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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

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FORM 20-F

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(Mark One)

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☐REGISTRATION STATEMENT PURSUANT TO SECTION 12(b) OR (g) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

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or

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☒ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

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For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021

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or

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☐TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

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or

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☐SHELL COMPANY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

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Date of event requiring this shell company report

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Commission file number 001-32749

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FRESENIUS MEDICAL CARE AG & Co. KGaA

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

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FRESENIUS MEDICAL CARE AG & Co. KGaA

(Translation of Registrant’s name into English)

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Germany

(Jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)

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Else-Kröner Strasse 1, 61352 Bad Homburg, Germany

(Address of principal executive offices)

Josef Dinger, +49 6172 608 2522, Josef.Dinger@FMC-AG.com,

Else-Kröner Strasse 1, 61352 Bad Homburg, Germany

(Name, Telephone, E-mail and/or Facsimile number and Address of Company Contact Person)

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Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

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Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

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Securities for which there is a reporting obligation pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Act: None

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Indicate the number of outstanding shares of each of the issuer’s classes of capital or common stock as of the close of the period covered by the annual report:

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Ordinary Shares, no par value: 293,004,339

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Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Security Act.

☒ Yes    ☐ No

If this report is an annual or transition report, indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

☐ Yes    ☒ No

Note – Checking the box above will not relieve any registrant required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 from their obligations under those Sections.

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Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports) and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.

☒ Yes    ☐ No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Date File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files).

☒ Yes    ☐ No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer or an emerging growth company. See definition of “large accelerated filer, “accelerated filer” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

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If an emerging growth company that prepares its financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards^† provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.       ☐

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†      The term “new or revised financial accounting standard” refers to any update issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board to its Accounting Standards Codification after April 5, 2012.

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Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report.  ☒

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Indicate by check mark which basis of accounting the registrant has used to prepare the financial statements included in this filing:

☐    U.S. GAAP

☒    International Financial Reporting Standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board

☐    Other

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If “Other” has been checked in response to the previous question, indicate by check mark which financial statement item the registrant has elected to follow:

☐    Item 17

☐    Item 18

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If this is an annual report, indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).

☐ Yes    ☒ No

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Certain defined terms

In this report, (1) the “Company” refers to both Fresenius Medical Care AG prior to the transformation of legal form discussed in Item 4.A, “Information on the Company – History and development of the Company – History” below and to Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA or Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA and its subsidiaries on a consolidated basis after the transformation; (2) “we”, “us” and “our” refer either to the Company or the Company and its subsidiaries on a consolidated basis both before and after the transformation, as the context requires; (3) “Fresenius Medical Care AG” and “FMC-AG” refer to the Company as a German stock corporation before the transformation of legal form and “FMC-AG & Co. KGaA” refers to the Company as a German partnership limited by shares after the transformation and (4) “FMCH” and “D-GmbH” refer, respectively, to Fresenius Medical Care Holdings, Inc., the holding company for our North American operations and to Fresenius Medical Care Deutschland GmbH, one of our German subsidiaries. In addition, “Fresenius SE” and “Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA” refer to Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA. Fresenius SE owns 100% of the share capital of our general partner and 94,380,382 of our shares as of February 15, 2022, 32.2% based on 293,004,339 outstanding shares, as reported herein. In this report, we use Fresenius SE to refer to that company as a partnership limited by shares, effective on and after January 28, 2011, as well as both before and after the conversion of Fresenius AG from a stock corporation into a European Company on July 13, 2007. Each of “Management AG”, “FMC Management AG” and the “General Partner” refers to Fresenius Medical Care Management AG, FMC-AG & Co. KGaA’s general partner and a wholly owned subsidiary of Fresenius SE. “Management Board” and “our Management Board” refer to the members of the management board of Management AG and, except as otherwise specified, “Supervisory Board” and “our Supervisory Board” refer to the supervisory board of FMC-AG & Co. KGaA. “Ordinary shares” refers to the ordinary shares prior to the conversion in 2013 of our preference shares into ordinary shares. Following the conversion, we refer to our ordinary shares as “shares.” The term “North America Segment” refers to our North America operating segment; the term “EMEA Segment” refers to the Europe, Middle East and Africa operating segment, the term “Asia-Pacific Segment” refers to our Asia-Pacific operating segment, and the term “Latin America Segment” refers to our Latin America operating segment. The term “Corporate” includes certain headquarters’ overhead charges, including accounting and finance, centrally managed production, production asset management, quality and supply chain management, procurement related to production as well as research and development and our Global Medical Office function, which seek to optimize medical treatments and clinical processes within the Company. The abbreviations “THOUS” and “M” are used to denote the presentation of amounts in thousands and millions, respectively. All references in this report to the notes to our financial statements are to the notes to the consolidated financial statements included in this report.

Forward-looking statements

This report contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). When used in this report, the words “outlook,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “seeks,” “estimates” and similar expressions are generally intended to identify forward looking statements. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, many of which cannot be predicted with accuracy and some of which might not even be anticipated, and future events and actual results, financial and otherwise, could differ materially from those set forth in or contemplated by the forward-looking statements contained elsewhere in this report. We have based these forward-looking statements on current estimates and assumptions made to the best of our knowledge. By their nature, such forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors which could cause actual results, including our financial condition and profitability, to differ materially, positively or negatively, relative to the results expressly or implicitly described in or suggested by these statements. Moreover, forward-looking estimates or predictions derived from third parties’ studies or information may prove to be inaccurate. Consequently, we cannot give any assurance regarding the future accuracy of the opinions set forth in this report or the actual occurrence of the projected developments described herein. In addition, even if our future results meet the expectations expressed here, those results may not be indicative of our performance in future periods.

These risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other factors, including associated costs, could cause actual results to differ from our projected results and include, among others, the following:

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Important factors that could contribute to such differences are noted in Item 3.D, “Key Information – Risk factors,” Item 4B, “Information on the Company – Business overview,” and the notes to our audited consolidated financial statements included in this report. Further information regarding our efforts to address various environmental, social and governance issues can be found within our Non-financial report available at www.freseniusmedicalcare.com/en/investors/investors-overview/. In referencing our Non-financial report and furnishing this website address in this report, however, we do not intend to incorporate any content from our Non-financial report or information on our website into this report, and any information in our Non-financial report or on our website should not be considered to be part of this report, except as expressly set forth herein.

Our business is also subject to other risks and uncertainties that we describe from time to time in our public filings which can be accessed at the SEC internet website at www.sec.gov. Developments in any of these areas could cause our results to differ materially from the results that we or others have projected or may project.

The actual accounting policies, the judgments made in the selection and application of these policies, as well as the sensitivities of reported results to changes in accounting policies, assumptions and estimates, are additional factors to be considered along with our financial statements and the discussion under “Results of operations” in Item 5 below, “Operating and financial review and prospects.” For a discussion of our critical accounting policies, see note 2 of the notes to the consolidated financial statements included in this report.

Rounding adjustments applied to individual numbers and percentages shown in this and other reports may result in these figures differing immaterially from their absolute values. Some figures (including percentages) in this report have been rounded in accordance with commercial rounding conventions. In some instances, such rounded figures and percentages may not add up to 100% or to the totals or subtotals contained in this report. Furthermore, totals and subtotals in tables may differ slightly from unrounded figures contained in this report due to rounding in accordance with commercial rounding conventions. A dash (“–”) indicates that no data were reported for a specific line item in the relevant financial year or period, while a zero (“0”) is used when the pertinent figure, after rounding, amounts to zero.

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Market and industry data

Except as otherwise specified herein, all patient and market data in this report have been derived using our internal information tool called “Market & Competitor Survey” (“MCS”). See Item 4.B, “Information on the Company - Business Overview – Major Markets and Competitive Position.”

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stated its intention to maintain and strengthen the ACA. On June 17, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed lower court rulings that declared the ACA to be unconstitutional, holding that the states and other plaintiffs in the case did not have standing to challenge the law. If future efforts to limit or repeal the ACA are successful, such efforts could have significant effects on our businesses, both positive and negative, but the outcomes are impossible to predict.

In October 2017, the Trump administration discontinued making cost-sharing reduction (“CSR”) reimbursements to insurers, arguing that Congress had failed to appropriate funding for them. In response, many state departments of insurance either allowed or required insurers to mitigate their losses by increasing the 2018 premiums on their ACA plans. Many insurers also mitigated the impact to themselves by “silver loading,” a practice whereby the premiums for silver-level plans were increased to offset the loss of CSR payments. Silver loading may also have mitigated the impact of premium increases to some low-income consumers by increasing their premium tax credits. In 2019 and 2020, all states either permitted or required silver loading. In 2017, several insurers sued the U.S. federal government to reinstate CSR payments. On June 21, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court denied requests from multiple insurers to review lower court decisions that held they were not entitled to full unpaid CSR payments. As a result, insurers are entitled to the unpaid CSRs, but the total amount they are owed must be offset by any excess premium tax credits received from premium increases for 2018 and beyond. While the Biden administration is expected to reinstate CSR reimbursements and to limit states’ access to waivers allowing silver-loading, we cannot predict the extent to which silver-loading will continue or how the ongoing litigation over the U.S. federal government’s obligation to pay the CSRs might be resolved. As a result, a reduction in the availability of insurance through insurance exchanges established by the ACA could reduce the number of our commercially insured patients and shift such patients to Medicare and Medicaid. Because Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rates are generally lower than the reimbursement rates paid by commercial insurers, a shift of commercially insured patients to Medicare and Medicaid could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations. See “Changes in reimbursement, payor mix and/or governmental regulations for health care could materially decrease our revenues and operating profit” below.

Changes in reimbursement, payor mix and/or governmental regulations for health care could materially decrease our revenues and operating profit.

We receive reimbursement for our health care services from both public, government-sponsored payors and private, commercial payors. A large portion of our businesses is reimbursed by government payors, in particular the Medicare and Medicaid program in the U.S. For the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, approximately 27% and 32%, respectively, of our consolidated revenues resulted from Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement. The Medicare and Medicaid programs change their payment methodologies and funding from time to time in ways that are driven by changes in statute, economic conditions, and policy. For example, the Budget Control Act of 2011 (“BCA”) effected a 2% reduction to Medicare payments and subsequent activity in Congress, namely a $1.2 trillion sequester (across-the-board spending cuts) in discretionary programs, took effect on April 1, 2013, which continues in force. The 2% sequestration was temporarily suspended several times subsequent to May 1, 2020. In March 2021, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (the “American Rescue Plan Act”) which the Congressional Budget Office has estimated will result in budget deficits that will require a 4% reduction in Medicare program payments for 2022 under the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 (“Statutory PAYGO”) unless Congress and the President take action to waive the Statutory PAYGO reductions. In December 2021, Congress passed and President Biden signed into law the Protecting Medicare and American Farmers from Sequester Cuts Act impacting payments for all Medicare Fee-for-Service claims and updated the sequestration suspension through March 31, 2022. Following this, a 1% reduction will become effective from April 1 to June 30, 2022 and the full 2% sequester will resume from July 1, 2022. Spending cuts pursuant to U.S. sequestration have adversely affected our operating results in the past and will continue to do so at such time as the suspension is lifted. In addition, options to restructure the Medicare program in the direction of a defined contribution, “premium support” model and to shift Medicaid funding to a block grant or per capita arrangement, with greater flexibility for the states, have been proposed or considered from time to time. Changes in payment methodologies and funding or payment requirements of (without limitation) the End-Stage Renal Disease (“ESRD”) Prospective Payment System (“ESRD PPS”), the Physician Fee Schedule, the Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule, and the Ambulatory Surgical Center Payment System may have material effects on our operating results. We may also experience changes in the interpretation of government regulations by the courts. We have very little opportunity to influence or predict the magnitude of those changes. For further information regarding Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement, including new payment models proposed by executive order in July 2019 which are intended to encourage identification and earlier treatment of kidney disease as well as increased home dialysis and transplants, see Item 4B, “Information on the Company – Business Overview – Regulatory and Legal Matters – Reimbursement” and Item 5, “Operating and Financial Review and Prospects – II. Financial condition and results of operations – Overview.”

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Our patients make decisions about their insurance coverage among options that, depending on their personal circumstances and location, may include Medicare, Medicaid and employer group health coverage, exchange plans and other commercial coverage. As of January 1, 2021, for the first time, all End Stage Kidney Disease (“ESKD”) patients are eligible to enroll in Medicare Advantage plans. As a result, some patients with commercial coverage, and other patients with Medicare coverage, may elect to move to Medicare Advantage plans. Government reimbursement programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, generally pay less than commercial insurance, and Medicare Advantage plans generally pay less than other commercial plans. In addition, we may experience higher write-offs of Medicare deductibles and other cost-sharing amounts due to secondary uninsured and underinsured patients, resulting in an increase in uncollectible accounts. As a result, the payments we receive from private payors generate a substantial portion of the profits we report. For further information,  see the table “U.S. patient service revenue” detailing the percentage generated from government reimbursement and private payors in the U.S. in Item 4B, “Information on the Company – Business overview.”

Any of the following events, among others, could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations:

In addition to the foregoing factors, the health care insurance industry is experiencing continuing consolidation among insurers and pharmacy benefit managers, including increasing buyer power and impacts on referral streams. Such consolidation could have a material adverse effect on our ability to negotiate favorable coverage terms and reimbursement rates.

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If we do not comply with the numerous governmental regulations applicable to our business, we could suffer adverse legal consequences, including exclusion from government health care programs or termination of our authority to conduct business, any of which would result in a material decrease in our revenue; this regulatory environment also exposes us to claims and litigation, including “whistleblower” suits.

Our operations in both our health care services business and our products business are subject to extensive governmental regulation in virtually every country in which we operate. We are also subject to other laws of general applicability, including antitrust laws. The applicable regulations, which differ from country to country, cover areas that include:

Failure to comply with one or more of these laws or regulations may give rise to a number of adverse legal consequences. These include, in particular, loss or suspension of federal certifications, loss or suspension of licenses under the laws of any state or governmental authority from which we generate substantial revenues, monetary and administrative penalties, product recalls, increased costs for compliance with government orders, complete or partial exclusion from government reimbursement programs, refunds of payments received from government payors and government health care program beneficiaries due to failures to meet applicable requirements or complete or partial curtailment of our authority to conduct business. Any of these consequences could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our medical devices and drug products are subject to detailed, rigorous and frequently changing regulation by numerous national, supranational, federal and state authorities. In addition, our facilities and procedures and those of our suppliers are subject to periodic inspection by various regulatory authorities which may suspend, revoke, or adversely amend the authority necessary for research, manufacture, marketing, or sale of our products and those of our suppliers. We and our suppliers must incur expense and spend time and effort to ensure compliance with these complex regulations, and if such compliance is not maintained, they could be subject to significant adverse administrative and judicial enforcement actions in the future. These possible enforcement actions could include warning letters, injunctions, civil penalties, seizures of our products, and criminal prosecutions as well as dissemination of information to the public about such enforcement actions. These actions could result in, among other things, substantial modifications to our business practices and operations; refunds; a total or partial shutdown of production while the alleged violation is remedied; and recalls, withdrawals or suspensions of current products from the market. Any of these events, in combination or alone, could disrupt our business and have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

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We operate many facilities and engage with other business associates to help carry out our health care activities. In such a widespread, global system, it is often difficult to maintain the desired level of oversight and control over the thousands of individuals employed by many affiliated companies and their business associates. We rely on our management structure, regulatory and legal resources and the effective operation of our compliance programs to direct, manage and monitor our operations, including the activities of our employees and their agents, to comply with government regulations. We cannot assure that our internal control policies and procedures will always protect us from intentional or inadvertent acts of our employees or agents that contravene our compliance policies or violate applicable laws. If employees were to deliberately, recklessly or inadvertently fail to adhere to these regulations, then our authority to conduct business could be terminated and our operations could be significantly curtailed. Any such terminations or reductions could materially reduce our revenues. If we fail to identify in our diligence process or to promptly remediate any non-compliant business practices in companies that we acquire, we could be subject to penalties, claims for repayment or other sanctions. Any such terminations or reductions could materially reduce our revenues, with a resulting material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

By virtue of this regulatory environment, our business activities and practices are subject to extensive review by regulatory authorities and private parties, and continuing audits, subpoenas, other inquiries, claims and litigation relating to our compliance with applicable laws and regulations. We may not always be aware that an inquiry or action has begun, particularly in the case of “qui tam” or “whistleblower” actions brought by private plaintiffs under the False Claims Act, which are initially filed under seal. We are the subject of a number of governmental inquiries and civil suits by the federal government and private plaintiffs. For information about certain of these pending investigations and lawsuits, see note 22 of the notes to our consolidated financial statements included in this report.

In addition, future legislative or regulatory changes could affect procedures or decision making for approving medical device or drug products. Any such legislation or regulations, if enacted or promulgated, could result in a delay or denial of regulatory approval for our products. If any of our products do not receive regulatory approval, or there is a delay in obtaining approval, this also could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Cyber-attacks or other privacy and data security incidents could disrupt our business and expose us to significant losses, liability and reputational damage.

We and our third-party service providers routinely process, store and transmit large amounts of data in our operations, including sensitive personal information as well as proprietary or confidential information relating to our business or third parties. We may be subject to breaches of the information technology security systems we use both internally and externally with third-party service providers.

Cyber-attacks may penetrate our and our third-party service providers’ security controls and result in the misappropriation or compromise of sensitive personal information or proprietary or confidential information, including such information which is stored or transmitted on the systems used by certain of our or their products, to create system disruptions, cause shutdowns (including disruptions to our production plants), or deploy viruses, worms, and other malicious software programs that attack our systems. We and our third-party service providers handle the personal information of our patients and beneficiaries, Patient Personal Data (“PPD”), throughout the U.S. and other parts of the world. We or our business associates may experience a breach under the U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Privacy and Security Rules, the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation and or other similar laws (“Data Protection Laws”), including the following events:

Our IT systems have been attacked in the past, resulting, in one case, in certain patient data being illegally published. When appropriate, we have filed complaints against the unknown attackers and we contacted the patients who were affected by the illegal data publication as well as other relevant regulatory agencies and stakeholders. While there has not been any material impact to our financial condition and results of operations as a result of these attacks, future cyber-attacks against our IT systems may result in a loss of financial data or

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interruptions of our operations that could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations in the future.

As we increase the amount of sensitive personal information or financial data that we store and share digitally, our exposure to these privacy and data breaches and cyber-attack risks increases, including the risk of undetected attacks, damage, loss or unauthorized disclosure or access, and the cost of attempting to protect against these risks also increases. Increased reliance on, and utilization of, telemedicine for delivery of health care services could also increase this risk and, in this regard, the 2022 Physician Fee Schedule issued by CMS has extended coverage of certain Medicare telehealth services through calendar year 2023. There are no assurances that our security technologies, processes and procedures that we or our outside service providers have implemented to protect sensitive personal information and proprietary or confidential information and to build security into the design of our products will be effective. Any failure to keep our information technology systems, financial data and our patients’ and customers’ sensitive information secure from attack, damage, loss or unauthorized disclosure or access, whether as a result of our action or inaction or that of our third-party business associates or vendors that utilize and store such personal information on our behalf, could materially adversely affect our reputation and ability to continue normal operations, expose us to mandatory public disclosure requirements, litigation and governmental enforcement proceedings, material fines, penalties and/or remediation costs, and compensatory, special, punitive and statutory damages, consent orders and other adverse actions, any of which could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

If certain of our investments or value and risk-based care programs with health care organizations and health care providers violate the law, our business could be adversely affected.

A number of the dialysis clinics and health care centers that we operate are owned, or managed, by entities in which one or more hospitals, physicians or physician practice groups hold an interest. Physician owners, who are usually nephrologists, may also provide medical director services and physician owners may refer patients to those centers or other centers we own and operate or to other physicians who refer patients to those centers or other centers we own and operate. We also have arrangements with physician practices to collaborate on our value and risk-based care programs with public and private payors. Because our relationships with physicians are governed by the federal and state anti-kickback statutes and other state fraud and abuse laws, we have structured our arrangements to comply with many of the criteria for safe harbor protection and waivers under the U.S. Federal Anti-Kickback Statute; however, these arrangements do not satisfy all elements of applicable safe harbors. While we have established comprehensive compliance policies, procedures and programs to ensure ethical and compliant business operations, if one or more of our arrangements, including value and risk-based care programs, were found to be in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute, the Stark Law, analogous state laws, or other similar laws worldwide, we could be required to restructure or terminate them. We could also be required to repay to Medicare, Medicaid as well as other federal health care program amounts pursuant to any prohibited referrals, and we could be subject to criminal and monetary penalties and exclusion from federal and state health care programs. Imposition of any of these penalties could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations. In the past, certain parties have attempted to utilize our disclosure of these arrangements as the basis for qui tam proceedings under the Anti-Kickback Statute and the Stark Act. Such attempts have not been successful to date. See note 22 of the notes to our consolidated financial statements included in this report.

We are exposed to product liability, patent infringement and other claims which could result in significant costs and liability which we may not be able to insure on acceptable terms in the future.

Health care companies are typically subject to claims alleging negligence, product liability, breach of warranty, malpractice and other legal theories that may involve large claims and significant defense costs whether or not liability is ultimately imposed. Health care products may also be subject to recalls and patent infringement claims which, in addition to monetary penalties, may restrict our ability to sell or use our products. We cannot assure that such claims will not be asserted against us, or, for example, that significant adverse verdicts will not be reached against us for patent infringements or that large scale recalls of our products will not become necessary. In addition, the laws of some of the countries in which we operate provide legal rights to users of pharmaceutical products that could increase the risk of product liability claims. Product liability and patent infringement claims, other actions for negligence or breach of contract and product recalls or related sanctions could result in significant costs. These costs could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

While we have been able to obtain liability insurance in the past to partially cover our business risks, we cannot assure that such insurance will be available in the future either on acceptable terms or at all, or that our insurance carriers will not dispute their coverage obligations. In addition, FMCH, our largest subsidiary, is partially self-insured for professional, product and general liability, auto liability and

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worker’s compensation claims, up to pre-determined levels above which our third-party insurance applies. A successful claim for which we are self-insured or in excess of the limits of our insurance coverage could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations. We and certain of our insurers are in litigation against each other relating to such insurers’ coverage obligations under applicable policies. Liability claims, regardless of their merit or eventual outcome, also may have a material adverse effect on our business and result in a loss of customer confidence in us or our products, which could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations. For information about certain of these pending investigations and lawsuits, see note 22 of the notes to our consolidated financial statements included in this report.

Risks relating to internal control and compliance

We operate in many different jurisdictions and we could be adversely affected by violations of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and similar worldwide anti-corruption laws.

The U.S. FCPA and similar worldwide anti-corruption laws generally prohibit companies and their intermediaries from making improper payments to public officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business. Our internal policies mandate compliance with these anti-corruption laws. We operate many facilities throughout the U.S. and other parts of the world. Our widespread, global operations have thousands of persons employed by many affiliated companies, and we rely on our management structure, regulatory and legal resources and effective operation of our compliance program to direct, manage and monitor the activities of these employees and third-party intermediaries. We cannot ensure that our internal control policies and procedures always will protect us from deliberate, reckless or inadvertent acts of our employees or third-party intermediaries that contravene our compliance policies or violate applicable laws. Our continued expansion, including in developing countries, could increase the risk of such violations in the future. Violations of these laws, or allegations of such violations, could disrupt our business and result in a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Beginning in 2012, we received certain communications alleging conduct in countries outside the United States that might violate the FCPA or other anti-bribery laws. We conducted investigations with the assistance of outside counsel and, in a continuing dialogue, advised the SEC and the DOJ about these investigations. The DOJ and the SEC also conducted their own investigations, in which we cooperated.

In the course of this dialogue, we identified and reported to the DOJ and the SEC, and took remedial actions with respect to, conduct that resulted in the DOJ and the SEC seeking monetary penalties including disgorgement of profits and other remedies. This conduct revolved principally around the Company’s products business in countries outside the United States. On March 29, 2019, we entered into a non-prosecution agreement with the DOJ and a separate agreement with the SEC intended to resolve fully and finally the U.S. government allegations against us arising from the investigations.

In 2015, we self-reported to the German prosecutor conduct with a potential nexus to Germany and continued to cooperate with government authorities in Germany in their review of the conduct that prompted our and the United States government investigations.

