SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-K
(Mark One)
| x | ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
For the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2003
OR
| ¨ | TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
For the Transition period from to
Commission File Number: 0-21031
QUADRAMED CORPORATION
(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)
| DELAWARE (State or Other Jurisdiction of Incorporation or Organization) |
52-1992861 (IRS Employer Identification No.) | |
| 12110 SUNSET HILLS ROAD, SUITE 600 RESTON, VIRGINIA (Address of Principal Executive Offices) |
20190 (Zip Code) | |
(703) 709-2300
(Registrants Telephone Number, Including Area Code)
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
NONE
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:
Common Stock, $0.01 Par Value Per Share
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 if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of the Registrants knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. ¨
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an accelerated filer as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act. Yes x No ¨
The aggregate market value of voting stock held by non-affiliates of the Registrant as of June 30, 2003, the last business day of the Registrants most recently completed second quarter was approximately $40,112,393 (based upon the price quoted for shares was of the Registrants common stock as reported on the Pink Sheets over-the-counter market on June 30, 2003). Shares of common stock held by each officer, director and holder of 5% or more of the outstanding common stock have been excluded in that such persons may be deemed to be affiliates. This determination of affiliate status is not necessarily a conclusive determination for other purposes.
On February 27, 2004, 27,832,107 shares of the Registrants common stock, $0.01 par value per share, were outstanding.
DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE
Portions of the Companys Proxy Statement to be filed subsequently for the 2004 Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be held on May 6, 2004 are incorporated herein by reference in Part III.
QUADRAMED CORPORATION
FORM 10-K
ANNUAL REPORT
FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2003
Cautionary Statement on Risks Associated With Forward-Looking Statements
This Report contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that are subject to risks and uncertainties. The words believe, expect, anticipate, predict, intend, plan, estimate, may, will, should, could, and similar expressions and their negatives are intended to identify such statements. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are to be interpreted only as of the date on which they are made. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement.
We advise investors that we discuss other risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ from these forward-looking statements in this Form 10-K under Business Risks in Item 7. Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.
PART I
| Item 1. | Business |
Overview
QuadraMed Corporation along with our subsidiaries, is dedicated to improving healthcare delivery by providing innovative healthcare information technology and services. We provide healthcare information technology products and services that help healthcare providers to improve the quality of the care they deliver and the efficiency with which it is delivered. We accomplish our mission by developing and implementing sophisticated, user-friendly software applications designed and developed by the healthcare professionals and software specialists we employ.
Our products are designed to eliminate paper, improve processes, and decrease error through the efficient management of patient clinical and financial records. They are suitable for acute care hospitals, specialty hospitals, Veterans Health Administration facilities and associated/affiliated businesses such as outpatient clinics, long-term care facilities, and rehabilitation hospitals and are used by healthcare organizations of varying size from small single entity hospitals to large multi-facility care delivery organizations. Our products are sold as standalone, bundled, or fully integrated software packages. We also provide services to support the hospitals collection of receivables and its administration of contractual reimbursements from managed care companies. As of December 31, 2003, approximately 1,900 healthcare provider facilities were utilizing at least one of our products.
Until November 2003, we were managed in three distinct business segments, which are as follows: Enterprise Division, Health Information Management Software Division and Financial Services Division. On November 5, 2003, we consolidated the HIM Software Division and Enterprise Division into a single functional software organization. This reorganization is designed to use existing resources more efficiently and to facilitate the integration of products and technologies. The change does not affect the Financial Services Division.
We do business directly and through our subsidiaries, all of which are wholly owned and operated under common management.
Our headquarters office is located at 12110 Sunset Hills Road, Reston, Virginia in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The company was incorporated in 1993 and reincorporated in Delaware in 1996. Our telephone number is (703) 709-2300. Our website can be found at www.quadramed.com where all of our current SEC filings can be accessed free of charge.
