Oak Street Health (OSH) Risk Analysis

Our operations are subject to extensive federal, state and local government laws and regulations, such as: - Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rules and regulations;- federal and state anti-kickback laws, which prohibits the knowing and willful offer, payment, solicitation or receipt of any bribe, kickback, rebate or other remuneration for referring an individual, in return for ordering, leasing, purchasing or recommending or arranging for or to induce the referral of an individual or the ordering, purchasing or leasing of items or services covered, in whole or in part, by any federal healthcare program, such as Medicare and Medicaid;- the Self-Referral Law and analogous state self-referral prohibition statutes, which, subject to limited exceptions, prohibits physicians from referring Medicare or Medicaid patients to an entity for the provision of certain "designated health services" if the physician or a member of such physician's immediate family has a direct or indirect financial relationship (including an ownership interest or a compensation arrangement) with an entity, and prohibit the entity from billing Medicare or Medicaid for such "designated health services";- the FCA and associated regulations, that imposes civil and criminal liability on individuals or entities that knowingly submit false or fraudulent claims for payment to the government or knowingly making, or causing to be made, a false statement in order to have a false claim paid, including qui tam or whistleblower suits;- the Civil Monetary Penalty statute and associated regulations, which authorizes the government agent to impose civil money penalties, an assessment, and program exclusion for various forms of fraud and abuse involving the Medicare and Medicaid programs;- federal and state laws regarding the collection, use and disclosure of patient health information (e.g., HIPAA) and the storage, handling, shipment, disposal and/or dispensing of pharmaceuticals and blood products and other biological materials and many other applicable state and federal laws and requirements;- federal and state laws regarding the use of telehealth;- state and federal statutes and regulations that govern workplace health and safety;- federal and state laws and policies that require healthcare providers to maintain licensure, certification or accreditation to enroll and participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs, to report certain changes in their operations to the agencies that administer these programs and, in some cases, to re-enroll in these programs when changes in direct or indirect ownership occur; and - federal and state laws pertaining to the provision of services by nurse practitioners and physician assistants certain settings, physician supervision of those services, and reimbursement requirements that depend on the types of services provided and documented and relationships between physician supervisors and nurse practitioners and physician assistants. In addition to the above laws, Medicare and Medicaid regulations, manual provisions, local coverage determinations, national coverage determinations and agency guidance also impose complex and extensive requirements upon healthcare providers. Moreover, the various laws and regulations that apply to our operations are often subject to varying interpretations and additional laws and regulations potentially affecting providers continue to be promulgated that may impact us. A violation or departure from any of the legal requirements implicated by our business may result in, among other things, government audits, lower reimbursements, significant fines and penalties, the potential loss of certification, recoupment efforts or voluntary repayments. These legal requirements are civil, criminal and administrative in nature depending on the law or requirement. We endeavor to comply with all legal requirements. We further endeavor to structure all of our relationships with physicians and providers to comply with state and federal anti-kickback physician and Stark laws and other applicable healthcare laws. We utilize considerable resources to monitor laws and regulations and implement necessary changes. However, the laws and regulations in these areas are complex, changing and often subject to varying interpretations. As a result, there is no guarantee that we will be able to adhere to all of the laws and regulations that apply to our business, and any failure to do so could have a material adverse impact on our business, results of operations, financial condition, cash flows and reputation. For example, if an enforcement agency were to challenge the level of compensation that we pay our medical directors or the number of medical directors whom we engage, or otherwise challenge these arrangements, we could be required to change our practices, face criminal or civil penalties, pay substantial fines or otherwise experience a material adverse impact on our business, results of operations, financial condition, cash flows and reputation as a result. Similarly, we may face penalties under the FCA, the federal Civil Monetary Penalty statute or otherwise related to failure to report and return overpayments within 60 days of when the overpayment is identified and quantified. These obligations to report and return overpayments could subject our procedures for identifying and processing overpayments to greater scrutiny. We have made investments in resources to decrease the time it takes to identify, quantify and process overpayments, and may be required to make additional investments in the future. Additionally, the federal government has used the FCA to prosecute a wide variety of alleged false claims and fraud allegedly perpetrated against Medicare, Medicaid and other federally funded health care programs. Moreover, amendments to the federal Anti-Kickback Statute in the ACA make claims tainted by anti-kickback violations potentially subject to liability under the FCA, including qui tam or whistleblower suits. The penalties