Company: TEM
Filing Date: 2025-02-24
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0000950170-25-025603
Chunk: 83

Company: Tempus AI, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-02-24
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1
Chunk 83
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 the program. This may result in scrutiny by payers of our financial assistance program and could result in recoupment actions or termination of coverage of our tests. 

Our claims for reimbursement have in the past been denied and may again in the future be denied, and we have needed, and again may need, to appeal such denials in order to get paid. Such appeals may not result in payment. Payers may perform audits of historically paid claims and attempt to recoup funds years after the funds were initially distributed if the payers believe the funds were paid in error or determine that our tests were medically unnecessary. If a payer’s audit of our claims results in a negative finding, and we are unable to reverse the finding through appeal, any subsequent recoupment could result in a material adverse effect on our revenue. Additionally, in some cases commercial payers for whom we are not a participating provider may elect at any time to review claims previously paid and determine the amount they paid was excessive. In these situations, the payer typically notifies us of its decision and then offsets the amount it determines to be overpaid against amounts it owes us on current claims. We do not have a mechanism to dispute these retroactive adjustments, and we cannot predict when, or how often, a payer might engage in these reviews, as historic success and payments are not indicative of future success of and payments from such appeals. 

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Our efforts to become a participating provider of a number of commercial payers may not be successful. When we contract with a payer as a participating provider, reimbursements by the payer are generally made pursuant to a negotiated fee schedule and are limited to only covered indications or where prior approval has been obtained. 

Although we are a participating provider with several commercial payers, some large commercial payers have issued non-coverage policies that consider tissue and liquid comprehensive genomic profile testing, including certain of our Genomics tests, as experimental or investigational. If we are not successful in obtaining coverage from such payers, or if other payers issue similar non-coverage policies, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. 

Coverage and reimbursement are ever changing, and we are not in control of how our competitors’ coverage and pricing strategies are established. Some of our competitors have widespread brand recognition and substantially greater financial and technical resources and development, production and marketing capabilities than we do. Others may develop lower-priced, less complex tests that payers and healthcare professionals could view as functionally equivalent to our products, which could force us