Healthcare Market
The healthcare industry is under increasing pressure from government, consumers, employers, and third party payers to increase the use of technology to improve efficiency, eliminate errors, and to enhance the quality of care. This fact is demonstrated by the number of government, private industry and consumer-driven initiatives that are acting as catalysts and driving the business decisions made by healthcare executives.
The need to increase the use of technology to improve patient safety became evident in 1999 when the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Science (IOM) published a report entitled To Err is Human. This report detailed the extent of preventable medical errors in todays hospitals errors which were estimated to cause between 44,000 and 98,000 deaths each year. In their most current report (November 2003), the IOM advises health care organizations to adopt information technology systems that collect and share health information on patients and their care in order to significantly reduce deaths and injuries caused by medical errors. The report goes on to recommend that
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the systems that health care organizations implement should operate as part of a national network of health information accessible by all healthcare organizations.
In addition to the IOM report, private industry has identified healthcare and the associated cost attributed to medical errors as an area requiring significant change. More than 145 public and private organizations formed a coalition called the Leapfrog Group. These organizations have significant healthcare purchasing power which has brought their initiative to the forefront in the public arena. They are demanding changes designed to improve the quality of care, reduce errors and to lower the associated cost. One of Leapfrogs recommendations is that hospitals implement a Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) system to reduce or eliminate adverse drug events, one of the most common medical errors.
The federal government is another key player driving the need for information technology. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is encouraging the use of Electronic Health Record Systems (EHR-S) to improve care quality based on better clinical data. The focus of the EHR-S is the centralization of and access to electronic health information on a patient level. CMS will be initiating a demonstration project in which hospitals are rewarded financially for providing higher levels of quality care. The need to capture, store, access and communicate patient information electronically will further drive the need for healthcare organizations to implement sophisticated information technology solutions based on industry recognized data standards.
In May 2003, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) issued a report entitled Toward a National Health Information Infrastructure: A Key Strategy for Improving Quality in Long-Term Care. This report establishes the path for the future development of healthcare information technology based on a national infrastructure. The report states:
Demands for readily available health care information have increased dramatically in recent years. Demographic changes such as an aging population with increased chronic illness and a more mobile population have created needs for larger volumes of health information and more easily transferable information The delivery of cost-effective, high quality health care in order to meet national goals for healthy people and healthy populations is now clearly linked to the availability of information.
This report cites a number of examples of how a national infrastructure can improve the quality of healthcare. These include the ability for consumers to manage their own health care needs and decision-making by having access to their information, providing healthcare providers access to more accurate and complete real-time patient data and use of systems with knowledge and content for better decision-making, and the ability for public health officials to access aggregate data to identify health problems and trends. The federal government is strongly advocating the implementation of an electronic medical record based on data and technology standards that allow systems to communicate and share information across all care settings.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) legislation has had a significant impact on healthcare organizations and their need for technology to help them comply with the resulting regulations. For example, prior to HIPAA legislation, the Health Information Department had sole responsibility for facilitating disclosure of patient information. Under HIPAAs privacy requirements, disclosures must be tracked and aggregated from all departments in the organization, not just the Health Information Department. The complexity of tracking disclosures throughout the organization, as well as providing the patient with a record of what has been disclosed for a minimum of six years, places both a burden and a risk on the organization. In addition, the legislation requires electronic transmission of standards and includes requirements for maintenance and transmission of health information that identifies individual patients.
These standards are designed to:
| | Improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the healthcare infrastructure by standardizing the interchange of electronic data for specified administrative and financial transactions; and |
| | Protect the security and confidentiality of a patients health information. |
The requirements outlined by the law and the regulations promulgated by DHHS are far-reachingall healthcare organizations that maintain or transmit electronic health information must comply. Healthcare information technology companies, particularly Healthcare Information System (HIS) vendors, must partner with healthcare organizations in meeting the significant regulatory requirements mandated by the HIPAA legislation.
