COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

Lease Commitments

The Company is committed under long-term operating leases with various expiration dates and varying renewal options. Minimum annual rentals, including renewal option periods (exclusive of taxes, insurance, and maintenance costs) under these leases beginning January 1, 2015, are as follows:



2015	$	31,140,000
2016	31,407,000
2017	31,808,000
2018	32,338,000
2019	33,300,000
Thereafter	432,138,000
	$	592,131,000

Under these lease agreements, the Company's lease payments are subject to periodic annual escalations as described below and in Note 1. Total lease expense for continuing operations was $26,151,000, $20,396,000 and $18,018,000 for 2014, 2013 and 2012, respectively. The accrued liability related to straight line rent was $9,579,000 and $10,759,000 at December 31, 2014 and 2013, respectively, and is included in “Other noncurrent liabilities” on the accompanying consolidated balance sheets.

Omega Master Lease

The Company leases 23 nursing centers from Omega under a Master Lease. On October 20, 2006, the Company and Omega entered into a Third Amendment to Consolidated Amended and Restated Master Lease (“Lease Amendment”) to extend the term of its facilities leased from Omega. The Lease amendment extended the term to September 30, 2018 and provided a renewal option of an additional twelve years. Consistent with prior terms, the lease provides for annual increases in lease payments equal to the lesser of two times the increase in the consumer price index or 3 percent. Under generally accepted accounting principles, the Company is required to report these scheduled rent increases on a straight line basis over the term of the lease including the 12 year term of the renewal period. These scheduled increases had no effect on cash rent payments at the start of the lease term and only result in additional cash outlay as the annual increases take effect each year.

The Company entered into an agreement with Omega to terminate its lease with respect to eleven nursing centers located in Arkansas and concurrently entered into operation transfer agreements to transfer the operations of each of those eleven centers to an operator selected by Omega. In connection with the closing of this transaction, the Company and Omega entered into the Thirteenth Amendment to the Master Lease. This amendment effectively modifies the terms of the Master Lease to terminate the terms surrounding the eleven nursing centers in Arkansas, and only as to those eleven centers, and effectively reduced the annual rent payable under the Master Lease by $5,000,000.

In addition to the amendment to terminate the portion of the lease with respect to the Arkansas centers, the Company further amended the Master Lease by entering into the Fifteenth Amendment to Consolidated Amended and Restated Master Lease as a result of the disposition and transfer of operations of the Company's West Virginia nursing centers. This amendment effectively modified the terms of the Master Lease to terminate the lease with regard to the two West Virginia nursing centers, and effectively reduced the annual rent payable under the Master Lease by $1,900,000.

The Master Lease requires the Company to fund annual capital expenditures related to the leased facilities at an amount currently equal to $434 per licensed bed. These amounts are subject to adjustment for increases in the Consumer Price Index. The Company is in compliance with the capital expenditure requirements. Total required capital expenditures during the remaining lease term and renewal options are $4,563,000. These capital expenditures are being depreciated on a straight-line basis over the shorter of the asset life or the appropriate lease term.

Upon expiration of the Master Lease or in the event of a default under the Master Lease, the Company is required to transfer all of the leasehold improvements, equipment, furniture and fixtures of the leased facilities to Omega. The assets to be transferred to Omega are being amortized on a straight-line basis over the shorter of the remaining lease term or estimated useful life, and will be fully depreciated upon the expiration of the lease. All of the equipment, inventory and other related assets of the facilities leased pursuant to the Master Lease have been pledged as security under the Master Lease. In addition, the Company has a letter of credit of $4,551,000 as a security deposit for the Company's leases with Omega, as described in Note 6.

Renovation Funding

In January 2013, we entered into an amendment to the Master lease with Omega under which Omega agreed to provide an additional $5,000,000 to fund renovations to two nursing centers located in Texas that are leased from Omega. The annual base rent related to these facilities will be increased to reflect the amount of capital improvements to the respective facilities as the related expenditures are made. The increase is based on a rate of 10.25% per year of the amount financed under this amendment. This arrangement is similar to amendments entered into in previous years that provided financing totaling $20,000,000 that was used to fund renovations at fourteen nursing centers leased from Omega.