for a violation of the FCA range from $5,500 to $11,000 (adjusted for inflation) for each false claim plus three times the amount of damages caused by each such claim which generally means the amount received directly or indirectly from the government. On December 13, 2021, the DOJ issued a final rule announcing adjustments to FCA penalties, under which the per claim range increases to a range from $11,803 to $23,607 per claim. Given the high volume of claims processed by our various operating units, the potential is high for substantial penalties in connection with any alleged FCA violations. In addition to the provisions of the FCA, which provide for civil enforcement, the federal government can use several criminal statutes to prosecute persons who are alleged to have submitted false or fraudulent claims for payment to the federal government. If any of our operations are found to violate these or other government laws or regulations, we could suffer severe consequences that would have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, cash flows, reputation and stock price, including: - suspension or termination of our participation in government payment programs;- refunds of amounts received in violation of law or applicable payment program requirements dating back to the applicable statute of limitation periods;- loss of our required government certifications or exclusion from government payment programs;- loss of our licenses required to operate healthcare facilities or administer pharmaceuticals in the states in which we operate;- criminal or civil liability, fines, damages or monetary penalties for violations of healthcare fraud and abuse laws, including the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, Civil Monetary Penalties Law, Stark Law and FCA, or other failures to meet regulatory requirements;- enforcement actions by governmental agencies and/or state law claims for monetary damages by patients who believe their PHI has been used, disclosed or not properly safeguarded in violation of federal or state patient privacy laws, including HIPAA and the Privacy Act of 1974;- mandated changes to our practices or procedures that significantly increase operating expenses;- imposition of and compliance with corporate integrity agreements that could subject us to ongoing audits and reporting requirements as well as increased scrutiny of our billing and business practices which could lead to potential fines, among other things;- termination of various relationships and/or contracts related to our business, including joint venture arrangements, medical director agreements, real estate leases and consulting agreements with physicians; and - harm to our reputation which could negatively impact our business relationships, affect our ability to attract and retain patients and physicians, affect our ability to obtain financing and decrease access to new business opportunities, among other things. We are, and may in the future be, a party to various lawsuits, demands, claims, qui tam suits, governmental investigations and audits (including investigations or other actions resulting from our obligation to self-report suspected violations of law) and other legal matters, any of which could result in, among other things, substantial financial penalties or awards against us, mandated refunds, substantial payments made by us, required changes to our business practices, exclusion from future participation in Medicare, Medicaid and other healthcare programs and possible criminal penalties, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, cash flows and materially harm our reputation. We may in the future be subject to investigations and audits by state or federal governmental agencies and/ or private civil qui tam complaints filed by relators and other lawsuits, demands, claims and legal proceedings, including investigations or other actions resulting from our obligation to self-report suspected violations of law. Responding to subpoenas, investigations and other lawsuits, claims and legal proceedings as well as defending ourselves in such matters will continue to require management's attention and cause us to incur significant legal expense. Negative findings or terms and conditions that we might agree to accept as part of a negotiated resolution of pending or future legal or regulatory matters could result in, among other things, substantial financial penalties or awards against us, substantial payments made by us, harm to our reputation, required changes to our business practices, exclusion from future participation in the Medicare, Medicaid and other healthcare programs and, in certain cases, criminal penalties, any of which could have a material adverse effect on us. It is possible that criminal proceedings may be initiated against us and/or individuals in our business in connection with investigations by the federal government. We, our affiliated physicians and the facilities in which we operate are subject to various federal, state and local licensing and certification laws and regulations and accreditation standards and other laws, relating to, among other things, the adequacy of medical care, equipment, privacy of patient information, telehealth, physician relationships, personnel and operating policies and procedures. Failure to comply with these licensing, certification and accreditation laws, regulations and standards could result in our services being found non-reimbursable or prior payments being subject to recoupment, requirements to make significant changes to our operations and can give rise to civil or, in extreme cases, criminal penalties. We routinely take the steps we believe are necessary to retain or obtain all requisite licensure and operating authorities. While we have made reasonable efforts to substantially comply with federal, state and local licensing and certification laws and regulations and standards as we interpret them, we cannot assure you that agencies that administer these programs will not find that we have failed to comply in some material respects.

