2. ACCOUNTING FOR STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION

Stock-based compensation awards have been granted under the Community Health Systems, Inc. Amended and Restated 2000 Stock Option and Award Plan, amended and restated as of March 20, 2013 (the “2000 Plan”), and the Community Health Systems, Inc. Amended and Restated 2009 Stock Option and Award Plan, which was amended and restated as of March 14, 2018 and approved by the Company’s stockholders at the annual meeting of stockholders held on May 15, 2018 (the “2009 Plan”).

The 2000 Plan allowed for the grant of incentive stock options intended to qualify under Section 422 of the Internal Revenue Code (the “IRC”), as well as stock options which do not so qualify, stock appreciation rights, restricted stock, restricted stock units, performance-based shares or units and other share awards. Prior to being amended in 2009, the 2000 Plan also allowed for the grant of phantom stock. Persons eligible to receive grants under the 2000 Plan include the Company’s directors, officers, employees and consultants. All options granted under the 2000 Plan have been “nonqualified” stock options for tax purposes. Generally, vesting of these granted options occurs in one-third increments on each of the first three anniversaries of the award date. Options granted prior to 2005 have a 10-year contractual term, options granted in 2005 through 2007 have an eight-year contractual term and options granted in 2008 through 2011 have a 10-year contractual term. The Company has not granted stock option awards under the 2000 Plan since 2011. Pursuant to the amendment and restatement of the 2000 Plan dated March 20, 2013, no further grants will be awarded under the 2000 Plan.

The 2009 Plan provides for the grant of incentive stock options intended to qualify under Section 422 of the IRC and for the grant of stock options which do not so qualify, stock appreciation rights, restricted stock, restricted stock units, performance-based shares or units and other share awards. Persons eligible to receive grants under the 2009 Plan include the Company’s directors, officers, employees and consultants. To date, all options granted under the 2009 Plan have been “nonqualified” stock options for tax purposes. Generally, vesting of these granted options occurs in one-third increments on each of the first three anniversaries of the award date. Options granted in 2011 or later have a 10-year contractual term. As of December 31, 2018, 8,639,000 shares of unissued common stock were reserved for future grants under the 2009 Plan.

The exercise price of all options granted under the 2000 Plan and the 2009 Plan has been equal to the fair value of the Company’s common stock on the option grant date.

The following table reflects the impact of total compensation expense related to stock-based equity plans on the reported operating results for the respective periods (in millions):



	Year Ended December 31,
	2018		2017		2016
Effect on loss from continuing operations before
income taxes	$	(13)	$	(24)	$	(46)
Effect on net loss	$	(10)	$	(16)	$	(27)

At December 31, 2018, $12 million of unrecognized stock-based compensation expense related to outstanding unvested restricted stock and restricted stock units (the terms of which are summarized below) was expected to be recognized over a weighted-average period of 21 months. There is no expense to be recognized related to stock options. There were no modifications to awards during the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017. There were no modifications to awards during the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, other than those required by the Employee Matters Agreement (“EMA”) entered into as part of the spinoff of Quorum Health Corporation (“QHC”), as further discussed below.

Options outstanding and exercisable under the 2000 Plan and the 2009 Plan as of December 31, 2018, and changes during each of the years in the three-year period prior to December 31, 2018, were as follows (in millions, except share and per share data):




				Weighted-	Aggregate
				Average	Intrinsic
		Weighted-		Remaining	Value as of
		Average		Contractual	December 31,
	Shares	Exercise Price		Term	2018
Outstanding at December 31, 2015	1,232,158	$	31.65
Granted	-		-
Exercised	-		-
Forfeited and cancelled	(46,838)		27.44
Outstanding at December 31, 2016	1,185,320		28.12
Granted	-		-
Exercised	-		-
Forfeited and cancelled	(69,653)		33.52
Outstanding at December 31, 2017	1,115,667		31.56
Granted	-		-
Exercised	-		-
Forfeited and cancelled	(490,729)		32.01
Outstanding at December 31, 2018	624,938	$	31.21	1.9 years	$	-
Exercisable at December 31, 2018	624,938	$	31.21	1.9 years	$	-

The weighted-average exercise prices in the table above for periods prior to the April 29, 2016 spin-off of QHC reflect the historical prices at those dates. No stock options were granted during the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016. The aggregate intrinsic value (calculated as the number of in-the-money stock options multiplied by the difference between the Company’s closing stock price on the last trading day of the reporting period ($2.82) and the exercise price of the respective stock options) in the table above represents the amount that would have been received by the option holders had all option holders exercised their options on December 31, 2018. This amount changes based on the market value of the Company’s common stock. There were no options exercised during the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016. The aggregate intrinsic value of options vested and expected to vest approximates that of the outstanding options.

