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

Company: Talkspace, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-03-12
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1
Chunk 12
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 and to operate in compliance with applicable laws and rules. Those laws and rules continue to evolve and can become more restrictive, and we therefore devote significant resources to monitoring developments in healthcare and medical practice regulation. As the applicable laws and rules change, we are likely to make conforming modifications in our business processes from time to time. In some jurisdictions where we operate, neither our current nor our anticipated business model has been the subject of formal judicial or administrative interpretation. We cannot be assured that a review of our business by courts or regulatory authorities will not result in determinations that could adversely affect our operations or that the healthcare regulatory environment will not change in a way that impacts our operations.

For an additional discussion of our regulatory environment, see “Risk Factors—Risk Related to Our Legal and Regulatory Environment” included in Part I, Item 1A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Telehealth and Teletherapy Provider Licensing, Medical Practice, Certification and Related Laws and Guidelines 

The practice of medicine, including the provision of therapy services, is subject to various federal, state and local certification and licensing laws, regulations, approvals and standards, relating to, among other things, the adequacy of medical care, the practice of medicine and licensed professional services (including the provision of remote care), equipment, personnel, operating policies and procedures and the prerequisites for the prescription of medication and ordering of tests. The application of some of these laws to telehealth and teletherapy is unclear, evolving, and subject to differing interpretations. 

Physicians, therapists and other licensed professionals who provide professional medical and therapy services to a patient via telehealth and teletherapy must, in most instances, hold a valid license to practice medicine or another licensed profession in the state in which the patient is located. We have established systems for ensuring that our affiliated professionals are appropriately licensed under applicable state law and that their provision of telehealth and teletherapy to our members occurs in each instance in compliance with applicable rules governing telehealth and teletherapy. Failure to comply with these laws and regulations could result in licensure actions against the professionals, our services being found to be non-reimbursable, or prior payments being subject to recoupments and can give rise to civil, criminal or administrative penalties. 

Corporate Practice of Medicine Laws in the U.S.; Fee Splitting 

We contract with therapists directly, or through their affiliated professional entities, as well as with professional associations and, professional corporations owned by affiliated physicians (collectively, “PCs”), to provide access to our platform and to provide therapy to