Alphatec Holdings (ATEC) Risk Factors

Although we do not provide healthcare services, submit claims for third-party reimbursement, or receive payments directly from any third-party payers for our products or the procedures in which our products are used, healthcare regulation significantly impacts our business. Healthcare fraud and abuse, health information privacy and security, and disclosure laws potentially applicable to our operations include: - the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, as well as state analogs, which prohibits, among other things, knowingly and willfully soliciting, receiving, offering or providing remuneration, intended to induce the purchase or recommendation of an item or service reimbursable under a federal (or state or commercial) healthcare program (such as the Medicare or Medicaid programs);- federal and state bans on physician self-referrals, which prohibits, subject to exceptions, physician referrals of Medicare and Medicaid patients to an entity providing certain "designated health services" if the physician or its immediate family member has any financial relationship with the entity;- false claims laws that prohibit, among other things, knowingly presenting, or causing to be presented, claims for payment from Medicare, Medicaid, or other third-party payers that are false or fraudulent;- HIPAA, and its implementing regulations, which created federal criminal laws that prohibit executing a scheme to defraud any healthcare benefit program or making false statements relating to healthcare matters;- the state and federal laws "sunshine" provisions that require detailed reporting and disclosures to the CMS and applicable states of any payments or "transfer of value" made or distributed to prescribers and other health care providers, and for certain states prohibit some forms of these payments, require the adoption of marketing codes of conduct, require the reporting of marketing expenditures and pricing information and constrain relationships with physicians and other referral sources;- the HITECH, which impose restrictions on uses and disclosures of protected health information and civil and criminal penalties for non-compliance and require the reporting of breaches to affected individuals, the government and in some cases the media in the event of a violation; and - a variety of state-imposed privacy and data security laws which require the protection of personal information beyond health information and which require reporting to state officials in the event of breach or violation and which impose both civil and criminal penalties. If our operations, or those of our independent sales agents violate any of such laws or any regulations that may apply to us, we may be subject to civil and criminal penalties, damages, fines, exclusion from federal healthcare programs and/or the curtailment or restructuring of our operations. If the healthcare providers, sales agents or other entities with which we do business are found to violate applicable laws, they may be subject to sanctions, which could also have a negative impact on us. Any penalties, damages, fines, curtailment or restructuring of our operations could adversely affect our ability to operate our business and our financial results. Sales and marketing practices in the healthcare industry have been the subject of increased scrutiny from governmental agencies, and we believe that this trend will continue. Prosecutorial scrutiny and governmental oversight over the retention of healthcare professionals as consultants has affected and may continue to affect how medical device companies retain healthcare professionals as consultants. Our efforts to detect and prevent noncompliance with applicable laws may not be effective in protecting us from governmental investigations or other actions or lawsuits stemming from a failure to comply with these laws or regulations. Any action against us for violation of these laws, even if we successfully defend against them, could cause us to incur significant legal expenses and divert our management's attention from the operation of our business.

The stock market in general, the NASDAQ Global Select Market and the market for medical device companies in particular, has experienced price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of those companies. In the past, following periods of volatility in the market price of a particular company's securities, the company becomes subject to securities class action litigation. We may become involved in this type of litigation. Litigation is often expensive and diverts management's attention and resources, which could materially harm our financial condition, results of operations and business.