In accordance with the terms of the EMA, on April 29, 2016, the exercise prices of all stock options outstanding as of that date were modified to reflect the reduction in the Company’s stock price that occurred as a result of the distribution of QHC to the Company’s stockholders in order to maintain a consistent intrinsic value before and following the QHC distribution. There were no other modifications to the term or number of the outstanding options. The Company evaluated the fair value of the stock options immediately before and after the exercise price modification, and concluded that no incremental stock compensation expense should be recorded.

The Company has also awarded restricted stock under the 2000 Plan and the 2009 Plan to employees of certain subsidiaries. The restrictions on these shares generally lapse in one-third increments on each of the first three anniversaries of the award date. Certain of the restricted stock awards granted to the Company’s senior executives contain a performance objective that must be met in addition to any time-based vesting requirements. If the applicable performance objective is not attained, the awards will be forfeited in their entirety. For such performance-based awards granted prior to 2017, once the target performance objective was attained, restrictions lapse in one-third increments on each of the first three anniversaries of the award date. For performance-based awards granted since 2017, the performance objectives are measured cumulatively over a three-year period. With respect to these performance-based awards granted since 2017, if the applicable target performance objective is met at the end of three years, then the portion of the restricted stock award subject to such performance objective will vest in full. Additionally, for these awards, based on the level of achievement for the applicable performance objective within the parameters specified in the award, the number of shares to be issued in connection with the vesting of the award will be adjusted to decrease or increase the number of shares specified in the original award. Notwithstanding the above-mentioned performance objectives and vesting requirements, the restrictions with respect to restricted stock granted under the 2000 Plan and the 2009 Plan will lapse earlier in the event of death, disability or termination of employment by the Company for any reason other than for cause of the holder of the restricted stock, or change in control of the Company. Restricted stock awards subject to performance standards that have not yet been satisfied are not considered outstanding for purposes of determining earnings per share until the performance objectives have been satisfied.

On April 29, 2016, the Company cancelled 106,005 restricted stock awards from the March 1, 2016 grant that were held by former employees whose employment with the Company terminated as the result of commencing employment with QHC in connection with the spin-off. This cancellation did not include the issuance of replacement awards by the Company. As a result, the Company recorded approximately $2 million of compensation expense related to the unrecognized stock compensation expense for those awards at the cancellation date. This expense is recorded as part of the costs related to the spin-off of QHC presented in other operating expenses on the accompanying consolidated statement of loss for the year ended December 31, 2016.

Restricted stock outstanding under the 2000 Plan and the 2009 Plan as of December 31, 2018, and changes during each of the years in the three-year period prior to December 31, 2018, were as follows:



		Weighted-
		Average Grant
	Shares	Date Fair Value
Unvested at December 31, 2015	2,845,579	$	44.18
Granted	1,611,049		14.11
Vested	(1,343,003)		43.39
Forfeited	(144,340)		19.99
Unvested at December 31, 2016	2,969,285		29.39
Granted	1,502,000		9.10
Vested	(1,586,855)		33.91
Forfeited	(240,511)		18.20
Unvested at December 31, 2017	2,643,919		16.17
Granted	1,987,000		4.54
Vested	(1,154,670)		23.22
Forfeited	(167,342)		10.29
Unvested at December 31, 2018	3,308,907		7.00

Restricted stock units (“RSUs”) have been granted to the Company’s outside directors under the 2000 Plan and the 2009 Plan. On March 1, 2017, each of the Company’s then-serving outside directors who were expected to stand for re-election at the 2017 Annual Meeting of Stockholders received a grant under the 2009 Plan of 18,498 RSUs. On March 1, 2018, each of the Company’s outside directors received a grant under the 2009 Plan of 37,118 RSUs. On March 1, 2016, each of the Company’s outside directors received a grant under the 2009 Plan of 11,017 RSUs. On March 1, 2017, each of the Company’s outside directors received a grant under the 2009 Plan of 18,498 RSUs. Each of the 2016, 2017 and 2018 grants had a grant date fair value of approximately $170,000. Vesting of these RSUs occurs in one-third increments on each of the first three anniversaries of the award date or upon the director’s earlier cessation of service on the board, other than for cause.

In connection with the spin-off of QHC, holders of outstanding RSUs were credited with a total of 22,021 incremental RSUs at a ratio calculated to maintain a consistent intrinsic value before and following the QHC distribution. There were no other changes to the awards and the incremental RSUs will vest in accordance with the initial vesting period of the corresponding original award.

RSUs outstanding under the 2000 Plan and the 2009 Plan as of December 31, 2018, and changes during each of the years in the three-year period prior to December 31, 2018, were as follows:



		Weighted-
		Average Grant
	Shares	Date Fair Value
Unvested at December 31, 2015	42,678	$	44.59
Granted	99,140		16.90
Vested	(21,432)		43.87
Forfeited	-		-
Unvested at December 31, 2016	120,386		22.06
Granted	110,988		9.19
Vested	(59,296)		24.90
Forfeited	-		-
Unvested at December 31, 2017	172,078		12.78
Granted	296,944		4.58
Vested	(71,116)		15.51
Forfeited	-		-
Unvested at December 31, 2018	397,906		6.17