From time to time, we may be subject to legal proceedings and claims in the ordinary course of our business with respect to intellectual property. We are not currently subject to any claims from third parties asserting infringement of their intellectual property rights. Some third parties may be able to sustain the costs of complex litigation more effectively than we can because they have substantially greater resources. Even if resolved in our favor, litigation or other legal proceedings relating to intellectual property claims may cause us to incur significant expenses and could distract our technical and management personnel from their normal responsibilities. In addition, there could be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions or other interim proceedings or developments, and if securities analysts or investors perceive these results to be negative, it could have a material adverse effect on the price of our common stock. Moreover, any uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of any legal proceedings could have a material adverse effect on our ability to raise the funds necessary to continue our operations. Assertions by third parties that we violate their intellectual property rights could therefore have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. On January 10, 2022, Reginald T. Allison, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, filed a putative class action lawsuit against Oak Street Health, Inc., Michael Pykosz and Timothy Cook, two of the Company's largest stockholders and members of the Company's Board of Directors in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (Case No: 1:22-cv-00149). On March 25, 2022, Central Pennsylvania Teamsters Pension Fund – Defined Benefit Plan, Central Pennsylvania Teamsters Pension Fund – Retirement Income Plan 1987, and Boston Retirement System's (collectively, the "Northeast Pension Funds") were appointed as the lead plaintiffs in the case. On May 25, 2022, the Northeast Pension Funds along with an additional named plaintiff, the City of Dearborn Police & Fire Revised Retirement System, filed their consolidated amended and restated complaint (the "Amended Complaint"). Plaintiffs allege that the Company and certain of its executive officers made false and/or misleading statements about patient acquisition tactics that purportedly violated the False Claims Act and federal Anti-Kickback Statute, and are purportedly the subject of the CID discussed above. The Amended Complaint includes two categories of claims: (1) claims under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 based on allegedly misleading public statements throughout the class period of August 6, 2020 through November 8, 2021 (the "Exchange Act Claims"), and (2) claims under the Securities Act of 1933 based on allegedly misleading statements in the registration statements and prospectuses accompanying Oak Street Health, Inc.'s initial public offering and secondary public offerings (the "Securities Act Claims"). The Exchange Act Claims are asserted against Oak Street Health, Inc., Michael Pykosz, our CEO and Timothy Cook, our CFO, and also against certain stockholders of as "control persons." The Securities Act Claims are asserted against the same defendants as well as the underwriters of the Company's public offerings, and the Oak Street Health, Inc. directors who signed the registration statements. The Amended Complaint seeks damages, interest, costs, attorneys' fees and other unspecified equitable relief. On July 25, 2022, the defendants filed a consolidated motion to dismiss the Amended Complaint. On September 26, 2022, the plaintiffs' opposition to that motion to dismiss was filed, and the defendants reply to that opposition was filed on October 26, 2022. On February 10, 2023, the Court ruled on the motion to dismiss, granting the Company's' motions to dismiss with respect to the plaintiffs' section 12(a)(2) claim and section 11 claim based on misrepresentations from the May 2021 secondary public offering, and denying the remainder of the motion. The Company intends to continue to defend these claims vigorously. Additionally three stockholders, Joseph Miller, the Hialeah Employees' Retirement System and the Employees Retirement System of the City of St. Louis each filed, on November 7, 2022, January 5, 2023 and February 2, 2023, respectively, derivative actions in the Delaware Court of Chancery against certain of our officers and each of the members of Oak Street's Board of Directors (collectively, "Defendants") principally alleging breach of fiduciary duties and unjust enrichment. Generally, the Complaint concerns those Defendants' duties relating to certain outreach practices Oak Street allegedly engaged in and its patient transportation program, the same matters that are the subject of the CID. Furthermore, our commercial success depends on our ability to develop and commercialize our services and use our internally developed technology without infringing the intellectual property or proprietary rights of third parties. Intellectual property disputes can be costly to defend and may cause our business, operating results and financial condition to suffer. As the market for healthcare in the United States expands and more patents are issued, the risk increases that there may be patents issued to third parties that relate to our technology of which we are not aware or that we must challenge to continue our operations as currently contemplated. Whether merited or not, we may face allegations that we, our partners or parties indemnified by us have infringed or otherwise violated the patents, trademarks, copyrights or other intellectual property rights of third parties. Such claims may be made by competitors seeking to obtain a