The Company completed an expansion to one of its facilities by making use of fifteen licensed beds it acquired in 2005. This expansion project was funded by Omega with the renovation funding previously described. This project increased capacity and footprint compared to the Company's previous lessor-funded facility projects which included renovations of existing facilities, but did not increase capacity. Accordingly, the costs incurred to expand the facility are recorded as a leasehold improvement asset with the amounts reimbursed by Omega for this project included as a long-term liability and amortized to rent expense over the remaining term of the lease. The capitalized leasehold improvements and lessor reimbursed costs are being amortized over the initial lease term ending in September 2018. The leasehold improvement asset and accumulated amortization are as follows:



	December 31
	2014			2013
Leasehold improvement	$	921,000		$	921,000
Accumulated Amortization	(526,000		)	(421,000		)
Net Intangible	$	395,000		$	500,000

Other Operating Leases

In addition to the Master Lease, the Company currently leases sixteen other nursing centers which primarily operate under individual leases. The lease terms for these centers range from nine years to twenty years including renewal options. While the individual lease terms vary from center to center, the majority of the lease include annual lease increases which are capped and, in most cases, are subject to adjustment for increases in the Consumer Price Index. All operating leases are accounted for using a straight-line rent methodology.

Insurance Matters

Professional Liability and Other Liability Insurance

The Company has professional liability insurance coverage for its nursing centers that, based on historical claims experience, is likely to be substantially less than the claims that are expected to be incurred. Effective July 1, 2013, the Company established a wholly-owned, offshore limited purpose insurance subsidiary, SHC Risk Carriers, Inc. (“SHC”), to replace some of the expiring commercial policies. SHC covers losses up to specified limits per occurrence. All of the Company's nursing centers in Florida, Tennessee, and West Virginia are now covered under the captive insurance policies along with most of the nursing centers in Alabama, Kentucky, and Texas. The insurance coverage provided for these centers under the SHC policy includes coverage limits of at least $500,000 per medical incident with a sublimit per center of $1,000,000 and total annual aggregate policy limits of $5,000,000. All other centers within the Company’s portfolio are covered through various commercial insurance policies which provide similar coverage limits per medical incident, per location, and on an aggregate basis for covered centers.

Reserve for Estimated Self-Insured Professional Liability Claims

Because the Company’s actual liability for existing and anticipated professional liability and general liability claims will exceed the Company’s limited insurance coverage, the Company has recorded total liabilities for reported and incurred, but not reported claims of $25,163,000 as of December 31, 2014. This accrual includes estimates of liability for incurred but not reported claims, estimates of liability for reported but unresolved claims, actual liabilities related to settlements, including settlements to be paid over time, and estimates of legal costs related to these claims. All losses are projected on an undiscounted basis and are presented without regard to any potential insurance recoveries. Amounts are added to the accrual for estimates of anticipated liability for claims incurred during each period, and amounts are deducted from the accrual for settlements paid on existing claims during each period.

The Company evaluates the adequacy of this liability on a quarterly basis. Semi-annually, the Company retains a third-party actuarial firm to assist in the evaluation of this reserve. Since May 2012, Merlinos & Associates, Inc. (“Merlinos”) has assisted management in the preparation of the appropriate accrual for incurred but not reported general and professional liability claims based on data furnished as of May 31 and November 30 of each year. Merlinos primarily utilizes historical data regarding the frequency and cost of the Company’s past claims over a multi-year period, industry data and information regarding the number of occupied beds to develop its estimates of the Company’s ultimate professional liability cost for current periods. The Actuarial Division of Willis of Tennessee, Inc. assisted the Company with all estimates prior to May 2012.

On a quarterly basis, the Company obtains reports of asserted claims and lawsuits incurred. These reports, which are provided by the Company’s insurers and a third party claims administrator, contain information relevant to the actual expense already incurred with each claim as well as the third-party administrator’s estimate of the anticipated total cost of the claim. This information is reviewed by the Company quarterly and provided to the actuary semi-annually. Based on the Company’s evaluation of the actual claim information obtained, the semi-annual estimates received from the third-party actuary, the amounts paid and committed for settlements of claims and on estimates regarding the number and cost of additional claims anticipated in the future, the reserve estimate for a particular period may be revised upward or downward on a quarterly basis. Any increase in the accrual decreases results of operations in the period and any reduction in the accrual increases results of operations during the period.

The Company’s cash expenditures for self-insured professional liability costs from continuing operations were $4,757,000, $4,485,000, and $1,805,000 for the years ended December 31, 2014, 2013 and 2012, respectively.

