietary information. However, the steps we have taken may not be sufficient to prevent unauthorized use of our customer information, technology, and adequate remedies may not be available in the event of unauthorized use or disclosure of our trade secrets and proprietary information. Our ability to protect the trade secrets of our acquired companies from disclosure by the former employees of these acquired entities may be limited by law in the jurisdiction in which the acquired company and/or former employee resides, and/or where the disclosure occurred, and this leaves us vulnerable to the solicitation of the customers we acquire by former employees of the acquired business that join our competitors.

Accordingly, despite our efforts, we may be unable to prevent third parties from using our intellectual property for their competitive advantage. Any such use could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. Monitoring unauthorized uses of and enforcing our intellectual property rights can be difficult and costly. Legal intellectual property actions are inherently uncertain and may not be successful, and 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 proprietary rights by means of patents, trade secrets, copyrights, trademarks and other intellectual property. We have not conducted an independent review of patents and other intellectual property issued to third parties, who may have patents or patent applications relating to our proprietary technology. We may receive letters from third parties alleging, or inquiring about, possible infringement, misappropriation or violation of their intellectual property rights. Any party asserting that we infringe, misappropriate or violate proprietary rights may force us to defend ourselves, and potentially our customers, against the alleged claim. These claims and any resulting lawsuit, if successful, could subject us to significant liability for damages and/or invalidation of our proprietary rights or interruption or cessation of our operations. Any such claims or lawsuit could:

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 intellectual property litigation more effectively than we can because they have substantially greater resources. In addition, any litigation could significantly harm our relationships with current and prospective customers. Any of the foregoing could disrupt our business and have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition.

We may be unable to protect, and we may incur significant costs in enforcing, our intellectual property rights.

Our patents, trademarks, trade secrets, copyrights, and other intellectual property rights are important assets to us. Various events outside of our control pose a threat to our intellectual property rights, as well as to our products, services, and technologies. For instance, any of our current or future intellectual property rights may be challenged by others or invalidated through administrative process or litigation. Any of our pending or future patent applications, whether or not being currently challenged, may not be issued with the scope of the claims we seek, if at all.

We have taken efforts to protect our proprietary rights, including a combination of license agreements, confidentiality policies and procedures, confidentiality provisions in employment agreements, confidentiality agreements with third parties, and technical security measures, as well as our reliance on copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret and unfair competition laws. These efforts may not be sufficient or effective. For example, the secrecy of our trade secrets or other confidential information could be compromised by our employees or by third parties, which could cause us to lose the competitive advantage resulting from those trade secrets or confidential information. Unauthorized third parties may try to copy or reverse engineer portions of our products or otherwise infringe upon, misappropriate or use our intellectual property. We may not be able to discover or determine the extent of any unauthorized use of our proprietary rights. We may also conclude that, in some instances, the benefits of protecting our intellectual property rights may be outweighed by the expense.

In addition, our platforms incorporate “open source” software components that are licensed to us under various public domain licenses. Open source license terms are often ambiguous, and there is little or no legal precedent governing the interpretation of many of the terms of certain of these licenses. Therefore, the potential impact of such terms on our business is somewhat unknown. Further, some enterprises may be reluctant or unwilling to use cloud-based services, because they have concerns regarding the risks associated with the security and reliability, among other things, of the technology delivery model associated with these services. If enterprises do not perceive the benefits of our services, then the market for these services may not expand as much or develop as quickly as we expect, either of which would adversely affect our business, financial condition, or operating results.

Legal standards relating to the validity, enforceability and scope of protection of intellectual property rights are uncertain and still evolving. The laws of some foreign countries may not be as protective of intellectual property rights as those in the United States, and effective intellectual property protection may not be available in every country in which our products and services are distributed.

Any impairment of our intellectual property rights, or our failure to protect our intellectual property rights adequately, could give our competitors’ access to our technology and could materially and adversely impact our business and operating results. Any increase in the unauthorized use of our intellectual property could also divert the efforts of our technical and management personnel and result in significant additional expense to us, which could materially and adversely impact our operating results. Finally, we may be required to spend significant resources to monitor and protect our intellectual property rights, including with respect to legal proceedings, which could result in substantial costs and diversion of resources and could materially and adversely impact our business, financial condition and operating results.

Current and future litigation against us could be costly and time-consuming to defend and could result in additional liabilities.

We may from time to time be subject to legal proceedings and claims that arise in the ordinary course of business, such as claims brought by current and former clients in connection with commercial disputes and employment claims made by our current or former employees. Claims may also be asserted by or on behalf of a variety of other parties, including government agencies, patients of our physician clients, stockholders, the sellers of the businesses that we acquire, or the creditors of the businesses we acquire. Any litigation involving us may result in substantial costs and may divert management’s attention and resources, which may seriously harm our business, overall financial condition, and operating results. Insurance may not cover existing or future claims, be sufficient to fully compensate us for one or more of such claims, or continue to be available on terms acceptable to us. A claim brought against us that is uninsured or underinsured could result in unanticipated costs, thereby reducing our operating results and leading analysts or potential investors to reduce their expectations of our performance resulting in a reduction in the trading price of our stock.

Our proprietary software or service delivery platform (including the platforms we acquired through CareCloud and Meridian) may not operate properly, which could damage our reputation, give rise to claims against us, or divert application of our resources from other purposes, any of which could harm our business and operating results.

We may encounter human or technical obstacles that prevent our proprietary or acquired applications from operating properly. If our applications do not function reliably or fail to achieve customer expectations in terms of performance, customers could assert liability claims against us or attempt to cancel their contracts with us. This could damage our reputation and impair our ability to attract or maintain customers.

There are particular risks when we inherit technologies through the companies we acquire. These technologies, often developed by distressed companies, were not created under our direct supervision and control and therefore may not have been developed in accordance with our standards. Such acquired technologies could, and at times do, contain operational deficiencies, defects, glitches or bugs that may not be discovered immediately or otherwise could have been avoided had we built the technology ourselves. Whether technology we develop or technology we acquire, we will need to replace certain components and remediate software defects or bugs from time to time. There can be no assurance that such defects or bugs, or the process of remediating them, will not have a material impact on our business. Our inability to promptly and cost-effectively correct a product defect could result in the Company having to withdraw an important product from market, damage to our reputation, and result in material costs and expenses, any of which could have a material impact on our revenue, margins, and operating results.

Moreover, information services as complex as those we offer have in the past contained, and may in the future develop or contain, undetected defects or errors. We cannot assure you that material performance problems or defects in our products or services will not arise in the future. Errors may result from receipt, entry, or interpretation of patient information or from interface of our services with legacy systems and data that we did not develop and the function of which is outside of our control. Despite testing, defects or errors may arise in our existing or new software or service processes. Because changes in payer requirements and practices are frequent and sometimes difficult to determine except through trial and error, we are continuously discovering defects and errors in our software and service processes compared against these requirements and practices. These defects and errors and any failure by us to identify and address them could result in loss of revenue or market share, liability to customers or others, failure to achieve market acceptance or expansion, diversion of development resources, injury to our reputation, and increased service and maintenance costs. Defects or errors in our software might discourage existing or potential customers from purchasing our products and services. Correction of defects or errors could prove to be impossible or impracticable. The costs incurred in correcting any defects or errors or in responding to resulting claims or liability may be substantial and could adversely affect our operating results.

In addition, customers relying on our services to collect, manage, and report clinical, business, and administrative data may have a greater sensitivity to service errors and security vulnerabilities than customers of software products in general. We market and sell services that, among other things, provide information to assist healthcare providers in tracking and treating patients. Any operational delay in or failure of our technology or service processes may result in the disruption of patient care and could cause harm to patients and thereby create unforeseen liabilities for our business.

Our customers or their patients may assert claims against us alleging that they suffered damages due to a defect, error, or other failure of our software or service processes. A product liability claim or errors or omissions claim could subject us to significant legal defense costs and adverse publicity, regardless of the merits or eventual outcome of such a claim.

Our physicians have relied on our platforms (including the platform we acquired through CareCloud) as being certified by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (“ONC”). If this certification were to be challenged, we might face liability related to any incentive that the physicians received in reliance upon such certification.

If our security measures are breached or fail and unauthorized access is obtained to a customer’s data, our service may be perceived as insecure, the attractiveness of our services to current or potential customers may be reduced, and we may incur significant liabilities.

Our services involve the web-based storage and transmission of customers’ proprietary information and patient information, including health, financial, payment and other personal or confidential information. 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. Because of the sensitivity of this information and due to requirements under applicable laws and regulations, the effectiveness of our security efforts is very important. We maintain servers, which store customers’ data, including patient health records, in the U.S. and offshore. We also process, transmit and store some data of our customers on servers and networks that are owned and controlled by third-party contractors in India and elsewhere. Increasingly, threat actors are targeting the healthcare industry with ransomware and other malicious software. If our security measures are breached or fail as a result of third-party action, acts of terror, social unrest, employee error, malfeasance or for any other reasons, 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 security systems. Our security measures may not be effective in preventing unauthorized access to the customer and patient data stored on our servers. 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.

Our products and services are required to meet the interoperability standards, which could require us to incur substantial additional development costs or result in a decrease in revenue.

Our customers and the industry leaders enacting regulatory requirements are concerned with and often require that our products and services be interoperable with other third-party healthcare information technology suppliers. Market forces or regulatory authorities could create software interoperability standards that would apply to our solutions, and if our products and services are not consistent with those standards, we could be forced to incur substantial additional development costs. There currently exists a comprehensive set of criteria for the functionality, interoperability and security of various software modules in the healthcare information technology industry. However, those standards are subject to continuous modification and refinement. Achieving and maintaining compliance with industry interoperability standards and related requirements could result in larger than expected software development expenses and administrative expenses in order to conform to these requirements. These standards and specifications, once finalized, will be subject to interpretation by the entities designated to certify such technology. We will incur increased development costs in delivering solutions if we need to change or enhance our products and services to be in compliance with these varying and evolving standards. If our products and services are not consistent with these evolving standards, our market position and sales could be impaired and we may have to invest significantly in changes to our solutions.

Disruptions in Internet or telecommunication service or damage to our data centers could adversely affect our business by reducing our customers’ confidence in the reliability of our services and products.