competitive advantage or by other parties. Additionally, in recent years, individuals and groups have begun purchasing intellectual property assets for the purpose of making claims of infringement and attempting to extract settlements from companies like ours. We may also face allegations that our employees have misappropriated the intellectual property or proprietary rights of their former employers or other third parties. It may be necessary for us to initiate litigation to defend ourselves in order to determine the scope, enforceability and validity of third-party intellectual property or proprietary rights, or to establish our respective rights. We may not be able to successfully settle or otherwise resolve such adversarial proceedings or litigation. If we are unable to successfully settle future claims on terms acceptable to us we may be required to engage in or to continue claims, regardless of whether such claims have merit, that can be time-consuming, divert management's attention and financial resources and can be costly to evaluate and defend. Results of any such litigation are difficult to predict and may require us to stop commercializing or using our technology, obtain licenses, modify our services and technology while we develop non-infringing substitutes or incur substantial damages, settlement costs or face a temporary or permanent injunction prohibiting us from marketing or providing the affected services. If we require a third-party license, it may not be available on reasonable terms or at all, and we may have to pay substantial royalties, upfront fees or grant cross-licenses to intellectual property rights for our services. We may also have to redesign our services so they do not infringe third-party intellectual property rights, which may not be possible or may require substantial monetary expenditures and time, during which our technology may not be available for commercialization or use. Even if we have an agreement to indemnify us against such costs, the indemnifying party may be unable to uphold its contractual obligations. If we cannot or do not obtain a third-party license to the infringed technology at all, license the technology on reasonable terms or obtain similar technology from another source, our revenue and earnings could be adversely impacted. The outcome of litigation is necessarily uncertain, and we could be forced to expend significant resources in the defense of this and other suits, and we may not prevail. Any litigation to which we are a party may result in an onerous or unfavorable judgment that may not be reversed upon appeal, or in payments of substantial monetary damages or fines, or we may decide to settle this or other lawsuits on similarly unfavorable terms, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations or stock price. See Item 3. "Legal Proceedings" below for additional information regarding the class action.

Certain of our patients are dual-eligible, meaning their coverage comes from both Medicare and Medicaid. In addition, a very small portion of our patients (under 2%) are fully covered by Medicaid. As a result, a small portion of our revenues comes from Medicaid, accounting for approximately 2%, 2% and 2% of our revenues for the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020, respectively. Medicaid is a joint federal-state program purchasing healthcare services for the low income and indigent as well as certain higher-income individuals with significant health needs. Under broad federal criteria, states establish rules for eligibility, services and payment. Medicaid is a state-administered program financed by both state funds and matching federal funds. Medicaid spending has increased rapidly in recent years, becoming a significant component of state budgets. This, combined with slower state revenue growth, has led both the federal government and many states to institute measures aimed at controlling the growth of Medicaid spending, and in some instances reducing aggregate Medicaid spending. For example, a number of states have adopted or are considering legislation designed to reduce their Medicaid expenditures, such as financial arrangements commonly referred to as provider taxes. Under provider tax arrangements, states collect taxes from healthcare providers and then use the revenues to pay the providers as a Medicaid expenditure, which allows the states to then claim additional federal matching funds on the additional reimbursements. Current federal law provides for a cap on the maximum allowable provider tax as a percentage of the provider's total revenues. There can be no assurance that federal law will continue to provide matching federal funds on state Medicaid expenditures funded through provider taxes, or that the current caps on provider taxes will not be reduced. Any discontinuance or reduction in federal matching of provider tax-related Medicaid expenditures could have a significant and adverse effect on states' Medicaid expenditures, and as a result could have an adverse effect on our business. In addition, CMS has recently approved demonstration waivers for the Indiana Medicaid program that, among other things, imposes work or community engagement and income-based premiums on certain adult Medicaid beneficiaries, and similar waivers may be applied in other states. Also, as part of the movement to repeal, replace or modify the ACA and as a means to reduce the federal budget deficit, there are renewed congressional efforts to move Medicaid from an open-ended program with coverage and benefits set by the federal government to one in which states receive a fixed amount of federal funds, either through block grants or per capita caps, and have more flexibility to determine benefits, eligibility or provider payments. If those changes are implemented, we cannot predict whether the amount of fixed federal funding to the states will be based on current payment amounts, or if it will be based on lower payment amounts, which would negatively impact those states that expanded their Medicaid programs in response to the ACA. We expect these state and federal efforts to continue for the foreseeable future. The Medicaid program and its reimbursement rates and rules are subject to frequent change at both the federal and state level. These include statutory and regulatory changes, rate adjustments (including retroactive adjustments), administrative or executive orders and government funding restrictions, all of which may materially adversely affect the rates at which our services are reimbursed by state Medicaid plans.