Since 2012, we have made, and continue to make, further significant investments in our compliance and financial controls and in our compliance, legal and financial organizations. Our remedial actions included separation from those employees responsible for the above-mentioned conduct. We are dealing with post-FCPA review matters on various levels. We continue to be fully committed to compliance with the FCPA and other applicable anti-bribery laws.

For further information, see Item 15D, “Changes in internal control over financial reporting” and note 22 of the notes to our consolidated financial statements included in this report.

Risks relating to our business activities and industry

We are subject to risks associated with public health crises and epidemics/pandemics, such as the global spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Our global operations expose us to risks associated with public health crises and epidemics/pandemics, such as the rapid global spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Given the already compromised health condition of our typical dialysis patients, our patients represent a heightened at-risk population, particularly, but not limited to, during a public health crisis such as the COVID-19 outbreak which has,

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and could in the future, lead to increased mortality rates in our patient population resulting in an adverse impact on our operations or our future growth. COVID-19, specifically, has resulted in a material deterioration of the conditions for the global economy and financial markets have been materially affected which have, and as a result, are expected to continue to, adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. Although the financial impact of COVID-19 on our financial condition and results as of and for the year ended December 31, 2020 was not material, COVID-19 resulted in a material, negative impact to net income attributable to shareholders of the Company which we estimate to be around €338 M, net of COVID-19-related governmental funding, for the year ended December 31, 2021. See note 4 h), of the notes to the consolidated financial statements included in this report. Going forward, the COVID-19 pandemic (including a related significant increase in mortality of patients with chronic kidney diseases and the  impact on our staffing and recruiting) may continue to have an adverse impact on our operations, manufacturing, supply chains and distribution channels and increase our expenses, including as a result of impacts associated with preventive and precautionary measures that we, our suppliers, customers and other businesses or governments implement or impose on a local, regional, national or international level. Due to these impacts and measures, we are incurring significant incremental expenses to provide care to our patients and we are experiencing both reductions and increases in demand for certain of our services and products as health care customers re-prioritize the treatment of patients. We experienced material negative impacts on our results and net income growth from COVID-19 through 2021 and expect to experience significant and unpredictable expenses as well as reductions in demand for our services and products in the immediately foreseeable future, depending upon the adoption and speed of the rollout of vaccinations as well as resistance to vaccinations and vaccination mandates. In addition to existing travel restrictions, countries may continue to close borders, restrict certain product flows, impose prolonged quarantines and further restrict travel, which may significantly impact the ability of our employees to produce products or provide services, or may significantly hamper our products from moving through the supply chain.

As noted above, our patients represent a heightened at-risk population. Our in-center and home hemodialysis patients must receive their life-saving dialysis treatment several days a week for three to four hours at a time, and our peritoneal dialysis patients must dialyze daily, which presents unique challenges for patients and their care teams. The COVID-19 pandemic surges are also negatively impacting employee absenteeism, turnover and the recruiting cycle for new employees, which has negatively impacted our production and clinical services operations and may continue to do so. In our dialysis clinics we are challenged to maintain sufficient clinical staff, including nurses, social workers, dietitians, care technicians and available space to treat all of our patients, including those who are or may be infected with COVID-19, in a manner that does not unnecessarily expose our care teams or other patients for whom we provide dialysis services and have experienced clinical personnel shortages which have increased in light of the pandemic and government vaccine mandates for certain workers. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Biden Administration’s vaccine mandate for health care workers of recipients of Medicare reimbursement in January 2022. The federal mandate for health care workers may pre-empt some state prohibitions on vaccine mandates as applied to substantially all health care workers, but it is too soon to tell how the federal mandate will reduce resistance to vaccination by our remaining unvaccinated employees. We have incurred, and expect to continue to incur, extra costs in establishing isolated treatment areas for actual and suspected COVID-positive patients, implementing expanded personal protective equipment protocols and other precautions as well as identifying, containing and addressing the impact of COVID-19 infections on our staff and patients. It appears that COVID-19 has resulted in an increase in persons experiencing temporary renal failure in many areas in which we operate. We expect to continue to experience additional staffing shortages as well as incur additional staffing costs required to meet the resulting increased demand for dialysis treatment and/or to provide equipment and medical staff needed for emergency treatments, for example in hospitals. Increased mortality rates in either the pre-ESKD patient population or in our ESKD patient population, compared to the historical average, may continue to materially and adversely affect our operating results in 2022 and beyond. Patients suffering from ESKD generally have co-morbidities that often place them at increased risk with COVID-19 and the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted, and may continue to result, in more of our dialysis patients requiring hospitalization, which could also materially and adversely affect our financial results, including those of our value-based and shared risk products and services.

Various governments in regions in which we operate have provided economic assistance programs to address the consequences of the pandemic on companies and to support health care providers and patients. In the U.S., the CARES Act and various other measures have been enacted to mitigate certain adverse financial impacts of the pandemic, including impacts in the health care sector. Additional funding provided under the CARES Act and other COVID-19 relief provided some financial support to our business in the U.S. through a series of suspensions of the 2% Medicare payment sequestration reduction from May 2020 to March 31, 2022, as discussed above, accelerated and advance payments of Medicare reimbursement and grants to defray expenses and mitigate the loss of revenues related to the COVID-19 pandemic, see note 4 h) of the notes to the consolidated financial statements included in this report. Additionally, during the fourth quarter of 2021, we received, for entities in which we have less than 100% ownership, $122 M (€103 M) in new U.S. Department of Health and Human Services funding (Provider Relief Fund Phase 4) available for health care providers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic (“Provider Relief Fund Phase 4”), of which we recognized operating income of $58 M (€49 M) used to offset eligible costs in 2021. However, this relief funding may not fully offset potential lost revenues and increased costs. We currently

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estimate that all funds received from grants comply with the terms and conditions associated with the funding received. Additional guidance may be released from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services with regard to the application of relief funds which could affect the Company’s estimate as of December 31, 2021. Furthermore, these costs may become more pronounced if the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated effects on our business, financial condition and results of operations persist without relief extensions or additional government programs being provided or if such relief extensions or additional programs are further delayed. Further legislation and amendments to existing legislation intended to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and its adverse economic consequences may be enacted in the markets in which we operate. It is currently not possible to estimate or to quantify any effects of such legislative measures on our business.

Furthermore, the continued COVID-19 infections could continue to disrupt our operations due to absenteeism and turnover among our workforce or resistance by our employees and patients to available vaccinations or vaccination mandates. As a result of these and potentially other factors, and given the rapid and evolving nature of the virus, as exemplified by the development and proliferation of several variants of the virus, COVID-19 could further negatively affect our results, including our achievement of our previously announced anticipated cost savings from the FME25 Program (for further information, see Item 5. “Operating and financial review and prospects — II. Financial condition and results of operations — Company Structure,” below). It is uncertain how COVID-19 will affect our global operations generally if these impacts persist or are exacerbated over an extended period of time. Any of these impacts could have a continued material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In addition, to the extent that the COVID-19 pandemic adversely affects our business, net assets, financial condition and results of operations, it could also have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described in this report.

If physicians and other referral sources cease referring patients to our health care service businesses and facilities or cease purchasing or prescribing our products, our revenues would decrease.

In providing services within our health care business, we depend upon patients choosing our health care facilities as the location for their care. Patients may select a facility based, in whole or in part, on the recommendation of their physician. Physicians and other clinicians typically consider a number of factors when recommending a particular dialysis facility, dialysis home program, pharmacy, physician practice, vascular surgery center, or cardiac catheterization center to an ESKD patient, including the quality of care, the competency of staff, convenient scheduling, and location and physical condition. Physicians may change their recommendations, which may result in the movement of new or existing patients to competing facilities, including facilities established by the physicians themselves. At most of our dialysis clinics and home programs, a relatively small number of physicians often account for the referral of all or a significant portion of the patient base. We have no ability to dictate these recommendations and referrals. If a significant number of physicians or other referral sources cease referring their patients to our facilities and home programs or stop purchasing or prescribing our dialysis products, this would reduce our health care revenue and could materially adversely affect our overall operations.

We face specific risks from global operations.

We operate dialysis clinics in around 50 countries and sell a range of products and services to customers in approximately 150 countries. Our global operations are subject to a number of risks, including but not limited to the following:

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Any one or more of these or other factors relevant to global operations could increase our costs, reduce our revenues, or disrupt our operations, with possible material adverse impact on our business and financial condition.

Certain countries in which we market, manufacture or sell our products do not have laws which protect our intellectual property to the same degree as those in the U.S. or elsewhere and our competitors may gain market position by designing products that infringe upon our intellectual property rights. An inability to protect our intellectual property in these countries could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We conduct humanitarian-related business directly or indirectly in sanctioned countries. In case of a violation of applicable economic sanctions or export controls laws and regulations, we could be subject to enforcement actions. Possible enforcement actions vary between jurisdictions and depend on the factual circumstances of the given violation, but could include criminal penalties, imprisonment of responsible individuals, administrative or civil penalties, restricted access to certain markets and reputational harm, among others. Our internal control policies and procedures may not protect us from deliberate, reckless or inadvertent acts of our employees or agents that contravene our compliance policies or violate applicable laws.

If we fail to estimate, price for and manage medical costs in an effective manner, the profitability of our value and risk-based care programs could decline and could materially and adversely affect our results of operations, financial position and cash flows.

Through our value and risk-based care programs, we assume the risk of both medical and administrative costs for certain patients in return for fixed periodic payments or potential reimbursement based on our achievement against set benchmark targets from governmental and commercial insurers. Specifically in the U.S., our participation in various value and risk-based care programs includes the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (“CMS”) Comprehensive End Stage Renal Disease Care initiative and capitation, risk-based or shared savings agreements with commercial insurers in which FMCH receives fixed periodic payments or set benchmark targets to cover all or a defined portion of the medical costs of a defined population of patients. For information on the value-based programs in which we participate, see Item 4B, “Information on the Company – Business overview – Other health care services – Value and risk-based care programs.”

Our profitability in our value-based agreements and risk products is dependent in part upon our ability to negotiate favorable financial terms, to manage a patient’s care, to collaborate with our payer partners, to coordinate with other health care providers, to accurately document patients’ health conditions for risk adjustment, and to find cost efficient, medically appropriate sites of service for our patients. Any failure to do so would limit our ability to improve the quality of patient care and health outcomes and to reduce medically unnecessary costs, which could lead to poorer performance under value and risk-based care programs.

The reserves that we establish in connection with the operation of our value and risk-based care programs are based upon assumptions and judgments concerning a number of factors, including trends in health care costs, expenses and other factors. To the extent the actual claims experience is less favorable than estimated based on our underlying assumptions, our incurred losses would increase, and future earnings could be adversely affected.

CMS relied on authority granted by the ACA to implement the Comprehensive ESRD Care Model, which ended March 31, 2021 and sought to deliver better health outcomes for ESRD patients while lowering CMS’ costs. Although Congress’ efforts to date to repeal the ACA have been unsuccessful, and the U.S Supreme Court has dismissed litigation seeking to declare the ACA as unconstitutional, further efforts to repeal or revise the ACA may affect the project’s future prospects in ways which we currently cannot quantify or predict. We applied, and were accepted, for participation in CMS’ Comprehensive Kidney Care Contracting (“CKCC”) model. The

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implementation period for the CKCC model began on October 15, 2020, on a no-risk basis, and we began participation in the first performance year of the CKCC model on January 1, 2022, at which time each participating entity starts to assume financial risk. We do not yet know whether we and our partners will be able to deliver better health outcomes while lowering CMS’ costs through participation in the CKCC model. See Item 4B, “Information on the Company – Business Overview – Regulatory and Legal Matters – Reimbursement – Executive order-based models.”

Our sales and earnings growth depends, in part, on our ability to develop and expand our core dialysis and non-core businesses, efficiently manage costs within those businesses, as well as realize anticipated cost savings within our expected timeframe.

The health care industry experiences continuing consolidation, particularly among health care providers, as well as pressure on reimbursement and increasing costs, which requires us to identify both growth opportunities and efficiencies in the way we operate. Continuing consolidation in our industry could adversely affect our ability to find suitable acquisition targets and to increase future growth and product sales.

We also compete with other health care companies in seeking suitable acquisition targets and developing our core dialysis and non-core businesses. Our ability to make future acquisitions as well as develop our core dialysis and non-core businesses depends, in part, on the appropriate strategic target selection, the availability of financial resources and the current restrictions imposed by competition laws. The integration of acquired businesses may cause problems, e.g., by assuming unknown liabilities, underperformance subsequent to integration, associated requirements from competition authorities, or non-compliant business practices not disclosed by the seller or not uncovered during due diligence, any or all of which may result in our incurring unanticipated costs.

In order to respond to our rising costs, especially in the face of economic downturns and rising inflation, and to improve growth, we announced the next stage in the implementation of our strategy in November 2021: the transformation of our operating model into a significantly simplified future structure of two global operating segments embodying a more centralized approach – Care Enablement, the consolidation of our previously decentralized healthcare products business (including research and development, manufacturing, supply chain and commercial operations as well as supporting functions, such as regulatory and quality management) under a global MedTech umbrella, and Care Delivery, combining our global healthcare services businesses (“FME25 Program”). The new global operating model will enable the further consolidation of general and administrative functions in our Company.

We announced that based on the implementation of the new global operating model, we assume that we will reduce our annual cost base by €500 million by the end of 2025, with around 50% of these savings expected to be realized by 2023. With around 80% of the anticipated one-time investments in the FME25 Program, amounting to approximately €450-500 million, expected to be made by the end of 2023, we stated that we thus expect to reach positive net savings by the end of 2023.

While we believe the FME25 Program will provide us with a more efficient way of both managing and growing the business in the future, the amounts of anticipated cost savings and anticipated expenses related thereto described above are based on our current estimates, and involve risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause the timing of actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the anticipated timing described herein. Assumptions relating to the FME25 Program and the achievement of the aforementioned cost savings within the specified timeframe involve subjective decisions and judgments with respect to, among other things, the estimated impact of certain operational adjustments, labor management and labor relations (including our commitment to consultation with works councils and other workplace representatives in good faith), and other cost and savings adjustments, as well as future economic, competitive, industry and market conditions, impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic and possible unanticipated effects from acquisitions, all of which are inherently uncertain and may not be completely within the control of our management. Although the Company’s management believes these estimates and assumptions related to the timing of these savings to be reasonable, there can be no assurance that the estimates described herein will prove to be accurate, result in anticipated operational efficiencies or be implemented according to our previously announced timing. We expect that our security holders, investors and other stakeholders will monitor both whether we achieve our anticipated FME25 Program cost savings and whether we meet our announced timing in doing so. Failure to realize the expected cost savings from the FME25 Program within our announced timeframe described above could adversely impact the market for our securities and availability of financing, which, in addition, could limit our future growth, including growth in either our revenues or earnings within our health care services and products businesses. Any or all of these factors generally could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

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Our pharmaceutical product business could lose sales to generic drug manufacturers or new branded drugs.

Our branded pharmaceutical product business is subject to significant risk as a result of competition from manufacturers of generic drugs and other new competing medicines or therapies. The expiration or loss of patent protection for one of our products, the “at-risk” launch by a generic manufacturer of a generic version of one of our branded pharmaceutical products or the launch of new branded drugs that compete with one or more of our products could result in the loss of a major portion of sales of that branded pharmaceutical product in a very short time period, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. See note 22 of the notes to the consolidated financial statements included in this report.

Our competitors could develop superior technology or otherwise take advantage of new competitive developments that impact our sales.

We face numerous competitors in both our health care services business and our dialysis products business, some of which may possess substantial financial, marketing or research and development resources. Competition from new and existing competitors, and especially new competitive developments, and innovations in technology and care delivery models could materially adversely affect the future pricing and sale of our products and services. In particular, technological innovation has historically been a significant competitive factor in the dialysis products business. The introduction of new products or services by competitors could qualify them for certain additional payments for new and innovative equipment or render one or more of our products or services less competitive or even obsolete, which could also affect our sales and distribution of pharmaceuticals for which, to some extent, we are obligated to make certain minimum annual royalty payments.

Global economic conditions as well as disruptions in financial markets could have an adverse effect on our businesses.

We are dependent on the conditions of the financial markets and the global economy. In order to pursue our business, we are reliant on capital markets, as are our renal product customers and commercial health care insurers. Limited or more expensive access to capital in the financial markets could adversely affect our business and profitability. Among other things, the potential decline in federal and state revenues in a prolonged economic slowdown or recession may create additional pressures to contain or reduce reimbursements for our services from public payors around the world, including Medicare and Medicaid in the U.S. and other government sponsored programs in the U.S. and other countries around the world. Devaluation of currencies, unfavorable interest rate changes and worsening economic conditions, including inflationary cost increases in various markets in connection with deteriorating country credit ratings also increase the risk of a goodwill impairment, which could lead to a partial or total goodwill write-off in the affected cash generating units, or have a negative impact on our investments and external partnerships. In addition, uncertainty in the financial markets could adversely affect the valuations of certain of our investments, interest rate-sensitive assets or liabilities or variable interest rates payable under our credit facilities or could make it more difficult to obtain or renew such facilities or to obtain other forms of financing in the future should access to these capital markets become restricted. Additionally, inflationary cost increases may have an unfavorable effect on our business, especially if the prices for our products and services remain unchanged or do not adequately track against cost increases. Most recently, the rapid global spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a material deterioration of the conditions for the global economy and financial markets have been materially and adversely affected which has and could continue to have adverse effects on our financial condition and our liquidity.

Job losses or increases in unemployment rates may result in a smaller percentage of our patients being covered by employer group health plans and a larger percentage being covered by lower paying government reimbursement programs. Unemployment rates globally have been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak, which adversely affected the global economy and our operating results. The extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact our business, results of operations and financial condition will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted. To the extent that our commercial payors are negatively impacted by a decline in the economy, including the projected decline resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, we may experience further pressure on commercial rates, a further slowdown in collections and a reduction in the amounts we are able to collect. Any or all of these factors, or other consequences of the continuation, or worsening, of domestic and global economic conditions which cannot currently be predicted, could continue to have a material adverse effect on our businesses and results of operations.

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We could be adversely affected if we experience shortages of goods or material price increases from our suppliers, or an inability to access new and improved products and technology.

Our business is dependent on the reliable supply of several raw materials and finished components for production and service purposes. If we are unable to obtain sufficient quantities of these materials at times of limited availability of such materials, this could result in delays in production or loss of sales and hence have an adverse effect on our results of operations. Similarly, price increases by suppliers (including from the impact of inflation), and the inability to access new products or technology could also adversely affect our results of operations. These disruptions in supply, coupled with labor shortages and heightened employee absenteeism and turnover due to COVID-19 surges, could result in a negative impact on our business. All of these factors introduce additional risk to our operations and exposure to legal liability in the delivery of our goods and services.

Our procurement risk mitigation efforts include (i) the development of partnerships with strategic suppliers through framework contracts, (ii) where reasonably practicable, at least two sources for all supply and price-critical primary products (dual sourcing, multiple sourcing), and (iii) measures to prevent loss of suppliers, such as risk analyses as well as continuous supply chain monitoring. Any failure of these measures to mitigate disruptive goods shortages and potential price increases or to allow access to favorable new product and technology developments could have an adverse impact on our business and financial condition. In some cases, for reasons of quality assurance, cost effectiveness, or availability, certain components or raw materials needed to manufacture our products are obtained from a sole supplier. A failure of any of our single-source suppliers to fulfil their contractual obligations in a timely manner or as a result of regulatory noncompliance or physical disruption at a manufacturing site could adversely affect our ability to manufacture and distribute our products in a timely or cost-effective manner, and our ability to make product sales. Due to the stringent regulations and requirements of regulatory agencies, including the U.S. FDA, regarding the manufacture of our products, we may not be able to quickly establish additional or replacement sources.

Measures taken by governmental authorities and private actors to limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus, as well as resistance to government vaccine mandates, have interfered, and may continue to interfere, with the ability of our employees, suppliers, and other business providers to carry out their assigned tasks or supply materials at ordinary levels of performance. Given the rapid spread and evolving nature of the virus, it is uncertain how COVID-19 will continue to affect our global operations generally if these actions persist or are expanded over an extended period of time. Additionally, decreases in the availability and related increases in the cost of personal protective equipment as well as the lack of eligible grants under governmental COVID-19 relief programs to offset some of those expenses have adversely affected our results of operations and could continue to do so.

Any material disruption in government operations and funding could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

A substantial portion of our revenues is dependent on government health care program reimbursement, and any disruptions in government operations could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations. If the governments with which we do business default on their debts, there could be broad macroeconomic effects that could raise our cost of borrowing funds, and delay or prevent our future growth and expansion. Any future government shutdown, government default on debt, decline in government revenues during a prolonged economic slowdown and/or failure of governments to enact annual appropriations could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Additionally, material disruptions in government operations may negatively impact regulatory approvals and guidance that are important to our operations, and create uncertainty about the pace of upcoming health care regulatory developments.

If we are unable to attract and retain skilled medical, technical and engineering personnel, or if legislative, union, other labor-related activities or changes or employee absenteeism and turnover due to COVID-19 or other illnesses and factors, result in significant increases in our operating costs or decreases in productivity, we may be unable to manage our growth or continue our technological development.

Our continued growth in the health care business will depend upon our ability to attract and retain skilled workforce, including highly skilled nurses and other medical personnel. Our health care products business depends on the development of new products, technologies and treatment concepts to be competitive, and for that we need to attract the best and most talented people, especially in research and development. Competition for those employees is intense and shortages for these sought-after employees, such as nurses, or skilled engineers and research and development personnel, may increase our personnel and recruiting costs and/or impair our reputation for production of technologically advanced products. Additionally, evolving guidelines and requirements regarding vaccine

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mandates for our employees may have an impact on our ability to attract and retain qualified clinical personnel. During the COVID-19 pandemic surges, we experience and may continue to experience, greater employee absenteeism and turnover and longer recruiting cycles which negatively impact our ability to produce and deliver the goods and services that we provide to our customers and our patients. Moreover, we believe that future success in the provider business will be significantly dependent on our ability to attract and retain qualified physicians to serve as employees of or consultants to our health care services businesses.

Additionally, in recruiting, employing and retaining personnel, we may be exposed to increasing risks relating to various labor and staffing laws, legislative, union, or other labor-related activities or changes. These factors could also impact the integration of acquired companies into our operations, which could increase our costs, decrease our productivity and prevent us from realizing synergies from acquisitions. If we are unable to manage the risks above, then our growth and results of operations could be adversely impacted.

If we are unable to meet applicable legal requirements and/or market expectations with respect to sustainability, both our business and our reputation could suffer. We could be subject to fines and other financial burdens associated with global environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) regulations and laws, and we could alienate our patients, employees, customers, partners, investors and the communities we serve. Furthermore, if we do not meet investors’ or certain markets’ ESG standards, the market for our securities could be adversely impacted.

Companies’ ESG activities are facing increased scrutiny from stakeholders such as institutional and other investors, regulatory bodies and non-governmental organizations (“NGOs”). Failure to effectively identify, carry out and manage the necessary sustainability activities as required or expected, as well as effectually manage the impact of factors beyond our control, could cause us to incur additional costs or damage our brand. We could also be subject to financial and other penalties imposed by the respective authorities in the jurisdictions in which we do business. For example, a rise in prices of carbon emission rights stemming from the requirements of European climate regulations could increase our production costs. Such cost increases could have an adverse effect on our operations and results if we do not accurately plan for, and effectively implement, necessary sustainable business practices.

In addition to environmental risks, we also face several social risks. High staff turnover is a risk, not only due to the expense associated with hiring and training new staff, but also because it could affect our ability to serve our patients. For further information on personnel risks, see the risk factor “If we are unable to attract and retain skilled medical, technical and engineering personnel, or if legislative, union, or other labor-related activities or changes result in significant increases in our operating costs or decreases in productivity, we may be unable to manage our growth or continue our technological development” above. Furthermore, companies are increasingly expecting their suppliers to share their commitment to sustainability and demonstrate sustainable business practices across their supply chains, including the ability to identify and mitigate risks related to human rights in their entire value chain. If we fail to comply with our legal obligations related to supply chain due diligence, we could face significant fines and be excluded from public tenders and contracts. We could also suffer reputational damage, especially given that our performance in this area is closely monitored by NGOs, investors and others.