Our information technologies and systems are vulnerable to damage or interruption from various causes, including acts of God and other natural disasters, war and acts of terrorism and power losses, computer systems failures, internet and telecommunications or data network failures, operator error, losses of and corruption of data and similar events. Our customers’ data, including patient health records, reside on our own servers located in the U.S., Pakistan Offices and Sri Lanka. Although we conduct business continuity planning to protect 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 our data centers, 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. 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, or systems that we interface with or utilize, 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.

We may be subject to liability for the content we provide to our customers and their patients.

We provide content for use by healthcare providers in treating patients. This content includes, among other things, patient education materials, coding and drug databases developed by third parties, and prepopulated templates providers can use to document as visits and record patient health information. If content in the third-party databases we use is incorrect or incomplete, adverse consequences, including death, may give rise to product liability and other claims against us. A court or government agency may take the position that our delivery of health information directly, including through licensed practitioners, or delivery of information by a third-party site that a consumer accesses through our solutions, exposes us to personal injury liability, or other liability for wrongful delivery or handling of healthcare services or erroneous health information. Our liability insurance coverage may not be adequate or continue to be available on acceptable terms, if at all. A claim brought against us that is uninsured or under-insured could harm our business. Even unsuccessful claims could result in substantial costs and diversion of management resources.

We are subject to the effect of payer and provider conduct that we cannot control and that could damage our reputation with customers and result in liability claims that increase our expenses.

We offer electronic claims submission services for which we rely on content from customers, payers, and others. While we have implemented features and safeguards designed to maximize the accuracy and completeness of claims content, these features and safeguards may not be sufficient to prevent inaccurate claims data from being submitted to payers. Should inaccurate claims data be submitted to payers, we may experience poor operational results and be subject to liability claims, which could damage our reputation with customers and result in liability claims that increase our expenses.

Failure by our clients to obtain proper permissions and waivers may result in claims against us or may limit or prevent our use of data, which could harm our business.

Our clients are obligated by applicable law to provide necessary notices and to obtain necessary permission waivers for use and disclosure of the information that we receive. If they do not obtain necessary permissions and waivers, then our use and disclosure of information that we receive from them or on their behalf may be limited or prohibited by state or federal privacy laws or other laws. This could impair our functions, processes, and databases that reflect, contain, or are based upon such data and may prevent use of such data. In addition, this could interfere with or prevent creation or use of rules, and analyses or limit other data-driven activities that benefit us. Moreover, we may be subject to claims or liability for use or disclosure of information by reason of lack of valid notice, permission, or waiver. These claims or liabilities could subject us to unexpected costs and adversely affect our operating results.

Any deficiencies in our financial reporting or internal controls could adversely affect our business and the trading price of our securities.

As a public company, we are required to maintain internal control over financial reporting and to report any material weaknesses in such internal controls. Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that we evaluate and determine the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting.

In the future, if we have a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting, we may not detect errors on a timely basis and our financial statements may be materially misstated. In addition, our internal control over financial reporting would not prevent or detect all errors and fraud. Because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that misstatements due to error or fraud will not occur or that all control issues and instances of fraud will be detected.

If there are material weaknesses or failures in our ability to meet any of the requirements related to the maintenance and reporting of our internal controls, investors may lose confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports, which in turn could cause the price of our common stock and Series A Preferred Stock to decline. Moreover, effective internal controls are necessary to produce reliable financial reports and to prevent fraud. If we have deficiencies in our internal controls, it may negatively impact our business, results of operations and reputation. In addition, we could become subject to investigations by Nasdaq, the SEC or other regulatory authorities, which could require additional management attention and which could adversely affect our business.

We are a party to several related-party agreements with our founder and Executive Chairman, Mahmud Haq, which have significant contractual obligations. These agreements are reviewed by our Audit Committee on an annual basis.

Since inception, we have entered into several related-party transactions with our founder and Executive Chairman, Mahmud Haq, which subject us to significant contractual obligations. We believe these transactions reflect terms comparable to those that would be available from third parties. Our independent audit committee has reviewed these arrangements and continues to do so on an annual basis.

We depend on key information systems and third-party service providers.

We depend on key information systems to accurately and efficiently transact our business, provide information to management and prepare financial reports. These systems and services are vulnerable to interruptions or other failures resulting from, among other things, natural disasters, terrorist attacks, software, equipment or telecommunications failures, processing errors, computer viruses, other security issues or supplier defaults. Security, backup and disaster recovery measures may not be adequate or implemented properly to avoid such disruptions or failures. Any disruption or failure of these systems or services could cause substantial errors, processing inefficiencies, security breaches, inability to use the systems or process transactions, loss of customers or other business disruptions, all of which could negatively affect our business and financial performance.

Systems failures or cyberattacks and resulting interruptions in the availability of or degradation in the performance of our websites, applications, products or services could harm our business.

As cybersecurity attacks continue to evolve and increase, our information systems could also be penetrated or compromised by internal and external parties’ intent on extracting confidential information, disrupting business processes or corrupting information. Our systems may experience service interruptions or degradation due to hardware and software defects or malfunctions, computer denial-of-service and other cyberattacks, human error, earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, fires, natural disasters, power losses, disruptions in telecommunications services, fraud, military or political conflicts, terrorist attacks, computer viruses, or other events. Our systems are also subject to break-ins, sabotage and intentional acts of vandalism. Some of our systems are not fully redundant and our disaster recovery planning is not sufficient for all eventualities. We have experienced and will likely continue to experience system failures, denial of service attacks and other events or conditions from time to time that interrupt the availability or reduce the speed or functionality of our websites and mobile applications. These events likely will result in loss of revenue. A prolonged interruption in the availability or reduction in the speed or other functionality of our websites and mobile applications could materially harm our business. Frequent or persistent interruptions in our services could cause current or potential users to believe that our systems are unreliable, leading them to switch to our competitors or to avoid our sites, and could permanently harm our reputation and brands. Moreover, to the extent that any system failure or similar event results in damages to our customers or their businesses, these customers could seek significant compensation from us for their losses and those claims, even if unsuccessful, would likely be time-consuming and costly for us to address. These risks could arise from external parties or from acts or omissions of internal or service provider personnel. Such unauthorized access could disrupt our business and could result in the loss of assets, litigation, remediation costs, damage to our reputation and failure to retain or attract customers following such an event, which could adversely affect our business.

Rapid technological change in the telehealth industry presents us with significant risks and challenges.

The telehealth market is characterized by rapid technological change, changing consumer requirements, short product lifecycles and evolving industry standards. Our success will depend on our ability to enhance our solution with next-generation technologies and to develop or to acquire and market new services to access new consumer populations. There is no guarantee that we will possess the resources, either financial or personnel, for the research, design and development of new applications or services, or that we will be able to utilize these resources successfully and avoid technological or market obsolescence. Further, there can be no assurance that technological advances by one or more of our competitors or future competitors will not result in our present or future applications and services becoming uncompetitive or obsolete.

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 constantly evolving due to the changing political, legislative, regulatory landscape and other factors. 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 or address the services that we provide. Further, healthcare laws differ from state to state and it is difficult to ensure that our business, products and services comply with evolving laws in all states. By way of example, certain federal and state laws forbid billing based on referrals between individuals or entities that have various financial, ownership, or other business relationships with healthcare providers. These laws vary widely from state to state, and one of the federal laws governing these relationships, known as the Stark Law, is very complex in its application. Similarly, many states have laws forbidding physicians from practicing medicine in partnership with non-physicians, such as business corporations, as well as laws or regulations forbidding splitting of physician fees with non-physicians or others. Other federal and state laws restrict assignment of claims for reimbursement from government-funded programs, the manner in which business service companies may handle payments for such claims and the methodology under which business services companies may be compensated for such services.

The Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) of the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) has a longstanding concern that percentage-based billing arrangements may increase the risk of improper billing practices. In addition, certain states have adopted laws or regulations forbidding splitting of fees with non-physicians which may be interpreted to prevent business service providers, including medical billing providers, from using a percentage-based billing arrangement. The OIG and HHS recommend that medical billing companies develop and implement comprehensive compliance programs to mitigate this risk. While we have developed and implemented a comprehensive billing compliance program that we believe is consistent with these recommendations, our failure to ensure compliance with controlling legal requirements, accurately anticipate the application of these laws and regulations to our business and contracting model, or other failure to comply with regulatory requirements, could create liability for us, result in adverse publicity and negatively affect our business.

The federal Anti-Kickback Statute (“AKS”) prohibits us from knowingly and willfully soliciting, receiving, offering or providing remuneration in exchange for referrals or recommendations for purposes of selling products or services which are paid for by federal healthcare programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. In addition, a claim including products or services resulting from a violation of AKS constitutes a violation of the federal False Claims Act (“FCA”). If we are determined to have violated the FCA, we may be required to pay up to three times the actual damages sustained by the government, plus mandatory civil penalties for each separate false claim. If we are found to be in violation of the FCA, AKS, ACA, or any other applicable state or any federal fraud and abuse laws, whether by our current practices or for the past practices of a company we acquire, we may be subject to substantial civil damages and criminal penalties and fines that could have a material adverse impact on our business.

In addition, 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. For instance, the current administration may make changes to the ACA, the nature and scope of which are presently unknown. Similarly, certain computer software products are regulated as medical devices under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. While the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) has sometimes chosen to disclaim authority to, or to refrain from actively regulating certain software products which are similar to our products, this area of medical device regulation remains in flux. We expect that the FDA will continue to be active in exploring legal regimes for regulating computer software intended for use in healthcare settings. Any additional regulation can be expected to impose additional overhead costs on us and should we fail to adequately meet these legal obligations, we could face potential regulatory action. Regulatory authorities such as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services may also impose functionality standards with regard to electronic prescribing technologies. If implemented, proposals like these could impact our operations, the use of our services and our ability to market new services, or could create unexpected liabilities for us. We cannot 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.