We have employment contracts with physicians and other health professionals in many states. Some of these contracts include provisions preventing these physicians and other health professionals from competing with us both during and after the term of our contract with them. The law governing non-compete agreements and other forms of restrictive covenants varies from state to state, and as of January 5, 2023, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") issued a notice of proposed rulemaking that would prohibit employers from using non-compete agreements. Some jurisdictions prohibit us from using non-competition covenants with our professional staff. Other states are reluctant to strictly enforce non-compete agreements and restrictive covenants applicable to physicians and other healthcare professionals. There can be no assurance that our non-compete agreements related to physicians and other health professionals will be found enforceable if challenged in certain states. Further, if enacted, the FTC's proposed rule would prohibit employers like us from implementing non-compete agreements with our physicians and other health professionals. In such event, we would be unable to prevent physicians and other health professionals formerly employed by us from competing with us, potentially resulting in the loss of some of our patients. Further, if we hire employees from competitors or other companies or healthcare providers, their former employers may attempt to assert that these employees or we have breached certain legal obligations, resulting in a diversion of our time and resources. We may also experience attrition in our primary care physicians due to our proposed transaction with a subsidiary of CVS Health.

We believe that maintaining and enhancing our reputation and brand recognition is critical to our relationships with both patients and payors and to our ability to attract new patients. The promotion of our brand may require us to make substantial investments and we anticipate that, as our market becomes increasingly competitive, these marketing initiatives may become increasingly difficult and expensive. Our marketing activities may not be successful or yield increased revenues, and to the extent that these activities yield increased revenues, the increased revenues may not offset the expenses we incur and our results of operations could be harmed. In addition, any factor that diminishes our reputation or that of our management, including failing to meet the expectations of or provide quality medical care for our patients, or any adverse publicity or litigation involving or surrounding us, one of our centers or our management, could make it substantially more difficult for us to attract new patients. Similarly, because our existing patients often act as references for us with prospective new patients, any existing patient that questions the quality of our care could impair our ability to secure additional new patients. In addition, negative publicity resulting from any adverse government payor audit could injure our reputation. If we do not successfully maintain and enhance our reputation and brand recognition, our business may not grow and we could lose our relationships with patients, which would harm our business, results of operations and financial condition. Additionally, our success may be impacted by the reputation of AARP due to our license arrangement with that organization. We rely on AARP to manage and maintain its brand but their reputation or goodwill may be harmed due to factors outside our control, which could be attributed to our brand and have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows, as well as the trading price of our securities. Damage to our reputation or the reputations of AARP or loss of consumer confidence for any of these or other reasons could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition and cash flows, as well as require additional resources to rebuild our reputation. The registered or unregistered trademarks or trade names that we own or license may be challenged, infringed, circumvented, declared generic, lapsed or determined to be infringing on or dilutive of other marks. We may not be able to protect our rights in these trademarks and trade names, which we need in order to build name recognition with patients, payors and other partners. In addition, third parties may in the future file for registration of trademarks similar or identical to our trademarks. If they succeed in registering or developing common law rights in such trademarks, and if we are not successful in challenging such third-party rights, we may not be able to use these trademarks to commercialize our technologies in certain relevant jurisdictions. If we are unable to establish name recognition based on our trademarks and trade names, we may not be able to compete effectively and our brand recognition, reputation and results of operations may be adversely affected.