In light of these expectations, among other aspects, we have incorporated sustainability as a performance target for the compensation of our Management Board. Should management fail to meet these outcomes, investors and/or debt providers may not deem us the correct fit for their investment or financing purposes, thereby negatively impacting our share price or our ability to source funding through debt financing. Our new €2 billion syndicated multicurrency sustainability-linked revolving credit facility agreement (the “Syndicated Credit Facility”) includes a sustainability component, pursuant to which the credit facility’s margin will rise or fall depending on our sustainability performance. Further information regarding our efforts with regard to environmental, social and governance matters can be found within our Non-financial report available at www.freseniusmedicalcare.com/en/investors/publications. In furnishing this website address in this report, however, we do not intend to incorporate our Non-financial report or any other information on our website into this report, and any information on our website should not be considered part of this report, except as expressly set forth herein.

Heightened scrutiny on ESG topics may result in more extensive regulatory requirements aimed at mitigating the effects of climate change and other current and future ESG concerns. Should further regulation or stakeholder expectations be more stringent in the future, we may experience increased compliance burdens and costs to meet regulatory obligations and we cannot currently estimate what impact existing and future regulations will have on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

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Risks relating to taxation and accounting

There are significant risks associated with estimating the amount of health care service revenues that we recognize that could impact the timing of our recognition of revenues or have a significant impact on our operating results and financial condition.

There are significant risks associated with estimating the amount of revenues from health care services that we recognize in a reporting period.

If our estimates of revenues are materially inaccurate, it could impact the timing and amount of our recognition of revenues and have a significant impact on our operating results and financial condition. For further information regarding our revenue recognition policies, see note 1 k) of the notes to the consolidated financial statements included in this report.

Diverging views of fiscal authorities could require us to make additional tax payments.

We are subject to ongoing tax audits in Germany, the U.S. and other jurisdictions. We could potentially receive notices of unfavorable adjustments and disallowances in connection with certain of these audits. If we are unsuccessful in contesting unfavorable determinations, we could be required to make additional tax payments, which could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations in the relevant reporting period. See Item 5, “Operating and financial review and prospects – IV. Financial position.”

A dependency on the payment behavior and decision-making of our business partners can affect the collectability of accounts receivable.

Our health care product business and our dialysis services business differ across the regions in which we operate. In many cases, our products and services are paid for, either directly or indirectly, by government institutions. We believe the risk of default from a government payor is generally low to moderate worldwide which could, however, prove to be wrong. On a country level, the payor base is characterized by distinct customer or payor groups which can range in volume from a few customers to a considerable amount of customer types which have varying levels of risk associated with default or non-payment of receivables as well as risks for dependencies based upon the competition within low volume customer base environments. In certain cases, a resulting dependency on the payment behavior and decision-making of our business partners can affect the collectability of accounts receivable and can adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. Our measures aiming to mitigate these risks by actively negotiating long-term contracts with major customers, targeted marketing activities, developing new product and pricing models as well as improving the quality of our services and products, could be insufficient or ineffective.

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Risks relating to our financial condition and our securities

Our indebtedness may prevent us from fulfilling our debt-service obligations or implementing certain elements of our business strategy or may limit our ability to pay dividends.

At December 31, 2021, we had consolidated debt (including lease liabilities) of €13,320 M and consolidated total shareholders’ equity of €13,979 M. Our debt could: jeopardize the successful execution of our business strategy, increase our vulnerability to general adverse economic conditions, limit our ability to obtain necessary financing to fund future working capital needs, capital expenditures, payment of dividends and other general corporate requirements, require us to dedicate a substantial portion of our cash flow from operations, as well as the proceeds of certain financings and asset dispositions, to payments on our indebtedness, thereby reducing the availability of our cash flow and such proceeds to fund other purposes, limit our flexibility in reacting to changes in our business and the industry in which we operate, place us at a competitive disadvantage compared to our competitors that have less debt, limit our ability to pursue possible future acquisitions and sell assets, make it more difficult for us to satisfy our obligations under our debt securities, and limit our ability to borrow additional funds.

As a result, our leverage makes us vulnerable to a downturn in the operating performance of our business, larger than normal fluctuations or volatility in our cash flow, or a downturn in economic conditions. Our ability to make payments on and to refinance our indebtedness will depend on our ability to generate cash in the future, which is dependent on various factors. These factors include governmental and private insurer reimbursement rates for medical treatment and general economic, financial, competitive, legislative, regulatory, and other factors that are beyond our control. If our cash flow is not sufficient to meet our debt service and principal payment requirements, we could be required to refinance our obligations or to dispose of assets in order to meet such requirements. In addition, from time to time we need to refinance our existing debt as and when it matures. In either case, there is no guarantee that we will be able to refinance our existing indebtedness on terms comparable to those governing our existing indebtedness. If our cash flow is not sufficient to meet our debt service and principal payment requirements, or if we are unable to refinance our existing indebtedness on acceptable terms, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, or results of operations. For information about our outstanding indebtedness, see note 13 and note 14 of the notes to our consolidated financial statements included in this report.

On July 1, 2021, we entered into our Syndicated Credit Facility. Our Syndicated Credit Facility and/or the governing instruments related to our outstanding bonds issued by us and our financing subsidiaries (collectively Bonds) include other covenants which, among other things, restrict or could have the effect of restricting our ability to dispose of assets and create liens, and restrict the indebtedness of our subsidiaries. These covenants may otherwise limit our activities as well. The breach of any of the covenants could result in a default and acceleration of the indebtedness under the respective financing agreements, which could, in turn, create additional defaults and acceleration of the indebtedness under the agreements relating to our other long-term indebtedness which would have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Despite our existing indebtedness, we may still be able to incur significantly more debt; this could intensify the previous risk.

Despite our existing indebtedness, we may still be able to incur significantly more unsecured debt in the future, provided that such indebtedness is not incurred by any of our subsidiaries (other than FMCH and our finance subsidiaries) and such indebtedness is permitted to be incurred under our outstanding bonds. The covenant limiting our ability to incur unsecured debt contained in the sole remaining issue of our outstanding bonds issued prior to 2018 is currently suspended and will remain so as long as two of the three credit ratings assigned to these bonds by S&P Global Ratings Europe Limited (“S&P”), Moody’s Deutschland GmbH (“Moody’s”) and Fitch Ratings Ireland Limited (“Fitch”) are at least BBB- or Baa3 (as the case may be) or higher, or, in each case, the equivalent in respect of rating categories of any rating agencies substituted for S&P, Moody’s or Fitch. Additionally, we may still be able to incur substantial unsecured debt in compliance with that covenant regardless of our credit rating. If additional debt is added to our current debt levels, the related risks that we now face could intensify.

Fresenius SE owns 100% of the shares in the General Partner of our Company and is able to exercise management control of FMC-AG & Co. KGaA.

Fresenius SE owns 32.2% of our outstanding shares as of February 15, 2022. Fresenius SE also owns 100% of the outstanding shares of Management AG, the General Partner of the Company. As the sole shareholder of the General Partner, Fresenius SE has the sole right to elect the supervisory board of the General Partner which, in turn, appoints the General Partner’s Management Board. The Management Board of the General Partner is responsible for the management of the Company. Through its ownership of the General Partner, Fresenius

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SE is able to exercise de facto management control of FMC-AG & Co. KGaA, even though it owns less than a majority of our outstanding voting shares. Such de facto control limits public shareholder influence on management of the Company and precludes a takeover or change of control of the Company without Fresenius SE’s consent, either or both of which could adversely affect the price of our shares. Our Articles of Association require that the General Partner or a parent company of the General Partner hold more than 25% of our share capital. The Articles of Association also provide that the General Partner ceases to be the general partner if the shares of the General Partner are acquired by a person who does not make an offer to acquire the shares of the Company’s other shareholders within three months of the acquisition of the General Partner. In either case, the necessity for such a significant investment in connection with an acquisition of the General Partner could also discourage or preclude a change of control through acquisition of the General Partner, which also could adversely affect the price of our shares.

Because we are not organized under U.S. law, we are subject to certain less detailed disclosure requirements under U.S. federal securities laws, and we are exempt from most of the governance rules of the New York Stock Exchange.

Under the pooling agreement that we have entered into for the benefit of public holders of our shares (including, in each case, holders of American Depositary Receipts representing beneficial ownership of such shares), we have agreed to file quarterly reports with the SEC and to file information with the SEC with respect to annual and general meetings of our shareholders. The Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer of our general partner issue the certifications required by §302 and §906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002  (“S-OX”) on a quarterly basis (with the filing of our quarterly reports and our annual report on Form 20-F) rather than on an annual basis as is the practice of most foreign private issuers. As of June 2016, the pooling agreement provides that we may prepare such financial statements in accordance with U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (“U.S. GAAP”) or IFRS and, commencing with our report for the first quarter of 2017, we prepare our quarterly and annual financial statements in accordance with IFRS with the euro as our reporting currency. The pooling agreement also requires that the supervisory board of Management AG, our General Partner, include at least two members who do not have any substantial business or professional relationship with Fresenius SE, Management AG or FMC-AG & Co. KGaA and its affiliates (other than as members of the supervisory board of Management AG, FMC-AG & Co. KGaA, or both) and requires the consent of those independent directors (currently, Mr. Rolf A. Classon and Mr. Gregory Sorensen, MD), to certain transactions between us and Fresenius SE and its affiliates.

We are a “foreign private issuer,” as defined in the SEC’s regulations, and consequently we are not subject to all of the same disclosure requirements applicable to domestic companies. We are exempt from the SEC’s proxy rules, and our annual reports contain less detailed disclosure than reports of domestic issuers regarding such matters as management, executive compensation and outstanding options, beneficial ownership of our securities and certain related party transactions. Also, our officers, directors and beneficial owners of more than 10% of our equity securities are exempt from the reporting requirements and short–swing profit recovery provisions of Section 16 of the Exchange Act. We are also generally exempt from most of the governance rules applicable to companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”), including the requirement that our board have a majority of independent directors (as defined in those rules) and the obligation to maintain a compensation committee of independent directors. We are required to maintain an audit committee in accordance with Rule 10A – 3 under the Exchange Act and to provide annual (and, if required, quarterly) affirmations of our compliance. We must also disclose the significant ways in which the governance standards that we follow differ from those applicable to U.S. companies under the NYSE governance rules. Exemptions from many governance rules applicable to U.S. domestic issuers may adversely affect the market prices for our securities. See Item 16G, “Corporate governance.”

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History

On September 30, 1996, we completed a series of transactions to consummate an Agreement and Plan of Reorganization entered into on February 4, 1996 by Fresenius SE (then Fresenius AG) and W.R. Grace & Co. which we refer to as the “Merger” elsewhere in this report. Pursuant to that agreement, Fresenius SE contributed Fresenius Worldwide Dialysis, its global dialysis business, including its controlling interest in Fresenius USA, Inc., in exchange for 105,630,000 FMC-AG Ordinary Shares. Thereafter, subsidiaries of Fresenius SE merged with and into:

pursuant to which W.R Grace & Co. and Fresenius USA, Inc. became wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Company and the shareholders of W.R. Grace & Co. and the shareholders of Fresenius USA, Inc. (other than Fresenius SE) exchanged their shares for 94,080,000 Ordinary Shares, and 10,290,000 Ordinary Shares, respectively.

On February 10, 2006, the Company completed the transformation of its legal form under German law as approved by its shareholders during the Extraordinary General Meeting held on August 30, 2005. Upon registration of the transformation of legal form in the commercial register of the local court in Hof an der Saale, on February 10, 2006, Fresenius Medical Care AG’s legal form was changed from a German AG to a KGaA with the name Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA. The Company as a KGaA is the same legal entity under German law, rather than a successor to the stock corporation. Management AG, a subsidiary of Fresenius SE, which was the majority voting shareholder of FMC-AG prior to the transformation, is the general partner of FMC-AG & Co. KGaA. Upon effectiveness of the transformation of legal form, the share capital of FMC-AG became the share capital of FMC-AG & Co. KGaA, and persons who were shareholders of FMC-AG became shareholders of the Company in its new legal form.

Pursuant to the authorization granted by our Annual General Meeting (“AGM”) on May 12, 2016, we conducted a share buy-back program through April 1, 2020. For a reconciliation of our treasury share purchases, repurchases and retirements under the program, see note 17 of the notes to the consolidated financial statements included in this report. The authorization to repurchase our shares granted by our AGM in 2016 expired in May 2021. On May 20, 2021, our AGM renewed the authorization for a period of five further years, expiring on May 19, 2026.

For further information regarding important events in the development in our business, such as material mergers by us or our significant subsidiaries, acquisitions and dispositions of material assets outside the ordinary course of our business, material changes in the way we conduct our business, material changes in the products we produce and the services we provide, see Item 4A, “Information on the Company,” in this Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2021 and our reports for prior years, filed with the SEC and also available on our website www.freseniusmedicalcare.com. In furnishing our website address in this report, however, we do not intend to incorporate any information on our website into this report, and any information on our website should not be considered to be part of this report, except as expressly set forth herein.

For information regarding our principal capital expenditures and divestitures since the beginning of our last financial year, and information concerning our principal capital expenditures and divestitures currently in progress, see Item 4, “Information on the Company – B. Business overview – Capital expenditures and – Acquisitions and investments” as well as Item 5, “Operating and financial review and prospects – III. Financial position – Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities.”

The SEC internet site contains reports, proxy and information statements and other information regarding registrants that file electronically with the SEC. The SEC’s website is www.sec.gov. For additional information regarding the availability of periodic reports and other information concerning us, see Item 10.H, “Documents on Display.”

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Our business

We are the world’s leading provider of products and services for individuals with renal diseases, based on publicly reported revenue and number of patients treated. We provide dialysis care and related services to persons who suffer from ESKD as well as other health care services. We also develop, manufacture and distribute a wide variety of health care products. A summary representation of our health care services and our health care products for 2021 is as follows:

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The following table summarizes revenues for our North America Segment, EMEA Segment, Asia-Pacific Segment and our Latin America Segment in our major categories of activity, health care services and health care products for the three years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019.

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We receive a substantial portion of our North America Segment revenue from the U.S. Medicare program and other government sources. The following table provides information for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019 regarding the percentage of our U.S. patient service revenue included in our health care service revenue from: (a) the Medicare program, (b) private/alternative payors, such as commercial insurance, Medicare Advantage and private funds, (c) Medicaid and other government sources and (d) hospitals.

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Under the Medicare program, Medicare reimburses dialysis providers for the treatment of certain individuals who are diagnosed as having ESRD, regardless of age or financial circumstances. See “Regulatory and legal matters — Reimbursement.”

Our services, products and business processes

ESKD is the stage of advanced chronic kidney disease characterized by the irreversible loss of kidney function and requires regular dialysis treatment or kidney transplantation to sustain life. A normally functioning human kidney removes waste products and excess water from the blood, which prevents toxin buildup, water overload and the eventual poisoning of the body. Most patients suffering from ESKD must rely on dialysis, which is the removal of toxic waste products and excess fluids from the body by artificial means. A number of conditions – diabetes, hypertension, glomerulonephritis and inherited diseases – can cause chronic kidney disease. The majority of people with ESKD acquire the disease as a complication of one or more of these primary conditions.

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As a leading global health care company, we offer health care services and products in around 150 countries with a focus on the following areas:

Dialysis treatment options for ESKD

There are currently only two methods for treating ESKD: dialysis and kidney transplantation. At the end of 2021, about 4.6 M (2020: 4.5 M) patients worldwide regularly underwent dialysis treatment or received an organ donation. For dialysis treatment, we distinguish between two types: hemodialysis (“HD”) and peritoneal dialysis (“PD”). In HD, a hemodialysis machine controls the flow of blood from the patient, the blood is cleansed by means of a specially designed filter known as a dialyzer and then pumped back into the body. With PD, the patient introduces a dialysis solution into his or her abdominal cavity and the patient’s peritoneum serves as a dialyzing membrane. We provide dialysis services and products for both therapy methods.

For many years now, the number of donated organs worldwide has been significantly lower than the number of patients on transplant waiting lists. Despite extensive efforts by regional initiatives to increase awareness of kidney donation and the willingness to donate, the share of patients receiving kidney transplantation compared with other treatment methods has remained relatively unchanged over the past ten years. (See “— Regulatory and legal matters — Reimbursement — Executive order-based models” for a discussion of recent proposed changes to the U.S. organ donation system.)

Due to the scarcity of compatible kidneys for transplant, most patients suffering from ESKD rely on dialysis, as demonstrated in the following table:

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The prevalence of chronic kidney failure varies between regions. There are several reasons for this variance:

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The worldwide number of dialysis patients rose by around 2% in 2021 (2020: 3%). In economically weaker regions we expect the growth rates to be considerably higher. The lower worldwide growth rates in 2021 and 2020 compared to previous years were primarily caused by COVID-19 related excess mortality of ESKD patients.

In 2021, most dialysis patients were treated in one of approximately 48,000 (2020: 47,000) dialysis centers worldwide, with an average of more than 75 (2020: 75) patients per center. However, this figure varies considerably from country to country.

Hemodialysis is by far the most common form of therapy for chronic kidney failure. A total of 88% of dialysis patients were treated in this way at dialysis centers in 2021 (2020: 88%). Home hemodialysis is an alternative to treatment at a dialysis center. Although adoption has been limited to date, the number of home hemodialysis patients is rising continuously. A total of around 1% of all patients are currently treated in this way (2020: 1%). In the year under review, 11% of all dialysis patients were treated with peritoneal dialysis, usually at home (2020: 11%). Accordingly, 12% of dialysis patients were treated with home dialysis (2020: 12%). In 2021, about 14% (2020: 14%) of all dialysis patients in the U.S. were treated with home dialysis.

The following chart shows a comparison of in-center and home dialysis:

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Hemodialysis. Hemodialysis removes toxins and excess fluids from the blood in a process in which the blood flows outside the body through plastic tubes known as bloodlines into a specially designed filter, called a dialyzer. The dialyzer separates waste products and excess water from the blood. Dialysis solution flowing through the dialyzer carries away the waste products and excess water and supplements the blood with solutes which must be added due to renal failure. The treated blood is returned to the patient. The hemodialysis machine pumps blood, adds anti-coagulants, regulates the purification process and controls the mixing of dialysis solution and the rate of its flow through the system. This machine can also monitor and record the patient’s vital signs.

The majority of hemodialysis patients receive treatment at outpatient dialysis clinics, such as ours, where hemodialysis treatments are administered with the assistance of a nurse or dialysis technician under the general supervision of a physician. Hemodialysis patients generally receive treatment three times per week, typically for three to five hours per treatment.

Peritoneal dialysis. Peritoneal dialysis removes toxins from the blood using the peritoneum, the membrane lining covering the internal organs located in the abdominal area, as a filter. Most peritoneal dialysis patients administer their own treatments in their own homes and workplaces, either by a treatment known as continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (“CAPD”), or by a treatment known as continuous cycling peritoneal dialysis (“CCPD”), also called automated peritoneal dialysis (“APD”). In both of these treatments, a surgically implanted catheter provides access to the peritoneal cavity. Using this catheter, the patient introduces a sterile dialysis solution

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from a solution bag through a tube into the peritoneal cavity. The peritoneum operates as the filtering membrane and, after a specified dwell time, the solution is drained and disposed. A typical CAPD peritoneal dialysis program involves the introduction and disposal of dialysis solution four times a day. With CCPD, a machine pumps or “cycles” solution to and from the patient’s peritoneal cavity while the patient sleeps. During the day, one and a half to two liters of dialysis solution remain in the abdominal cavity of the patient. The human peritoneum can be used as a dialyzer only for a limited period of time, ideally only if the kidneys are still functioning to some extent.

Health care services

We provide dialysis treatment and related laboratory and diagnostic services through our global network of 4,171 outpatient dialysis clinics in 2021 (2020: 4,092). At our clinics, we provide hemodialysis treatments at individual stations through the use of dialysis machines and disposable products. In hemodialysis treatment, a nurse connects the patient to the dialysis machine via bloodlines and monitors the dialysis equipment and the patient’s vital signs. The capacity of a clinic is a function of the number of stations and additional factors such as type of treatment, patient requirements, length of time per treatment, and local operating practices and ordinances regulating hours of operation.

As part of the dialysis therapy, we provide a variety of services to ESKD patients at our dialysis clinics in the U.S. These services include administering erythropoietin stimulating agents (“ESAs”), which are synthetic engineered hormones that stimulate the production of red blood cells. ESAs are used to treat anemia, a medical complication that ESKD patients frequently experience. We administer ESAs to most of our patients in the U.S. ESAs have historically constituted a material portion of our overall costs of treating our ESKD patients.

Our clinics also offer services for home dialysis patients, the majority of whom receive PD treatment. For these patients, we provide materials, training and patient support services, including clinical monitoring, follow-up assistance and arranging for delivery of the supplies to the patient’s residence. (See “— Regulatory and legal matters — Reimbursement — U.S.” for a discussion of the ESRD PPS and billing for these products and services.)

We also provide dialysis services under contract to hospitals in the U.S. on an “as needed” basis for hospitalized ESKD patients and for patients suffering from acute kidney failure. Acute kidney failure can result from trauma, or similar causes, and requires dialysis until the patient’s kidneys recover their normal function. We provide services to these patients either at their bedside, using portable dialysis equipment, or at the hospital’s dialysis site. Contracts with hospitals provide for payment at negotiated rates that are generally higher than the Medicare reimbursement rates for chronic in-clinic outpatient treatments.

Other health care services

Pharmacy Services

We offer pharmacy services, mainly in the U.S. These services include providing renal medications and supplies to the homes of patients or to their dialysis clinics directly from renal pharmacists who are specially trained in treating and counseling patients living with kidney disease.

Vascular, cardiovascular and endovascular specialty services and vascular care ambulatory surgery center services

We operate physician office-based vascular access centers, mainly in the U.S. We also develop, own and manage specialty outpatient surgery centers for vascular care. A patient receiving hemodialysis must have a vascular access site to enable blood to flow to a dialysis machine for cleansing and to return the newly cleaned blood to the body. Our centers create and coordinate the maintenance of these vascular access sites, helping to ensure maturation before use and good flow of blood. Additionally, our vascular care services provide both cardiovascular and endovascular specialty services. Cardiovascular procedures are similar to the setting of care and scope of services for vascular access procedures discussed above with a focus on treatment for heart disease, while endovascular surgical procedures are minimally invasive and designed to access many regions of the body via major and peripheral blood vessels and assist in both the maintenance of hemodialysis accesses and treatment of peripheral artery disease.

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Value and risk-based care programs

We conduct a broad range of value and risk-based care programs spanning Chronic Kidney Disease (“CKD”) and ESRD patient populations with both private and public payors. Value and risk-based care programs include shared risk arrangements in which private payors or government programs share the savings or losses from reductions or increases in the overall medical spend of a population under management assuming that certain quality thresholds are also met. Full risk arrangements include capitated arrangements and percent-of-premium arrangements in which private payors or government programs credit us periodic, fixed payments based on expected medical expenses of such members. Since capitation arrangements often can be recognized as premium revenue and the full medical premium for ESKD beneficiaries generally is very large, capitation programs can drive significant revenue and, when costs are effectively managed, profit opportunities. We have participated recently in the following value-based programs:

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models and our applications for enrollment, see “Regulatory and legal matters – Reimbursement – Executive order-based models.”

Physician nephrology and cardiology services

We manage and operate nephrology and cardiology physician practices in the United States.

Other health care services outside the United States

Ambulant treatment services

In the Asia-Pacific Segment, we are the majority stakeholder in Cura, a leading operator of day hospitals in Australia. Additionally, we provide ambulant treatment services in other parts of the region, which include comprehensive and specialized health check-up centers, vascular access and other chronic treatment services. We also operate renal hospitals in China whose service scope includes inpatient and outpatient facilities focused on kidney disease.

For additional information regarding our other health care services, see Item 4, “Information on the Company - Regulatory and legal matters - Reimbursement - U.S.,” and Item 3.D, “Key information – Risk factors.”

Health care products

Based on internal estimates prepared using our MCS (see “Major markets and competitive position,” below), publicly available market data and our data of significant competitors, we are the world’s largest manufacturer and distributor of equipment and related products for hemodialysis and the second largest manufacturer and distributor of peritoneal dialysis products, measured by publicly reported revenues. We sell our health care products to customers in around 150 countries and we also use them in our own health care service operations. Most of our customers are dialysis clinics. For the years 2021 and 2020, health care products accounted for 21% of our consolidated total revenue.