Further, our ability to provide our telehealth services in each state is dependent upon a state’s treatment of telehealth and emerging technologies (such as digital health services), which are subject to changing political, regulatory and other influences. Many states have laws that limit or restrict the practice of telehealth, such as laws that require a provider to be licensed and/or physically located in the same state where the patient is located. For example, California, New York, Massachusetts, Oregon and Washington, D.C., among others, are not members of the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact, which streamlines the process by which physicians licensed in one state are able to practice in other participating states. Failure to comply with these laws could result in denials of reimbursement for services (to the extent such services are billed), recoupments of prior payments, professional discipline for providers or civil or criminal penalties.

If we do not maintain the certification of our EHR solutions pursuant to the HITECH Act, our business, financial condition and results of operations will be adversely affected.

The HITECH Act provides financial incentives for healthcare providers that demonstrate “meaningful use” of EHR and mandates use of health information technology systems that are certified according to technical standards developed under the supervision of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”). The HITECH Act also imposes certain requirements upon governmental agencies to use, and requires healthcare providers, health plans, and insurers contracting with such agencies to use, systems that are certified according to such standards. Such standards and implementation specifications that are being developed under the HITECH Act includes named standards, architectures, and software schemes for the authentication and security of individually identifiable health information and the creation of common solutions across disparate entities.

The HITECH Act’s certification requirements affect our business because we have invested and continue to invest in conforming our products and services to these standards. HHS has developed certification programs for electronic health records and health information exchanges. Our web-based EHR solution has been certified as a complete EHR by ICSA Labs, a non-governmental, independent certifying body. We must ensure that our EHR solutions continue to be certified according to applicable HITECH Act technical standards so that our customers qualify for any “meaningful use” incentive payments and are not subject to penalties for non-compliance. Failure to maintain this certification under the HITECH Act could jeopardize our relationships with customers who are relying upon us to provide certified software, and will make our products and services less attractive to customers than the offerings of other EHR vendors who maintain certification of their products.

If a breach of our measures protecting personal data covered by HIPAA or the HITECH Act occurs, we may incur significant liabilities.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, as amended (“HIPAA”), and the regulations that have been issued under it contain substantial restrictions and requirements with respect to the use, collection, storage 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 HITECH Act to add provisions that impose certain of HIPAA’s privacy and security requirements directly upon business associates of covered entities. Under HIPAA and the HITECH Act, our customers are covered entities and we are a business associate of our customers as a result of our contractual obligations to perform certain services for those customers. The HITECH Act transferred enforcement authority of the security rule from CMS to the Office for Civil Rights of HHS, thereby consolidating authority over the privacy and security rules under a single office within HHS. Further, HITECH empowered state attorneys’ general to enforce HIPAA.

The HITECH Act heightened enforcement of privacy and security rules, indicating that the imposition of penalties will be more common in the future and such penalties will be more severe. For example, the HITECH Act requires that the HHS fully investigate all complaints if a preliminary investigation of the facts indicates a possible violation due to “willful neglect” and imposes penalties if such neglect is found. Further, where our liability as a business associate to our customers was previously merely contractual in nature, the HITECH Act now treats the breach of duty under an agreement by a business associate to carry the same liability as if the covered entity engaged in the breach. In other words, as a business associate, we are now directly responsible for complying with HIPAA. We may find ourselves subject to increased liability as a possible liable party and we may incur increased costs as we perform our obligations to our customers under our agreements with them.

Finally, regulations 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. We have performed an assessment of the potential risks and vulnerabilities to the confidentiality, integrity and availability of electronic health information. In response to this risk analysis, we 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. If we knowingly breach the HITECH Act’s requirements, we could be exposed to criminal liability. A breach of our safeguards and processes could expose us to civil penalties of up to $1.5 million for each incident and the possibility of civil litigation.

If we or our customers 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 or our customers may be subject to civil and criminal penalties or loss of eligibility to participate in government healthcare programs.

As a participant in the healthcare industry, our operations and relationships, and those of our customers, are regulated by a number of federal, state and local governmental entities. The impact of these regulations can adversely affect us even though we may not be directly regulated by specific healthcare laws and regulations. We must ensure that our products and services can be used by our customers in a manner that complies with those laws and regulations. Inability of our customers to do so could affect the marketability of our products and services or our compliance with our customer contracts, or even expose us to direct liability under the theory that we had assisted our customers in a violation of healthcare laws or regulations. 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 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. The occurrence of any of these events could give our customers the right to terminate our contracts with us and result in significant harm to our business and financial condition.

These laws and regulations may change rapidly, and it is frequently unclear how they apply to our business. Any failure of our products 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 contracts with our customers, require us to change or terminate some portions of our business, require us to refund portions of our revenue, cause us to be disqualified from serving customers doing business with government payers, and give our customers the right to terminate our contracts with them, any one of which could have an adverse effect on our business.

Potential healthcare reform and new regulatory requirements placed on our products and services could increase our costs, delay or prevent our introduction of new products or services, and impair the function or value of our existing products and services.

Our products and services may be significantly impacted by healthcare reform initiatives and will be subject to increasing regulatory requirements, either of which could negatively impact our business in a multitude of ways. If substantive healthcare reform or applicable regulatory requirements are adopted, we may have to change or adapt our products and services to comply. Reform or changing regulatory requirements may also render our products or services obsolete or may block us from accomplishing our work or from developing new products or services. This may in turn impose additional costs upon us to adapt to the new operating environment or to further develop or modify our products and services. Such reforms may also make introduction of new products and service costlier or more time-consuming than we currently anticipate. These changes may also prevent our introduction of new products and services or make the continuation or maintenance of our existing products and services unprofitable or impossible.

Additional regulation of the disclosure of medical information outside the United States may adversely affect our operations and 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 medical information. Legislation has been proposed at various times at both the federal and the state level that would limit, forbid, or regulate the use or transmission of medical information outside of the United States. Such legislation, if adopted, may render our use of our servers in offshore offices for work related to such data impracticable or substantially more expensive. Alternative processing of such information within the United States may involve substantial delay in implementation and increased cost.

Our services present the potential for embezzlement, identity theft, or other similar illegal behavior by our employees.

Among other things, our services from time to time involve handling mail from payers and payments from patients for our customers, and this mail frequently includes original checks and credit card information and occasionally includes currency. Where requested, we deposit payments and process credit card transactions from patients on behalf of customers and then forward these payments to the customers. Even in those cases in which we do not handle original documents or mail, our services also involve the use and disclosure of personal and business information that could be used to impersonate third parties or otherwise gain access to their data or funds. The manner in which we store and use certain financial information is governed by various federal and state laws. If any of our employees takes, converts, or misuses such funds, documents, or data, we could be liable for damages, subject to regulatory actions and penalties, and our business reputation could be damaged or destroyed. In addition, we could be perceived to have facilitated or participated in illegal misappropriation of funds, documents, or data and therefore be subject to civil or criminal liability.

Risks Related to Ownership of Shares of Our Common Stock

Our revenues, operating results and cash flows may fluctuate in future periods and we may fail to meet investor expectations, which may cause the price of our common stock to decline.

Variations in our quarterly and year-end operating results are difficult to predict and may fluctuate significantly from period to period. If our sales or operating results fall below the expectations of investors or securities analysts, the price of our common stock could decline substantially. Specific factors that may cause fluctuations in our operating results include:

Future sales of shares of our common stock could depress the market price of our common stock.

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market could occur at any time. If our stockholders sell, or the market perceives that our stockholders intend to sell substantial amounts of our common stock in the public market, the market price of our common stock could decline significantly.

Mahmud Haq currently controls 34.3% of our outstanding shares of common stock, which will prevent investors from influencing significant corporate decisions.

Mahmud Haq, our founder and Executive Chairman, beneficially owns 34.3% of our outstanding shares of common stock. As a result, Mr. Haq exercises a significant level of control over all matters requiring stockholder approval, including the election of directors, amendment of our certificate of incorporation, and approval of significant corporate transactions. This control could have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control of our company or changes in management, and will make the approval of certain transactions difficult or impossible without his support, which in turn could reduce the price of our common stock.

Provisions of Delaware law, of our amended and restated charter and amended and restated bylaws may make a takeover more difficult, which could cause our common stock price to decline.

Provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws and in the Delaware General Corporation Law (“DGCL”) may make it difficult and expensive for a third party to pursue a tender offer, change in control or takeover attempt, which is opposed by management and the Board of Directors. Public stockholders who might desire to participate in such a transaction may not have an opportunity to do so. We have a staggered Board of Directors that makes it difficult for stockholders to change the composition of the Board of Directors in any one year. Further, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides for the removal of a director only for cause upon the affirmative vote of the holders of at least 50.1% of the outstanding shares entitled to cast their vote for the election of directors, which may discourage a third party from making a tender offer or otherwise attempting to obtain control of us. These and other anti-takeover provisions could substantially impede the ability of public stockholders to change our management and Board of Directors. Such provisions may also limit the price that investors might be willing to pay for shares of our Series A Preferred Stock in the future.

Any issuance of additional preferred stock in the future may dilute the rights of our existing stockholders.

Our Board of Directors has the authority to issue up to 7,000,000 shares of preferred stock and to determine the price, privileges and other terms of these shares, of which 5,475,279 shares have been issued as of December 31, 2020. Our Board of Directors may exercise its authority with respect to the remaining shares of preferred stock without any further approval of common stockholders. The rights of the holders of common stock may be adversely affected by the rights of future holders of preferred stock.

We do not intend to pay cash dividends on our common stock.

Currently, we do not anticipate paying any cash dividends to holders of our common stock. As a result, capital appreciation, if any, of our common stock will be a stockholder’s sole source of gain.

Complying with the laws and regulations affecting public companies will increase our costs and the demands on management and could harm our operating results.

As a public company, we continue to incur significant legal, accounting, and other expenses. In addition, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and rules subsequently implemented by the SEC and the Nasdaq Stock Market impose various requirements on public companies, including requiring changes in corporate governance practices. Our management and other personnel devote a substantial amount of time to these compliance initiatives. Moreover, these rules and regulations have increased and will continue to increase our legal, accounting, and financial compliance costs and have made and will continue to make some activities more time-consuming and costlier. For example, these rules and regulations make it more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, and we may be required to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or to incur substantial costs to maintain the same or similar coverage. These rules and regulations could also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified persons to serve on our Board of Directors or our board committees or as executive officers.