The Company follows the FASB Accounting Standards Update, “Presentation of Insurance Claims and Related Insurance Recoveries,” that clarifies that a health care entity should not net insurance recoveries against a related professional liability claim and that the amount of the claim liability should be determined without consideration of insurance recoveries. Accordingly, the Company has recorded estimated insurance recovery receivables included within "Other Current Assets" on the Consolidated Balance Sheet of $246,000 at December 31, 2014 and $440,000 at December 31, 2013, respectively.

Although the Company adjusts its accrual for professional and general liability claims on a quarterly basis and retains a third-party actuarial firm semi-annually to assist management in estimating the appropriate accrual, professional and general liability claims are inherently uncertain, and the liability associated with anticipated claims is very difficult to estimate. Professional liability cases have a long cycle from the date of an incident to the date a case is resolved, and final determination of the Company’s actual liability for claims incurred in any given period is a process that takes years. As a result, the Company’s actual liabilities may vary significantly from the accrual, and the amount of the accrual has and may continue to fluctuate by a material amount in any given period. Each change in the amount of this accrual will directly affect the Company’s reported earnings and financial position for the period in which the change in accrual is made.

Other Insurance

With respect to workers’ compensation insurance, substantially all of the Company’s employees became covered under either an indemnity insurance plan or state-sponsored programs in May 1997. The Company is completely self-insured for workers’ compensation exposures prior to May 1997. The Company has been and remains a non-subscriber to the Texas workers’ compensation system and is, therefore, completely self-insured for employee injuries with respect to its Texas operations. From June 30, 2003 until June 30, 2007, the Company’s workers’ compensation insurance programs provided coverage for claims incurred with premium adjustments depending on incurred losses. For the period from July 1, 2008 through December 31, 2013, the Company is covered by a prefunded deductible policy. Under this policy, the Company is self-insured for the first $500,000 per claim, subject to an aggregate maximum of $3,000,000. The Company funds a loss fund account with the insurer to pay for claims below the deductible. The Company accounts for premium expense under this policy based on its estimate of the level of claims subject to the policy deductibles expected to be incurred. The liability for workers’ compensation claims is $250,000 at December 31, 2014. The Company has a non-current receivable for workers’ compensation policies covering previous years of $1,357,000 as of December 31, 2014. The non-current receivable is a function of payments paid to the Company’s insurance carrier in excess of the estimated level of claims expected to be incurred.

As of December 31, 2014, the Company is self-insured for health insurance benefits for certain employees and dependents for amounts up to $175,000 per individual annually. The Company provides reserves for the settlement of outstanding self-insured health claims at amounts believed to be adequate. The liability for reported claims and estimates for incurred but unreported claims is $687,000 at December 31, 2014. The differences between actual settlements and reserves are included in expense in the period finalized.

Employment Agreements

The Company has employment agreements with certain members of management that provide for the payment to these members of amounts up to 2.0 times their annual salary in the event of a termination without cause, a constructive discharge (as defined in each employee agreement), or upon a change in control of the Company (as defined in each employee agreement). The maximum contingent liability under these agreements is $1,767,000 as of December 31, 2014. The terms of such agreements are from 1 to 3 years and automatically renew for 1 year if not terminated by the employee or the Company. In addition, upon the occurrence of any triggering event, these certain members of management may elect to require the Company to purchase equity awards granted to them for a purchase price equal to the difference in the fair market value of the Company's common stock at the date of termination versus the stated equity award exercise price. Based on the closing price of our common stock on December 31, 2014, there is $366,000 of contingent liabilities for the repurchase of the equity grants.

No amounts have been accrued for these contingent liabilities for members of management the Company currently employs.

Health Care Industry and Legal Proceedings

The provision of health care services entails an inherent risk of liability. Participants in the health care industry are subject to lawsuits alleging malpractice, violations of false claims acts, product liability, or related legal theories, many of which involve large claims and significant defense costs. Like many other companies engaged in the long-term care profession in the United States, we have numerous pending liability claims, disputes and legal actions for professional liability and other related issues. It is expected that we will continue to be subject to such suits as a result of the nature of our business. Further, as with all health care providers, we are periodically subject to regulatory actions seeking fines and penalties for alleged violations of health care laws and are potentially subject to the increased scrutiny of regulators for issues related to compliance with health care fraud and abuse laws and with respect to the quality of care provided to residents of our facility. Like other health care providers, in the ordinary course of our business, we are also subject to claims made by employees and other disputes and litigation arising from the conduct of our business.