We rely on third party manufacturers of our implants, instruments, imaging equipment and spare parts. We currently rely on a limited number of third parties and any prolonged disruption in the operations of our third-party suppliers could have a negative impact on our ability to supply products to customers. We may suffer losses as a result of business interruptions that exceed coverage under our manufacturer's insurance policies. Other events beyond our control could also disrupt our product development and commercialization efforts until such events can be resolved or we can put in place third-party contract manufacturers to assume this manufacturing role. In addition, if we are required to change manufacturers for any reason, we will be required to verify that the new manufacturer maintains facilities and procedures that comply with quality standards and with all applicable regulations and guidelines. Delays associated with the verification of a new manufacturer or the re-verification of an existing manufacturer could negatively affect our ability to develop products or supply products to customers in a timely manner. Any disruption in the manufacture of our products by our third-party suppliers could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Sales of our products depend in part on the availability of adequate coverage and reimbursement from third-party payers, principally Medicare, Medicaid and private health insurance plans, to pay for all or a portion of the costs and fees associated with the use of our products. While procedures using our currently marketed products are eligible for reimbursement in the U.S., if surgical procedures utilizing our products are performed on an outpatient basis, it is possible that private payers may no longer provide reimbursement for the procedures using our products without further supporting data on the procedure. Any delays in obtaining, or an inability to obtain, adequate coverage or reimbursement for procedures using our products could significantly affect the acceptance of our products and have a significant adverse effect on our business. Additionally, third-party payers continue to review their coverage policies carefully for existing and new therapies and can, without notice, deny coverage for treatments that include the use of our products. Our business would be negatively impacted if there are any changes that reduce reimbursement for our products.

The development of a large distribution network may be expensive and time consuming. Because of the intense competition for their services, we may be unable to recruit or retain qualified independent sales agents. Like us, some of our competitors enter into exclusive distribution agreements. Further, we may not be able to enter into agreements with independent sales agents on commercially reasonable terms. Even if we do enter into agreements with new independent sales agents, it may take 90 to 120 days or even longer for new sales agents to reach full operational effectiveness. Some sales agents may not generate revenue as quickly as we expect, may not commit the necessary resources to effectively market and sell our products and may not ultimately be successful in selling our products. Our business, financial condition and results of operations will be materially adversely affected if we do not attract and retain new sales agents or if the marketing and sales efforts of our sales agents are unsuccessful.

Our success depends significantly on our ability to protect our proprietary rights in the technologies used in our products. We rely on patent protection, as well as a combination of copyright, trade secret and trademark laws, and confidentiality and other contractual restrictions to protect our proprietary technology. These legal means afford only limited protection and may not adequately protect our rights or permit us to gain or keep any competitive advantage. For example, our pending patent applications may not result in issued patents. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ("PTO") may deny or require significant narrowing of claims in our pending patent applications, and patents issued as a result of the pending patent applications, if any, may not provide us with significant commercial protection or be issued in a form that is advantageous to us. We could also incur substantial costs in proceedings before the PTO. These proceedings could result in adverse decisions as to the priority of our inventions and the narrowing or invalidation of claims in issued patents. Issued patents could subsequently be successfully challenged by others and invalidated or rendered unenforceable, which could limit our ability to prevent competitors from marketing and selling related products. In addition, our pending patent applications include claims to aspects of our products and procedures that are not currently protected by issued patents. Both the patent application process and the process of managing patent disputes can be time consuming and expensive. Competitors may design around our patents or develop products that provide outcomes that are comparable to our products but fall outside of the scope of our patent protection. Although we have entered into confidentiality agreements and intellectual property assignment agreements with certain of our employees, consultants and advisors as one of the ways we seek to protect our intellectual property and other proprietary technology, such agreements may not be enforceable or may not provide meaningful protection for our trade secrets or other proprietary information in the event of unauthorized use or disclosure or other breaches of the agreements. In the event a competitor infringes upon one of our patents or other intellectual property rights, enforcing those patents and rights may be difficult and time consuming. Even if successful, litigation to defend our patents against challenges or to enforce our intellectual property rights could be expensive and time consuming and could divert management's attention from managing our business. Moreover, we may not have sufficient resources to defend our patents against challenges or to enforce our intellectual property rights.

We conduct nearly all of our business activities in or near known wildfire areas and earthquake fault zones. We have taken precautions to safeguard our facilities, including obtaining property and casualty insurance, and implementing health and safety protocols. We have developed an information technology disaster recovery plan. However, any future natural disaster could cause substantial delays in our operations, damage or destroy our equipment or inventory and cause us to incur additional expenses. A disaster could seriously harm our business, financial condition and results of operations. Our insurance against earthquakes, fires, and other natural disasters would not be adequate to cover a total loss of our facilities, may not be adequate to cover our losses in any particular case and may not continue to be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all.