In addition, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires, among other things, that we assess the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting annually and the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures quarterly. In particular, for the year ended December 31, 2020, we performed system and process evaluation and testing of our internal control over financial reporting to allow management to report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting, as required by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, or Section 404. As a “smaller reporting company” in 2020 and previous years, we elected to avail ourselves of the exemption from the requirement that our independent registered public accounting firm attest to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Although we are still currently exempt from the requirement to have our independent registered public accounting firm attest to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting, when our independent registered public accounting firm is required to undertake such an assessment, the cost of our compliance with Section 404 will correspondingly increase. Our compliance with applicable provisions of Section 404 requires that we incur substantial accounting expense and expend significant management time on compliance-related issues and stay in compliance with reporting requirements. Moreover, if we are not able to stay in compliance with the requirements of Section 404 applicable to us in a timely manner, or if we or our independent registered public accounting firm identifies any deficiency(ies) in our internal control over financial reporting that are deemed to be material weakness(es), the market price of our stock could decline and we could be subject to sanctions or investigations by the SEC or other regulatory authorities, which would require additional financial and management resources.

Furthermore, investor perceptions of our Company may suffer if deficiencies are found, and this could cause a decline in the market price of our common and Preferred Stock. Irrespective of compliance with Section 404, any failure of our internal control over financial reporting could have a material adverse effect on our stated operating results and harm our reputation. If we are unable to implement these changes effectively or efficiently, it could harm our operations, financial reporting, or financial results and could result in an adverse opinion on internal control from our independent registered public accounting firm.

We remained an “emerging growth company” until December 31, 2019 under the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act. While we were an “emerging growth company” as defined in the JOBS Act, we were able to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved.

We are a smaller reporting company and we cannot be certain if the reduced disclosure requirements applicable to smaller reporting companies will make our common stock less attractive to investors.

While we have ceased being an emerging growth company as of December 31, 2019, many of the exemptions available for emerging growth companies are also available to smaller reporting companies like us that have less than $250 million of worldwide common equity held by non-affiliates. The disclosures we will be required to provide in our SEC fillings will increase, but will still be less than it would be if we were not considered a smaller reporting company. Specifically, similar to emerging growth companies, smaller reporting companies are able to provide simplified executive compensation disclosures in their fillings; are exempt from the provisions of Section 404 requiring that independent registered public accounting firms provide an attestation reporting on the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, and have certain other decreased disclosure obligations in their SEC filings. Our status as a smaller reporting company may make it harder for investors to analyze our results of operations and financial prospects. We cannot predict if investors will find our common stock less attractive because we will rely on the exemption available to smaller reporting companies. If some investors find our common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our common stock and our stock price may be more volatile.

Risks Related to Ownership of Shares of Our Preferred Stock

The Series A Preferred Stock ranks junior to all of our indebtedness and other liabilities.

In the event of our bankruptcy, liquidation, dissolution or winding-up of our affairs, our assets will be available to pay obligations on the Series A Preferred Stock only after all of our indebtedness and other liabilities have been paid. The rights of holders of the Series A Preferred Stock to participate in the distribution of our assets will rank junior to the prior claims of our current and future creditors and any future series or class of preferred stock we may issue that ranks senior to the Series A Preferred Stock. Also, the Series A Preferred Stock effectively ranks junior to all existing and future indebtedness and to the indebtedness and other liabilities of our existing subsidiaries and any future subsidiaries. Our existing subsidiaries are, and future subsidiaries would be, separate legal entities and have no legal obligation to pay any amounts to us in respect of dividends due on the Series A Preferred Stock. If we are forced to liquidate our assets to pay our creditors, we may not have sufficient assets to pay amounts due on any or all of the Series A Preferred Stock then outstanding. We may in the future incur debt and other obligations that will rank senior to the Series A Preferred Stock. At December 31, 2020, our total liabilities equaled approximately $36.8 million.

Certain of our existing or future debt instruments may restrict the authorization, payment or setting apart of dividends on the Series A Preferred Stock. Our Credit Agreement with Silicon Valley Bank (“SVB”) restricts the payment of dividends in the event of any event of default, including failure to meet certain financial covenants. There can be no assurance that we will remain in compliance with the SVB Credit Agreement, and if we default, we may be contractually prohibited from paying dividends on the Series A Preferred Stock. Also, future offerings of debt or senior equity securities may adversely affect the market price of the Series A Preferred Stock. If we decide to issue debt or senior equity securities in the future, it is possible that these securities will be governed by an indenture or other instruments containing covenants restricting our operating flexibility. Additionally, any convertible or exchangeable securities that we issue in the future may have rights, preferences and privileges more favorable than those of the Series A Preferred Stock and may result in dilution to owners of the Series A Preferred Stock. We and, indirectly, our shareholders, will bear the cost of issuing and servicing such securities. Because our decision to issue debt or equity securities in any future offering will depend on market conditions and other factors beyond our control, we cannot predict or estimate the amount, timing or nature of our future offerings. The holders of the Series A Preferred Stock will bear the risk of our future offerings, which may reduce the market price of the Series A Preferred Stock and will dilute the value of their holdings.

We may not be able to pay dividends on the Series A Preferred Stock if we fall out of compliance with our loan covenants and are prohibited by our bank lender from paying dividends or if we have insufficient cash to make dividend payments.

Our ability to pay cash dividends on the Series A Preferred Stock requires us to have either net profits or positive net assets (total assets less total liabilities), and to be able to pay our debts as they become due in the usual course of business. We cannot predict with certainty whether we will remain in compliance with the covenants of our senior secured lender, SVB, which include, among other things, generating adjusted EBITDA or complying with a minimum liquidity ratio at times when we are utilizing our line of credit. If we fall out of compliance, our lender may exercise any of its rights and remedies under the loan agreement, including restricting us from making dividend payments.

Further, notwithstanding these factors, we may not have sufficient cash to pay dividends on the Series A Preferred Stock. Our ability to pay dividends may be impaired if any of the risks described in this document, including the documents incorporated by reference herein, were to occur. Also, payment of our dividends depends upon our financial condition, remaining in compliance with our affirmative and negative loan covenants with SVB, which we may be unable to do in the future, and other factors as our Board of Directors may deem relevant from time to time. We cannot assure you that our businesses will generate sufficient cash flow from operations or that future borrowings will be available to us in an amount sufficient to enable us to make distributions on our common stock, if any, and preferred stock, including the Series A Preferred Stock to pay our indebtedness or to fund our other liquidity needs.

We may issue additional shares of Series A Preferred Stock and additional series of preferred stock that rank on parity with the Series A Preferred Stock as to dividend rights, rights upon liquidation or voting rights.

We are allowed to issue additional shares of Series A Preferred Stock and additional series of preferred stock that would rank equal to or below the Series A Preferred Stock as to dividend payments and rights upon our liquidation, dissolution or winding up of our affairs pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and the certificate of designations relating to the Series A Preferred Stock without any vote of the holders of the Series A Preferred Stock. Upon the affirmative vote of the holders of at least two-thirds of the outstanding shares of Series A Preferred Stock (voting together as a class with all other series of parity preferred stock we may issue upon which like voting rights have been conferred and are exercisable), we are allowed to issue additional series of preferred stock that would rank above the Series A Preferred Stock as to dividend payments and rights upon our liquidation, dissolution or the winding up of our affairs pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and the certificate of designations relating to the Series A Preferred Stock. The issuance of additional shares of Series A Preferred Stock and additional series of preferred stock could have the effect of reducing the amounts available to the Series A Preferred Stock upon our liquidation or dissolution or the winding up of our affairs. It also may reduce dividend payments on the Series A Preferred Stock if we do not have sufficient funds to pay dividends on all Series A Preferred Stock outstanding and other classes or series of stock with equal priority with respect to dividends.

Also, although holders of Series A Preferred Stock are entitled to limited voting rights with respect to the circumstances under which the holders of Series A Preferred Stock are entitled to vote, the Series A Preferred Stock votes separately as a class along with all other series of our preferred stock that we may issue upon which like voting rights have been conferred and are exercisable. As a result, the voting rights of holders of Series A Preferred Stock may be significantly diluted, and the holders of such other series of preferred stock that we may issue may be able to control or significantly influence the outcome of any vote.

Future issuances and sales of senior or pari passu preferred stock, or the perception that such issuances and sales could occur, may cause prevailing market prices for the Series A Preferred Stock and our common stock to decline and may adversely affect our ability to raise additional capital in the financial markets at times and prices favorable to us.

Market interest rates may materially and adversely affect the value of the Series A Preferred Stock.

One of the factors that influences the price of the Series A Preferred Stock is the dividend yield on the Series A Preferred Stock (as a percentage of the market price of the Series A Preferred Stock) relative to market interest rates. An increase in market interest rates may lead prospective purchasers of the Series A Preferred Stock to expect a higher dividend yield (and higher interest rates would likely increase our borrowing costs and potentially decrease funds available for dividend payments). Thus, higher market interest rates could cause the market price of the Series A Preferred Stock to materially decrease.

Holders of the Series A Preferred Stock may be unable to use the dividends-received deduction and may not be eligible for the preferential tax rates applicable to “qualified dividend income”.

Distributions paid to corporate U.S. holders of the Series A Preferred Stock may be eligible for the dividends-received deduction, and distributions paid to non-corporate U.S. holders of the Series A Preferred Stock may be subject to tax at the preferential tax rates applicable to “qualified dividend income,” if we have current or accumulated earnings and profits, as determined for U.S. federal income tax purposes. We do not currently have such accumulated earnings and profits. Additionally, we may not have sufficient current earnings and profits during future fiscal years for the distributions on the Series A Preferred Stock to qualify as dividends for U.S. federal income tax purposes. If the distributions fail to qualify as dividends, U.S. holders would be unable to use the dividends-received deduction and may not be eligible for the preferential tax rates applicable to “qualified dividend income.” If any distributions on the Series A Preferred Stock with respect to any fiscal year are not eligible for the dividends-received deduction or preferential tax rates applicable to “qualified dividend income” because of insufficient current or accumulated earnings and profits, it is possible that the market value of the Series A Preferred Stock might decline.

Our Series A Preferred Stock has not been rated.