We produce and distribute a wide range of machines and disposables for HD, PD and critical care, including acute dialysis. The following table shows the breakdown of our dialysis product revenues into sales of HD products, PD dialysis products and other health care products. The following amounts exclude intercompany product sales:

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Hemodialysis machines

Our advanced line of hemodialysis machines includes four series: 2008, 4008, 5008 and 6008. We developed the 4008, 5008 and 6008 series for our markets outside of North America and the 2008 series for the North American market. In 2016, we introduced the 6008 series with the launch of our 6008 CAREsystem.

We also produce the 2008K@home in North America and 4008S and 5008S outside of North America for patients to perform the dialysis treatment in the comfort of their home. In 2019, we completed our acquisition of NxStage, which broadens our offerings of home hemodialysis treatment options. See “—Home hemodialysis” below.

In January 2019, we launched the 4008A dialysis machine which was designed to meet the needs of emerging markets. With the launch of the 4008A, we aim to improve the accessibility to life-sustaining dialysis treatment for ESKD patients in these countries. The 4008A dialysis machine incorporates our high-quality standards while minimizing costs for health care systems. The 4008A dialysis machine has been deployed primarily in emerging Asian markets and more recently in China.

The machines produced within these four series are set forth below:

Our various models of these machine series utilize our latest research and development efforts to improve the dialysis process. Examples of these improvements include the addition of Clinical Data eXchange™ (“CDX”), which allows the clinician to access Medical Information System (“MIS”) data directly from the dialysis station. In addition, the 2008K@home Wet Alert option provides a wireless wetness detector for the identification of blood leakage during dialysis.

Other features of our range of dialysis machines include:

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Dialyzers

Dialyzers are specialized filters that remove uremic toxins and excess water from the blood during hemodialysis. We estimate that we are the leading worldwide producer of polysulfone dialyzers. We manufacture our F-series and advanced FX series of dialyzers as well as our Hemoflow^TM and Optiflux^® series, the leading dialyzer brand in the U.S. All membranes manufactured by us are produced from highly biocompatible synthetic materials. For example, the novel FX CorAL dialyzer contains an innovative Helixone^® hydro membrane which forms a hydro-layer on the inner membrane surface for reduced protein absorption, resulting in a membrane with low immune response and high selective permeability.

Home dialysis products

We offer a full line of home dialysis therapy, including products, services and solutions for CAPD, APD and home hemodialysis treatments.

Peritoneal dialysis

CAPD Therapy: Our stay·safe^® system has been specifically designed to help patients with their daily self-care CAPD treatment in a safe and convenient way.

Our PD fluid portfolio has a wide range of advantages for patients including:

APD therapy: The effectiveness of APD therapy depends on the solution dwell time in the abdomen, the composition of the solution used, the volume of solution and the duration of the treatment, usually 8 – 10 hours during the night. APD using our product line, which includes our Liberty^® cycler, sleep·safe cycler, sleep·safe harmony cycler and Silencia cycler, offers many benefits to PD patients:

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Home Hemodialysis

Hemodialysis can also be done by patients in their own home. Home hemodialysis allows patients to dialyze more frequently for shorter periods than in a dialysis clinic and can improve treatment results and quality of life of patients.

Fresenius Medical Care offers two distinct systems that facilitate home hemodialysis. In addition to the 2008K@home, the 5008S CorDiax HD and the 4008S machines mentioned above, we also offer the NxStage® System One™, a home hemodialysis system that offers the following benefits:

Acute dialysis products

Acute dialysis is intended to provide a full portfolio of proven blood purification therapies for critically ill patients with Acute Kidney Injury, including Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy as well as further treatment options such as therapeutic plasma exchange, carbon dioxide removal and sepsis therapy. Our goal is to provide state-of-the-art therapies supporting impaired kidneys which are easy to operate with a high degree of safety. Our portfolio includes acute dialysis machines, dialysis fluids, hemofilters, plasma filters, adsorbers and a variety of treatment kits and catheters.

Other Dialysis Products

We manufacture and/or distribute arterial, venous, single needle and pediatric bloodlines. We produce liquid, dry and semi-dry acid concentrates for individual supply and central supply, including in-house preparation for which we also provide appropriate connection systems as well as suitable mixing devices. Liquid acid concentrates are formulated to be mixed with dry bicarbonate concentrate (8.4%), using water for hemodialysis treatment. Dry and semi-dry concentrates must be dissolved with water using a suitable mixing device to obtain liquid acid concentrate. Dry acid concentrate requires less storage space and may be less prone to bacterial growth than liquid acid concentrates. We also have rinsing solutions (Saline 0.9% in bags) in our portfolio for priming and rinsing the tubing system. Other products include solutions for disinfecting and decalcifying hemodialysis machines, fistula needles and hemodialysis catheters.

Other health care products

Therapeutic apheresis: Within our portfolio of therapeutic apheresis products, we offer extracorporeal therapy options for patients who cannot be sufficiently treated through conventional pharmaceutical regimens, including the removal of metabolic products, toxins,

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autoantibodies and immunocomplexes. This therapy uses selective adsorbers and filters for the cleaning of blood or plasma compartments.

Heart and lung therapies (acute cardiopulmonary products): In December 2016, we acquired Xenios AG, a company focusing on products for extracorporeal heart and lung support for patients with severe heart and lung failure, in particular for the indicators of severe acute respiratory distress syndrome and acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The products used for an extracorporeal gas exchange offer a wide range of heart and lung support from partial CO₂ removal up to full oxygenation. Xenios’s Novalung^®, a heart and lung support system for the treatment of acute respiratory or cardiopulmonary failure, was approved by the FDA in February 2020 and is the first extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (“ECMO”) system to be cleared for more than six hours of use as extracorporeal life support. In early May 2021, Xenios AG received approval for a patient kit in China, which followed China’s National Medical Products Administration approval of the Xenios console in December 2020. As a result, a complete heart and lung support system is now permitted for ECMO therapy in China.

Renal pharmaceuticals

We continue to acquire and in-license renal pharmaceuticals to improve dialysis treatment for our patients. Below are the primary renal pharmaceuticals we have acquired or for which we have obtained licenses for use:

PhosLo^®

In November 2006, we acquired PhosLo^®, a calcium-based phosphate binder. Phosphate binders keep phosphorus levels in ESKD patients in a healthy range by preventing the body from absorbing phosphorus from foods and assisting the passing of excess phosphorous out of the body. We have received approval of PhosLo^® in selected European countries. In October 2008, a competitive generic phosphate binder was introduced in the U.S. market, which reduced our PhosLo^® sales in 2009. In October 2009, we launched an authorized generic version of PhosLo^® to compete in the generic calcium acetate market. In April 2011, the FDA approved our New Drug Application for Phoslyra^®, a liquid formulation of PhosLo^®. We continue to commercialize the authorized generic version of calcium acetate as well as Phoslyra^® in the U.S. market.

Venofer^® and Ferinject^®

In 2008, we entered into two separate and independent license and distribution agreements, one for certain countries in Europe and the Middle East (with Vifor (International) Ltd. (a subsidiary of Swiss-based Vifor Pharma Ltd.)) and one for the U.S. (with American Regent, Inc. (formerly Luitpold Pharmaceuticals Inc.)), to market and distribute intravenous iron products, such as Venofer^® (iron sucrose) and Ferinject^® (ferric carboxymaltose) outside of the U.S. Both drugs are used to treat iron deficiency anemia experienced by non-dialysis CKD patients as well as dialysis patients. Venofer^® is a leading intravenous iron product worldwide. The first agreement concerns all commercialization activities for these intravenous iron products in the field of dialysis and became effective on January 1, 2009. In North America, a separate license agreement effective November 1, 2008, provides our subsidiary Fresenius USA Manufacturing Inc. (“FUSA”) with exclusive rights to manufacture and distribute Venofer^® to freestanding (non-hospital based) U.S. dialysis facilities and, in addition, grants FUSA similar rights for certain new formulations of the drug. In 2017, Fresenius Medical Care Canada acquired the license to distribute Venofer^® for ESKD and all indications in Canada. The license agreement has a term of five years with two additional two-year options. The U.S. license agreement has a term of ten years and includes FUSA extension options. The North American agreement with American Regent was renegotiated in 2018 and is effective through December 2023. The international agreement which had a term of 20 years was terminated in 2010 as a consequence of the establishment of Vifor Fresenius Medical Care Renal Pharma Ltd. and Vifor Fresenius Medical Care Renal Pharma France S.A.S. (collectively, “VFMCRP”).

In December 2010, we announced the expansion of our agreements with Vifor Pharma Ltd by forming a new renal pharmaceutical company, VFMCRP, with the intention to develop and distribute products focused on addressing distinct complications and areas of chronic kidney disease; renal anemia management, mineral and bone management, kidney function preservation and improvement, conditions associated with kidney impairment and its treatment; and cardio-renal management. FMC-AG & Co. KGaA owns 45% of the company, which is headquartered in Switzerland. Vifor Pharma Ltd contributed licenses (or the commercial benefit in the U.S.) to its Venofer^® and Ferinject^® products for use in the dialysis and pre-dialysis market (CKD stages III to V). Vifor Pharma Ltd and its existing key affiliates or partners retain the responsibility for commercialization of both products outside the renal field. Following the Vifor Pharma Ltd corporate restructuring, and with effect as of November 2, 2021, Vifor Pharma Participations Ltd replaced Vifor Pharma Ltd as a shareholder of VFMCRP.

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Velphoro^®

As part of the agreement to create VFMCRP, Vifor Pharma Ltd also contributed the asset Velphoro®, a novel iron-based phosphate binder, to the new company (excluding certain rights within Japan). Fresenius Medical Care North America (“FMCNA”) markets the product on behalf of VFMCRP in the U.S. and commercial sales of Velphoro® commenced in the first quarter of 2014 in the U.S. market. The product for the U.S. market is supplied by an FDA-approved Vifor Pharma Ltd manufacturing facility in Switzerland and an FDA-approved contract manufacturer also located in Switzerland. Velphoro® has been approved in 43 countries and commercially launched in 29 countries worldwide and the VFMCRP partner Kissei also received approval from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in Japan during 2015 for the product which is marketed in Japan under the brand name P-TOL. For further information, refer to note 22 of the notes to the consolidated financial statements, ‘‘Commitments and contingencies – Legal and regulatory matters’’ included in this report.

OsvaRen^® and Phosphosorb^®

In June 2015, VFMCRP, with Vifor Pharma Ltd, was developed further. In addition to the iron replacement products Ferinject^® and Venofer^® for use in nephrology indications and the phosphate binder Velphoro^® in our shared product portfolio, VFMCRP acquired nephrology medicines commercialized by us, including the phosphate binders OsvaRen^® and Phosphosorb^®. The transfer of the marketing rights was largely completed during the fourth quarter of 2015, allowing the company to further develop its sales and marketing in key European markets.

Shared product portfolio

The core of the VFMCRP model is to in-license products predominantly initiated or used by nephrologists as part of the following areas: renal anemia, mineral and bone and cardio-renal management, kidney function improvement and renal associated conditions. VFMCRP in-licensed Mircera, Retacrit, Rayaldee, Tavneos, and difelikefalin.

VFMCRP also own the rights to Veltassa^® (patiromer), a treatment for hyperkalaemia or elevated potassium levels, outside of the U.S. and Japan.

Major markets and competitive position

To obtain and manage information on the status and development of global, regional and national markets, we have developed our MCS. We use the MCS within the Company as a tool to collect, analyze and communicate current and essential information on the dialysis market, developing trends, our market position and those of our competitors. Country-by-country surveys are performed at the end of each calendar year which focus on the total number of patients treated for ESKD, the treatment modalities selected, products used, treatment location and the structure of ESKD patient care providers. The survey has been refined since inception to facilitate access to more detailed information and to reflect changes in the development of therapies and products as well as changes to the structure of our competitive environment. The questionnaires are distributed to professionals in the field of dialysis who are in a position to provide ESKD-relevant country specific information themselves or who can coordinate appropriate input from contacts with the relevant know-how in each country. The surveys are then centrally validated and checked for consistency by cross-referencing them with the most recent sources of national ESKD information (e.g. registry data or publications if available) and with the results of surveys performed in previous years. All information received is consolidated at a global and regional level and analyzed and reported together with publicly available information published by our competitors. While we believe the information contained in our surveys and competitor publications to be reliable, we have not independently verified the data or any assumptions from which our MCS is derived or on which the estimates they contain are based, and we do not make any representation as to the accuracy of such information. Except as otherwise specified herein, all patient and market data in this report have been derived using our MCS.

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We estimate that the volume of the global dialysis market was €79 billion in 2021 (2020: €81 billion) comprising approximately €15 billion (2020: €15 billion) of dialysis products and approximately €64 billion (2020: €66 billion) of dialysis services (including administration of dialysis drugs).

As of December 31, 2021, we were the world’s leading provider of dialysis services with a market share of approximately 9% (2020: 9%) of the global dialysis patient population through treating 345,425 (2020: 346,553) of the approximately 3.8 M (2020: 3.7 M) dialysis patients worldwide. The segment breakdown according to patients treated is below:

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We are also the global market leader for dialysis products. Dialysis products we produced for use in our own dialysis centers or for sale to third-party customers accounted for a market share of 36% in 2021 (2020: 36%). In the case of hemodialysis products, we had a 42% share of the global market (2020: 42%) and are also the leader in this field.

Dialyzers for hemodialysis are the largest product group in the dialysis market with a worldwide sales volume of over 378 M units in 2021 (2020: 366 M). Approximately 158 M (around 42%) (2020: 158 M, or around 43%) of these were made by the Company, giving us by far the biggest market share. Hemodialysis machines constitute another key component of our product business. Here, too, we are the market leader. Of the 92,000 machines installed in 2021 (2020: 91,000), according to estimates, around 48,000, or around 52% (2020: around 45,000, or around 50%), were produced by the Company.

Furthermore, we hold a strong position in the market for peritoneal dialysis products: Around 16% (2020: around 16%) of all peritoneal dialysis patients use products made by the Company.

The overall market for dialysis care services in the U.S. is consolidated. Across all market segments, we treat around 37% of all dialysis patients in the United States (2020: 37%). In the U.S., home dialysis is becoming increasingly important. In 2021, about 15% (2020: 14%) of our U.S. dialysis treatments were performed at home. Outside the U.S., the dialysis services business is much more fragmented. With around 1,490 dialysis centers (2020: 1,470) and approximately 139,000 patients (2020: 140,000) in around 50 countries (2020: 50), we operate by far the largest network of clinics outside the U.S.

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Our competitive environment is described in more detail below:

Health Care Services. We operate in a competitive, international market environment and are, therefore, subject to certain trends, risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from our projected results. The major trends affecting the markets in which we operate are: the aging population and increased life expectancies, shortage of donor organs for kidney transplants, and increasing incidence and better treatment of and survival of patients with diabetes and hypertension, which frequently precede the onset of ESKD, all of which contribute to patient growth. In the U.S. and other markets in which dialysis is readily available, additional trends are:

Trends in the developed markets:

Trends in the emerging markets:

For additional trends, risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from our projected results, specifically in relation to the impact on patient mortalities and co-morbidities related to COVID-19, see Item 3.D, “Key information – Risk factors.”

The following are our largest competitors in the dialysis services industry:

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U.S. government programs are the primary source of reimbursement for services to the majority of U.S. patients and, as such, competition for patients in the U.S. is based primarily on quality and accessibility of service and the ability to obtain admissions from physicians with privileges at the facilities. However, the extension of periods during which commercial insurers are primarily responsible for reimbursement and the growth of managed care have placed greater emphasis on service costs for patients insured with private insurance.

In most countries other than the U.S., we compete primarily against individual freestanding clinics and hospital-based clinics. In many of these countries, especially the developed countries, governments directly or indirectly regulate prices and the opening of new clinics.

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Providers compete in all countries primarily on the basis of quality and availability of service and the development and maintenance of relationships with referring physicians.

Laboratory Services: Spectra, our dialysis laboratory subsidiary, competes in the U.S. with large nationwide laboratories, dedicated dialysis laboratories and numerous local and regional laboratories, including hospital laboratories. In the laboratory services market, companies compete on the basis of performance, including quality of laboratory testing, timeliness of reporting test results and cost-effectiveness. We believe that our services are competitive in these areas.

Products: We compete globally in the product market which is largely segmented between hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, home hemodialysis and renal pharmaceuticals. Our competitors include:

We have invested significantly in developing proprietary processes, technologies and manufacturing equipment which we believe provide a competitive advantage in manufacturing our products.

Our strategy and competitive strengths

“Creating a future worth living. For patients. Worldwide. Every day.” This vision guides us in our efforts to give our patients around the world a better life by offering them high-quality products and outstanding health care.

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At the same time, we expect to face a multitude of challenges in the coming years: an aging population, a rise in chronic diseases, fragmented care, staff shortages, cost pressure, digitalization and the COVID-19 pandemic, all of which require new approaches and solutions in health care.

Our way forward – “Strategy 2025”

Renal care continuum

To meet the challenges of the future, we are leveraging our core strategic competencies: innovating products, operating outpatient facilities, standardizing medical procedures and coordinating patients effectively.

Between now and 2025, we intend to go a step further and take our strategy to the next level to bring us closer to our goal of providing health care for chronically and critically ill patients across the renal care continuum. We aim to use our innovative, high-quality products and services to offer sustainable solutions at a reliable cost.

The renal care continuum encompasses the following aspects:

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a view to slowing disease progression, enabling a smoother start to dialysis and preventing unnecessary hospital stays. We also intend to incorporate kidney transplants into value-based care models in the future.

Critical care solutions

The number of patients requiring continuous renal replacement therapy to treat acute kidney failure is set to rise in the next decade to more than 1.6 million per year. We will expand our existing acute care portfolio to include other extracorporeal critical care therapy areas, such as the treatment of acute heart, lung and multi-organ failure.

Complementary assets

We will supplement and strengthen our existing network where feasible through additional partnerships, investments and acquisitions. This will help us to create medical value added while saving costs, enabling us to build an even more solid foundation for our future growth to 2025 and beyond.

Integrating sustainability

For us, sustainability is about being successful in the long term and creating lasting value – economically, ecologically and socially. Our commitment to sustainability is incorporated in our vision and our mission. It is also reflected in our strategy. We have launched our Global Sustainability Program to step up our efforts to integrate sustainability into our business activities from 2020 to 2022. In this context, we have introduced sustainability as a non-financial performance target for management compensation. See Item 6.B, “Directors, senior management and employees — Compensation — Management Board members’ compensation in the Fiscal Year — Sustainability target” below.

Globalizing our operating model

Related to the changes according to the FME25 Program, we are structuring our operating model along the relevant future value drivers. The new operating model continues our strategy to globalize and simplify our structure in the course of implementing Strategy 2025. The objective is to better capture identified growth opportunities, thereby generating additional value, enhance capital allocation, further realize the advantages of our vertical integration, increase transparency both internally and externally, reduce the administrative burden in terms of cost and speed, and promote a culture of agility, innovation and accountability.

We expect to complete the roll-out of our new global operating model by 2023 and most of the savings initiative to be implemented by 2025. For further information, see Item 5. “Operating and financial review and prospects — II. Financial condition and results of operations — Company Structure,” below.

Customers, marketing, distribution and service

We sell most of our products to dialysis clinics, hospitals and specialized treatment clinics. Close interaction between our sales and marketing as well as research and development (“R&D”) personnel enables us to integrate concepts and ideas that originate in the field into product development. We maintain a direct sales force of trained salespersons engaged in the sale of hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis as well as acute dialysis products and products for critical care. Sales engages in direct promotional efforts, including visits to physicians, clinical specialists, hospitals, clinics and dialysis clinics and, together with marketing, represents us at industry trade shows. Our clinical nurses provide clinical support, training and assistance to customers and assist our sales force. We offer customer service, training and education in the applicable local language, and technical support such as field service, repair shops, maintenance and warranty regulation for each country in which we sell dialysis products.

In our basic distribution system, we ship products from factories to central warehouses which are frequently located near the factories. From these central warehouses, we distribute our dialysis and non-dialysis products to regional warehouses. We also distribute home hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis products to patients at home, care facilities or their travel destination. We also deliver hemodialysis

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and critical care products directly to dialysis clinics, hospitals and other customers. Additionally, local sales forces, independent distributors, dealers and sales agents sell all our products.

Sales of dialysis products to Iran

The Company actively employs comprehensive policies, procedures and systems to ensure compliance with applicable controls and economic sanctions laws. The Company has allocated resources to design, implement and maintain a compliance program specific to the Company’s U.S. and non-U.S. activities. At the same time, the Company’s dedication to providing its life-saving dialysis products to patients and sufferers of ESKD extends worldwide, including conducting humanitarian-related business with distributors in Iran in compliance with applicable law. In particular, the Company’s product sales to Iran from Germany are not subject to the EU’s restrictive measures against Iran established by Council Regulation (EU) No. 267/2012 of March 23, 2012, as last amended by Council Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/1242 of July 29, 2021 implementing Regulation (EU) No 267/2012 concerning restrictive measures against Iran, as the Company’s products sold to Iran do not fall within the scope of the EU sanctions and none of the end users or any other person or organization involved is listed on the relevant EU sanctions lists. Because the Company’s sales to Iran were and are made solely by its German subsidiaries, the sales are not subject to the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations, 31 C.F.R Part 560 (“ITSR”) and are not eligible for licenses from the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) pursuant to the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000. Also, ITSR § 560.215(a) is not applicable in the present case because the Company does not have a U.S. parent company and is not in any other way owned or controlled by a U.S. person, as those terms are used in ITSR § 560.215(a), and the Company’s affiliates involved in Iran-related transactions are also not “owned or controlled” by a U.S. person. That the Company has a U.S. subsidiary does not cause the ITSR to apply to the Company’s Iran-related transactions (because the sales by the Company’s non-U.S. affiliates are outside the scope of ITSR §560.215(a)). In any case, OFAC’s public guidance provides that sales of medical devices to Iran by non-U.S. companies are generally subject to humanitarian exceptions under U.S. sanctions targeting Iran.

During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company sold approximately €6 M of dialysis products to independent Iranian distributors and other foreign distributors for resale, processing and assembling in Iran. The products included fibre bundles, hemodialysis concentrates, dialysis machines and parts, and related disposable supplies. The sales of these products generated approximately €4.0 M in operating income for the year ended December 31, 2021. All such sales were made by the Company’s German subsidiaries. Based on information available to the Company, the Company believes that most products were eventually sold to hospitals in Iran through state purchasing organizations affiliated with the Iranian Ministry of Health and were therefore sales to the “Government of Iran” as defined in ITSR § 560.304. The Company’s 2021 sales to Iran represent approximately 0.03% of its total revenues. The Company has no subsidiaries, affiliates or offices, nor does it have any direct investment or own any assets, in Iran. In light of the humanitarian nature of its products and the patient communities that benefit from our products, the Company expects to continue selling dialysis products to Iran, provided such sales continue to be permissible under applicable export control and economic sanctions laws and regulations.

Patient, physician and other relationships

We believe that our success in establishing and maintaining health care centers, both in the U.S. and in other countries, depends significantly on our ability to obtain the acceptance of and referrals from local physicians, hospitals and integrated care organizations. Our ability to provide high-quality dialysis care and to fulfill the requirements of patients and doctors depends significantly on our ability to enlist nephrologists for our dialysis clinics and receive referrals from nephrologists, hospitals, post-acute care facilities and general practitioners.

Medicare program regulations rely on Conditions for Coverage rules for ESRD facilities which require that each dialysis clinic have a medical director who is responsible for overseeing the delivery of patient care and outcomes at the dialysis clinic. The medical director must be board-certified or board eligible in internal medicine or pediatrics, have completed a board-approved training program in nephrology and have at least twelve months of experience providing care to patients undergoing dialysis. We have engaged physicians or physician practices to serve as medical directors for our outpatient dialysis centers, home dialysis programs, and inpatient dialysis service relationships with hospitals. The compensation of our medical directors and other contracted physicians is negotiated individually in arm’s length negotiations and is based on the anticipated workload for each clinic or program the medical director will oversee, as well as any unique market factors such as, for example, the lack of availability of alternative options within the market. The total annual compensation of the medical directors is to be in place for a term of at least one year and the medical directors agree to seek

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to continue to improve quality, safety and efficiency. We have developed internal processes with the goal of setting the compensation of our medical directors at fair market value.