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QuadraMeds Strategy
QuadraMeds strategy focuses on its core software business. We plan to achieve the status of industry leader by:
| | Continually enhancing the functionality of our existing product solutions and their underlying technology and our support services to meet the emerging needs of health care providers; |
| | Developing or acquiring additional software applications to complement our product line; |
| | Focusing on selling new and enhanced applications to our existing customer base; |
| | Acquiring new customers through expanded professional sales and marketing activities; |
| | Maintenance of expense discipline; and |
| | Divestiture of non-strategic assets. |
Our goal is to increase market share by offering affordable and user-friendly clinical, administrative, financial and medical records software products and services to meet the growing demand among hospitals and other healthcare providers for better patient safety, fewer medical errors and improved efficiencies. To achieve this goal, we have combined the considerable healthcare expertise of our product managers with the technological skill of our development engineers in an effort to assure that our products are designed and supported by people who understand healthcare providers and are built using modern technology.
QuadraMeds Products and Solutions
QuadraMed provides comprehensive software and service solutions that help our customers achieve clinical and financial efficiency across the full continuum of patient care. A significant portion of our software license arrangements are generated from providing product maintenance and implementation services to customers. These services include installations, maintenance, consulting and training. Affinity integrated enterprise information systems enable the customer to manage patient registration, clinical, and financial information, and Quantim health information management software provides acute care hospitals, VA facilities and physicians with the tools to manage coding, compliance, abstracting and record management processes. In addition, we have standalone solutions that fulfill niche needs including Identity Manager (MPI), Decision Support, EDI and Pharmacy. Furthermore, our Financial Services Solutions identify and collect accounts receivable, recover underpayments from managed care contracts, and provide educational services for hospitals and medical groups.
Software Solutions
The following table provides a list of our major software products and associated services:
Affinity Patient Access Management
| | Patient Scheduling |
| | Patient Registration |
| | Master Population Index |
| | Community Master Population Index (CMPI) |
| | Medical Records Abstracting |
| | Medical Records Control |
| | DRG/Case Mix |
| | Account Workflow |
| | Electronic Data Interchange |
Affinity Care Management
Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE)
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| | Clinician Access |
| | Order Management |
| | Ancillary Department Management |
| | Patient Charting |
| | Medication Charting |
| | Plan of Care |
| | Acuity/Staff Requirements |
| | Health Notes |
| | Quality Management |
| | Utilization Management |
| | Medication Management |
| | Pharmacy Management |
Affinity Healthcare Information Management
| | Abstracting |
| | Coding |
| | Compliance |
Affinity FinancialGeneral Office
| | General Ledger |
| | Accounts Payable |
| | Payroll Personnel |
| | InSight Executive Decision Support |
| | Performance Measurement |
Affinity FinancialPatient Financial Management
| | Patient Accounting |
| | Central Business Office |
| | Account Workflow |
| | Contract Management |
| | Electronic Data Interchange |
Affinity Professional Services
| | Consulting Services |
| | Interface and Conversion Services |
| | Systems Operations Management Services |
| | Query Services |
| | Customer Training Courses |
| | Professional Services |
Quantim Health Information Management
| | Abstracting |
| | CodingPhysician and Facility |
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| | ComplianceInpatient and Outpatient |
| | Correspondence Management |
Pharmacy Management
| | Inpatient |
| | Outpatient/Clinic |
| | Long-Term Care |
| | pcMAR |
MPI Integrity Management
| | MPIspy |
| | SmartMerge |
| | PreciseID Patient Search Algorithm |
| | MPI Clean Up Services |
Decision Support
| | Contract Management |
| | Performance Measurement |
| | Clinical Outcome Practice Evaluator (COPE) |
EDI
| | EDI Transaction Services |
Other Compliance Management Products
| | VHA ProFee Compliance Suite |
Other Coding and Reimbursement Products
| | Physician CodingnCoder+MD |
| | Facility CodingnCoder+, Cascade Encoder, WinCoder Interactive |
| | VA CodingnCoder+/PTF |
Other Abstracting Products
| | WinCoder + CS, Cascade Master System |
Record Management
| | MEDREC Millennium Record Management |
| | Chart Completion |
| | Chart Locator |
| | Correspondence Management |
| | Enterprise Search and Reporting |
Affinity. Affinity is our brand name for the product family that includes integrated enterprise wide solutions. The core product is a standards-based, integrated, healthcare information system (HIS). It is highly scaleable and flexible and supports the business application needs of hospitals of varying sizes, from small community facilities to large multi-entity integrated delivery networks. It can be implemented on both Microsoft NT and UNIX operating systems and
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supports a number of hardware platforms, including Hewlett Packard/Compaq, Sun Microsystems, IBM, and EMC. Affinity applications are designed to:
| | Streamline workflow processes; |
| | Reduce administrative expenses; |
| | Improve the speed and accuracy of billing processes; and |
| | Improve patient safety and care by supporting clinical decision-making and documentation. |
The Affinity system provides a fully integrated healthcare information system from patient access and identification to care management, health information management and financial management. The system can be installed fully integrated and bundled in best-of-suite configurations.