Our operations are dependent on the efforts, abilities and experience of our physicians and clinical personnel, and in order to execute our growth plan, we must attract and retain highly qualified personnel. If we fail to attract new personnel or fail to retain and motivate our current personnel, our business and future growth prospects could be harmed. Competition for highly qualified personnel is intense, especially for physicians and other medical professionals who are experienced in providing care services to older adults.We compete with other healthcare providers, primarily hospitals and other facilities, in attracting physicians, nurses and medical staff to support our centers, recruiting and retaining qualified management and support personnel responsible for the daily operations of each of our centers and in contracting with payors in each of our markets. Many of the companies and healthcare providers with which we compete for experienced personnel have greater resources than we have, and these resources could be used to pursue more aggressively innovative staffing solutions as compared to the traditional market approaches of wages and benefits. In the wake of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. healthcare labor market is experiencing a shortage of clinical and non-clinical professionals. In some markets, the lack of availability of clinical personnel, such as nurses and mental health professionals, has created significant operating issues. This shortage of labor may require us to continue to enhance wages and benefits to recruit and retain qualified personnel or to contract for more expensive temporary personnel. These labor shortages have also led to mental health issues, lower job satisfaction and faster burnout, further exacerbating the problem. Although these issues are believed to have been caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, they are expected to continue beyond the near term and will create ongoing challenges for healthcare providers such as us to attract and retain personnel. If our labor costs increase, we may not see that reflected in our annual rate increases from CMS nor in our contracted rates with MA plans to offset these increased costs. Because a significant percentage of our revenues consist of fixed, prospective payments, our ability to pass along increased labor costs is limited. In particular, if labor costs rise at an annual rate greater than our net annual consumer price index basket update from Medicare, our results of operations and cash flows will likely be adversely affected. Any union activity at our facilities that may occur in the future could contribute to increased labor costs. Certain proposed changes in federal labor laws and the National Labor Relations Board's modification of its election procedures could increase the likelihood of employee unionization attempts. Although none of our employees are currently represented by a collective bargaining agreement, to the extent a significant portion of our employee base unionizes, it is possible our labor costs could increase materially. Our failure to recruit and retain qualified management and medical personnel, or to control our labor costs, could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, results of operations and financial condition. We have, from time to time, experienced, and we expect to continue to experience, difficulty in hiring and retaining employees with appropriate qualifications. Additionally, key primary care physicians with large patient enrollment could retire, become disabled, terminate their provider contracts, get lured away by a competing independent physician association or medical group, or otherwise become unable or unwilling to continue practicing medicine or continue working with our practices. As a result, patients who have been served by such physicians could choose to enroll with competitors' physician organizations or could seek medical care elsewhere, which could reduce our revenues and profits. Moreover, we may not be able to attract new physicians to replace the services of terminating physicians or to service our growing membership. We also depend on the available labor pool of semi-skilled and unskilled workers in each of the markets in which we operate. We will need to continue to hire, train and manage additional qualified information technology, operations and marketing staff. If our new hires perform poorly, or if we are unsuccessful in hiring, training, managing and integrating these new employees, or if we are not successful in retaining our existing employees, our business may be adversely impacted.