Almost all contracts we enter into with our medical directors in the U.S., as well as the typical contracts which we obtain when acquiring existing clinics, contain non-competition clauses concerning certain activities in defined areas for a defined period of time. These non-compete agreements restrict the physicians from owning or providing medical director services to other outpatient dialysis centers, but these clauses do not restrict the physicians from performing patient services directly at other locations/areas or referring patients to other facilities. We do not require physicians to send patients to us or to specific clinics.

In addition to our dialysis clinics, a number of our other health care centers employ or contract with physicians to provide professional and administrative services. We have financial relationships with these physicians in the form of compensation arrangements for the services rendered. We have processes in place to negotiate these contractual arrangements in compliance with federal and state laws applicable to financial relationships with physicians, such as the Stark Law and the Anti-Kickback Statute.

A number of the dialysis clinics and other health care centers we operate are owned, or managed, by entities in which we hold a controlling interest and one or more hospitals, physicians or physician practice groups hold a minority interest. We have granted holders of these minority interests put options or similar rights under which we could be required to purchase all or part of the minority owners’ noncontrolling interests. See note 1 a) of the notes to our audited consolidated financial statements included in this report. We also have agreements with physicians to provide management and administrative services at health care centers in which physicians or physician groups hold an ownership interest and agreements with physicians to provide professional services at such health care centers. Our relationships with physicians and other referral sources relating to these entities must comply with the federal Anti-Kickback Statute and Stark Law. There is a safe harbor under the Anti-Kickback Statute for certain investment interests in small entities. These entities have been designed to comply with the federal Anti-Kickback Statute and Stark Law, but they do not satisfy all of the requirements for safe harbor protection. Failure to comply with a safe harbor does not render an arrangement illegal under the federal Anti-Kickback Statute and, therefore, physician entities that fall outside the safe harbors are not, by definition, prohibited by law but continue to be subject to legal scrutiny. See Item 3.D, “Key information – Risk factors.”

Our contractual and other relationships with physicians and other referral sources are subject to numerous legal requirements. While we operate under procedures and policies regarding compliance with these requirements, and in some respects, we follow the guidance under safe harbors, there is no assurance that our interpretations of legal requirements will always be accurate or that our execution of legal requirements will always be sufficient or complete. See Item 3.D, “Key Information – Risk Factors.”

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Capital expenditures

We invested, by operating segment and Corporate, the gross amounts shown in the table below during the twelve-month periods ended December 31, 2021, 2020, and 2019.

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For additional information regarding our capital expenditures, see Item 5.IV, “Operating and financial review and prospects – Financial position.”

Acquisitions and investments

A significant factor in the growth in our revenue and operating earnings in prior years has been our ability to acquire health care businesses, particularly dialysis clinics, on mutually beneficial terms. In the U.S., physicians and others who own dialysis operations might decide to sell their clinics (or investment interests in their clinics) to obtain relief from day-to-day administrative responsibilities and changing governmental regulations, to focus on patient care and to realize a return on their investment. Outside the U.S., doctors might determine to sell to us and/or enter into certain relationships with us to achieve the same goals and to gain a partner with extensive expertise in dialysis products and services. Privatization of health care in Eastern Europe and Asia could present additional acquisition opportunities. We believe we are also viewed as a valuable strategic health care partner outside the dialysis business due to our experience in managing chronic disease for dialysis patients and our record of improving quality and patient satisfaction and reducing the overall cost of care, and our leadership in advancing innovation and improvement in health care.

For a discussion of our 2021 and 2020 acquisitions and investments, see Item 5, “Operating and financial review and prospects – III. Financial position – Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities.”

Procurement and production

We operate modern development, production and distribution facilities worldwide to meet the demand for our dialysis products and other health care products. We have invested significantly in developing proprietary processes, technologies and manufacturing equipment resulting in a competitive advantage in manufacturing our products. Production facilities and distribution centers are strategically located. This helps to reduce transportation costs and facilitate the distribution of products to our customers.

We produce and assemble hemodialysis machines and peritoneal dialysis cyclers in our Schweinfurt, Germany and our Concord, California, U.S. facilities. We manufacture and assemble dialyzers and polysulfone membranes in our Ogden, Utah, U.S., St. Wendel, Germany, L’Arbresle, France, Buzen, Japan (dialyzers) and Changshu, China (dialyzers) facilities and at production facilities of our

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joint venture in Inukai, Japan. We manufacture hemodialysis concentrate products at various facilities worldwide, including France, Germany, Great Britain, Spain, Turkey, Serbia, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Australia, China, Malaysia, Canada, Mexico and the U.S. We manufacture PD solutions in North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia, with two of our largest plants in Germany and the U.S. Additionally, we manufacture bloodlines in Mexico, China and Turkey. Our Reynosa, Mexico plant is the world’s largest (by volume) bloodline manufacturing facility. See “Item 4.D. Property, plant and equipment,” below.

The Global Manufacturing, Quality & Supply (“GMQS”) division manages the procurement of raw materials and semi-finished goods as well as the manufacturing and distribution of renal products. This center-led approach enables us to:

With a focus on quality, costs and availability, GMQS has introduced a stable infrastructure with efficient processes and systems over the last several years. All production sites follow the Lean Manufacturing approach which, in our North America Segment and nine of twelve plants in our EMEA Segment, includes the “Lean Six Sigma” management system. The focus of Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma is continuous improvement of manufacturing processes to achieve a low defect rate resulting in improved product quality, while reducing manufacturing time. Our production of renal pharmaceuticals and medical devices must comply with current Good Manufacturing Practices under the applicable regulations of the U.S. FDA, the EU, the Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency (ANVISA) and other jurisdictions. See “– Regulatory and legal matters – Product Regulation,” below.

We have been successful in harmonizing all local Quality Management Systems (“QMS”) in all manufacturing and development sites of our EMEA Segment, Latin America Segment and Asia-Pacific Segment under one Consolidated QMS (“CQMS”). The CQMS fulfills ISO 13485:2016 and ISO 9001:2015 standards, the Medical Device Single Audit Program (“MDSAP”) underlying regulatory requirements, the Medical Device Directive 93/42/EEC as well as Regulation (EU) 2017/745 of April 5, 2017 on medical devices (“MDR”), which have been implemented in the EMEA Segment, Latin America Segment and Asia-Pacific Segment design, manufacture and distribution sites. (See also “Regulatory and Legal Matters – Facilities and Operational Regulation” below). Every medical device plant within our EMEA Segment, Latin America Segment and Asia-Pacific Segment has a local QMS directed by CQMS that is certified either to ISO 13485:2016 and/or ISO 9001:2015 under MDSAP. Where applicable, each plant also complies to the Medical Device Directive 93/42/EEC, the MDSAP underlying regulatory requirements and additional national requirements based upon target markets and countries of manufacturing. Plants producing products with the CE mark are in the transition process to be in full compliance with the MDR. The QMS of each site is reviewed through periodic corporate and local management review as well as internal audits.

All certified plants have successfully passed the annual ISO 13485, ISO 9001, MDSAP underlying regulatory requirements, external QMS audits and authority inspections for maintaining their required certifications and licenses.

Our procurement policy combines worldwide sourcing of high-quality materials with the establishment of long-term supplier relationships. Additionally, we have processes in place to ensure that purchased materials comply with the quality specifications and safety standards required for our dialysis products. We outsource only after we have qualified suppliers, ensuring they meet our requirements. Interactive Supplier Relationship management and risk management systems connect all our global procurement activities to enhance global transparency, compliance with our Supplier Code of Conduct, standardized processes and constant monitoring of our projects and supplier-related activities. Our procurement risk mitigation efforts include (i) the development of partnerships with strategic suppliers through framework contracts, (ii) where reasonably practicable, at least two sources for all supply and price-critical primary products (dual sourcing, multiple sourcing), and (iii) measures to prevent loss of suppliers, such as risk analyses as well as continuous supply chain monitoring. See Item 3.D, “Key Information – Risk Factors.”

We focus on further optimizing procurement logistics and reducing total purchasing costs. Corporate frame contracts for the majority of our manufacturers of semi-finished goods and raw materials will enable us to improve purchasing terms for our complete network.

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We are continuously intensifying, where appropriate, our use of web-based procurement tools to increase agility and global transparency. Our sophisticated routing software enables us to distribute our supplies to best accommodate customer requests while maintaining operational efficiency. Additionally, we have an automated replenishment control in our national warehouses that allows the warehouses to be refilled when their inventory reaches a preset defined minimum level and allows us to continue to improve our operational efficiency.

Quality assurance and quality management in dialysis care

Our clinics work in conformance with the generally accepted quality standards of the industry, particularly the Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative (“KDOQI”) guidelines from the U.S., the European Renal Best Practice standard and increasingly, Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (“KDIGO”), an industry initiative for global clinical practice guidelines. Clinical data management systems are used to routinely collect certain medical parameters, which we evaluate in anonymized form in compliance with these guidelines.

At each of our North America Segment dialysis clinics, a quality assurance committee is responsible for reviewing quality of care data, choosing local quality improvement projects and monitoring the progress towards achieving the quality targets which are informed by KDOQI, KDIGO and the Quality Agenda established by the FMCNA Medical Office. A rigorous scoring system, Clinical Quality Score, reports trends in outcomes and performance comparison among all levels of the organization. Visual representation of key performance indicators can be viewed in increasing levels of detail to provide transparency of results. In 2020, although impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, we continued to develop and implement programs and tools to assist in achieving our quality goals. These include treatment algorithms based on best medical evidence, outlier management teams, and technology to highlight opportunities for improvement at the dialysis chairside.

The Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 created the ESRD quality incentive program under which dialysis facilities in the U.S. that fail to achieve annual quality standards established by CMS could have base payments reduced in a subsequent year by up to 2%. See Item 5. “Operating and financial review and prospects - II. Financial condition and results of operations - Overview.” These programs blend the CMS quality standard measures against the industry baselines to attempt the improvement in quality through a pay for performance program that operates as a part of the ESRD PPS.

In our EMEA Segment, our quality management activities are a core element of our comprehensive NephroCare Governance Standards program. Our NephroCare Governance standards focus on meeting quality and safety requirements for the most critical process areas such as core patient care and safety critical support processes. Currently, all the dialysis clinics in 29 countries within our EMEA Segment have a QMS implemented either as NephroCare QMS Focus or as ISO 9001:2015 certified Healthcare Services QMS as a part of NephroCare Governance Standards.

Additionally, several countries in the EMEA Segment fulfill the ISO-Norm 14001:2015 for environmental management systems. These quality and environmental management systems deployed in the EMEA Segment form part of an Integrated Management System (“IMS”) that closely reflects existing corporate processes and is used to fulfill many legal and normative requirements. In addition, the IMS offers a highly flexible structure that allows us to adapt to future regulations. The IMS not only fulfills the ISO 9001:2015 requirements, but also links it with the ISO-Norm 14001:2015. Furthermore, it conforms to the specific requirements that apply in the fields of pharmaceuticals and medical devices, for example to health care professionals. Prominent examples are the ISO-Norm 13485:2016, the Medical Device Directive 93/42/EEC as well as the Medical Device Regulation (EU) 2017/745.

In our Latin America Segment, the IMS is based on the ISO 9001: 2015 standard with processes that allow us to understand and comply with the requirements, consider the processes in terms of added value, define and assign resources, train our employees, implement and control activities, obtain performance results and process effectiveness and continually improve our processes based on objective measurements. Our NephroCare governance standards focus on meeting quality and safety requirements for the most critical process areas such as core patient care and safety critical support processes. Certain dialysis clinics are ISO 9001: 2015 and ISO 45001: 2018 certified. The main policies, guides, and operational standard operating procedures are defined at the regional level, then communicated and adapted following pre-established criteria in each country to consider the regulatory requirements of each market. As part of the monitoring and continuous improvement of both processes and results, key performance indicators are established consistent with our policies regarding quality. These indicators measure performance at the dialysis clinic, country and regional levels, constituting one of the main tools to foster improvement. In addition, a plan of annual quality, regulatory and environmental audits is implemented at the regional level to review compliance and provide support in the continuous improvement of processes, complemented by internal audits

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in each country of the region. Lastly, employee satisfaction and patient experience surveys are performed as another source of areas for quality improvement.

Our principal focus of our clinical research includes the development of new products, technologies and treatment concepts to optimize treatment quality, safety and efficiency for kidney failure patients. This includes steps and processes for the reduction in the costs of providing care for our patients. See Item 5.VII, “Operating and financial review and prospects – Research and development.”

Environmental management

In 2021, we launched a global environmental policy as part of our efforts to develop and implement a global environmental strategy. The policy provides a framework for environmental management at a global level and will serve as a basis for developing reduction targets. Our policy also addresses how we manage and monitor our environmental impact and acts as a framework for our environmental policies and manuals at a regional level (“Global Environmental Policy”). In January 2022, the Management Board approved new climate targets. We plan to be climate neutral by 2040. By 2030, we aim to reduce Scope 1 (direct) and Scope 2 (indirect) emissions by 50% compared with 2020. In addition, we will assess the impact of Scope 3 (other indirect) emissions in the future so that they can be included in our targets.

We have integrated environmental protection targets into our operations. To reach these goals, our Environmental Management System (“EMS”) in the EMEA Segment has been in use at certain of our production facilities as well as at a number of dialysis clinics. Environmental goals are set and monitored during all stages of the lives of our products, from their development to their disposal. At a global level, our key principles and commitment on environmentally sustainable behavior are defined by our Global Environmental Policy.

We continually seek to improve our production processes for environmental compatibility, which frequently generates cost savings.

In some of our dialysis facilities, we establish, depending on the particular facility and circumstance, a priority environmental protection target on which our dialysis clinics concentrate for at least one year. Environmental performance in other dialysis facilities is used as the basis for comparisons and targets. Improvements are implemented on a site-by-site basis after evaluation of the site’s performance.

In our European clinics, we maintained our EMS in dialysis clinic organizations and we continued to monitor and assess the management system performance in clinics where it was previously implemented. Currently, dialysis clinics in 12 countries in our European region are certified according to the revised environmental management standard ISO 14001:2015. We continued to roll out the integrated software solution e-con 5 for the management of eco-controlling data, which is currently used in hundreds of our clinics in the EMEA Segment and the Latin America Segment. This software is intended to monitor and reduce consumption of resources and generation of wastes while increasing the eco-controlling data quality and possibilities for data analysis at the place of origin.

In certain countries in our Latin America Segment, we monitor and seek to improve the quality of the treatment of liquid effluents in our dialysis clinics, as well as the measurement of working environmental conditions such as the presence of chemical vapors and sound levels. Through the integrated software solution e-con 5, we implemented controls and improvements regarding the consumption of water and electricity used for the treatment of dialysis and the pathological waste generated.

In our North America Segment dialysis clinics, we implemented recycling programs for corrugated materials and hemodialysis machines. Targeted environmental performance criteria in other locations include electricity and fresh water consumption as well as improved separation of waste. We achieved ISO 14001:2015 certification for two dialysis clinics as well as one manufacturing facility in the North America Segment as of December 31, 2018.

In our Asia-Pacific Segment, we are expanding data collection regarding energy and water consumption in our dialysis clinics. Processes are also being put in place to determine the amount of biohazardous waste that is generated as part of clinical operations. Several feasibility studies and pilot projects are being explored to reduce our environmental impact. Among these studies and pilot projects is the assessment of the use of solar panels in order to augment, or fully meet, the power requirements of certain centers. Efforts are underway to reduce our energy consumption by increasing the use of energy efficient lighting and air-conditioning units. In terms of waste reduction, we are also looking into the use of a family of systems that shred and autoclave medical waste into a sterile “non-infectious” confetti-like chaff which could allow for dialysis plastic waste to be disposed of as general waste or recycled into plastic materials. As a result, the amount of waste that is incinerated or enters landfills would be reduced. Additionally, we are working with

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local vendors to ensure other plastic waste generated in our clinics is either reused or recycled. These measures will further reduce our environmental impact and lower the carbon footprint of our clinical operations.

Patents and licenses

As the owner of patents or licensee under patents throughout the world, we currently hold rights in over 10,000 patents and patent applications in major markets.

Technologies that are the subject of granted patents or pending patent applications include aspects of our hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis and critical care treatment systems, relating to both single-use products and treatment machines.

Other parts of the patent portfolio relate to platform and future technologies, such as digital, data management and regenerative medicine.

We believe that our success will continue to depend significantly on our technology. As a standard practice, we obtain the legal protections we believe are appropriate for our intellectual property. Nevertheless, we are in a position to successfully market a significant number of products for which patent protection has lapsed or where only particular features are patented. We believe that even after the expiration of some of our patents, our proprietary know how for the manufacturing of our products and our continuous efforts in obtaining targeted patent protection for newly developed upgraded products will continue to provide us with a competitive advantage. From time to time, our patents may be infringed by third parties and, in such cases, we will assert and enforce our rights. Registered patents may also be subject to invalidation claims made by competitors in formal proceedings (oppositions, trials, re-examinations, invalidation action, etc.) either in part or in whole. In addition, technological developments could suddenly and unexpectedly reduce the value of some of our existing intellectual property (see Item 3.D, “Key Information – Risk Factors” and note 22 of the notes to the consolidated financial statements included in this report).

Trademarks

As the owner of trademarks or licensee of trademarks throughout the world, we currently hold rights in over 3,500 registered trademarks or trademark applications covering inter alia our key product branding in major markets.

Our principal trademarks and corporate names are or comprise the designation “Fresenius Medical Care” which we use stand-alone or together with a triangle figure in our corporate logo. The use of “Fresenius” in our trademarks is based on a perpetual, royalty-free license from Fresenius SE, our major shareholder and the sole shareholder of our general partner. See Item 7.B, “Related party transactions – Trademarks.”

Risk management

We see risk management as the ongoing task of determining, analyzing and evaluating the spectrum of actual and potential risks arising from our business operations in our environment and, where possible, taking pre-emptive and corrective measures. Our risk management system provides us with a basis for these activities. It enables management to identify risks that could jeopardize our growth or going concern and to take steps to minimize any negative impact. Accordingly, it is an important component of our management and governance.

Risk management system

The main objective of the risk management system is to identify potential risks as early as possible to assess their impact on business activities and enable us, where necessary, to take appropriate countermeasures. Due to constantly changing external as well as internal requirements and conditions, our risk management system is continuously evolving. In the past financial year, the completeness and validity of risk information within our risk management approach, as well as its effectiveness, was strengthened by an enhancement of the effectiveness review of countermeasures as well as by the application of a newly defined concept for the analysis of our risk-bearing

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capacity and our aggregated risk position. This was complemented by the definition of our risk appetite in an internal guideline which reflects the respective risk tolerance levels for our individual business activities.

The organizational structure of our risk management as well as the previously described processes are shown in the following overview:

The structure of the internal risk management system is based on the internationally recognized framework for company-wide risk management, the “Enterprise Risk Management - Integrated Framework” of the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (“COSO”).

As part of the risk management system, regional risk coordinators, utilizing risk management software,assume the task of coordinating risk management activities within our operating segments, in particular for risk identification and assessment with individual risk owners by means of, among other things, workshops, interviews and queries.These activities relate to existing and potential emerging short-term as well as medium-term risks. Semi-annually, identified risk information is processed by the risk coordinators, reviewed by the respective corporate functions and discussed in regional/functional risk committees. Subsequently, the central risk management function gathers the risks and risk responses from regions and functions, analyzes and discusses them in the corporate risk committee and communicates the compiled results to the Management Board. The analysis of the risk environment also includes determining the degree of a potential threat to our going concern by aggregating all risks with the aid of a software-supported risk simulation. The focus during this process is on significant risks, which are above a defined threshold.

The Management Board and central risk management are promptly informed of new risks that are estimated to be high or develop into high risks in order to ensure appropriate responses. The effectiveness of the risk management system is monitored by the Audit and Corporate Governance Committee of the Supervisory Board.

In addition to risk reporting, standard reporting to management is an important tool for managing and controlling risks, as well as for taking preventive measures in a timely manner. Therefore, our Management Board is informed on a monthly basis about the industry situation, our operating and non-operating business and the outcome of analyses of our earnings and financial position, as well as of our assets position on a quarterly basis.

The Global Internal Audit department is regularly informed about the results of the risk management system. This department determines risk focus areas and audits a selected number of our departments, subsidiaries and information technology applications worldwide each

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year. Determined risk focus areas are audited across all business segments. The department works according to the internationally accepted standards of the Institute of Internal Auditors, which was confirmed by a quality assessment in 2017. The next quality assessment is planned for 2022. The scope of internal auditing is widespread and involves, among other activities, periodic assessment of the effectiveness of controls (including legal compliance controls) over business processes, information technology security, the reliability of financial reporting and compliance with accounting regulations and internal policies. Since 2021, Global Internal Audit is also conducting third-party audits of selected sales intermediaries in order to give assurance that business transactions with our products are in accordance with applicable compliance standards.

Our locations and units to be audited are determined annually on the basis of a selection model taking various risks into consideration. This annual audit plan is reviewed and approved by the Management Board and the Audit and Corporate Governance Committee of the Supervisory Board. All audit reports with material observations are presented to the Management Board.

The Global Internal Audit department is also responsible for monitoring the implementation of measures mitigating identified deficiencies. The Management Board is informed about the mitigation status on a quarterly basis. The Audit and Corporate Governance Committee of the Supervisory Board is also informed of the audit results. Due to COVID-19, the Global Internal Audit department suspended on-site audits from March 2020 onwards and conducted all audits remotely. In 2021, a total of 41 audits and 25 sales intermediary audits were carried out. Risk focus areas were compliance and cybersecurity.

Nevertheless, it is important to note that a functioning and adequate risk management system cannot guarantee that all risks are fully identified and controlled.

Internal control and risk management system for the Company’s accounting process

Our internal control system over financial reporting is designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of our financial statements for external reporting purposes in accordance with IFRS as issued by the IASB. Our internal reporting process is designed for the reliable recording, processing and control of financial data and key figures. Figures and data are compared and discussed regularly on a monthly and quarterly basis with the previous year’s values, budget targets, and the latest projections. In addition, the Management Board and the departments responsible for preparing the consolidated financial statements discuss all parameters, assumptions and estimates that substantially affect the externally reported consolidated and segment results. The Audit and Corporate Governance Committee of the Supervisory Board also reviews current quarterly results and compares them with budgets and projections.

The internal control system contains guidelines and instructions designed for the appropriate and accurate recording and presentation of Company transactions.

Further control mechanisms aimed at achieving reliable financial reporting and correct recording of transactions within the accounting and the consolidation process include automated and manual reconciliations, as well as the separation of certain personnel functions to prevent potential conflicts of interest. Furthermore, several preventive approval steps as well as detective plausibility checks are in place in various core finance and finance-related processes to ensure correct financial reporting. All process owners identify and assess the risks of their respective processes in terms of the implications for accounting and financial reporting. These process owners also determine that corresponding controls are in place to minimize these risks. Changes to accounting standards are discussed on an ongoing basis and considered in the preparation of the financial statements. Employees responsible for financial reporting are provided with regular training regarding changes in accounting standards. The consolidation is performed centrally by the department which is responsible for the group accounting. The basis for the consolidation is derived from reporting packages and sub-group consolidated financial statements prepared and submitted by local group entities. The preparation of reporting packages and sub-group consolidated financial statements is performed according to central requirements and guidelines.

As we are also listed on the NYSE, we are required to adhere to the requirements of U.S. S-OX. Section 404 of this federal law stipulates that management of companies listed in the U.S. are responsible for implementing and adhering to an effective internal control system to produce reliable financial reporting. A yearly scoping takes place to determine entities, processes and controls which are subject to S-OX requirements. The design and operating effectiveness of the internal control system over financial reporting are routinely tested and considered in regular internal audits. Control testing results are being regularly discussed with the respective stakeholders and remediation of control deficiencies is closely monitored. These criteria are also included in the annual audit by our independent registered public accounting firm. A quarterly certification process has been implemented as a formal accountability and responsibility mechanism

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for countries, regions, shared services centers as well as corporate entities which aims at the accuracy of financial reporting and the associated disclosure controls and procedures.

The internal control system over financial reporting follows the criteria of the COSO model, Internal Control – Integrated Framework (2013), which was developed by COSO and is recognized as a standard by the SEC. In accordance with the COSO model, the internal control system over financial reporting is divided into five components: control environment, risk assessment, control activities, information and communication, as well as the monitoring of the internal control system. Each of these components is regularly documented, tested and assessed. We aligned our internal controls to fulfill the requirements of the COSO model.