Affinity Patient Access Management is designed to ensure that accurate patient information is accessible across an organization, improving workflow, compliance and patient safety. By centralizing all patient information in an integrated, scalable system, our access management solutions enable healthcare professionals to quickly and accurately track patients from registration through billing.
Affinity Care Management provides improved integration, streamlined workflow, better documentation and better decision support for patient safety. The system supports order control/results reporting, acuity/staff requirements, plan of care, vital signs and intake/output, charting and assessment, pharmacy/medical management, department management, physician access, and computerized physician order entry. The Affinity CPOE, Pharmacy and Patient Charting applications provide a comprehensive, advanced clinical solution focused on patient safety. The Affinity Pharmacy Management component provides a comprehensive solution to help healthcare organizations manage the daily operations of their pharmacy departments and is fundamental in addressing patient safety concerns that are driving clinical decisions.
Additionally, we offer a standalone solution for pharmacy management for the inpatient, ambulatory, and long-term care settings. Our pharmacy solution also provides a point of care electronic medication charting tool.
Affinity Health Information Management includes our proprietary coding, compliance and record management systems and automates the management of the patient revenue cycle.
Affinity Financial Management solutions provide acute care hospitals with comprehensive revenue cycle management capabilities. Affinity helps hospitals capture and manage revenue throughout the patient revenue cycle. By combining clinical, financial and patient information within a single patient-centered database, Affinity helps organizations reduce accounts receivable days, improve cash flow, increase productivity and improve operational and strategic decision-making.
Quantim. Quantim is our brand name for our product family of standalone Health Information Management solutions. When sold as standalone products, these solutions are frequently integrated with other vendors HIS systems. Quantim is an integrated health information management system that provides acute care hospitals and physician practices with the tools to manage coding, compliance, abstracting and record management processes. This combination of integrated solutions is designed to significantly improve the business of healthcare. Quantim software solutions are designed to generate operational efficiencies, improve cash flow and measure the cost and quality of care. Quantim provides a single, fully integrated, web-native platform for our health information management product suite. Quantim represents a significant improvement over the functionality of traditional health information management product offerings in the areas of coding, compliance, abstracting, and medical records management.
Quantim Abstracting captures, structures, and analyzes clinical and financial data using standard and customizable fields, rules and screen design. The Application Builder tool provides users the ability to customize workflow by creating fields and rules and designing screen navigation. Quantim Abstracting provides an integrated solution that enables the user to access both the Coding and Compliance tools within a patient encounter and provides timely and accurate data for clinical and business decisions.
Quantim Coding provides advanced search functionality while maintaining a solid knowledge-based approach to coding. It includes a sophisticated search engine to facilitate the encoding process and improve coding accuracy. Coding accuracy is enhanced through Quantim Codings powerful simultaneous encoding and grouping system, designed to maximize productivity and minimize duplication.
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Quantim Compliance is a transaction based software solution that facilitates accurate ICD-9-CM, CPT/HCPCS, DRG and APC assignment. Quantim Compliance automates the selection process and assists the user in monitoring appropriate and accurate coding for both inpatient and outpatient encounters. Quantim Compliance improves the quality of data and acts as an early warning system to identify potential areas of noncompliance.