We depend upon licenses from third parties for some of the technology and data used in Canopy, our technology platform, and for the platform upon which Canopy was built and operates. We expect that we may need to obtain additional licenses from third parties in the future in connection with the development of our services. In addition, we obtain a portion of the data that we use from government entities, public records and from our partners for specific partner engagements. We believe that we have all rights necessary to use the data that is incorporated into our services. We cannot, however, assure you that our licenses for information will allow us to use that information for all potential or contemplated applications. In addition, our ability to continue to offer integrated healthcare to our patients depends on maintaining Canopy, which is partially populated with data disclosed to us by our partners with their consent. If these partners revoke their consent for us to maintain, use, de-identify and share this data, consistent with applicable law, our data assets could be degraded. In the future, data providers could withdraw their data from us or restrict our usage for any reason, including if there is a competitive reason to do so, if legislation is passed restricting the use of the data or if judicial interpretations are issued restricting use of the data that we currently use to support our services. In addition, data providers could fail to adhere to our quality control standards in the future, causing us to incur additional expense to appropriately utilize the data. If a substantial number of data providers were to withdraw or restrict their data, or if they fail to adhere to our quality control standards, and if we are unable to identify and contract with suitable alternative data suppliers and integrate these data sources into our service offerings, our ability to provide appropriate services to our patients would be materially adversely impacted, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. We also integrate into our internally developed applications and use third-party software to support our technology infrastructure. Some of this software is proprietary, and some is open source software. These technologies may not be available to us in the future on commercially reasonable terms or at all and could be difficult to replace once integrated into our own internally developed applications. Most of these licenses can be renewed only by mutual consent and may be terminated if we breach the terms of the license and fail to cure the breach within a specified period of time. Our inability to obtain, maintain or comply with any of these licenses could delay development until equivalent technology can be identified, licensed and integrated, which would harm our business, financial condition and results of operations. Most of our third-party licenses are non-exclusive, and our competitors may obtain the right to use any of the technology covered by these licenses to compete directly with us. Our use of third-party technologies exposes us to increased risks, including, but not limited to, risks associated with the integration of new technology into our solutions, the diversion of our resources from development of our own internally developed technology and our inability to generate revenues from licensed technology sufficient to offset associated acquisition and maintenance costs. In addition, if our data suppliers choose to discontinue support of the licensed technology in the future, we might not be able to modify or adapt our own solutions.

We currently lease or license all of our centers, including slightly more than half that are leased from Humana. Our leases or licenses are typically on terms ranging from 2 to 20 years. Each of our lease or license agreements provides that the lessor may terminate the lease, subject to applicable cure provisions, for a number of reasons, including the defaults in any payment of rent, taxes or other payment obligations, the breach of any other covenant or agreement in the lease or, for centers leased from Humana, the termination of our payor contracts with Humana. Termination of certain of our lease agreements could result in a cross-default under our debt agreements or other lease agreements. If a lease agreement is terminated, there can be no assurance that we will be able to enter into a new lease agreement on similar or better terms or at all. Our lease obligations often include annual fixed rent escalators ranging between 2% and 3% or variable rent escalators based on a consumer price index. These escalators could impact our ability to satisfy certain obligations and financial covenants. If the results of our operations do not increase at or above the escalator rates, it would place an additional burden on our results of operations, liquidity and financial position. As we continue to expand and have leases or licenses with different start dates, it is likely that some number of our leases and licenses will expire each year. Our lease or license agreements often provide for renewal or extension options. There can be no assurance that these rights will be exercised in the future or that we will be able to satisfy the conditions precedent to exercising any such renewal or extension. In addition, if we are unable to renew or extend any of our leases or licenses, we may lose all of the facilities subject to that master lease agreement. If we are not able to renew or extend our leases or licenses at or prior to the end of the existing lease terms, or if the terms of such options are unfavorable or unacceptable to us, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected. Leasing facilities pursuant to binding lease or license agreements may limit our ability to exit markets. For instance, if one facility under a lease or license becomes unprofitable, we may be required to continue operating such facility or, if allowed by the landlord to close such facility, we may remain obligated for the lease payments on such facility. We could incur special charges relating to the closing of such facility, including lease termination costs, impairment charges and other special charges that would reduce our profits and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations. Our failure to pay the rent or otherwise comply with the provisions of any of our lease agreements could result in an "event of default" under such lease agreement and also could result in a cross default under other lease agreements and agreements for our indebtedness. Upon an event of default, remedies available to our landlords generally include, without limitation, terminating such lease agreement, repossessing and reletting the leased properties and requiring us to remain liable for all obligations under such lease agreement, including the difference between the rent under such lease agreement and the rent payable as a result of reletting the leased properties, or requiring us to pay the net present value of the rent due for the balance of the term of such lease agreement. The exercise of such remedies would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position, results of operations and liquidity.