We have not sought to obtain a rating for the Series A Preferred Stock. No assurance can be given, however, that one or more rating agencies might not independently determine to issue such a rating or that such a rating, if issued, would not adversely affect the market price of the Series A Preferred Stock. Also, we may elect in the future to obtain a rating for the Series A Preferred Stock, which could adversely affect the market price of the Series A Preferred Stock. Ratings only reflect the views of the rating agency or agencies issuing the ratings and such ratings could be revised downward, placed on a watch list or withdrawn entirely at the discretion of the issuing rating agency if in its judgment circumstances so warrant. Any such downward revision, placing on a watch list or withdrawal of a rating could have an adverse effect on the market price of the Series A Preferred Stock.

We may redeem the Series A Preferred Stock at any time.

Since November 4, 2020, we may, at our option, redeem the Series A Preferred Stock, in whole or in part, at any time or from time to time. Also, upon the occurrence of a change of control, we may, at our option, redeem the Series A Preferred Stock, in whole or in part, within 120 days after the first date on which such change of control occurred. We may have an incentive to redeem the Series A Preferred Stock voluntarily if market conditions allow us to issue other preferred stock or debt securities at a rate that is lower than the dividend on the Series A Preferred Stock. If we redeem the Series A Preferred Stock, then from and after the redemption date, dividends will cease to accrue on shares of Series A Preferred Stock, the shares of Series A Preferred Stock shall no longer be deemed outstanding and all rights as a holder of those shares will terminate, except the right to receive the redemption price plus accumulated and unpaid dividends, if any, payable upon redemption.

The market price of our Series A Preferred Stock is variable and could be substantially affected by various factors.

The market price of our Series A Preferred Stock could be subject to wide fluctuations in response to numerous factors. These factors include, but are not limited to, the following:

A holder of Series A Preferred Stock has extremely limited voting rights.

The voting rights for a holder of Series A Preferred Stock are limited. Our shares of common stock are the only class of our securities that carry full voting rights, and Mahmud Haq, our Executive Chairman, beneficially owns approximately 34.3% of our outstanding shares of common stock. As a result, Mr. Haq exercises a significant level of control over all matters requiring stockholder approval, including the election of directors, amendment of our certificate of incorporation, and approval of significant corporate transactions. This control could have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control of our Company or changes in management, and will make the approval of certain transactions difficult or impossible without his support, which in turn could reduce the price of our Series A Preferred Stock.

Voting rights for holders of the Series A Preferred Stock exist primarily with respect to the ability to elect, voting together with the holders of any other series of our preferred stock having similar voting rights, two additional directors to our Board of Directors, subject to limitations, in the event that eighteen monthly dividends (whether or not consecutive) payable on the Series A Preferred Stock are in arrears, and with respect to voting on amendments to our articles of incorporation or articles of amendment relating to the Series A Preferred Stock that materially and adversely affect the rights of the holders of Series A Preferred Stock or authorize, increase or create additional classes or series of our capital stock that are senior to the Series A Preferred Stock. Other than the limited circumstances and except to the extent required by law, holders of Series A Preferred Stock do not have any voting rights.

The Series A Preferred Stock is not convertible, and investors will not realize a corresponding upside if the price of the common stock increases.

The Series A Preferred Stock is not convertible into the common stock and earns dividends at a fixed rate. Accordingly, an increase in market price of our common stock will not necessarily result in an increase in the market price of our Series A Preferred Stock. The market value of the Series A Preferred Stock may depend more on dividend and interest rates for other preferred stock, commercial paper and other investment alternatives and our actual and perceived ability to pay dividends on, and in the event of dissolution satisfy the liquidation preference with respect to, the Series A Preferred Stock.

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments

None.

Item 2. Properties

Our corporate headquarters are located at 7 Clyde Road, Somerset, New Jersey 08873 where we occupy approximately 2,400 square feet of space under a month-to-month lease. Additionally, at December 31, 2020 we lease approximately 190,000 square feet of office space in approximately 19 locations throughout the U.S., with lease terms that are typically five years or less. We also lease approximately 37,000 square feet for five pediatric offices in the Midwest, with leases that will expire between March 2021 and March 2026. The Company entered into a lease in Ohio for a newly built 8,000 square feet pediatric office space in February 2021 with a lease term of 15 years.

We also lease approximately 48,000 square feet of office space and computer server facilities in Islamabad, Pakistan, which lease expires in July 2021, as well as approximately 33,000 square feet in Bagh, Pakistan, with an annually renewable lease. The Company also leases office space in Sri Lanka, which lease expires in March of 2021. This lease will be renewed for an additional year at expiration.

We believe our current facilities are adequate for our current needs and that suitable additional space will be available as and when needed.

Item 3. Legal Proceedings

On April 4, 2017, Randolph Pain Relief and Wellness Center (“RPRWC”) filed an arbitration demand with the American Arbitration Association (the “Arbitration”) seeking to arbitrate claims against MTBC, Inc. (“MTBC”) and MTBC Acquisition Corp. (“MAC”). The claims relate solely to services provided by Millennium Practice Management Associates, Inc. (“MPMA”), a subsidiary of MediGain, LLC, pursuant to a billing services agreement that contains an arbitration provision. MTBC and MAC jointly moved in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Chancery Division, Somerset County (the “Chancery Court”) to enjoin the Arbitration on the grounds that neither were a party to the billing services agreement. On May 30, 2018, the Chancery Court denied that motion and MTBC and MAC appealed. The Chancery Court ordered the Arbitration stayed pending the appeal.

On April 23, 2019, the Appellate Division reversed the Chancery Court’s ruling that MTBC is required to participate in the Arbitration and remanded the case for further proceedings before the Chancery Court on that issue. The Appellate Division upheld the Chancery Court’s ruling that MAC was required to participate in the Arbitration. The parties completed discovery in the remanded matter, and both MTBC and RPRWC filed cross-motions for summary judgement in their favor. On February 6, 2020, the Chancery Court denied RPRWC’s motion for summary judgment and granted MTBC’s motion for summary judgment, holding that MTBC cannot be compelled to participate in the Arbitration. RPRWC has informed MTBC that it does not intend to appeal the Chancery Court’s ruling and that it intends to move forward solely against MAC in the Arbitration. On March 25, 2020, the Chancery Court lifted the stay of arbitration relative to RPRWC and MAC.

Due to conflicting information provided by RPRWC, it is unclear what the extent of the claimed damages are in this matter which at this time appear to be entirely speculative. According to its arbitration demand, RPRWC seeks compensatory damages of $6.6 million, plus costs, for MPMA’s alleged breach of the billing services agreement. On June 12, 2020, in response to a directive from the arbitrator, RPRWC disclosed a statement of damages to MAC in which it increased its alleged damages from $6.6 million and costs to $20 million and costs. On July 24, 2020, RPRWC disclosed a declaration to MAC, in which RPRWC estimates its damages to be approximately $11 million plus costs. MAC intends to vigorously defend against RPRWC’s claims. If RPRWC is successful in the Arbitration, MTBC and MAC anticipate the award would be substantially less than the amount claimed.

Please see “Risk Factor - Acquisitions may subject us to liability with regard to the creditors, customers, and shareholders of the sellers.” in Part 1, Item 1A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

From time to time, we may become involved in other legal proceedings arising in the ordinary course of our business. Including the proceedings described above, we are not presently a party to any legal proceedings that, in the opinion of our management, would individually or taken together have a material adverse effect on our business, consolidated results of operations, financial position or cash flows of the Company.

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures

None.

PART II

Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

Our common stock has been listed since July 23, 2014 and is trading on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol “MTBC”.

Common Stockholders

As of February 8, 2021, there were approximately 6,800 holders of record of our common stock.

Dividends on Common Stock

We have not declared a cash dividend on our common stock since we became public on July 23, 2014, and currently we do not anticipate paying any cash dividends to holders of our common stock in the foreseeable future. The Company is prohibited from paying any dividends on common stock without the prior written consent of its senior lender, SVB.

Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities

There was no sale of unregistered equity securities during the three months ended December 31, 2020.

Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers

There was no share repurchase activity during the three months ended December 31, 2020.

Securities Authorized for Issuance under the Equity Compensation Plan

As of December 31, 2020, the following table shows the number of securities to be issued upon vesting under the equity compensation plan approved by the Company’s Board of Directors.

Item 6. Selected Financial Data

The selected consolidated statements of operations data presented below for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, as well as the consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2020 and 2019, are derived from our audited consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The selected consolidated statements of operations data presented below for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, as well as the consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016 are derived from our consolidated financial statements not included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Historical results are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected in the future.

You should read the following selected consolidated financial data in conjunction with “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our Consolidated Financial Statements appearing on page F-1 in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Acquisitions by the Company in the last three years account for a significant portion of the increases in revenue and expenses in those years. Note 3 of our Consolidated Financial Statements discusses the acquisitions in the last two years.

To provide investors with additional insight and allow for a more comprehensive understanding of the information used by management in its financial and operational decision-making, we supplement our consolidated financial statements presented on a basis consistent with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP, with adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP financial measure of earnings. Adjusted EBITDA represents net income (loss) before income tax expense, interest income, interest expense, depreciation, amortization, transaction, integration, restructuring, impairment charges, unoccupied lease charges and change in contingent consideration. Our management uses adjusted EBITDA as a financial measure to evaluate the profitability and efficiency of our business model. We use this non-GAAP financial measure to assess the strength of the underlying operations of our business. These adjustments, and the non-GAAP financial measure that is derived from them, provide supplemental information to analyze our operations between periods and over time. Investors should consider our non-GAAP financial measure in addition to, and not as a substitute for, financial measures prepared in accordance with GAAP.

The following table contains a reconciliation of net loss to adjusted EBITDA.