Quantim Correspondence Management provides complete functionality to facilitate a healthcare organizations compliance with the disclosure management aspect of the HIPAA privacy mandate. In addition, it provides the tools needed by HIM to automate the entire release of information workflow process, including robust accounts receivable management.
Other Solutions. In addition to Affinity and Quantim, we also market standalone solutions that fulfill specific needs, including QuadraMed MPI, a suite of Master Person Index (MPI) Software and Services (MPIspy®, SmartID®, SmartMerge®, MPI Cleanup), which enable the identification, correction, and elimination of duplicate patient records in a facilitys master population index; Decision Support tools, including: Contract Management, a managed care contract management system; Performance Measurement, a clinical and financial outcome analysis and decision support system; and, Clinical Outcome Practice Evaluator (COPE), which electronically captures, abstracts, and enters data required for Core Measures of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). We also market an electronic transaction service (EDI).
Financial Services Solutions
We provide two services that identify and collect accounts receivable for hospitals and medical groups: (i) Accounts Receivable Management; and (ii) Managed Care Payment Review.
Our Accounts Receivable Management services provide a variety of third-party collection services, including:
| | Complete outsourcing that initially bills and collects accounts from time of service; |
| | Early out programs that collect accounts of pre-designated age or amount; |
| | Aged accounts placement that collects aged accounts on a one-time basis; |
| | Resolution of accounts unable to be transferred as part of conversion to a providers new health information system; |
| | Operational assessments of hospital revenue cycles; and |
| | Training and education on business office operations and compliance issues related to collection. |
We also offer customization of accounts receivable services and detailed reconciliation reports on our work.
Our Managed Care Payment Review Service audits managed care patient accounts for appropriate payment pursuant to managed care contracts. In providing this service, we use our own proprietary software that automates many audit functions and permits greater reporting options.
Product Development Strategy
The key drivers for our technology development are portability of information, flexibility of deployment, access anywhere and anytime, and data standardization. Our technology strategy is guided by the following technology trends:
| | The Internet and distributed computing have had and will likely continue to have a significant impact on the way software is developed and delivered; |
| | Web-native applications with a modern Internet architecture will likely have a significant role in the future; and |
| | Computing power, storage capacity, and network bandwidth have in the past doubled, and may continue to double, every 18, 12, and 6 months, respectively. |
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The principles upon which our core products are developed will enhance their ability to be easily accessed, scaled, extended, and integrated with the customers legacy systems: These principles include:
| | Standards Based: Our products support industry standards, such as Health Level 7 (HL7), X12 EDI and XML. This enables QuadraMed customers to preserve their investments in previously installed departmental systems and to support a corporate-wide integration strategy. Increasingly, our products will make it possible to integrate information from different environments into a single, patient-centered database. |
| | Platform Independent: We intend to isolate the application business logic and user interface from the underlying hardware and operating system through an adaptive technology framework and core services. A QuadraMed customer will be able to pursue the most advantageous hardware route generally without affecting data portability. |
| | Scalable and Reliable: Our architecture is based upon the communications and networking facilities of UNIX and Windows. The adaptive architecture offers total scalability and reliability from small to large enterprise systems. |
| | Flexible and Customizable: Our architecture includes powerful tools that allow users to adapt the system to their specific needs. At the institution level, customers can design custom data entry screens, reports, and workflow all without programming. At the user level, the framework supports end user authoring which allows physicians and clinicians to easily configure the system to provide the information that they need, in a format that they are comfortable with, organized to support the way they work. |
| | Ease of Installation and Implementation: Our emerging architecture makes it easy to install and implement. The use of web based thin clients eliminates the need for manual software installation and configuration on individual workstations. QuadraMed has a record in successful installations and customer satisfaction. Our products are designed to support incremental installation and we specialize in interfacing with legacy systems, thereby providing the customer with a rapid return on investment. |
| | Web Accessible: Our newer applications are fully web accessible, including a web-native and Java (J2EE)-based framework that is fully integrated with core enterprise-wide registration, clinical and financial systems. This architecture also allows integration with existing web portals to make enterprise wide information web-accessible. |
We depend on licenses from a number of third party vendors for certain technology used to develop and operate our products, and we are materially reliant upon licenses with the following third party vendors InterSystems Corporation, Oracle, Microsoft, Quovadx, the American Medical Association (AMA), and the American Hospital Association (AHA). Most of these licenses expire within three to five years. Such licenses can be renewed only by mutual consent. Most of our third party licenses are non-exclusive and competitors may obtain the same or similar technology.