As of December 31, 2014, we are engaged in 51 professional liability lawsuits. Ten lawsuits are currently scheduled for trial or arbitration during the next twelve months, and it is expected that additional cases will be set for trial or hearing. The ultimate results of any of our professional liability claims and disputes cannot be predicted. We have limited, and sometimes no, professional liability insurance with regard to most of these claims. A significant judgment entered against us in one or more of these legal actions could have a material adverse impact on our financial position and cash flows.

In July 2013, the Company learned that the United States Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee (DOJ) had commenced a civil investigation of potential violations of the False Claims Act (FCA) at two of the Company's facilities. Notice to the Company came in the form of a civil investigative demand (CID), a form of subpoena, to produce certain documents relating to our practices and policies for rehabilitation and other services since 2010 at those two facilities. The Company responded to this limited CID and has cooperated with the DOJ in connection with its investigation. In October 2014, the Company received a second CID indicating that the DOJ’s investigation now covers all of the Company’s facilities, but only directing the Company to produce material related to a total of six of the Company's facilities. The Company has also received from the OIG requests for the medical records of certain patients. The Company intends to respond to the most recent requests and to continue cooperating with the DOJ and the OIG in the investigation. The Company cannot predict the outcome of this investigation or any possible related proceedings, and the outcome could have a materially adverse effect on the Company, including the imposition of damages, fines, penalties and/or a corporate integrity agreement, but the Company is committed to provide caring and professional services to its patients and residents in compliance with applicable laws and regulations.

In November 2012, a purported stockholder class action complaint was filed in the Chancery Court for Williamson County, Tennessee (21st Judicial District) against the Company's Board of Directors. This action alleges that the Board of Directors breached its fiduciary duties to stockholders related to its response to certain expressions of interest in a potential strategic transaction from Covington Investments, LLC (“Covington”). The complaint asserts that the Board failed to negotiate or otherwise appropriately consider Covington's proposals. Plaintiff has filed a motion seeking to certify the action as a class action, which is not currently set for hearing. On May 23, 2014, the plaintiff and defendants entered into a memorandum of understanding outlining the terms of a settlement subject to the execution of definitive documentation and court approval. The agreement provides that the Company will adopt and maintain certain corporate governance procedures for a period of at least three years. This settlement has not yet been approved by the court. The settlement hearing is scheduled for April 7, 2015.

In June 2012, a collective action complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas against us and certain of our subsidiaries. The complaint alleges that the defendants violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and seeks unpaid overtime wages as well as liquidated damages. The Court conditionally certified a nationwide class of all of the Company's hourly employees, but recently decertified the class. After the class was decertified, the law firm initiating the action filed two new separate actions in federal court in Tennessee and Texas, naming as plaintiffs many of the individuals who had filed claims in the original Arkansas action. The new actions assert the same claim as was asserted in the original Arkansas action. The Company intends to defend these lawsuits vigorously.

In January 2009, a purported class action complaint was filed in the Circuit Court of Garland County, Arkansas against the Company and certain of its subsidiaries and Garland Nursing & Rehabilitation Center (the “Facility”). The complaint alleges that the defendants breached their statutory and contractual obligations to the patients of the Facility over the five-year period prior to the filing of the complaints. The lawsuit remains in its early stages and has not yet been certified by the court as a class action. The Company intends to defend the lawsuit vigorously.

We cannot currently predict with certainty the ultimate impact of any of the above cases on our financial condition, cash flows or results of operations. Our reserve for professional liability expenses does not include any amounts for the collective actions, the pending DOJ investigation, the purported class action against the Arkansas facilities or the lawsuit filed against our directors. An unfavorable outcome in any of these lawsuits or any of our professional liability actions, any regulatory action, any investigation or lawsuit alleging violations of fraud and abuse laws or of elderly abuse laws or any state or Federal False Claims Act case could subject us to fines, penalties and damages, including exclusion from the Medicare or Medicaid programs, and could have a material adverse impact on our financial condition, cash flows or results of operations.

Reimbursement

The Company is unable to predict what, if any, reform proposals or reimbursement limitations will be implemented in the future, or the effect such changes would have on its operations. For the year ended December 31, 2014, the Company derived 29.6% and 48.4% of its total patient and resident revenues related to continuing operations from the Medicare and Medicaid programs, respectively.

The Company will attempt to increase revenues from non-governmental sources to the extent capital is available to do so, if at all. However, private payors, including Managed Care payors, are increasingly demanding that providers accept discounted fees or assume all or a portion of the financial risk for the delivery of health care services. Such measures may include capitated payments, which can result in significant losses to health care providers if patients require expensive treatment not adequately covered by the capitated rate.