Our review of the internal control system over financial reporting complies with a specific SEC guideline (Guidance Regarding Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting) and is conducted with software support. Initially, regional internal control teams coordinate the assessment of the controls in each region, after which the results are consolidated for the Company and its subsidiaries. Based upon this assessment, management evaluates the effectiveness of the internal control system for the current fiscal year. External advisers are consulted as needed. A corporate steering committee meets several times a year to review regulatory developments and changes of relevant internal control requirements, to discuss possible control deficiencies and derive further measures. In addition, in its meetings, the Audit and Corporate Governance Committee of the Supervisory Board is informed regularly of the results of management’s assessment.

Internal control systems over financial reporting are subject to inherent limitations, irrespective of how carefully these systems are designed. As a result, there is no absolute assurance that financial reporting objectives can be met, nor that misstatements will always be prevented or detected.

For further information on these requirements, limitations and management’s assessment of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting for 2021, see Items 15.A. and 15.B, “Disclosure controls and procedures” and “Management’s annual report on internal control over financial reporting.”

Regulatory and legal matters

Regulatory and compliance overview

Our operations are subject to extensive governmental regulation by virtually every country in which we operate including, most notably, in the U.S., at the federal, state and local levels. Although these regulations differ from country to country, in general, non-U.S. regulations are designed to accomplish the same objectives as U.S. regulations governing the operation of health care centers, laboratories and manufacturing facilities for health care products, the provision of high quality health care for patients, compliance with labor and employment laws, the maintenance of occupational, health, safety and environmental standards and the provision of accurate reporting and billing for payments and/or reimbursement. In the U.S., some states establish regulatory processes that must be satisfied prior to the establishment of new health care centers. Outside the U.S., each country has its own payment and reimbursement rules and procedures, and some countries prohibit private ownership of health care providers or establish other regulatory barriers to direct ownership by foreign companies.

Any of the following matters could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations:

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We must comply with all U.S., German and other legal and regulatory requirements under which we operate, including the U.S. federal Medicare and Medicaid Fraud and Abuse Amendments of 1977, as amended, generally referred to as the “Anti-Kickback Statute”, the federal False Claims Act, the federal Physician Self-Referral Law, commonly known as the “Stark Law”, the U.S. Civil Monetary Penalties Law, including the prohibition on inducements to patients to select a particular health care provider, U.S. federal rules protecting the privacy and security of patient medical information, as promulgated under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 and, as amended by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (enacted as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) and the federal FCPA, as well as other fraud and abuse laws and similar state statutes, as well as similar laws in other countries.

As a global health care company, we are subject to laws and regulations concerning privacy and data protection. These laws and regulations govern, amongst other elements, the collection, use, disclosure, retention, and transfer of personal data. For example, the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, which became effective in May 2018, imposes substantial worldwide obligations on the processing and disclosure of personal data. These laws continue to develop globally and differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, which increases the complexity and costs of our global data protection and security compliance programs. Because of varying legal requirements across the world, the Fresenius Medical Care Global Privacy Foundation (the “Foundation”) establishes a set of requirements to help ensure appropriate use of personal data throughout its life cycle. While the Foundation creates a baseline compliance requirement for all of our subsidiaries and personnel, we are also obligated to comply with the requirements of all applicable local laws that impose other or stricter standards.

A number of U.S. states in which we operate have laws that prohibit business entities, such as the Company and our subsidiaries, from practicing medicine, employing physicians to practice medicine or exercising control over medical decisions by physicians (known collectively as the corporate practice of medicine prohibition). These states also prohibit entities from engaging in certain arrangements, such as fee-splitting, with physicians. Additional state and local laws and regulations require us to maintain certain licenses and certifications to operate our facilities and/or manufacture and distribute our products and services.

Our merger and acquisition activity, as well our business operations in both products and services, are regulated by antitrust and competition laws in the countries and localities in which we operate. Some of our transactions are subject to prior review and clearance by competition authorities, while others do not require any such review or clearance. Violations of competition laws may result in government enforcement action as well as private lawsuits. We develop and execute strategies in conformity with these laws to drive innovation and appropriate competition in our businesses and we provide regular internal training on appropriate business strategies under the competition laws.

The ACA enacted in the U.S. in 2010 and other recent laws expanded the reach of many of these laws and expanded federal enforcement authority. Moreover, there can be no assurance that applicable laws, or the regulations thereunder, will not be amended, or that enforcement agencies or the courts will not make interpretations inconsistent with our own, any one of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation, financial condition and operating results. Sanctions for violations of these statutes may include criminal or civil penalties, such as imprisonment, fines or forfeitures, denial of payments, and suspension or exclusion from the Medicare and Medicaid programs. In the U.S., some of these laws have been broadly interpreted by a number of courts, and significant government funds and personnel have been devoted to their enforcement because such enforcement has become a high priority for the federal government and some states. We, and the health care industry in general, will continue to be subject to extensive federal, state and foreign (i.e., non-U.S.) regulation, the full scope of which cannot be predicted. In addition, the U.S. Congress and federal and state regulatory agencies continue to consider modifications to health care laws that may create further restrictions. Proposals to restructure the Medicare program in the direction of a defined contribution, “premium support” model and to shift Medicaid funding to a block grant or per capita arrangement, with greater flexibility for the states, may also be considered. Changes of this nature could have significant effects on our businesses, but, due to the continued uncertainty about the implementation of the ACA, including potential further legal challenges to or significant modifications to or repeal of that legislation, the outcomes and impact of such changes on our business, financial condition and results of operations are currently impossible to quantify or predict.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, federal and state governments have implemented wide-ranging, temporary measures that have affected the regulatory and legal landscape in which we operate. These measures include temporary waivers of and modifications to certain statutes, regulations, government reimbursement and funding programs and the governments’ enforcement priorities. Although

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many of these measures are designed to last only during the existence of the COVID-19 public health emergency, it is possible that some of these temporary measures could result in long term changes that could affect our business, financial condition and results of operations in a manner that is currently impossible to quantify or predict.

We maintain a comprehensive worldwide compliance program under the overall supervision of our chief compliance officer. The program includes a compliance staff, a written code of business conduct applicable worldwide and available on our website, training programs, regulatory compliance policies and procedures including corrective action for failure to follow policies, provisions for anonymous reporting of suspected violations of applicable laws or Company policies, and periodic internal audits of our compliance procedures. We operate many facilities throughout the U.S. and other countries in which we do business. In such a widespread, global system, it is often difficult to maintain the desired level of oversight and control over the thousands of individuals employed by many affiliated companies. We rely on our management structure, regulatory and legal resources, and the effective operation of our compliance program to direct, manage and monitor the activities of these employees. If our employees or their agents or subcontractors, deliberately or inadvertently, were to submit inadequate or incorrect billings to any federally-funded health care program, or engage in unlawful conduct with physicians or other referral sources or vendors with which we do business, the actions of such persons could subject us and our subsidiaries to liability under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, Anti-Kickback Statute, the Stark Law, the False Claims Act or the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, among other laws. See note 22 of the notes to our audited consolidated financial statements included in this report.

While we operate under procedures and policies developed in response to the regulatory environment in which we conduct our business, there is no assurance that our interpretations of legal requirements will always be accurate or that our execution of legal requirements will always be sufficient or complete. Any failure to comply with legal requirements could result in repayment obligations, civil and criminal penalties, loss of licenses and certifications required to conduct business, limitations on our operations and greater governmental oversight.

Product regulation

U.S. pharmaceuticals

In the U.S., numerous regulatory bodies, including the FDA and comparable state regulatory agencies impose requirements on certain of our subsidiaries as a manufacturer, distributor and/or a seller of drug products under their respective jurisdictions. Some of the products our subsidiaries manufacture and/or distribute are subject to regulation under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938, as amended (“FDCA”) and FDA’s implementing regulations. They include our peritoneal dialysis and saline solutions, PhosLo® (calcium acetate), Phoslyra® (calcium acetate oral solution), Venofer® (iron sucrose injection, USP), and Velphoro (sucroferric oxyhydroxide). Many of these requirements are similar to those for devices, as described below. We are required to register as an establishment with the FDA, submit listings for drug products in commercial distribution and comply with regulatory requirements governing product approvals, drug manufacturing, labelling, promotion, distribution, post market safety reporting and recordkeeping. We are subject to periodic inspections by the FDA and other authorities for compliance with inspections as well as with federal CMS average sales price reporting, medical drug rebate program and other requirements. Our pharmaceutical products must be manufactured in accordance with current Good Manufacturing Practices (“cGMP”). We are required to provide information to the FDA whenever we become aware of a report of an adverse drug experience associated with the use of one of our drug products that is both serious and unexpected, as defined in FDA regulations and guidance. We are required to notify the FDA of certain product quality issues. In addition, as with the marketing of our medical devices, in order to obtain marketing approval of our drug products, we must satisfy mandatory procedures and safety and efficacy requirements. Furthermore, the FDA prohibits our products division from marketing or promoting our pharmaceutical products in a false or misleading manner and from otherwise misbranding or adulterating them. Finally, if the FDA believes that a company is not in compliance with applicable drug regulations, it has similar enforcement authorities as those discussed below with respect to medical devices, including under the administrative, civil, and criminal penalty provisions of the FDCA. Other state and federal regulatory and enforcement agencies have authority to enforce related fraud, consumer protection, privacy, and other laws.

Pharmaceuticals outside the U.S.

Some of our products, such as peritoneal dialysis solutions and acute dialysis solutions, are considered medicinal products subject to the specific drug law provisions in various countries. The EU has issued several directives and regulations on medicinal products, including a directive on medicinal products for human use, No. 2001/83/EC (November 6, 2001), as amended. Each member of the EU is

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responsible for conforming its law to comply with this directive. In Germany, the German Drug Law (Arzneimittelgesetz) (“AMG”), which implements several EU requirements, is the primary regulation applicable to medicinal products.

The provisions of the AMG are comparable with the legal standards in all other European countries. As in many other countries, the AMG provides that a medicinal product may only be placed on the market if it has been granted a corresponding marketing authorization. Such marketing authorization is granted by the licensing authorities only if the quality, efficacy and safety of the medicinal product have been scientifically proven. Medicinal products marketed on the basis of a corresponding marketing authorization are subject to ongoing control by the competent authorities. The marketing authorization may also be subsequently restricted or made subject to specific requirements.

The production of medicinal products requires a corresponding manufacturing license which is granted by the competent authorities of the relevant EU Member State for a specific manufacturing facility and for specific medicinal products and forms of medicinal products. The manufacturing license is granted only if the manufacturing facility, production techniques and production processes comply with the national drug law requirements, with the principles and guidelines of EU-Good Manufacturing Practice (“EU-GMP”) as well as the terms of the particular marketing authorization. International guidelines also govern the manufacture of medicinal products and, in many cases, overlap with national requirements. Material regulations concerning manufacture and registration related to medicinal products have been issued by the European Commission (“EC”) and the International Council on Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (“ICH”). The Pharmaceutical Inspection Co-operation Scheme (“PIC/S”), an international informal cooperative arrangement between regulatory authorities, aims at harmonizing inspection procedures by developing common standards in the field of good manufacturing practices and by providing training opportunities to inspectors. Among other things, the EC, PIC/S and ICH establish requirements for good manufacturing practices, many of which are then adopted at the national level. Another international standard, which is non-binding for medicinal products, is the ISO9001:2015 system for assuring quality management system requirements. This system has a broader platform than EU-GMP, which is more detailed and is primarily acknowledged outside the field of medicinal products, e.g., with respect to medical devices.

U.S. medical devices

Our subsidiaries engaged in the manufacture of medical devices are required to register with the FDA as device manufacturers and submit listing information for devices in commercial distribution. As a manufacturer of medical devices, we are subject to requirements governing premarket approval and clearance, labelling, promotion, clinical research, medical device adverse event reporting, manufacturing practices, reporting of corrections and removals, and recordkeeping, and we are subject to periodic inspection by the FDA for compliance with these requirements. With respect to manufacturing, we are subject to FDA’s Quality System Regulation (21 C.F.R. Part 820) and related FDA guidance, which requires us to manufacture products in accordance with cGMP, including standards governing product design. The medical device reporting regulations and guidance require that we report to the FDA whenever we receive or become aware of information that reasonably suggests that a device may have caused or contributed to a death or serious injury, or that a device has malfunctioned and a device or similar device would be likely to cause or contribute to a death or serious injury if the malfunction were to recur. FDA regulations also may require us to conduct product recalls and take certain other product corrective actions in response to potential quality issues. In addition, the FDA prohibits our products division from promoting our manufactured products for unapproved or uncleared indications or in a false or misleading manner. We are also prohibited from promoting unapproved or uncleared drugs or devices more generally. Finally, as with our pharmaceutical products, states impose additional requirements on our drug and device manufacturing and distribution activities, including requiring additional state licenses. We are subject to periodic inspections by the FDA and other authorities for compliance with these requirements.

Medical devices outside the U.S.

In Europe, the requirements to be satisfied by medical devices are established in two European regulations applicable since May 26, 2021 in all Member States and all Member States of the European Economic Area (“EEA”), as well as all future accession states: (1) the MDR and (2) Regulation (EU) 2017/746 of April 5, 2017 on in vitro diagnostic medical devices. Although the MDR is self-binding in all member states of the EU, numerous acts of the EC and of national legislation in each member state are necessary to fully implement the legal provisions. These provisions essentially include higher safety standards to be met by medical devices and, therefore, require a new conformity assessment procedure and re-certification of all medical devices regardless of whether they have already been placed on the market.

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The transitional provisions according to Art. 120 of the MDR allows manufacturers until May 2024, at the latest, to continue to place their medical devices on the EU market based on a valid EC certificate according to the former directives for medical devices.

Conformity of our QMS with the applicable MDR requirements was assessed and confirmed by our notified body during an initial certification audit in 2019 and surveillance audits in 2020 and 2021. After the additionally required successful assessment of the submitted technical documentation, the first EU certificate, pursuant to the MDR, was issued mid 2020 by our notified body. For each extension of the product scope of the EU certificate, a review of a sample of the technical documentation from the respective product group is required. Following this step-wise approach, our EU MDR certificate has been extended in 2021 and its further extension with several product categories is expected.

According to the current EU regulations, the CE mark shall serve as a general product passport for all Member States of the EU and the EEA. Upon receipt of an EC certificate for a product according to the applicable conformity assessment procedure, e.g. a certified full quality management system for medical devices according to ISO 13485:2016, and the documented declaration and proof of conformity of our products to the harmonized European norms (Declaration of Conformity), we as the legal manufacturer are able to mark products as being in compliance with the EU requirements. If able to do so, the manufacturer must place a CE mark on the products. Medical devices that do not bear the CE mark cannot be sold or distributed within the EU.

Clinical Research

Our subsidiaries engaged in the manufacture and sale of drugs and devices, when engaged in clinical research involving investigational products, are subject to FDA and other requirements governing the conduct of clinical research, including Good Clinical Practice (GCP) standards. Similarly, our subsidiaries involved in the provision of clinical research services may also be subject to FDA and other requirements governing the conduct of clinical research depending on the nature of the research involved.

FDA enforcement action

If the FDA believes that a regulated company is not in compliance with applicable laws and regulations, it can pursue various administrative and enforcement actions, including, for example, issuing an untitled or warning letter, initiating a seizure action, or seeking an injunction. Among other things, these actions can result in the assessment of administrative penalties, product recalls, and civil or criminal enforcement. Such actions could also lead to additional enforcement by other state or federal government agencies as well as lawsuits by patients or shareholders.

We cannot assure that all necessary regulatory clearances or approvals, including those for new products or product improvements, will be granted on a timely basis, if at all. Delays in or failure to receive clearance or approval or delays in or failures to carry out product recalls may result in liability and reputational harm and may materially adversely affect our operating results. If at any time the FDA believes we are not in compliance with applicable laws and regulations, the FDA could take administrative, civil, or criminal enforcement action, resulting in liability and reputational harm, which could materially affect our operating results.

Potential changes impacting our private payors in the U.S.

On August 18, 2016, CMS issued a request for information (“RFI”) seeking public comment about providers’ alleged steering of patients inappropriately to individual plans offered on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act individual health insurance market. FMCH and other dialysis providers, commercial insurers and other industry participants responded to the RFI, and in that response, we reported that we do not engage in such steering. On December 14, 2016, CMS published an Interim Final Rule (“IFR”) entitled “Medicare Program; Conditions for Coverage for ESRD Facilities-Third Party Payment” that would amend the Conditions for Coverage for dialysis providers, like FMCH. The IFR would have effectively enabled insurers to reject premium payments made by patients who received grants for individual market coverage from the American Kidney Fund (“AKF”) and, therefore, could have resulted in those patients losing their individual market health insurance coverage. The loss of individual market coverage for these patients would have had a material and adverse impact on our operating results. See Item 3.D, “Key information – Risk factors.” On January 25, 2017, a federal district court in Texas, responsible for litigation initiated by a patient advocacy group and dialysis providers including FMCH, preliminarily enjoined CMS from implementing the IFR (Dialysis Patient Citizens v. Burwell (E.D. Texas, Sherman Div.)). The preliminary injunction was based on CMS’s failure to follow appropriate notice-and-comment procedures in adopting the IFR. The injunction remains in place and the court retains jurisdiction over the dispute. On June 22, 2017, CMS requested a stay of proceedings

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in the litigation pending further rulemaking concerning the IFR. Plaintiffs in the litigation, including FMCH, consented to the stay, which was granted by the court.

The operation of charitable assistance programs like that of the AKF is also receiving increased attention by state insurance regulators and legislators. The result may be a regulatory framework that differs from state to state. Even in the absence of the IFR or similar state actions, insurers are likely to continue efforts to thwart charitable premium assistance to our patients for individual market plans and other insurance coverages. If successful in a material area or scope of our U.S. operations, these efforts would have a material adverse impact on our business and operating results. See “— Regulatory and legal matters — Reimbursement — Possible changes in statutes or regulations” for further information on charitable premium assistance programs.

U.S. ballot initiatives and other legislation

Further federal or state legislation or regulations may be enacted in the future through legislative and public referendum processes, which could substantially modify or reduce the amounts paid for services and products offered by us and our subsidiaries, mandate new or alternative operating models and payment models, and/or increase our operating expenses that could present more risk to our health care service operations. Ballot initiatives that are successfully introduced at the state level in the U.S. require the vote of state citizens to directly adopt or reject proposed new legislation. These ballot initiatives require a material expenditure of resources by us to participate in public discourse regarding the proposed new legislation underlying the initiatives, which if passed, could further regulate multiple aspects of our operations including, for instance, clinic staffing requirements, state inspection requirements and profit margins on commercial business. Efforts to enact new state laws regarding our operations are continuing. State regulation at this level would introduce an unprecedented level of oversight and additional expense at the clinic level which could have a material adverse effect on our business in the impacted states. It is also possible that statutes may be adopted or regulations may be promulgated in the future that impose additional eligibility requirements for participation in the federal and state health care programs. Such new legislation or regulations could, depending upon the detail of the provisions, have positive or adverse effects, possibly material, on our businesses and results of operations. See “ — Regulatory and legal matters — Reimbursement – Possible changes in statutes or regulations,” below.

Environmental regulation

We are subject to a broad range of federal, foreign, state and local laws and regulations relating to pollution and the protection of the environment. These laws regulate, among other things, the discharge of materials into the environment, the handling and disposal of wastes, remediation of contaminated sites and other matters relating to worker, public and consumer health, and safety as well as to the protection of the environment. In addition, the Company uses substances regulated under U.S. and EU environmental laws, primarily in product design as well as manufacturing and sterilization processes. Noncompliance with these regulations can result in significant fines or penalties or limitations on our operations. The applicable environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, and any changes to them or their enforcement, may require us to make material expenditures with respect to ongoing compliance with or remediation under these laws and regulations or require that we modify our products or processes in a manner that increases our costs or reduces revenues.

An EMS based on ISO 14001:2015 has been established in our main European design and production units and in a high number of dialysis clinics in the European region. Compliance with environmental laws and regulations is a core objective of our EMS as well as of our Global Environmental Policy. Internal and external audits are organized and performed to verify compliance with the EMS requirements and applicable environmental laws and regulations. For additional information, see “-- Environmental Management,” above.

Facilities and operational regulation

The COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on the standard operating practices at our manufacturing facilities, distribution operations and global clinic network and resulted in changes to these practices through the implementation of additional best practice procedures along with procedures required by the jurisdictions in which we operate. Within our production facilities and clinic network, we defined and implemented further hygiene and infection control measures and precautions in order to maintain sufficient clinical staff and available space to treat all of our patients, including those who are or may be infected with COVID-19 while not unnecessarily exposing our care teams or other patients to whom we provide dialysis services, and who are among the groups most vulnerable to COVID-19. Vaccination became the top priority for our clinic network once vaccines were made available in the jurisdictions in which our clinics are located.

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U.S.

Federal, state and local regulations (implemented by CMS, FDA, the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (“OSHA”), the Drug Enforcement Administration, and state departments or boards of public health, public welfare, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and medical assistance, among others) require us to meet various standards relating to, among other things, the management, licensing, safety, security and operation of facilities (including, e.g., laboratories, pharmacies, and clinics), personnel qualifications and licensing, the maintenance of proper records, equipment, and quality assurance programs, and the dispensing, storage, and administration of controlled substances. All of our operations in the U.S. are subject to periodic inspection by federal, state and local agencies to determine if the operations, premises, equipment, personnel and patient care meet applicable standards. To receive Medicare/Medicaid reimbursement, our health care centers, renal diagnostic support business and laboratories must be certified by CMS. While all of our entities that furnish Medicare or Medicaid services maintain and renew the required certifications, material adverse effects on our business, financial condition, and results of operations could potentially occur if certain of those entities lose or are delayed in renewing a certification.

Our operations are subject to various U.S. Department of Transportation, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Environmental Protection Agency, and OSHA requirements and other federal, state and local hazardous and medical waste disposal laws. As currently in effect, laws governing the disposal of hazardous waste do not classify most of the waste produced in connection with the provision of our health care services as hazardous, although disposal of non-hazardous medical waste is subject to specific state regulation. Our operations are also subject to various air emission and wastewater discharge regulations.

Several states have certificate of need programs regulating the establishment or expansion of health care facilities, including dialysis centers. We believe that we have obtained all necessary approvals for the operation of our health care facilities in accordance with all applicable state certificate of need laws. In states that also have certificate of need programs, the licensure requirements are separate and in addition to the need for certificates of need. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, federal and state governmental agencies have implemented a number of temporary measures, including waivers and modifications to existing facility certification, licensing and certificate of need rules and regulations. These temporary measures are expected to last only during the existence of the COVID-19 public health emergency. Once these measures end, to the extent we have relied on these waivers or modifications, in certain circumstances we could be forced to either obtain new, permanent certifications, licenses or certificates of need for certain health care centers, renal diagnostic support businesses and laboratories to continue operating them in the manner we have during the public health emergency, or we could be forced to change our operations if we are no longer able to rely on these modifications or waivers.

Non-U.S.

We are subject to a broad spectrum of regulation in almost all countries. Our operations must comply with various environmental and transportation regulations in the various countries in which we operate. Our manufacturing facilities and dialysis clinics are also subject to various standards relating to, among other things, facilities, management, personnel qualifications and licensing, maintenance of proper records, equipment, quality assurance programs, the operation of pharmacies, the protection of workers from blood-borne diseases and the dispensing of controlled substances. All of our operations may be subject to periodic inspection by various governmental authorities to determine if the operations, premises, equipment, personnel and patient care meet applicable standards. Our dialysis clinic operations and our related activities generally require licenses, which may be subject to periodic renewal and may be revoked for violation of applicable regulatory requirements.

In addition, many countries impose various investment restrictions on foreign companies. For instance, government approval may be required to enter into a joint venture with a local partner. Some countries do not permit foreign investors to own a majority interest in local companies or require that companies organized under their laws have at least one local shareholder. Investment restrictions therefore affect the corporate structure, operating procedures and other characteristics of our subsidiaries and joint ventures in these and other countries.

We believe our facilities are currently in compliance in all material respects with the applicable national and local requirements in the jurisdictions in which they operate.

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Reimbursement

As a global company delivering health care and dialysis products, we are represented in around 150 countries worldwide. Consequently, we face the challenge of addressing the needs of a wide variety of stakeholders, such as patients, customers, payors, regulators and legislators in very different economic environments and health care systems.