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

The following is a discussion of our consolidated financial condition and results of operations for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 and other factors that are expected to affect our prospective financial condition. The following discussion and analysis should be read together with our Consolidated Financial Statements and related notes beginning on page F-1 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Some of the statements set forth in this section are forward-looking statements relating to our future results of operations. Our actual results may vary from the results anticipated by these statements. Please see “Forward-Looking Statements” on page 2 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Overview

The Company is a healthcare information technology company that provides a full suite of proprietary cloud-based solutions, together with related business services to healthcare providers and hospitals throughout the United States. Our integrated Software-as-a-Service (“SaaS”) platform includes revenue cycle management (“RCM”), practice management (“PM”), electronic health record (“EHR”), business intelligence, telehealth, patient experience management (“PXM”) solutions and complementary software tools and business services for high-performance medical groups and health systems. At a high level, these solutions can be categorized as follows:

Our offshore operations in our Pakistan Offices and Sri Lanka together accounted for approximately 10% and 14% of total expenses for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. A significant portion of those expenses were personnel-related costs (approximately 79% and 78% of foreign costs for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively). Because personnel-related costs are significantly lower in our Pakistan Offices and Sri Lanka than in the U.S. and many other offshore locations, we believe our offshore operations give us a competitive advantage over many industry participants. All of the medical billing companies that we have acquired used domestic labor or subcontractors from higher cost locations to provide all or a substantial portion of their services. We are able to achieve significant cost reductions as we shift these labor costs to our offshore operations.

Key Performance Measures

We consider numerous factors in assessing our performance. Key performance measures used by management include adjusted EBITDA, adjusted operating income, adjusted operating margin, adjusted net income and adjusted net income per share. These key performance measures are non-GAAP financial measures, which we believe better enable management and investors to analyze and compare the underlying business results from period to period.

These non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered in isolation, or as a substitute for or superior to, financial measures calculated in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”). Moreover, these non-GAAP financial measures have limitations in that they do not reflect all the items associated with the operations of our business as determined in accordance with GAAP. We compensate for these limitations by analyzing current and future results on a GAAP basis, as well as a non-GAAP basis, and we provide reconciliations from the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures to the non-GAAP financial measures. Our non-GAAP financial measures may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies. Other companies, including companies in our industry, may calculate similarly titled non-GAAP financial measures differently than we do, limiting the usefulness of those measures for comparative purposes.

Adjusted EBITDA, adjusted operating income, adjusted operating margin, adjusted net income and adjusted net income per share provide an alternative view of performance used by management and we believe that an investor’s understanding of our performance is enhanced by disclosing these adjusted performance measures.

Adjusted EBITDA excludes the following elements which are included in GAAP net income (loss):

Set forth below is a presentation of our adjusted EBITDA for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019:

Adjusted operating income and adjusted operating margin exclude the following elements which are included in GAAP operating income (loss):

Set forth below is a presentation of our adjusted operating income and adjusted operating margin, which represents adjusted operating income as a percentage of net revenue, for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019:

Adjusted net income and adjusted net income per share exclude the following elements which are included in GAAP net income (loss):

No tax effect has been provided in computing non-GAAP adjusted net income and non-GAAP adjusted net income per share as the Company has sufficient carry forward losses to offset the applicable income taxes. The following table shows our reconciliation of GAAP net loss to non-GAAP adjusted net income for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019:

For purposes of determining non-GAAP adjusted earnings per share, the Company used the number of common shares outstanding at the end of December 31, 2020 and 2019. Non-GAAP adjusted diluted earnings per share was computed using an as-converted method and includes warrants that are in-the-money as of that date as well as outstanding unvested RSUs. Non-GAAP adjusted earnings per share and non-GAAP adjusted diluted earnings per share do not take into account dividends paid on Preferred Stock. No tax effect has been provided in computing non-GAAP adjusted earnings per share and non-GAAP adjusted diluted earnings per share as the Company has sufficient carry forward net operating losses to offset the applicable income taxes.

Quarterly Results of Operations

Reconciliation of net income (loss) to adjusted EBITDA

Key Metrics

In addition to the line items in our consolidated financial statements, we regularly review the following key metrics to evaluate our business, measure our performance, identify trends in our business, prepare financial projections, make strategic business decisions, and assess market share trends and working capital needs. We believe information on these metrics is useful for investors to understand the underlying trends in our business.

Providers and Practices Served: As of December 31, 2020, we provided services to approximately 40,000 providers (which we define as physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants and other clinical staff that render bills for their services), representing approximately 2,600 practices. In addition, we served approximately 200 clients who were not medical practices, but are service organizations who serve the healthcare community. As of December 31, 2019, we served approximately 10,500 providers representing approximately 1,800 practices.

Customer Renewal Rate: Our customer renewal rate measures the percentage of our RCM clients who utilize our technology platform who were a party to a services agreement with us on January 1 of a particular year and continued to operate and be a client on December 31 of the same year. It also includes acquired accounts, if they are a party to a services agreement with the company we acquired and are generating revenue for us, so long as the risk of client loss under the respective purchase agreement has fully shifted to us by January 1 of the particular year. Our renewal rates for 2020 and 2019 were 88% and 90%, respectively.

Sources of Revenue

Revenue: We primarily derive our revenues from revenue cycle management services and bundled services, reported in our Healthcare IT segment, which is typically billed as a percentage of payments collected by our customers. This fee includes RCM, as well as the ability to use our EHR and practice management software as part of the bundled fee. These bundled fees are included in revenue cycle management revenue. These services accounted for approximately 62% and 66% of our revenues during the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. This includes customers utilizing our proprietary product suite, PracticePro^®, as well as customers from acquisitions which we are servicing utilizing third-party software. Key drivers of our revenue include growth in the number of providers we are servicing, the number of patients served by those providers, and collections by those providers.

Software-as-a-service (“SaaS”) fees, for clients not utilizing revenue cycle management services, accounted for approximately 18% and 1% of revenue during the year ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. When clients utilize our revenue cycle management services, basic SaaS services are included at no additional charge. We also generate revenue from our practice management and group purchasing services which began in July 2018 as a result of the Orion acquisition. Revenue is also generated from transcription, coding, indexing and other ancillary services.

We earned approximately 6% and 8% of our revenue from printing and mailing operations, clearinghouse, EDI services and ancillary RCM services during the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. We earned approximately 1% and 2% of our revenue from group purchasing services during the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively.

We also earned approximately 11% and 21% of our revenue from practice management services, including reimbursement of certain costs plus a percentage of the operating profit, during the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. We began providing practice management services and group purchasing services on July 1, 2018. In December 2019, we launched the telehealth service. Revenues from the telehealth source were approximately $7,000 for the year ended December 31, 2020 and are included within our revenue cycle management services revenue.

Operating Expenses

Direct Operating Costs. Direct operating costs consist primarily of salaries and benefits related to personnel who provide services to our customers and the patients of the three managed medical practices, claims processing costs, and other direct costs related to our services. Costs associated with the implementation of new customers are expensed as incurred. The reported amounts of direct operating costs do not include depreciation and amortization, which are broken out separately in the consolidated statements of operations. Operations in our Pakistan Offices and Sri Lanka together accounted for approximately 10% and 13% of direct operating costs for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. As we grow, we expect to achieve further economies of scale and to see our direct operating costs decrease as a percentage of revenue.

Selling and Marketing Expense. Selling and marketing expense consists primarily of compensation and benefits, commissions, travel and advertising expenses.

Research and Development Expense. Research and development expense consists primarily of personnel-related costs and third-party contractor costs.

General and Administrative Expense. General and administrative expense consists primarily of personnel-related expense for administrative employees, including compensation, benefits, travel, occupancy and insurance, software license fees and outside professional fees. Our Pakistan Offices and Sri Lanka office accounted for approximately 15% and 16% of general and administrative expenses for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively.

Contingent Consideration. Contingent consideration represents the portion of consideration payable to the sellers of some of our acquisitions, the amount of which is based on the achievement of defined performance measures contained in the purchase agreements. Contingent consideration is adjusted to fair value at the end of each reporting period.

Depreciation and Amortization Expense. Depreciation expense is charged using the straight-line method over the estimated lives of the assets ranging from three to five years. Amortization expense is charged on either an accelerated or on a straight-line basis over a period of three or four years for most intangible assets acquired in connection with acquisitions including those intangibles related to the group purchasing services. Amortization expense related to the value of our practice management clients is amortized on a straight-line basis over a period of twelve years.

Restructuring, Impairment and Unoccupied Lease Charges. Restructuring charges represent the remaining lease costs for a facility no longer used by the Company as the employees were transferred to another Company facility. Impairment charges represent charges recorded for a leased facility no longer being used by the Company. Unoccupied lease charges represent the portion of lease and related costs for vacant space not being utilized by the Company. The Company is marketing both the unused facilities and the unused space for sub-lease. In February 2021, the Company was able to settle one lease obligation.

Interest and Other Income (Expense). Interest expense consists of interest costs and loan origination costs related to our working capital line of credit and amounts due in connection with acquisitions, offset by interest income. Our other income (expense) results primarily from foreign currency transaction gains (losses), and amounted to a foreign exchange gain of $14,000 and a loss of $827,000 for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively.

Income Taxes. In preparing our consolidated financial statements, we estimate income taxes in each of the jurisdictions in which we operate. This process involves estimating actual current tax exposure together with assessing temporary differences resulting from differing treatment of items for tax and financial reporting purposes. These differences result in deferred income tax assets and liabilities. Although the Company is forecasting a return to profitability, it incurred losses historically and there is uncertainty regarding future US taxable income, which make realization of a deferred tax asset difficult to support in accordance with ASC 740. Accordingly, a valuation allowance has been recorded against all deferred tax assets as of December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019. Effective January 1, 2018, there is a global intangible low-taxed income (“GILTI”) tax. Companies can either account for the GILTI inclusion in the period in which they are incurred or establish deferred tax liabilities for the expected future taxes associated with GILTI. The Company elected to record the GILTI provisions as they are incurred each period.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

We prepare our consolidated financial statements in accordance with GAAP. The preparation of these financial statements requires us to make estimates and assumptions about future events, and apply judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue, expense and related disclosures. We base our estimates, assumptions and judgments on historical experience, current trends and various other factors that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. The accounting estimates used in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements will change as new events occur, as more experience is acquired, as additional information is obtained and as our operating environment changes. On a regular basis, we review our accounting policies, estimates, assumptions and judgments to ensure that our financial statements are presented fairly and in accordance with GAAP. However, because future events and their effects cannot be determined with certainty, actual results could differ from our assumptions and estimates, and such differences could be material. The methods, estimates and judgments that we use in applying our accounting policies have a significant impact on our results of operations.

Critical accounting policies are those policies used in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements that require management to make difficult, subjective, or complex adjustments, and to make estimates about the effect of matters that are inherently uncertain.

