Company: TALK
Filing Date: 2025-03-12
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0000950170-25-038107
Chunk: 13

Company: Talkspace, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-03-12
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1
Chunk 13
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 their patients. We have entered into MSAs with TPN and the PC entities pursuant to which we provide billing, scheduling and a wide range of other administrative and management services in exchange for management and other service fees. These contractual relationships are subject to various state laws that prohibit fee splitting or the corporate practice of the applicable professional services by lay entities or persons and that are intended to prevent unlicensed persons from interfering with or influencing a licensed professional’s clinical judgment. Activities other than those directly related to the delivery of healthcare may be considered an element of the practice of the applicable profession in many states. Under the corporate practice of doctrines of certain states, decisions and activities such as contracting, setting rates and the hiring and management of personnel may fall under the restrictions on the corporate practice prohibition.

State corporate practice doctrines and fee splitting laws and rules vary from state to state. In addition, these requirements are subject to broad interpretation and enforcement by state regulators. Some of these requirements may apply to us even if we do not have a physical presence in the state, based solely on our engagement of a provider licensed in the state or the provision of telehealth and teletherapy to a resident of the state. Thus, regulatory authorities or other parties, including our providers, may assert that, despite these arrangements, we are engaged in the corporate practice of medicine or a licensed profession or that our contractual arrangements with affiliated providers constitute unlawful fee splitting. In such event, failure to comply could lead to adverse judicial or administrative action against us and/or our affiliated providers, civil, criminal or administrative penalties, receipt of cease and desist orders from state regulators, loss of provider licenses, the need to make changes to the terms of engagement of our providers that interfere with our business, and other materially adverse consequences.

7

U.S. Federal and State Fraud and Abuse Laws 

With the enrollment in Medicare, some services are currently reimbursed by government healthcare programs, which could expose our business to broadly applicable fraud and abuse laws and other healthcare laws and regulations that would regulate the business. Applicable and potentially applicable U.S. federal and state healthcare laws and regulations include, but are not limited to, those discussed below.

Federal Stark Law 

We are subject to the federal self-referral prohibitions, commonly known as the Stark Law. Where applicable, this law prohibits a physician from referring Medicare patients to an entity providing “designated health services” such as laboratory and other diagnostic services and prescription drugs that are furnished at an entity if the physician or a member of such physician’s immediate family has a “financial relationship