Health care systems and reimbursement structures for ESKD treatment vary significantly by country. In general, the government (in some countries in coordination with private insurers) or social and private insurance programs pay for health care. Funding is achieved through taxes and other sources of government income, from social security contributions, or a combination of those sources. However, not all health care systems provide for dialysis treatment. In some developing countries, only limited subsidies from government, social insurances or charitable institutions are available, and typically dialysis patients must personally finance all or a substantial share of the treatment cost. Irrespective of the funding structure, in some countries patients needing dialysis do not receive treatment on a regular basis but rather only when financial resources allow.

U.S.

Our dialysis clinics provide outpatient hemodialysis treatment and related services for ESKD patients. In the U.S., Medicare pays as the primary insurer for Medicare-eligible individuals under most circumstances. Some patients pay for their health care services primarily through commercial insurance coverage. For Medicare primary patients, Medicare pays 80 percent of the prospective payment amount for the ESRD Prospective Payment system items and services. The beneficiary or third-party insurance payors (including employer-sponsored health insurance plans, commercial insurance carriers and the Medicaid program) on behalf of the beneficiary are responsible for paying the beneficiary’s cost-sharing obligations (typically an annual deductible and 20 percent co-insurance), subject to the specific coverage policies of such payors. Each third-party payor, including Medicaid, makes payment under contractual or regulatory reimbursement provisions that may or may not cover the full 20 percent co-payment or annual deductible. Where the beneficiary has no third-party insurance or the third-party insurance does not fully cover the co-payment or deductible, the beneficiary is responsible for paying the co-payments or the deductible, which we frequently cannot fully collect despite collection efforts.

We have managed care contracts to provide services as in-network providers with some Medicare Advantage and commercial insurance plans. Medicare Advantage plans are required to pay to their out-of-network providers at least the rate applicable in the traditional Medicare fee-for-service program. As a result, Medicare Advantage plans with which we do not have a contract will pay at least 80 percent of the prospective payment amount for the ESRD PPS items and services we provide their members. On May 22, 2020, CMS issued a regulation that removed outpatient dialysis from its list of specialty facilities that are subject to specific time-and-distance standards regarding Medicare Advantage network adequacy. This regulation may impede our ability to participate in Medicare Advantage plan networks.

Medicare’s ESRD Prospective Payment System. Under the ESRD PPS, CMS reimburses dialysis facilities with a single payment for each dialysis treatment, inclusive of (i) all items and services included in the former composite rate, (ii) calcimimetics (as of January 1, 2021), oral vitamin D analogues, oral levocarnitine, ESAs and other ESRD-related pharmaceuticals (other than vaccines and oral-only drugs) furnished to ESRD patients that were previously reimbursed separately under Part B or Part D of the Medicare program, (iii) most dialysis-related diagnostic laboratory tests and (iv) certain other items and services furnished to individuals for the treatment of ESRD.

Payment rates vary by both patient and facility. CMS subjects a base ESRD PPS payment rate to case-mix adjustments that take into account individual patient characteristics (e.g., age, body surface area, body mass) and certain co-morbidities. The base payment rate is also adjusted for (i) certain high cost patient outliers reflecting unusual variations in medically necessary care, (ii) disparately high costs incurred by low volume facilities relative to other facilities, (iii) provision of home dialysis training and (iv) wage-related costs in the geographic area in which the provider is located. The Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 (“PAMA”) provides that rates will be updated by the market basket rate of increase net of multifactor productivity adjustment. The ESRD PPS also provides for: (i) a training add-on payment for home and self-dialysis modalities, (ii) a transitional drug add-on payment adjustment (“TDAPA”), and (iii) a transitional add-on payment adjustment for new and innovative equipment and supplies (“TPNIES”).

On October 29, 2021, CMS issued a final rule for the ESRD PPS rate for calendar year (“CY”) 2022. The final base rate per treatment for CY 2022 is $257.90, which represents a 1.9% increase from the CY 2021 base rate of $253.13. The increase of 1.9% is based on a market basket increase of 2.4% partially offset by a 0.5% multifactor productivity adjustment that is mandated by the ACA. The updated

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base rate includes an adjustment for the wage index budget-neutrality. CMS estimates that, on average, large dialysis organizations will receive a 2.4% increase in payments in CY 2022 compared to CY 2021 under this final rule. The Acute Kidney Injury payment rate for CY 2022 is to equal the CY 2022 ESRD PPS base rate.

CMS reviewed two TPNIES applications for CY 2022 and granted approval to one. CMS estimates total TPNIES payment amounts to facilities in CY 2022 would be approximately $2.5 M, of which approximately $490 thousand would be attributed to beneficiary coinsurance. CMS also updated the TPNIES offset amount in the final rule. For CY 2022, the pre-adjusted per-treatment amount will be reduced by an average per-treatment offset amount of $9.50, the amount currently included in the base rate for dialysis machines.

Sequestration of Medicare payments. On August 2, 2011, the BCA was enacted, raising the U.S. debt ceiling and putting into effect a series of actions for deficit reduction. The BCA, in effect, required automatic across-the-board spending cuts for most government programs over nine fiscal years (2013-2021); these cuts were projected to total $1.2 trillion. The first cuts for Medicare payments to providers and suppliers were initially implemented on April 1, 2013. As a result of subsequent legislation, these cuts have been extended through the fiscal year (“FY”) 2030. Under the BCA, as amended, the reduction in Medicare payments to providers and suppliers (the “U.S. Sequestration”) is limited to one adjustment of no more than 2 percent in each year through 2029, rising to 4.0 percent for the first half of FY 2030 and dropping to 0.0 percent for the second half of FY 2030. The U.S. Sequestration is independent of Medicare’s annual inflation update mechanisms, such as the market basket update pursuant to the ESRD PPS. As part of the COVID-19 relief measures, the Congress temporarily suspended the 2 percent sequestration from May 1, 2020 through March 31, 2022. A 1% reduction will become effective from April 1 to June 30, 2022 and the full 2% sequester will resume from July 1, 2022. For further information regarding the suspension of sequestration, see Item 3.D, “Key information — Risk factors.”

PAMA also included a provision addressing ESRD-related drugs with only an oral form, which are referred to as “oral-only” drugs and which have been paid separately. In the future, these drugs are expected to be reimbursed under the ESRD PPS, and the Secretary of Health and Human Services is expected to adjust the ESRD PPS payment rates to reflect the additional cost to dialysis facilities of providing these medications. Subsequently, the Achieving a Better Life Experience Act of 2014 delayed inclusion of oral-only drugs in the ESRD PPS until January 1, 2025. At present only phosphate binders, including PhosLo^®, are considered “oral-only” drugs. As described below, calcimimetics were considered to be oral-only drugs until a non-oral calcimimetic entered the market in 2018.

In a final rule published on November 6, 2015, CMS provided for implementation of the PAMA oral-only provision. CMS clarified that once the FDA approves any non-oral ESRD-related drug in a category previously considered oral only, such category of drugs will cease to be considered oral only. However, for at least two years, CMS will pay for both oral and non-oral versions of the drug using a TDAPA. During this transition period, CMS will not pay outlier payments for these drugs, but the agency will collect data reflecting utilization of both the oral and injectable or intravenous forms of the drugs, as well as payment patterns, in order to help determine how to appropriately adjust the ESRD PPS payment rate as these drugs are included in the payment bundle. At the end of this transition period, CMS will incorporate payment for the oral and non-oral versions of the drug in the ESRD PPS payment rates, utilizing a public rulemaking process, as CMS did in the CY 2021 final rule for calcimimetics.

As noted above, the CY 2021 ESRD PPS final rule ended the TDAPA for calcimimetics which will now be paid for as part of the ESRD PPS Base Rate. Starting January 1, 2021, the revised drug designation policy, including the revised TDAPA payment policy took effect. CMS no longer pays for Sensipar^® and Parsabiv^® under the TDAPA policy.

The introduction of Parsabiv^®, an intravenous calcimimetic, has resulted in changes in how some payors, other than Medicare, arrange for the provision of calcimimetics for their patients. While some patients continue to receive calcimimetics from their pharmacies as a pharmacy benefit, other patients receive calcimimetics from their dialysis providers, as a medical benefit. While we receive additional reimbursement from some payors when these drugs are provided by our clinics, this type of transition from an oral-only drug has not occurred previously and the reimbursement landscape for non-Medicare payors continues to evolve. Accordingly, whether CMS’s inclusion of calcimimetics in the ESRD PPS base rate will influence the reimbursement landscape for other payors is currently unknown.

Several generic calcimimetic products have been approved by the FDA. FMCH has been able to purchase certain of these generic calcimimetic products at rates that are lower than the rate paid for the brand name calcimimetic, Sensipar^®. As a result, FMCH has been able to realize a savings in cost. 

Revisions to Medicare’s Physician Fee Schedule. The Medicare and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (“MACRA”) removed the periodic threat of substantial reductions in payment rates under the Physician Fee Schedule (“PFS”) that could have, if they had been

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permitted to take effect, significantly affected our businesses and those of our affiliated physicians. MACRA permanently removed the “sustainable growth rate” provision and in its place specified modest increases in PFS payment rates for the next several years. MACRA creates an elaborate scheme of incentive payments and penalty adjustments starting in 2019 based on 2017 physician performance as reflected in various measures of cost, use of health information technology, practice improvement activities, and quality of care and on possible participation in “advanced alternative payment models,” such as some accountable care organizations. We cannot predict whether this scheme is likely to have material effects on our revenues and profitability in our nephrology, urgent care, vascular, cardiovascular and endovascular specialty services. Through an annual rule-making cycle, CMS revises PFS payment rates to account for across-the-board updates as well as, from time to time, changes in the evaluation of physician work and practice expenses used to set rates for individual services paid under the PFS. While impacts of large changes are usually spread out over several years, such changes have the potential to affect the rates for specific services that are extensively furnished in our physician businesses and hence to affect materially the revenues of those businesses.

On November 2, 2021, CMS announced the CY 2022 final rule for hospital outpatient and ambulatory surgery center (“ASC”) payment systems. The final rule to update the ASC payment system for CY 2022 generally increases the reimbursement rates for the range of procedures provided in an ASC. The average increase is 2.0% compared to the prior year. CMS also updated the device offset percentage methodology to be calculated using ASC rates instead of hospital outpatient department rates as was the previous practice. Under the finalized policy, any procedure in which the device cost is 30 percent of the overall ASC procedure rate will receive device-intensive status. As such, certain procedures we provide will receive the higher device-intensive reimbursement. On November 2, 2021, CMS also updated the Physician Fee Schedule for CY 2022. In that rule, CMS cut reimbursement in CY 2022 for certain specialty services, including those related to cardiovascular and vascular access care. The cuts will be implemented over a four-year transition period. In addition, the CY 2022 physician fee schedule conversion factor is $33.59, a decrease of $1.30 from the CY 2021 physician fee schedule conversion factor of $34.89.

ESRD PPS quality incentive program. The ESRD PPS’s Quality Incentive Program (“QIP”) affects Medicare payments based on performance of each facility on a set of quality measures. Based on a prior year’s performance, dialysis facilities that fail to achieve the established quality standards have payments for a particular year reduced by up to 2 percent. CMS updates the set of quality measures each year, adding, revising or retiring measures.

In the CY 2022 ESRD PPS final rule, CMS assesses the total performance of each facility on a set of measures specified per payment year and applies up to a 2 percent payment reduction to facilities that do not meet a minimum total performance score. In the CY 2022 final rule, CMS will adopt a special scoring and payment policy for PY 2022 of the ESRD QIP to address the issues in the scoring system caused by the impact of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency on QIP data. The scoring and payment methodologies will be modified in PY 2022 to provide that no facility would receive a payment reduction for PY 2022. CMS finalized the ESRD QIP measure set for PY 2024 and 2025. CMS will also set performance standards for PY 2024 using CY 2019 data, which is the most recently available full calendar year of usable data due to the impact of COVID-19 on CY 2020 data.

ACA provides for broad health care system reforms, including (i) provisions to facilitate access to private health insurance, (ii) expansion of the Medicaid program, (iii) industry fees on device and pharmaceutical companies based on sales of brand name products to government health care programs, (iv) increases in Medicaid prescription drug rebates, (v) commercial insurance market reforms that protect consumers, such as bans on lifetime and annual limits, coverage of pre-existing conditions, and limits on waiting periods, (vi) provisions encouraging integrated care, efficiency and coordination among providers (vii) provisions for reduction of health care program waste and fraud and (viii) a 2.3 percent excise tax on manufacturers’ medical device sales starting in 2013. However, pursuant to the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016, enacted December 18, 2015, the medical device excise tax was suspended for all sales of such devices in 2016 and 2017. On January 22, 2018, Congress passed a continuing resolution that further extended this moratorium for 2018 and 2019. In December 2019, Congress passed, and President Trump signed, a full FY 2020 domestic appropriations package that permanently repeals the medical device tax. In 2017, Congress considered legislation to “repeal and replace” ACA and may return to these issues in the future. However, the Biden Administration does not support policies that undermine ACA access, coverage and payment provisions. To the contrary, the Biden Administration is likely to advance ACA expansions where possible administratively (by Executive Order) and through introduced legislation.

ACA includes a provision referred to as the individual mandate that requires most U.S. citizens and noncitizens to have health insurance that meets certain specified requirements or be subject to a tax penalty. On December 22, 2017, sweeping changes to the U.S. Tax Code were signed into law. Among the provisions included in the law was an amendment to this ACA provision that reduced to zero the excise tax penalty imposed on individuals who do not obtain minimum essential health care coverage. The provision became effective

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in 2019. The Congressional Budget Office estimated in November of 2017 that elimination of the mandate had the potential to decrease the number of individuals with health insurance by approximately 4 million in 2019 and premiums were likely to increase because healthier individuals were likely to opt out of paying for health insurance without the influence of a penalty. On February 26, 2018, the Texas and Wisconsin Attorneys General, leading a 20-state coalition, filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the ACA in the Northern District of Texas titled Texas and Wisconsin, et al v. United States, et al (N.D. Tex). The plaintiffs argued that because the amendment “renders legally impossible the Supreme Court’s prior savings construction of the Affordable Care Act’s core provision – the individual mandate – the Court should hold that the ACA is unlawful and enjoin its operations.” On December 14, 2018, the Court granted a partial summary judgment finding the individual mandate unconstitutional and the remaining provisions of the ACA inseparable, and therefore invalid, and granted the plaintiffs’ claim for declaratory relief in Count 1 of the amended complaint. On December 30, 2018, the Court issued a final judgment on Count 1, which enabled the decision to be appealed. In December 2019, a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed a district court ruling that found the individual mandate to be unconstitutional because it can no longer be read as a tax, and there is no other constitutional provision that justifies this exercise of congressional power. The Supreme Court issued an opinion in the case, California v. Texas v. Azar, on June 17, 2021 denying the plaintiffs’ constitutional challenge to the ACA on the grounds that they lacked standing.

Pharmaceuticals. We participate in the federal Medicaid rebate program established by the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990, as well as other government reimbursement programs including Medicare Part D Gap, TriCare and state pharmacy assistance programs established according to statutes, government regulations and policy. We make our pharmaceutical products available to authorized users of the Federal Supply Schedule (“FSS”) of the General Services Administration under an FSS contract negotiated by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Under our license to market and distribute the intravenous iron medication Venofer® to freestanding dialysis clinics, we also are considered, for statutory price reporting purposes, to be the manufacturer of Venofer® (when sold by us under one of our national drug codes (“NDCs”)), which is reimbursed under Part B of the Medicare program. Our products are also subject to a federal requirement that any company participating in the Medicaid rebate or Medicare program charge prices to Medicare comparable to the rebates paid by State Medicaid agencies on purchases under the Public Health Services (“PHS”) pharmaceutical pricing program managed by the Department of Health and Human Services (also known as the “340B program” by virtue of the section of the Public Health Service Act that created the program). The PHS pricing program extends these deep discounts on outpatient drugs to a variety of community health clinics and other entities that receive health services grants from the PHS, certain “look alikes,” as well as various other providers. ACA expanded the 340B program to include additional providers.

Under the Medicaid rebate program, we pay a rebate to each state Medicaid program based upon sales of our covered outpatient drugs that are separately reimbursed by those programs. ACA increased the minimum federal Medicare rebate percentages, effective January 1, 2010. Rebate calculations and price reporting rules are complex and, in certain respects, subject to interpretations of law, regulation, or policy guidance by us, government or regulatory agencies and the courts. The Medicaid rebate amount is computed each quarter based on our submission to CMS of our current Average Manufacturer Price and Best Price for our pharmaceutical products. The Veterans Health Care Act imposes a requirement that the prices we charge to certain federal entities under the FSS must be no greater than the Federal Ceiling Price, which is determined by applying a statutory discount to the average price charged to non-federal customers through wholesalers. Because the amount the government pays to reimburse the cost of a drug under Part B of the Medicare program is ordinarily based on the drug’s average sales price (“ASP”), additional price calculation and reporting obligations are imposed on the manufacturers of Part B drugs under that program (to the extent these manufacturers participate in the Medicaid rebate program, from which an obligation to report Part B drug prices flows). Since Venofer® is covered under Part B, we are responsible for compiling and utilizing a wide range of sales data elements to determine the ASP of Venofer® marketed under our NDC and reporting it to CMS. The Medicare ESRD PPS system incorporates payment for Venofer® at dialysis facilities.

Government agencies may make changes in program interpretations, requirements or conditions of participation, and retain the right to audit the accuracy of our computations of rebates and pricing, some of which may result in implications (such as recoupment) for amounts previously estimated or paid which may have a material adverse effect on our operating results.

Laboratory tests. Spectra obtains a portion of its revenue from Medicare, which pays for clinical laboratory services provided to dialysis patients in two ways. Payment for most tests is included in the ESRD PPS bundled rate paid to dialysis clinics. The dialysis clinics obtain the laboratory services from laboratories and pay the laboratories for the services. In accordance with industry practice, Spectra usually provides such testing services under capitation agreements with its customers pursuant to which it bills a fixed amount per patient per month to cover the laboratory tests included in the ESRD PPS rate designated in the capitation agreement. Second, the few laboratory tests performed by Spectra for Medicare beneficiaries that are not included in the ESRD PPS bundled rate are billed separately to Medicare. Such tests are paid at 100 percent of the payment amounts on Medicare’s Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (“CLFS”),

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although payment rates are further reduced by a 2% sequestration adjustment that remains in place until further notice. As part of the federal government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, the 2% sequestration adjustment was temporarily suspended until March 31, 2022, as discussed above and in Item 3.D, “Key Information – Risk factors.”

PAMA required CMS to substantially revise how payment rates are determined under the CLFS. The new rates, effective January 1, 2018, were determined based on the median of rates paid by private payors for these tests in the period before the new rates took effect. The new rates are effective for most tests for a three-year period, with no updates during that period for inflation or other factors. PAMA provided that rate declines were limited to 10 percent in each of the first three years. Section 3718 of the CARES Act extended the phase-in of payment reductions. There is no reduction for 2021 and payment may not be reduced by more than 15 percent from 2022 through 2024. CMS will collect private payor data and calculate new payment rates every 3 years. Payment rates for the majority of tests paid on the CLFS were reduced under PAMA. These declines are not expected to directly affect Spectra’s principal source of revenue, payments from dialysis facilities for laboratory tests included in the ESRD PPS. We cannot predict whether Spectra may witness indirect effects in future years as the laboratory industry and its customers adjust to the new CLFS rates.

Coordination of benefits. Medicare entitlement begins for most patients at least three months after the initiation of chronic dialysis treatment at a dialysis center. During the first three months, considered to be a waiting period, the patient or patient’s insurance, Medicaid or a state renal program is generally responsible for payment.

Patients who are covered by Medicare and are also covered by an employer group health plan (“EGHP”) are subject to a 30-month coordination period during which the EGHP is the primary payor and Medicare the secondary payor. During this coordination period, the EGHP pays a negotiated rate or in the absence of such a rate, our standard rate or a rate defined by its plan documents. The EGHP payments are generally higher than the Medicare payment. EGHP insurance, when available, will therefore generally cover as the primary payor for a total of 33 months, including the 3-month waiting period plus the 30-month coordination period. Any significant decreases in EGHP reimbursement rates could have material adverse effects on our provider business and, because the demand for our products is affected by provider reimbursement, on our products business.

Participation in new Medicare payment arrangements. For information on our value-based agreements and health insurance products, see “ - Business Overview - Other health care services - Value and risk-based care programs”, above.

Executive order-based models. On July 10, 2019, an Executive Order on advancing kidney health was signed in the United States. Among other things, the order instructed the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) to develop new Medicare payment models to encourage identification and earlier treatment of kidney disease as well as increased home dialysis and transplants. One of those models, for which the rule was finalized on September 29, 2020, the ESRD Treatment Choices (“ETC”) model, is a mandatory model that creates financial incentives for home treatment and kidney transplants with a start date in January 2021 and ending in June 2027. This model applies both upside and downside payment adjustments to claims submitted by physicians and dialysis facilities for certain Medicare home dialysis patients over the span of six and one-half years. Participants in this model are based on a random selection of thirty percent of the Hospital Referral Regions. As of December 31, 2021, 981 of our U.S. dialysis facilities, representing approximately 35% of our U.S. dialysis facilities, are within the random selection of Hospital Referral Regions and therefore are in areas selected for participation in the model. An initial upside-only payment, Home Dialysis Payment Adjustment, will be applied for the first three years of the model, beginning in January 2021, in decreasing payment adjustments ranging from 3% in the first payment year, to 2% in the second payment year, and to 1% in the final payment year. This model also includes a Performance Payment Adjustment (“PPA”) beginning in July 2022. PPA payments will be a combined calculation of home dialysis and transplant rates based upon historic and/or benchmark data from comparison geographic areas. Possible PPA payment adjustments increase over time and will range from (5%) to 4% in the first payment year (beginning July 2022) for both physicians and facilities and increase to (9%) and 8% for physicians and (10%) and 8% percent for facilities in the final payment year (ending in June 2027).

On October 29th, 2021 CMS finalized aspects of the ETC model with an effective date of January 1, 2022, including changes to the home dialysis rate calculation and transplant beneficiary inclusion and transplant participation rates, the achievement and improvement benchmarking and scoring methodology and a process for sharing certain beneficiary attribution and performance data with ETC participants. CMS finalized additional programmatic waivers and other flexibilities regarding the Kidney Disease Education (“KDE”) benefit under the ETC model such that the KDE benefit can be furnished via telehealth. CMS finalized changes to the ETC model to address health and socioeconomic disparities by adding a Health Equity Incentive to the improvement scoring methodology and stratifying achievement benchmarks for beneficiaries who are dual-eligible for Medicare and Medicaid or low-income-subsidy recipients. Finally, CMS has requested feedback on a number of topics related to beneficiary experience in home dialysis.

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Pursuant to the Executive Order, the Secretary of HHS also announced voluntary payment models, Kidney Care First (“KCF”) and CKCC model (graduated, professional and global), which aim to build on the existing Comprehensive ESRD Care model. The voluntary models create financial incentives for health care providers to manage care for Medicare beneficiaries with chronic kidney disease stages 4 and 5 and with ESKD, to delay the start of dialysis, and to incentivize kidney transplants. The voluntary models allow health care providers to take on various amounts of financial risk by forming an entity known as a Kidney Care Entity. Two options, the CKCC global and professional models, allow renal health care providers to assume upside and downside financial risk. A third option, the CKCC graduated model, is limited to assumption of upside risk, but is unavailable to KCEs that include large dialysis organizations. Under the global model, the KCE is responsible for 100 percent of the total cost of care for all Medicare Part A and B services for aligned beneficiaries, and under the professional model, the KCE is responsible for 50 percent of such costs. Applications for the voluntary models were submitted in January 2020. We submitted 25 CKCC applications to participate in the professional model and were also included in four other CKCC applications submitted by nephrologists. All 29 of these KCE applications were accepted in June 2020. Of the 29 accepted applications, 28 KCEs have elected to participate in the implementation period, which started on October 15, 2020, and provided a start-up period during which the KCE is not at financial risk. The KCEs started assuming financial risk at the start of the first Performance Year on January 1, 2022. Of the 28 KCEs participating in the implementation period, we moved forward with 22 of the KCEs during the first Performance Year. Once implemented, the CKCC model is expected to run through 2026. We are presently unable to predict the effects on our business of the ETC payment model and the voluntary payment models.