Technical Architecture
To eliminate the disparity of technical architectures that resulted from our many acquisitions, we have established a technical architecture which guides the development and integration of our products. We have focused on integrating the functionality of our products through the development of web-native applications (designed to run in a web browser) built on n-tiered architecture (developed in discrete layers separating the user interface from the business rules and data storage to provide maximum platform independence). The layers of this architecture are as follows:
| | Platformthe platform layer is the computer hardware and operating system. Our software is designed to be system independent, which means it can run on a variety of hardware and operating systems from a number of vendors. Our systems can run on computers from any manufacturer that supports Microsoft Windows® or commercial Unix operating systems. |
| | Databasethe database layer consists of a commercial relational database management system such as Oracle®, Microsoft SQL Server, or InterSystems Cache. Our software is designed to be database independent and is capable of being deployed on a variety of database management systems. |
| | EDRthe Enterprise Data Repository (EDR) is the developed implementation of a healthcare specific data model. The design of the EDR has been heavily influenced by the HL7 Reference Information Model (RIM). HL7 is the recognized governing standards body for healthcare information technology. The RIM |
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includes definitions for all objects and acts specific to healthcare, including complete conceptual definitions of terms like patient, provider, procedure, and diagnosis, and the potential relationships among the terms.
| | Frameworkthe Framework layer is a developed layer that implements a set of core services which are reusable across our applications. By developing a set of core services one time in a common framework we are able to support our product families and leverage the vast amount of healthcare domain knowledge that is embedded in products like Quantim Coding or Affinity CPOE. |
| | Application Logicthe Application Logic layer is a developed layer that implements specific applications such as Quantim Coding or Affinity Pharmacy. Application layers use combinations of Framework layer services and application specific business logic. The differentiating code that makes one product distinct from another is developed in this layer. |
| | Thin Clientthe Thin Client or presentation layer is responsible for the presentation of the software to the end user what the user sees on the screen. By designing our systems to run in a web browser we build in a great deal of flexibility in the deployment of our applications. By separating the presentation layer from the application layer, we greatly simplify the task of supporting new end-user devices as they become available. |
| | Product Familiesthe architecture supports our product strategy. QuadraMeds two major product families, Affinity and Quantim, are being developed in the QuadraMed architecture which is an integrated, standards-based software platform which simplifies and automates workflow across the continuum of patient care. It is this core technology that supports all QuadraMed products and enables their integration into a new or existing system. |
Customers
We primarily market to acute care hospitals and multi-facility care delivery organizations or integrated delivery networks. We also sell products to Veterans Health Administration facilities, specialty hospitals, hospital associations, and physicians. We have customers located in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Canada. In 2003, 2002, and 2001, no single customer accounted for 10% or more of our total revenue. During the years ended December 31, 2003, 2002 and 2001, 23%, 21% and 10%, respectively, of our HIM services revenues were attributable to sales of products and services to the U.S. Government. In all, our products are used in approximately 1,900 healthcare provider facilities.
Highly Competitive Market
Competition for our products and services is intense and is expected to increase. We compete with other providers of healthcare information software and services, as well as healthcare consulting firms. Our principal competitors include McKesson Corporation, Inc., Siemens Medical Services Health Services Corp. (formerly Shared Medical Systems or SMS), Meditech Corporation, Eclipsys Corporation, Cerner, GE Medical Systems, IDX Corporation, 3M, and Softmed. Other competitors include niche providers of electronic document management software, MPI products and services, decision support products, and financial services consulting and outsourcing.