Revenue from Contracts with Customers:

We account for revenue in accordance with ASC 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers. Our revenue recognition policies require us to make significant judgments and estimates, particularly as it relates to revenue cycle management. Under ASC 606, certain significant accounting estimates, such as payment-to-charge ratios, effective billing rates and the estimated contractual payment periods are required to measure the revenue cycle management revenue. To measure group purchasing services revenue, we need to estimate the number of providers purchasing vaccines and the amount and timing of those purchases. We analyze various factors including, but not limited to, contractual terms and conditions, the credit-worthiness of our customers and our pricing policies. Changes in judgment on any of the above factors could materially impact the timing and amount of revenue recognized in a given period.

Revenue is recognized as the performance obligations are satisfied. We derive revenue from seven primary sources: revenue cycle management services, SaaS, practice management services, professional services, ancillary services, group purchasing services, printing and mailing services, and clearinghouse and EDI (electronic data interchange) services. All of our revenue arrangements are based on contracts with customers. Most of our contracts with customers contain a single performance obligation. For contracts where we provide multiple services such as where we perform multiple ancillary services, each service represents its own performance obligation. Selling or transaction prices are based on the contractual price for the service, which is consistent with the stand-alone selling price.

Revenue cycle management services:

Revenue cycle management services are the recurring process of submitting and following up on claims with health insurance companies in order for the healthcare providers to receive payment for the services they rendered. MTBC typically invoices customers on a monthly basis based on the actual collections received by its customers and the agreed-upon rate in the sales contract. The services include use of practice management software and related tools (on a software-as-a-service (“SaaS”) basis), electronic health records (on a SaaS basis), medical billing services and use of mobile health solutions. We consider the services to be one performance obligation since the promises are not distinct in the context of the contract. The performance obligation consists of a series of distinct services that are substantially the same and have the same periodic pattern of transfer to our customers.

In many cases, our clients may terminate their agreements with 90 days’ notice without cause, thereby limiting the term in which we have enforceable rights and obligations, although this time period can vary between clients. Our payment terms are normally net 30 days. Although our contracts typically have stated terms of one or more years, under ASC 606 our contracts are considered month-to-month and accordingly, there is no financing component.

For the majority of our revenue cycle management contracts, the total transaction price is variable because our obligation is to process an unknown quantity of claims, as and when requested by our customers over the contract period. When a contract includes variable consideration, we evaluate the estimate of the variable consideration to determine whether the estimate needs to be constrained; therefore, we include variable consideration in the transaction price only to the extent that it is probable that a significant reversal of the amount of cumulative revenue recognized will not occur when the uncertainty associated with variable consideration is subsequently resolved. Estimates to determine variable consideration such as payment to charge ratios, effective billing rates, and the estimated contractual payment periods are updated at each reporting date. Revenue is recognized over the performance period using the input method.

Practice management services:

We estimate the amount that will be collected on claims submitted to insurance carriers which is used to determine the compensation to be paid to the owners of the managed practices. These compensation amounts reduce the revenue that the Company recognizes since they are deducted from gross billings. The estimate of the amounts to be received from the insurance claims are updated at each reporting period.

Although we believe that our approach to estimates and judgments is reasonable, actual results could differ, and we may be exposed to increases or decreases in revenue that could be material. Our estimates of variable consideration may prove to be inaccurate, in which case we may have understated or overstated the revenue recognized in an accounting period. The amount of variable consideration recognized to date that remains subject to estimation is included within the contract asset in the consolidated balance sheets.

Contingent Consideration:

If a business combination provides for contingent consideration, the Company records the contingent consideration at fair value at the acquisition date. The Company adjusts the contingent consideration liability at the end of each reporting period based on fair value inputs representing changes in forecasted revenue of the acquired entities and the probability of an adjustment to the purchase price. Critical estimates include determining the forecasted revenue for certain acquisitions, probability and timing of cash collections and an appropriate discount rate. Changes in the fair value of the contingent consideration after the acquisition date are included in earnings if the contingent consideration is recorded as a liability.

Goodwill Impairment:

Goodwill is evaluated for impairment annually as of October 31^st, referred to as the annual test date. The Company will also test for impairment between annual test dates if an event occurs or circumstances change that would indicate the carrying amount may be impaired. Impairment testing for goodwill is performed at the reporting-unit level. The Company has determined that its business consists of two operating segments and two reporting units (Healthcare IT and Practice Management). Application of the goodwill impairment test requires judgment including the use of a discounted cash flow and market approach methodology. These analyses require significant assumptions and judgments. These assumptions and judgments include estimation of future cash flows, which is dependent on internal forecasts, estimation of the long-term rate of growth for our business, estimation of the useful life over which cash flows will occur, determination of our weighted average cost of capital and the selection of comparable companies and the interpretation of their data. Future business and economic conditions, as well as differences in actual financial results related to any of the assumptions, could materially impact the consolidated financial statements through impairment of goodwill or intangible assets and acceleration of the amortization period of the purchased intangible assets which are finite-lived assets. No impairment charges were recorded during the years ended December 31, 2020 or 2019.

Business Combinations:

The Company accounts for business combinations under the provisions of ASC 805, Business Combinations, which requires that the acquisition method of accounting be used for all business combinations. Assets acquired and liabilities assumed are recorded at the date of acquisition at their respective fair values. The fair value amount assigned to intangible assets is based on an exit price from a market participant’s viewpoint, and utilizes data such as discounted cash flow analysis and replacement cost models. Critical estimates in valuing certain intangible assets include, but are not limited to, historical and projected client retention rates, expected future cash inflows and outflows, discount rates, and estimated useful lives of those intangible assets. ASC 805 also specifies criteria that intangible assets acquired in a business combination must meet to be recognized and reported apart from goodwill. Goodwill represents the excess purchase price over the fair value of the tangible net assets and intangible assets acquired in a business combination. Acquisition-related expenses are recognized separately from the business combinations and are expensed as incurred.

Results of Operations

The following table sets forth our consolidated results of operations as a percentage of total revenue for the years shown.

Comparison of 2020 and 2019

Net revenue. Net revenue of $105.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 increased by $40.7 million or 63% from revenue of $64.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. Total revenue for the year ended December 31, 2020 included $53.3 million from customers acquired in the CareCloud and Meridian acquisitions. Revenue for the year ended December 31, 2020 includes $65.3 million relating to RCM and bundled services, $18.7 million related to SaaS services and $11.8 million for practice management services.

Direct Operating Costs. Direct operating costs of $64.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 increased by $23.6 million or 57% from direct operating costs of $41.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. Salary costs increased by $12.2 million primarily as a result of the CareCloud and Meridian acquisitions. Outsourcing and other customer processing costs increased by $9.2 million, outside consultant costs increased by $873,000 and facility costs increased by $962,000.

Selling and Marketing Expense. Selling and marketing expense of $6.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 increased by $5.1 million or 332% from selling and marketing expense of $1.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. The increase was primarily related to additional emphasis on sales and marketing activities which accelerated as a result of the CareCloud acquisition.

General and Administrative Expense. General and administrative expense of $22.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 increased by $4.9 million or 27% from general and administrative expense of $17.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. Salary costs increased by $2.3 million as a result of the CareCloud and Meridian acquisitions. Computer expenses in subsidiaries increased by $771,000 and legal and professional fees increased by $965,000.

Research and Development Expense. Research and development expense of $9.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 increased by $8.4 million or 969% from research and development expense of $871,000 in the prior year. The increase primarily represented additional salaries and outsourced development expense and cloud services related to new and enhanced product development, primarily on technologies acquired as a result of the CareCloud and Meridian acquisitions.

Contingent Consideration. The changes in contingent consideration of ($1.0 million) and ($344,000) for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively, relate to changes in the fair value of the contingent consideration.

Depreciation. Depreciation of $1.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 increased by $445,000 or 49% from depreciation of $909,000 for the year ended December 31, 2019, primarily as a result of additional property and equipment purchases and the property and equipment obtained from the CareCloud and Meridian acquisitions.

Amortization Expense. Amortization expense of $8.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2020, increased by $6.5 million or 308% from amortization expense of $2.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. The increase was primarily related to the intangible assets acquired from the CareCloud and Meridian acquisitions.

Restructuring, Impairment and Unoccupied Lease Charges. Restructuring charges represent the remaining lease costs for a facility no longer used by the Company as the employees were transferred to another Company facility. Impairment charges represent charges recorded for a leased facility no longer being used by the Company. Unoccupied lease charges represent the portion of lease and related costs for space not being utilized by the Company. The Company is marketing the unused facilities and unused space for sub-lease. In February 2021, the Company was able to settle one lease obligation.

Interest Income. Interest income of $42,000 for the year ended December 31, 2020 decreased by $220,000 or 84% from interest income of $262,000 for the year ended December 31, 2019. Interest income primarily represents interest earned on temporary cash investments and late fees from customers.

Interest Expense. Interest expense of $488,000 for the year ended December 31, 2020 increased by $105,000 or 27% from interest expense of $383,000 for the year ended December 31, 2019. Interest expense also includes the amortization of deferred financing costs which was approximately $180,000 and $192,000 during the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively.

Other Income (Expense) - net. Other income - net was $7,000 for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to other expense - net of $625,000 for the year ended December 31, 2019. Included in other income (expense) - net are foreign currency transaction gains (losses) primarily resulting from transactions in foreign currencies other than the functional currency. These transaction gains and losses are recorded in the consolidated statements of operations related to the recurring measurement and settlement of such transactions.

Income Tax Provision (Benefit). There was a $103,000 provision for income taxes for the year ended December 31, 2020, compared to the provision for income taxes of $193,000 for the year ended December 31, 2019. Included in the tax provision for the year ended December 31, 2020 is an $84,000 deferred income tax benefit.

The current income tax provision for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 was approximately $187,000 and $113,000, respectively, and primarily relates to state minimum taxes and foreign income taxes. The pre-tax loss was $8.7 million and $679,000 for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. The Company has incurred losses historically and there is uncertainty regarding future U.S. taxable income, which make realization of a deferred tax asset difficult to support in accordance with ASC 740. Accordingly, a valuation allowance was recorded against all deferred tax assets at December 31, 2020 and 2019.