Our business depends on internally developed technology and content, including software, databases, confidential information and know-how, the protection of which is crucial to the success of our business. We rely on a combination of trademark, trade-secret, and copyright laws and confidentiality procedures and contractual provisions to protect our intellectual property rights in our internally developed technology and content. We may, over time, increase our investment in protecting our intellectual property through additional trademark, patent and other intellectual property filings that could be expensive and time-consuming. Effective trademark, trade- secret and copyright protection is expensive to develop and maintain, both in terms of initial and ongoing registration requirements and the costs of defending our rights. These measures, however, may not be sufficient to offer us meaningful protection. Additionally, we do not currently hold a patent or other registered or applied for intellectual property protection for Canopy. If we are unable to protect our intellectual property and other rights, particularly with respect to Canopy, our competitive position and our business could be harmed, as third parties may be able to commercialize and use technologies and software products that are substantially the same as ours without incurring the development and licensing costs that we have incurred. Any of our owned or licensed intellectual property rights could be challenged, invalidated, circumvented, infringed or misappropriated, our trade secrets and other confidential information could be disclosed in an unauthorized manner to third parties, or our intellectual property rights may not be sufficient to permit us to take advantage of current market trends or otherwise to provide us with competitive advantages, which could result in costly redesign efforts, discontinuance of certain offerings or other competitive harm. Monitoring unauthorized use of our intellectual property is difficult and costly. From time to time, we seek to analyze our competitors' services, and may in the future seek to enforce our rights against potential infringement. However, the steps we have taken to protect our intellectual property rights may not be adequate to prevent infringement or misappropriation of our intellectual property. We may not be able to detect unauthorized use of, or take appropriate steps to enforce, our intellectual property rights. Any inability to meaningfully protect our intellectual property rights could result in harm to our ability to compete and reduce demand for our technology. Moreover, our failure to develop and properly manage new intellectual property could adversely affect our market positions and business opportunities. Also, some of our services rely on technologies and software developed by or licensed from third parties, and we may not be able to maintain our relationships with such third parties or enter into similar relationships in the future on reasonable terms or at all. Uncertainty may result from changes to intellectual property legislation and from interpretations of intellectual property laws by applicable courts and agencies. Accordingly, despite our efforts, we may be unable to obtain and maintain the intellectual property rights necessary to provide us with a competitive advantage. Our failure to obtain, maintain and enforce our intellectual property rights could therefore have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may use open source software in connection with our services. Companies that incorporate open source software into their technologies have, from time to time, faced claims challenging the use of open source software and/or compliance with open source license terms. As a result, we could be subject to suits by parties claiming ownership of what we believe to be open source software or claiming noncompliance with open source licensing terms. Some open source software licenses require users who distribute software containing open source software to publicly disclose all or part of the source code to such software and/or make available any derivative works of the open source code, which could include valuable proprietary code of the user, on unfavorable terms or at no cost. While we monitor the use of open source software and try to ensure that none is used in a manner that would require us to disclose our internally developed source code or that would otherwise breach the terms of an open source agreement, such use could inadvertently occur, in part because open source license terms are often ambiguous. Any requirement to disclose our internally developed source code or pay damages for breach of contract could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations and could help our competitors develop services that are similar to or better than ours.

Our results of operations may be adversely impacted by adverse conditions affecting our centers, including severe weather events such as tornadoes and widespread winter storms, public health concerns such as contagious disease outbreaks, violence or threats of violence or other factors beyond our control that cause disruption of patient scheduling, displacement of our patients, employees and Care Teams, or force certain of our centers to close temporarily. Our future operating results may be adversely affected by these and other factors that disrupt the operation of our centers.