Some of our competitors may be in a position to devote greater resources to the development, marketing and sales of their products and services. The trend towards merger and consolidation could further increase the level of competition providing other companies with greater ability to develop products on more aggressive schedules. Some of the main considerations of our customers that impact competition are customer service and support, ability to install systems in a reasonable timeframe, use of open standards as well as industry standards that allow disparate systems to work together, product functionality, company reputation and stability, and price.
Government Regulation and Healthcare Reform
Computer products used or intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease or other conditions or that affect the structure or function of the body are subject to regulation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. At present, none of our software products are so regulated by the FDA.
There is substantial state and federal regulation of the confidentiality of patient medical records and the circumstances under which such records may be used by, disclosed to or processed by us as a consequence of our contacts with various health providers. Although compliance with these laws and regulations is presently the principal responsibility of covered entities including hospitals, physicians, or other healthcare providers, regulations governing
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patient confidentiality rights are rapidly evolving. Additional federal and state legislation governing the dissemination of medical record information may be adopted which may have a material affect on our business. Those laws, including HIPAA and ICD 10 implementation, may significantly affect our future business and materially impact our product development, revenue and working capital. During the past several years, the healthcare industry also has been subject to increasing levels of governmental regulation of, among other things, reimbursement rates and certain capital expenditures. We are unable to predict what, if any, changes will occur as a result of such regulation.
Intellectual Property
We rely on a combination of copyright, trademark and trade secret law, and nondisclosure and non-compete agreements to protect our proprietary methodologies, computer software, and databases. We maintain the confidentiality of proprietary technology through a policy of obtaining agreements with our employees that (i) prohibit employees from disclosing or using our confidential information, and (ii) require the disclosure and assignment to us of new ideas, developments, discoveries or inventions related to our business. We also initiated a new branding strategy in 2001 that included the adoption of a new trademark, We do technology. So you can do healthcare. We also enter into non-disclosure agreements with business partners and customers in the ordinary course of business. We have obtained trademark registrations in the United States for most of our corporate and product trademarks, including QuadraMed, Affinity, Quantim, and Complysource. We had not filed for or obtained any patents for our proprietary technology until 2001, when we sought a patent on our Affinity CPOE software application. This patent application has lapsed. We may in the future seek patents for new products if, in our business judgment, their importance warrants such steps and is susceptible to protection under the patent laws. We also depend on licenses for certain technology used to develop our products from third-party vendors.
Employees
QuadraMeds staff includes product management and development teams with healthcare experience, software engineers trained in 21st century technology, sales and marketing, and corporate support/administrative. We believe that we have a satisfactory relationship with our employees, none of whom are represented by a union or other collective bargaining group. As of December 31, 2003, we had approximately 900 employees: 96 in general and administration, 87 in sales and marketing, and the remaining employees in technical, consulting, research and development, and support services.
| Item 2. | Properties |
We lease all of our facilities and do not own any real property. Our executive and corporate offices are located in Reston, Virginia, in approximately 49,000 square feet of leased office space under a lease that expires in 2011. We also lease approximately 41,000 and 34,000 square feet of office space in San Marcos, California and San Rafael, California, respectively. These leases both expire in 2009. We believe that our facilities provide sufficient space for our present needs, and that additional suitable space, if needed, would be available on reasonable terms. In connection with the relocation of our corporate headquarters to Reston, Virginia, we intend to vacate or sublease the San Rafael, California facility in 2004.
| Item 3. | Legal Proceedings |
In October 2002, a series of securities law class action complaints was filed in the United States District Court, California Northern District, by certain of our shareholders against us and certain of our officers and directors. The plaintiffs in these actions allege, among other things, violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 due to issuing a series of allegedly false and misleading statements concerning our business and financial condition between May 11, 2000 and August 11, 2002. Also in October 2002, a shareholders derivative suit was filed on our behalf in Marin County Superior Court of California against us as a nominal defendant and certain of our current and former officers and directors. The derivative action plaintiffs allege that certain of our current and former officers and directors breached their fiduciary duties to us based on assertions similar to those in the federal securities class action litigation. Both actions seek unspecified monetary damages and other relief.