The Company has recorded goodwill as a result of its acquisitions. Goodwill is generally not amortized for financial reporting purposes. However, goodwill from asset acquisitions is tax deductible and amortized over 15 years for tax purposes. As such, deferred income tax expense and a deferred tax liability arise as a result of the tax-deductibility of this indefinitely lived asset. The resulting deferred tax liability, which is expected to continue to be recorded over the amortization period, will have an indefinite life. As a result of the Company incurring tax losses for 2020 and 2019 which have an indefinite life under the recent tax reform legislation, the federal deferred tax liability resulting from the amortization of goodwill was offset against these indefinite federal operating net loss deferred tax assets to the extent allowable. The remaining deferred tax liability could remain on the Company’s consolidated balance sheet indefinitely unless there is an impairment of goodwill (for financial reporting purposes) or a portion of the related business is sold.

The Company will maintain a full valuation allowance on deferred tax assets until there is sufficient evidence to support the reversal of all or some portion of these allowances. While the Company’s plan is to be profitable in the future and begin utilizing these deferred tax assets, the Company currently lacks sufficient evidence to allow it to release the valuation allowance in 2020 and 2019. Release of the valuation allowance would result in the recognition of certain deferred tax assets and an income tax benefit in the period of release.

As of December 31, 2020, the Company has a total federal NOL carry forward of approximately $270.9 million of which approximately $198.8 million will expire between 2029 and 2037, and the balance of approximately $72.1 million has an indefinite life. Out of the total federal NOL carry forward, approximately $237.6 million is from the CareCloud and Meridian acquisitions and is subject to the federal Section 382 NOL annual usage limitations. The Company has state NOL carry forwards of approximately $161.0 million, of which $85.8 million relates to the State of New Jersey. These NOLs expire between 2034 and 2040.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

During the year ended December 31, 2020, there was negative cash flow from operations of approximately $892,000 and at year-end the Company had $20.9 million in cash and positive working capital of $15.8 million. Cash used by operations in 2020 includes $10.3 million used to pay outstanding obligations assumed with the acquisitions of CareCloud and Meridian, which were anticipated at the time of acquisition and factored into the purchase prices. During the three months ended December 31, 2020, cash provided by operations was $3.4 million. The Company has a revolving line of credit with SVB, and, as of December 31, 2020, there was no balance outstanding. During 2019, the Company sold 373,000 shares of Preferred Stock and raised $9.6 million in net proceeds after fees and expenses. During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company sold 1,932,000 shares of Preferred Stock and raised $44.5 million in net proceeds after fees and expenses.

The following table summarizes our cash flows for the years presented.

The loss before income taxes was $8.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2020, of which $9.9 million was non-cash depreciation and amortization. The loss before income taxes for the year ended December 31, 2019 was $679,000, of which $3.0 million was non-cash depreciation and amortization.

Management continues to focus on the Company’s overall profitability, including growing revenue and managing expenses, and expects that these efforts will continue to enhance our liquidity and financial position. Based on management’s forecasts, the Company will have sufficient liquidity to meet its obligations as they become due for the next twelve months from the date of financial statements issuance.

We have not been adversely affected by inflation as typically we receive a percentage of the fees our clients collect from our revenue cycle management services. Additionally, our practice management contracts are based on our costs plus a percentage of operating income. We continue to monitor the impact of inflation in order to minimize its effects through pricing strategies, productivity improvements and cost reductions. In the event of inflation, we believe that we will be able to pass on any price increases for fixed rate contracts to our customers, as the prices that we charge are not governed by long-term contracts.

During the second quarter of 2020, patient volumes decreased due to COVID-19, but returned to near normal levels during the third and fourth quarters. The Company did not have any significant employee terminations or furloughs as a result of COVID -19.

During 2021, the Company currently estimates that it will need to pay approximately $4.2 million to resolve a civil investigation which one of the subsidiaries it acquired in 2020 has been subject to since July 2018. Of this amount, $4.0 million will come from escrowed shares of preferred stock that the Company holds.

Operating Activities

Cash used by operating activities was $892,000 and cash generated by operating activities was $7.6 million during the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. The increase in the net loss of $7.9 million included the following changes in non-cash items: increase in depreciation and amortization of $7.1 million, increase in stock-based compensation of $3.3 million, and an increase in lease amortization of $1.0 million. Revenue increased by $40.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to the year ended December 31, 2019, and operating expenses increased by $49.0 million for the same period primarily due to the acquisitions of CareCloud and Meridian.

Cash generated by the reduction of accounts receivable was $394,000 for the year ended December 31, 2020, compared with a reduction of $765,000 for the year ended December 31, 2019. This excludes the acquired accounts receivable as part of the ETM, CareCloud and Meridian acquisitions. Accounts payable, accrued compensation and accrued expenses increased by $11.9 million during the year ended December 31, 2020, compared with an increase of $1.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. While the cash used to pay pre-acquisition accounts payable, accrued compensation and accrued expenses was anticipated at the time of the CareCloud and Meridian acquisitions, and was considered as part of the purchase prices of these transactions, it is shown as cash used by operations to conform with GAAP.

Investing Activities

Cash used in investing activities during the year ended December 31, 2020 was $31.5 million, an increase of $27.3 million compared to $4.2 million during the year ended December 31, 2019. The change is due to the Company acquiring ETM for a cash consideration of $1.6 million during 2019, while in 2020 the Company paid $23.7 million for the acquisitions of CareCloud and Meridian. Capitalized software was $5.2 million and $538,000 during the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively.

Financing Activities

Cash provided by financing activities during the year ended December 31, 2020 was $33.4 million, compared to $1.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. Cash provided by financing activities during 2020 includes $44.5 million of net proceeds after fees and expenses from issuing 1,932,000 shares of Preferred Stock, offset by $666,000 of repayments for debt obligations, and $11.4 million of Preferred Stock dividends. Cash provided by financing activities during 2019 includes $9.6 million of net proceeds from issuing 373,000 shares of Preferred Stock, offset by $430,000 of repayments for debt obligations, and $6.1 million of Preferred Stock dividends. There was also $2.2 million of payments to settle the tax withholding obligations in 2020 compared to $1.4 million in 2019. There were no borrowings under the revolving line of credit as of December 31, 2020 and 2019.

Contractual Obligations and Commitments

We have contractual obligations under our line of credit. We also maintain operating leases for property and certain office equipment. We were in compliance with all SVB covenants in 2020.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

As of December 31, 2020, and 2019, we did not have any relationships with unconsolidated entities or financial partnerships, such as entities often referred to as structured finance or special-purpose entities, which would have been established for the purpose of facilitating off-balance sheet arrangements or other contractually narrow or limited purposes. During the first quarter of 2020, a New Jersey corporation, talkMD Clinicians, PA (“talkMD”), was formed by the wife of the Executive Chairman, who is a licensed physician, to provide telehealth services. talkMD was determined to be a variable interest entity (“VIE”) for financial reporting purposes because the entity will be controlled by the Company. As of December 31, 2020, talkMD had not yet commenced operations or had any transactions or agreements with the Company or otherwise. We do not engage in off-balance sheet financing arrangements.

Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk

We are a smaller reporting company as defined by 17 C.F.R. 229.10(f)(1) and are not required to provide information under this item, pursuant to Item 305(e) of Regulation S-K.

Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data

See “Index to Consolidated Financial Statements” which appears on page F-1 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure

None.

Item 9A. Controls and Procedures

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

Our management, with the participation of our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, based on the 2013 Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (“COSO”), evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as of December 31, 2020 as required by Rules 13a-15(b) and 15d-15(b) of the Exchange Act. The term “disclosure controls and procedures,” as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act, means controls and other procedures of a company that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by a company in the reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported, within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms.

Disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by a company in the reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to the Company’s management, including its principal executive and principal financial officers, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure. Management recognizes that any controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance of achieving their objectives and management necessarily applies its judgment in evaluating the cost-benefit relationship of possible controls and procedures.

Based on the evaluation of our disclosure controls and procedures, as of December 31, 2020, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that, as of such date, our disclosure controls and procedures were effective to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of consolidated financial statements in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.

Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting

Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting, as such term is defined in Rule 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) of the Exchange Act. Internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external reporting purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. Internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of our assets; (2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that our receipts and expenditures are being made only in accordance with authorizations of our management; and (3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of our assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Management is required to base its assessment on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting on a suitable, recognized control framework. Management has utilized the criteria established in COSO to evaluate the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting.

Our management has performed its assessment according to the guidelines established by COSO. Management excluded Meridian from its assessment of internal controls over financial reporting, the most recent acquisition, as it was not possible to conduct an assessment of the acquired business’s internal control over financial reporting in the period between the commencement date and the date of management’s assessment. During 2020, the revenue recorded by the Company for Meridian was approximately $21.5 million. Based on the assessment, management has concluded that our system of internal control over financial reporting, as of December 31, 2020, is effective.

Because of its inherent limitations, our internal controls over financial reporting provide reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the financial statements and footnotes thereto are free of material error. In addition, no internal control structure can provide absolute assurance that all instances of fraud have been detected. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies and procedures may deteriorate.

This annual report does not include an attestation report of the Company’s registered public accounting firm regarding internal control over financial reporting. Management’s report was not subject to attestation by the Company’s registered public accounting firm pursuant to the rules of the SEC that permit the Company to provide only management’s report in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting

There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rule 13a-15(f) of the Exchange Act) during the quarter ended December 31, 2020 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

PART III

Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance

Information required by this item will be included in our definitive Proxy Statement for the 2021 Meeting of Shareholders which will be filed within 120 days of the end of our fiscal year ended December 31, 2020 (“2021 Proxy Statement”) and is incorporated herein by reference.

Item 11. Executive Compensation

Information required by this item will be included in the 2021 Proxy Statement and is incorporated herein by reference.

Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters

Information required by this item will be included in the 2021 Proxy Statement and is incorporated herein by reference.

Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence

Information required by this item will be included in the 2021 Proxy Statement and is incorporated herein by reference.

Item 14. Principal Accountant Fees and Services

Information required by this item will be included in our 2021 Proxy Statement and is incorporated herein by reference.

PART IV

Item 15. Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules