AMN 2017 Annual Report

6 • Supply of Healthcare Professionals . While reports differ on the existence and extent of current and future healthcare professional shortages, many regions of the United States are experiencing a shortage of physicians and nurses that we believe will persist in the future. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, the physician shortage is expected to range from 61,700 to 94,700 physicians by 2025. In nursing, geographic and specialty-based shortages are also expected through 2025. Demand for our services is positively correlated with activity in the permanent labor market. When nurse vacancy rates increase, temporary nurse staffing orders typically increase as well. • General Demand for Healthcare Services . Changes in demand for healthcare services, particularly at acute healthcare hospitals and inpatient facilities, affect the demand for our services. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the uninsured population declined by more than 20 million people between the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010 and 2017. Growth of the insured population contributed to a relatively sharp increase in national healthcare expenditures beginning in 2014. Current administration policy efforts may negatively impact this trend. Additionally, the U.S. population continues to age, and medical technology advances are contributing to longer life expectancy. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of adults age 65 or older, who are three times more likely to have a hospital stay and twice as likely to visit a physician office compared with the rest of the population, is on pace to grow an estimated 36% between 2015 and 2025. This may place upward pressure on demand for the services we provide in the coming years. Not only does the age-demographic shift affect healthcare services demand, it also complicates the supply of skilled labor, as an increasing number of clinicians are aging out of the workforce. • Adoption of Workforce Solutions . We believe healthcare organizations are increasingly seeking sophisticated, innovative and economically beneficial workforce solutions that improve patient outcomes. We believe the prevalence of workforce solutions, such as MSP, VMS, RPO and workforce optimization tools, in the healthcare industry is still underpenetrated in comparison with non-healthcare sectors. During 2017, approximately 40% of our consolidated revenues were generated through MSP relationships, which we believe is higher than the industry average. The changes in reimbursement methodologies, coupled with clinical labor representing a significant portion of a healthcare facility’s cost structure, may accelerate the adoption of strategic outsourced workforce solutions, which would likely place upward pressure on the demand for the services we provide. Industry Competition The healthcare temporary staffing and workforce solutions industry is highly competitive. We compete in national, regional and local markets for healthcare facility clients and healthcare professionals. We believe that our size, scale and sophisticated candidate acquisition processes give us access to a larger pool of available candidates than our competitors, while substantial word-of-mouth referral networks and recognizable brand names enable us to attract, engage, and grow a diverse, high-quality network of healthcare professionals. We also believe that our comprehensive suite of workforce solutions, our commitment to quality and service excellence, our execution capabilities, our national footprint and our access to a wide network of high-quality talent create a compelling value proposition for our clients and prospective clients. We believe that our size, geographic scope, broad spectrum of workforce solutions, talented and passionate team members and brand reputation give us distinct, scalable advantages over smaller, local and regional competitors and companies whose service offerings, sales and execution capabilities are not as robust. The breadth of our services allows us to provide even greater value through a more strategic, consultative and solution-oriented approach to our clients. Larger firms, such as us, also generally have a deeper, more comprehensive infrastructure with a more established operating model and processes that provide the long-term stability and foundation for quality standards recognition, such as the Joint Commission staffing agency certification and National Committee for Quality Assurance Credentials Verification Organization certification. We are the largest provider of nurse and allied healthcare staffing in the United States. In the nurse and allied healthcare staffing business, we compete with a few national competitors together with numerous smaller, regional and local companies, particularly in the per diem business. We believe we are the third largest provider of locum tenens staffing services in the United States. The locum tenens staffing market consists of many small- to mid-sized companies with only a relatively small number of national competitors of which we are one. The physician permanent placement services market where we believe we hold a strong leading position is also highly fragmented and consists of many small- to mid-sized companies that do not have a national footprint. Our competitors vary by segment and include CHG Healthcare Services, Cross Country Healthcare, Jackson Healthcare, Aya Healthcare, HealthTrust Workforce Solutions, and Aureus Medical Group. Licensure For Our Business Some states require state licensure for businesses that employ, assign and/or place healthcare professionals. We believe we are currently licensed in all states that require such licenses and take measures to ensure compliance with all state licensure requirements. In addition, the healthcare professionals who we employ or independently contract with are required to be individually licensed or certified under applicable state laws. We believe we take appropriate and reasonable steps to validate that our healthcare professionals possess all necessary licenses and certifications. We design our internal processes to ensure