As of February 25, 2004, we have reached an agreement with the plaintiffs counsel in the securities class action litigation and the shareholders derivative litigation. We expect that the settlement amounts will be principally covered by our insurance. The proposed settlement agreements include non-disclosure and confidentiality provisions and are conditioned upon the negotiation of final documents and the approval of the courts.
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On February 28, 2003, we reported that the SEC issued a formal non-public order of investigation concerning our accounting and financial reporting practices for the period beginning January 1, 1998. On October 10, 2003, we announced that the Staff of the San Francisco District Office of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the Staff) had informed us that the Staff intended to recommend to the SEC that it institute an enforcement action against us for violations of the antifraud, periodic filing and books and records provisions of the federal securities laws. The proposed recommendation concerns our accounting for transactions that we entered into with Health+Cast LLP in 1998 and 1999. The 1999 transactions were restated as part of the recent restatement of our 1999 financial statements. The Staff invited us to make a Wells submission with respect to the proposed recommendation. We plan to continue to discuss this matter with the Staff; however, we cannot predict when the SEC will conclude its inquiry, or the outcome and impact thereof. The Staff also indicated that it does not presently intend to recommend any action against our current officers, directors or employees.
In June 2000, we entered into a Separation Agreement with James Durham upon his resignation as our Chief Executive Officer. This agreement was amended in July 2001 when Mr. Durham resigned from our Board of Directors. Pursuant to the agreement, as amended, upon these resignations, Mr. Durham received approximately $3.2 million as of the dates of the agreements, a $250,000 per year salary through January 1, 2001, a $2,000 per month salary until December 31, 2003, the vesting of approximately 100,000 unvested options, the vesting of interest in our Supplemental Employee Retirement Plan (the SERP), and payments of approximately $500,000 per year by us into his account in the SERP Trust, all subject to the terms and conditions of the agreement, as amended. Among other terms, the Separation Agreement contained a provision for non-disparagement, requiring Mr. Durham to refrain from directly or indirectly disparaging us or our stockholders, directors, officers, employees, or agents for the term in which Mr. Durham was receiving payments under the Separation Agreement and for a period of one year thereafter. In a November 2002 article published in the Marin Independent Journal for which he was interviewed, Mr. Durham made repeated disparaging remarks about us and our management. The Company notified him that his published remarks were in breach of his Separation Agreement. Subsequent to the publication of this article, Mr. Durham requested a lump sum election for his SERP benefits. The amount of payment called for in the SERP is described in Note 14 Employee Benefit Plans Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan to our Consolidated Financial Statements.
In light of Mr. Durhams breach of his Separation Agreement, we have notified Mr. Durham and his counsel that we are not obligated to fund additional SERP payments on behalf of Mr. Durham and that we will not pay him a lump sum for his SERP benefits. In January 2004, Mr. Durham filed an amended complaint against us in the Superior Court of the State of California, Marin County, alleging a breach of his SERP contract and a breach of good faith and fair dealing under this contract. This amended complaint seeks payment of his lump sum SERP benefits, interest, attorneys fees, and other relief. On January 30, 2004, this matter was moved to the United States District Court, California Northern District. We have filed an answer and a motion to dismiss Mr. Durhams allegations of breach of good faith and fair dealing under this contract for failure to state a claim. These matters are at an early stage and no discovery has taken place. We intend to defend ourselves vigorously against these allegations and feel that it is in the best interests of us and our stockholders to defend this action, due to Mr. Durhams disparaging comments after his resignation and his breach of the Separation Agreement, as amended. The ultimate outcome of these matters cannot presently be determined. For additional information concerning the calculation and am