Federal surprise billing statute and regulations. The No Surprises Act was enacted on December 27, 2020 as part of the 2021 Budget Act. The No Surprises Act aims to address surprise, balance billing to patients at the national level (many states already had laws regulating balance billing). Effective January 1, 2022, the legislation limits patient payment responsibility for certain unavoidable out-of-network services, prohibits certain providers and facilities (not including dialysis facilities) from balance billing patients for those services, establishes price transparency disclosure requirements for providers and insurers and mandates creation of dispute resolution processes for patients, providers and insurers to address unanticipated medical bills. The Department of Labor, HHS and the Department of the Treasury collectively promulgated two Interim Final Rules (one on July 1, 2021 and a second on September 30, 2021) to implement the requirements of the statute. The statute and regulations have only limited applicability to our business: our ASCs and certain providers of services ancillary to ASC services (such as anesthesia) are subject to certain requirements of the statute and regulations.

Possible changes in statutes or regulations. Further federal or state legislation or regulations may be enacted in the future that could substantially modify or reduce the amounts paid for services and products offered by us and our subsidiaries and/or implement new or alternative payment models for dialysis that could present more risk sharing for dialysis clinics. For example, the Dialysis Patient Access to Integrated-care, Empowerment, Nephrologists, Treatment, and Services Demonstration Act of 2016 (a.k.a., the PATIENTS Act, S.3090/H.R.5942) was introduced in the U.S. Congress during the 2015-2016 session. If enacted, the legislation would, among other things, create a new ESRD-specific model of coordinated care not unlike that of the ESRD Seamless Care Organizations that would be mandated to be Advanced Alternate Payment Models as defined by the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act, give enrolled patients supplemental benefits beyond what is available under current Medicare plans and establish incentives for providers, physicians and patients enrolled in the model. Nephrologists who are APM qualified participants would be eligible for the 5% payment bonus and would not be required to comply with MIPS reporting requirements. Other examples include ballot initiatives introduced at the state level which could further regulate clinic staffing requirements, state inspection requirements and commercial reimbursement rates. For example, in 2019, the State of California enacted legislation impacting commercial payment rates in cases where charitable premium assistance is provided to patients, but the effective date of such legislation has been preliminary enjoined. State regulation at this level would introduce an unprecedented level of oversight and additional expense at the clinic level which could have a material adverse effect on our business in the impacted states. While there is uncertainty regarding the passage and scope of these ballot initiatives (beyond the State of California), if some form of ballot initiative passes at the state level, such action could have a material adverse impact on our business. It is also possible that statutes may be adopted or regulations may be promulgated in the future that impose additional eligibility requirements for participation in the federal and state health care programs. Such new legislation or regulations could, depending upon the detail of the provisions, have positive or adverse effects, possibly material, on our businesses and results of operations. Additionally, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal and state governments have implemented wide-ranging, temporary measures that have affected the regulatory and legal landscape in which we operate. These measures include temporary waivers and modifications to certain statutes, regulations, government reimbursement and funding programs and the governments’ enforcement priorities. Although many of these measures are designed to last only during the existence of the COVID-19 public health emergency, it is possible that some of these temporary measures could result in long term changes that could affect our business, financial condition and results of operations in a manner that is currently impossible to quantify or predict. See Item 3.D, “Key Information – Risk factors,” as well as “— Health care Reform” below.

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Non-U.S.

As a global company delivering health care and dialysis products in around 150 countries worldwide, we face the challenge of addressing the needs of patients and customers in widely varying economic and health care environments. A country’s approach to reimbursement and market pricing is markedly influenced by the type of health care funding system it employs. National insurance systems have been characterized by greater decentralization and generally a more widespread use of ‘fee-for-service’ agreements.

In the major European and British Commonwealth countries, health care systems are generally based on one of two funding models. The health care systems of countries such as Germany, France, Belgium, Austria, Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary are based on the Bismarck-type system; where mandatory employer and employee contributions dedicated to health care financing are required. Countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Portugal, Sweden and Italy established their national health services using the Beveridge-type system, which provides a national health care system financed by taxes. However, during the last decade, health care financing under many social security systems has also been significantly subsidized with tax money.

In Asia-Pacific, Universal Health Care (“UHC”) is at varying stages of implementation and, as such, reimbursement mechanisms may vary significantly between countries (including variances at the state, provincial or city level). Tax-based health care funding systems are mostly seen in New Zealand, Malaysia and Thailand where governments have more direct levers to manage the provision of health care. Other countries, such as Japan, Taiwan and South Korea, finance health care through social health insurance mandating citizens to make contributions into a pooled fund. Indonesia and India continue their effort into achieving UHC amidst system challenges. Singapore has a multi-tier system with mandatory medical savings account alongside means-tested subsidies to cover catastrophic illnesses. China has achieved UHC and recently merged its original three insurance schemes into two to bridge the gap in access between urban and rural residents.

In Latin America, health care systems are funded by public payors, private payors or a combination of both. For countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Curaçao, Ecuador, Guatemala and Peru, UHC covers ESKD for all citizens, funded by employers as well as individual compulsory contributions. In Peru, UHC is not yet fully implemented. Private insurers complement health care coverage, particularly in Argentina, Brazil and Colombia, and may be preferred by patients for a better quality of treatment or convenience. For those countries in Latin America in which we operate, with the exception of Chile, Curaçao, Ecuador and Peru where rates may vary depending upon payors, reimbursement rates are independent of treatment modality. Each payor (public or private) defines its own tariff, subject to a yearly revision to restore the value eroded by inflation. In Colombia, competition bids for lower prices without regard to adjusted tariffs and in Brazil, where public payors represent more than 60% of the share, inflation adjustments for dialysis care services are not often received.

Remuneration for ESKD treatments widely differs between countries but there are three broad types of reimbursement modalities: global budget, fee-for-service reimbursement and a bundled payment or capitation rate paid at predetermined periods. In some cases, reimbursement modalities may also vary within the same country depending on the type of health care provider (public or private). Budget allocation is a reimbursement modality used mainly for public providers in most of European countries where the funding is based on taxation and in some of the countries where it is based on social security. Fee for service, which used to be the most common reimbursement modality for private providers in European and Asia-Pacific countries, is increasingly being replaced by periodic reimbursement bundles. These include different components of the ESKD treatment and level of payment is linked to certain quality parameters.

Additionally, in Europe and in some parts of Asia-Pacific, operations are increasingly subject to cost management strategies, such as health technology assessments (a strict analysis on the entry of new products and services), which require additional data, reviews and administrative processes, all of which increase the complexity, timing and costs of obtaining reimbursement for products and services, simultaneously putting continuous downward pressure on available reimbursement. In June 2021, the EU approved the EU Health Technology Assessments Regulation which is expected to unify and further reinforce the trend. In addressing these cost containment pressures, the Company is developing more expertise in the Health Economics, Market Access and Political Affairs fields in order to respond, counteract and proactively anticipate health system funding changes that impact our business. The main aim of this development is to demonstrate that our products and services create value for patients and for those who pay for health care. The Company advocates to encourage a long-term partnership for sustainable health care financing and value-based payment programs.

Generally, in European countries with established dialysis programs, reimbursements range from €70 to more than €400 per treatment. In Asia-Pacific and Latin America, reimbursement rates can be significantly lower. Where treatment is reimbursed on a fee-for-service

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basis, reimbursement rates are sometimes allocated in accordance with the type of treatment performed. However, because the services and costs that are reimbursed differ widely between countries, calculation of an average global reimbursement amount would likely bear little relation to the actual reimbursement system in any one country. Hence, country comparison will be relevant only if it includes an analysis of the cost components covered, including their individual costs, services rendered and the structure of the dialysis clinic in the countries being compared.

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, health systems in the EMEA region utilized different methods in their attempts to compensate for the additional costs incurred by health care providers. In general, costs were compensated based on: a) invoice submission, b) through social/tax benefit relief, c) providing a surcharge with a separate reimbursement code, d) increase of general dialysis reimbursement or e) providing certain products, such as personal protective equipment, free of charge.

Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic led to a significant overspend of health care budgets, while highlighting gaps in certain countries’ current health care system operations. As such, some countries began reforming health care systems towards more integrated and value-based care, which could add further pressure on reimbursement to compensate for the overspend in health care budget in the future.

In the Asia-Pacific Segment, excess mortality related to the COVID-19 pandemic impacted our business in emerging markets at a higher rate in 2021. Certain countries, however, set very strict “zero-tolerance” COVID-19 policies which have minimized the respective infection rates. With the ever-changing landscape related to the pandemic, it remains to be seen how health care budgets within the region are affected over the next several years as a result of these varying dynamics.

Anti-kickback statutes, False Claims Act, Stark Law and other fraud and abuse laws in the United States

Some of our operations are subject to federal and state statutes and regulations governing financial relationships between health care providers and potential referral sources and reimbursement for services and items provided to patients with Medicare, Medicaid and other types of U.S. Government and state government health insurance. Our operations are also subject to federal statutes that govern the relationships and assistance that we may provide to our patients. Such laws include the Anti-Kickback Statute, the False Claims Act, the Stark Law, the Civil Monetary Penalty Law and other federal health care fraud and abuse laws and similar state laws. The U.S. Government, many individual states and private third-party risk insurers have devoted increasing resources to combat fraud, waste, and abuse in the health care sector.

The Office of the Inspector General of HHS (“OIG”), state Medicaid fraud control units, and other enforcement agencies have dedicated substantial resources to their efforts to detect arrangements and practices that may violate fraud and abuse laws.

The government’s ability to pursue actions against potential violators has been enhanced over the past years, by expanding the government’s investigative authority, expanding criminal and administrative penalties, by increasing funding for enforcement and providing the government with expanded opportunities to pursue actions under the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, the False Claims Act, and the Stark Law. For example, the ACA narrowed the public disclosure bar under the False Claims Act, allowing increased opportunities for whistleblower litigation. In addition, the legislation modified the intent standard under the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, making it easier for prosecutors to prove that alleged violators had met the requisite knowledge requirement. The ACA and implementing regulations also require providers and suppliers to report any Medicare or Medicaid overpayment and return the overpayment on the later of 60 days of identification of the overpayment or the date the cost report is due (if applicable), or else all claims associated with the overpayment will become false claims. The ACA also provides that any claim submitted from an arrangement that violates the Anti-Kickback Statute is a false claim.

In late 2020, both CMS and the OIG issued final rules that implemented changes to the regulations for the Stark Law, Anti-Kickback statute and Civil Monetary Penalty Law. These rules were aimed at easing the burden of compliance and promoting coordinated care.

Health care reform

In response to increases in health care costs in recent years, there have been, and continue to be, proposals by the federal government, state governments, regulators and third-party payors to control these costs and reform the U.S. health care system. The ACA, enacted in 2010, contained broad health care system reforms, including (i) provisions to facilitate access to affordable health insurance for all Americans, (ii) expansion of the Medicaid program, (iii) an industry fee on pharmaceutical companies starting in 2011 based on sales of brand name pharmaceuticals to government health care programs, (iv) increases in Medicaid prescription drug rebates effective

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January 1, 2010, (v) commercial insurance market reforms that protect consumers, such as bans on lifetime and annual limits, coverage of pre-existing conditions, and limits on waiting periods, (vi) provisions encouraging integrated care, efficiency and coordination among providers (vii) provisions for reduction of health care program waste and fraud and (viii) a 2.3% excise tax on manufacturers’ medical device sales starting in 2013. However, pursuant to the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016, which was signed into law on December 18, 2015, the medical device excise tax was suspended for all sales of such devices in 2016 and 2017. On January 22, 2018, Congress passed a continuing resolution that further extended this moratorium for 2018 and 2019. In December 2019, Congress passed, and former President Trump signed, a full FY 2020 domestic appropriations package that permanently repeals the medical device tax. Throughout the years of the Obama Administration, the Republicans in Congress attempted on several occasions to repeal the ACA, recognizing that any such effort would be rejected by a Presidential veto. Similarly, during the 2016 Presidential campaign, Donald Trump called for a repeal and replacement of the ACA, though no legislation to repeal the ACA has been passed. In the 2020 Presidential campaign, President Joe Biden called for further expansions of the ACA, the potential for a reduction in Medicare eligibility age, and a so-called “public option.” The fate of these campaign proposals will largely rest with the Congress, which convened for its 117th Session on January 3, 2021 with a Democrat majority in the U.S. House and the leadership of the Senate.

In National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the right of individual states to elect whether or not to participate in the ACA’s Medicaid expansion. As of November 2020, thirty-nine states (including the District of Columbia) elected to expand their programs. Because 12 states declined to participate, the number of uninsured individuals will be greater than originally expected when the ACA was passed. We cannot predict whether additional states will agree to participate in the expansion in future years, presuming that there is no change in the current law.

The Trump Administration and several states led by Republican Governors filed suit to challenge the constitutionality of the ACA and, in particular, its requirement that all U.S. citizens purchase health coverage, known as the “individual mandate.” In December 2019, a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed a district court ruling that found the mandate to be unconstitutional because, after elimination of the excise tax penalty imposed on individuals who do not obtain minimum essential health care coverage, there is no other constitutional provision that justifies this exercise of congressional power. On June 17, 2021, the Supreme Court issued an opinion in the case, California v. Texas, upholding the ACA. For additional information, see “—Reimbursement – U.S. – ESRD PPS quality incentive program” above.

The Trump Administration initiated revisions to regulations and sub-regulatory guidance relating to implementation of various provisions of the ACA, with or without changes in legislation. Significantly, in October 2017, the Trump Administration announced that it would immediately cease paying CSR subsidies to insurers. These subsidies reduce deductibles, coinsurance and copayments for individuals and families at or below 250% of the federal poverty level. Under the law insurers are still mandated to provide lower out-of-pocket costs for low-income individuals; as a result, ending CSR payments has caused many insurers to increase premiums in the individual insurance market to offset the loss of the federal support. In its FY 2019, 2020 and 2021 budget proposals, the Trump administration altered course and requested authority to fund CSR payments. Neither the FY 2019, FY 2020, nor FY 2021 CSR budget proposal was ultimately included in appropriations authorized by Congress. Although the Biden Administration has promised major changes in premium tax credits and cost sharing subsidies, President Biden’s first budget request to Congress for FY 2022 does not specifically include appropriations for CSR payments, and it is too early to predict which policies Congress will choose to enact concerning CSR payments. Throughout 2020, insurers continued to challenge the previous administration’s non-payment of CSR subsidies in litigation. On April 27, 2020, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Maine Community Health Options vs. United States, in which the Supreme Court held that the government was obligated to make full risk corridor payments. More recently, on August 14, 2020 the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued decisions in two cases (Sanford Health Plan v. United States and Community Health Choice v. United States) holding that the previous Administration owed CSRs to health plans in 2017 and directed the Court of Federal Claims to decide the status of payments owed in 2018 and later, a process that is ongoing. On June 21, 2021, the Supreme Court denied petitions to review the decisions of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in these cases. On January 28, 2021, President Biden issued an Executive Order on Strengthening Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, which directs the Secretaries of the Departments of Health and Human Services, Treasury and Labor to, among other things, review and examine policies or practices that may undermine the Health Insurance Marketplace or the individual, small group, or large group markets for health insurance in the United States, policies or practices that may present unnecessary barriers to individuals and families attempting to access Medicaid or ACA coverage, and policies or practices that may reduce the affordability of coverage or financial assistance for coverage, including for dependents, and to “as soon as practicable, publish proposed rules suspending, revising or rescinding those agency actions inconsistent with the policy goal of protecting and strengthening Medicaid and the ACA and to make high-quality health care accessible and affordable for every American.” Although it is premature to predict with certainty, the Executive Order suggests a reversal of the

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previous administration’s position with respect to CSR payments and the promotion of other financial supports to ensure high-quality affordable coverage options.

On April 27, 2020, the Supreme Court ruled in Maine Community Health Options v. United States that the federal government must pay over $12 billion to health insurers that sold consumer policies on public exchanges and had claimed losses under the Risk Corridors Program established by the ACA. To encourage health insurers to participate in the public exchanges, the ACA created the Risk Corridors Program, a temporary framework to compensate insurers for unexpectedly unprofitable plans during the ACA’s first three years. Pursuant to a formula, insurers with profits exceeding a certain amount were required to pay to the government a portion of the excess profits, and insurers that experienced higher than expected loses would be reimbursed by the government. Rather than paying the amounts owed, Congress, through appropriations riders, prevented CMS from paying these amounts for each year of the program. In Maine Community Health Options, the Supreme Court held that, notwithstanding the appropriations riders, the government is required to pay the amounts owed to the participating insurers, which total over $12 billion.

In addition, further regulations may be promulgated in the future that could substantially change the Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement systems, or that could impose additional eligibility requirements for participation in the federal and state health care programs. Moreover, such regulations could alter the current responsibilities of third-party insurance payors (including employer-sponsored health insurance plans, commercial insurance carriers and the Medicaid program) including, without limitation, with respect to cost-sharing. Changes of this nature could have significant effects on our businesses, but, due to the continued uncertainty about the implementation of the ACA, including potential further legal challenges to or significant modifications to or repeal of that legislation, the outcomes and impact of such changes on our business, financial condition and results of operations are impossible to quantify or predict.

On February 12, 2021, the Biden Administration issued a letter to states that received approvals to impose work requirements for Medicaid beneficiaries under Trump Administration policy guidance, which the Biden Administration has rescinded. The Biden Administration informed these states of its intention to review all Medicaid work requirements, which were granted as waivers pursuant to Section 1115 of the Social Security Act, to assess whether the waivers may remain in place. Since this announcement, CMS as rescinded Section 1115 waivers authorizing Medicaid work requirement in several states, including Arkansas, New Hampshire, Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio. The Trump Administration asserted that work requirements will help people lead healthier lifestyles. Opponents fear these requirements simply will lead to the poor and disabled losing health benefits, and that such requirements exacerbate the hardships resulting from increased unemployment during the COVID-19 pandemic. While CMS granted Section 1115 waivers to impose Medicaid work requirements in twelve states, and a number of other states applied for waivers, the Biden Administration has made clear that it intends to halt the issuance of further waivers and to rescind waivers already granted where possible. It is not currently possible to accurately predict the impact such programs will have over time.

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The following chart shows our organizational structure and our significant subsidiaries as of December 31, 2021. Fresenius Medical Care Holdings, Inc. conducts its business as “Fresenius Medical Care North America.” For additional discussion regarding the Company’s principal subsidiaries, see note 1 a) of the notes to our audited consolidated financial statements included in this report.

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Property

The table below describes our principal facilities. We do not own the land and buildings comprising our principal facilities in Germany. Rather, we lease those facilities on a long-term basis from Fresenius SE or one of its affiliates. These leases are described in note 5, “Related party transactions,” of the notes to the consolidated financial statements included in this report.

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We lease most of our dialysis clinics, manufacturing, laboratory, warehousing and distribution and administrative and sales facilities in the U.S. and other countries on terms which we believe are customary in the industry. We own those dialysis clinics and manufacturing facilities that we do not lease.

For information regarding our capital expenditures, see “Item 4.B. Business Overview – Capital Expenditures.”

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Primary key performance indicators for internal management from 2021 onwards are as follows:

These metrics, with the exception of ROIC, are presented both in accordance with IFRS and at Constant Currency. ROIC and each of these indicators presented at Constant Currency are considered non-IFRS measures. For the purposes of management compensation, these metrics are also benchmarked at the underlying exchange rates used in the calculation of our incentive compensation targets. Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities and free cash flow, as well as in % of revenue, capital expenditures and net leverage ratio (as described below) are included as secondary financial performance indicators.

Our presentation of some key performance indicators and other financial measures used in this report such as changes in revenue, operating income and net income attributable to shareholders of FMC-AG & Co. KGaA (or “net income”) includes the impact of translating local currencies to our reporting currency for financial reporting purposes. We calculate these Non-IFRS financial measures at constant exchange rates in our publications to show changes in our revenue, operating income, net income attributable to shareholders of FMC-AG & Co. KGaA and other items without giving effect to period-to-period currency fluctuations. Under IFRS, amounts received in local (non-euro) currency are translated into euro at the average exchange rate for the period presented. Once we translate the local currency for the constant currency, we then calculate the change, as a percentage, of the current period calculated using the prior period exchange rates versus the prior period. This resulting percentage is a Non-IFRS Measure referring to a change as a percentage at constant currency. These currency-adjusted financial measures are identifiable by the designated terms “Constant Exchange Rates” or “Constant Currency.”

We believe that the measures at Constant Currency are useful to investors, lenders and other creditors because such information enables them to gauge the impact of currency fluctuations on our revenue, operating income, net income attributable to shareholders of FMC-AG & Co. KGaA and other items from period to period. In addition, under our long-term incentive plans, we measure the attainment of certain pre-determined financial targets for revenue growth and net income growth in Constant Currency. However, we limit our use of Constant Currency period-over-period changes to a measure for the impact of currency fluctuations on the translation of local currency into euro. We do not evaluate our results and performance without considering both:

We caution the readers of this report not to consider these measures in isolation, but to review them in conjunction with changes in revenue, operating income, net income attributable to shareholders of FMC-AG & Co. KGaA and other items prepared in accordance with IFRS. We present the growth rate derived from non-IFRS measures next to the growth rate derived from IFRS measures such as revenue, operating income, net income attributable to shareholders of FMC-AG & Co. KGaA and other items. As the reconciliation is inherent in the disclosure included within “Results of operations, financial position and net assets,” below, we believe that a separate reconciliation would not provide any additional benefit.

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Primary key performance indicators

Revenue and revenue growth in accordance with IFRS and at Constant Currency (Non-IFRS Measures)

The management of our operating segments is based on revenue and revenue growth as key performance indicators. We believe that the key to continue growing our revenue is to attract new patients and increase the number of treatments performed each year. The number of treatments performed each year is therefore an indicator of both the absolute amount of revenue as well as continued revenue growth. For further information regarding revenue recognition and measurement, refer to note 1 k) of the notes to the consolidated financial statements included in this report. Revenue and revenue growth are also benchmarked based on movement at Constant Exchange Rates  (Non-IFRS Measures).

Operating income in accordance with IFRS and at Constant Currency (Non-IFRS Measure)

Operating income is the most appropriate measure for evaluating the profitability of the operating segments and therefore is also a key performance indicator. Operating income is also benchmarked based on movement at Constant Exchange Rates.

Net income and net income growth in accordance with IFRS and at Constant Currency (Non-IFRS Measure)

As net income represents the profitability of our business after all costs including operating costs, interest income and expense, taxes and the impacts of noncontrolling interests in our subsidiaries, these metrics show our profit for the period after taking into account all aspects of our business. On a consolidated level, percentage growth in net income (net income attributable to shareholders of FMC-AG & Co. KGaA) at Constant Currency is an additional key performance indicator used for internal management. Net income and net income growth are also benchmarked based on movement at Constant Exchange Rates.

Return on invested capital (Non-IFRS Measure)

ROIC is the ratio of operating income after tax (“net operating profit after tax” or “NOPAT”) to the average invested capital of the last five quarter closing dates, including adjustments for acquisitions and divestitures made during the year with a purchase price above a €50 M threshold, consistent with the respective adjustments made in the determination of adjusted EBITDA below (see “Net leverage ratio (Non-IFRS Measure)”). ROIC expresses how efficiently we allocate the capital under our control or how well we employ our capital with regard to investment projects. Additionally, in calculating ROIC, we have excluded the 2020 impairment of goodwill and trade names in the Latin America Segment driven by a macro-economic downturn and increasing risk adjustment rates for certain countries in the region (“Impairment Loss”) (see note 2 a) of the notes to the consolidated financial statements included in this report) to increase comparability of the underlying financial figures of certain Management Board compensation performance targets with the Company’s operating performance and to adequately recognize the actual performance of the members of the Management Board. An adjustment to exclude amounts related to the implementation of IFRS 16, Leases, which replaced the straight-line operating lease expense for former leases under International Accounting Standard 17, Leases, with a depreciation charge for the lease asset and an interest expense on the lease liability as well as the classification of certain IAS 17 leases (such effects being, collectively “Effect from IFRS 16”) is included for the purpose of increasing the comparability of previously reported information in accordance with our long-term incentive plans in 2019. For additional information regarding these adjustments, see Item 6.B, “Directors, senior management and

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employees – Compensation,” below. The following tables show the reconciliation of average invested capital to total assets, which we believe to be the most directly comparable IFRS financial measure, and how ROIC is calculated:

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