OHA’s Health Care Market Oversight (HCMO) program reviews health care business deals to ensure they do not harm the state’s citizens or communities. In July, both UnitedHealth Group and Amedisys submitted responses to the OHA’s request for information. The authority is still seeking public comments on this matter.

In addition to the issue in Oregon, the deal has faced scrutiny from federal antitrust regulators, including the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

Amedisys and UnitedHealth agreed to sell certain locations to Dallas-based VitalCaring Group, likely to address those antitrust concerns. That deal is contingent on the UnitedHealth Group-Amedisys deal closing, however.

“On an antitrust perspective, a number of states have adopted enhanced transaction notice requirements,” Les Levinson, partner and co-chair of the Transactional Health Law Group at Robinson+Cole, said during a recent Home Health Care News webinar. “There is a heightened interest in agencies being subject to a higher regulatory review. I think it’s something we have to pay attention to.”

UnitedHealth Group first agreed to purchase Amedisys – one of the largest home health providers in the country – in June 2023 for $3.3 billion.

According to comments published on the OHA website, the deal is not well-received by some groups in Oregon.

Mid Valley Health Care Advocates, based in Corvallis, Oregon, urged the OHA to deny the acquisition application, for instance.

“We are concerned that [UnitedHealth] as an insurer, and through Optum as a clinical provider and potentially as a home health and hospice provider, have the incentive and the ability to unfairly disadvantage competing providers and drive them from the market, reducing consumer choice,” the group said in a statement.

Another comment by the Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) read, “[UnitedHealth’s] track record of driving up profit margins at the expense of patients is not in alignment with Oregon values. Oregonians deserve high-quality, affordable health services; we are concerned that [UnitedHealth] will fail to provide that care if doing so interferes with their profitability. ONA urges OHA to reject the acquisition of Amedisys.”

With all that said, it is possible that a DOJ clearance of the deal could ultimately influence OHA’s decision, and move up the timeline to closure.

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Late Wednesday, a report suggesting that the Department of Justice is considering a lawsuit to block Optum’s takeover of Amedisys surfaced. The deal was first agreed to in June of last year.

The news comes just a few weeks after the DOJ opened up an antitrust investigation into UnitedHealth Group. This is the first time that the Amedisys deal, specifically, has been mentioned as a potential target of the DOJ’s efforts, however.

Previously, in August of 2023, the DOJ made an inquiry for additional information regarding the Optum-Amedisys deal. In October of 2023, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) urged the DOJ to take a closer look at the deal.

Based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Amedisys is one of the largest home health and hospice companies in the country. It has 521 care centers and about 19,000 employees across 37 states and the District of Columbia.

UnitedHealth Group’s Optum already acquired another one of the largest home health companies in the country – LHC Group – for $5.4 billion in February of last year. The Amedisys deal would be worth about $3.3 billion.

With LHC Group and Amedisys under the same roof, Optum would own about 10% of the home health market. That would make it the largest home health entity in the country – by far.

“I don’t think you can say that this will have no effect on the deal,” Tyler Giesting, a director of health care and life sciences at West Monroe, told Home Health Care News after the DOJ’s UnitedHealth Group probe first surfaced. “Because, based on the information that is being publicly reported, Amedisys could be very much interpreted as being involved in some aspects of this probe. And the DOJ was already involved in the Amedisys review. … It’s very possible that it will be impacted by this probe in some way, whether it’s a delay or otherwise. But I don’t think it is going to be viewed in a vacuum.”

Amedisys reported 2023 earnings at the end of February, without an accompanying earnings call. Overall, the company brought in about $2.24 billion in net service revenue in 2023, a less than 1% increase year over year. Fourth-quarter revenues checked in at about $571 million, which also represented just a slight increase.

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Since the news surfaced Tuesday that the Department of Justice had opened an antitrust investigation into UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), additional questions have bubbled up.

Namely, those questions surround the home health provider Amedisys Inc. (Nasdaq: AMED), which agreed to be acquired by UnitedHealth Group’s Optum in June of last year.

Will that deal be affected, either by being drawn out or nixed entirely?

Then, from a more macro perspective, the payvider structure comes into question. Broadly, will payers be less eager to go after health care providers – and home health providers – in general?

The investigation is in its very early stages, so there’s still much to short through. But the investigation itself did not come as much of a surprise to those that have been paying attention.

“I think it’s well known and well documented the scope and breadth that [UnitedHealth Group] has amassed over the last number of years,” Tyler Giesting, a director of health care and life sciences at West Monroe, told me Wednesday. “And then, with the context of the generally antitrust signals that the administration has been sending, … it’s not surprising given the way that the administration has been challenging a number of deals in health care and otherwise.”

Indeed, the Biden administration has taken a hard stance against anti-competitive dealmaking in health care, as well as certain PE-driven dealmaking.

And here you have UnitedHealth Group, which is by some metrics the largest health care company in the country. On top of that, it’s the most prolific acquirer.

The investigation could lead to a lot of change in the health care industry, in home-based care and otherwise.

Sifting through that potential change is the goal of this week’s members-only, exclusive HHCN+ Update.

What comes next

As one of the largest home health and hospice providers in the country, Amedisys’ landing spot matters a great deal to the rest of the industry.

It’s already been over eight months since UnitedHealth Group lured the company away from Option Care Health (NASDAQ: OPCH), which resulted in a $106 million termination fee. But it’s worth keeping in mind that UnitedHealth Group’s first home health deal – for another one of the largest home health providers, LHC Group – was not completed until 11 months after the purchase price was agreed to.

Amedisys will hit that mark in late May, so there’s no reason for alarm bells yet on that front.

On one hand, Amedisys and LHC Group together would result in the largest home health entity in the U.S. On the other hand, because of the nature of the home health industry, Optum would still only own about 10% of the home health market – not a huge number.

For context, UnitedHealth Group already owns about 30% of the Medicare Advantage (MA) market.

But the investigation will undoubtedly complicate things for Amedisys, particularly after a previous DOJ inquiry into the deal. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) also asked antitrust regulators to take a closer look at the deal in October.

I would bet that the Amedisys deal still goes through, but it may take longer than the LHC Group timeline of 11 months. There may be some caveats, too, like Amedisys having to divest certain assets.

“I don’t think you can say that this will have no effect on the deal,” Giesting said. “Because, based on the information that is being publicly reported, Amedisys could be very much interpreted as being involved in some aspects of this probe. And the DOJ was already involved in the Amedisys review. … It’s very possible that it will be impacted by this probe in some way, whether it’s a delay or otherwise. But I don’t think it is going to be viewed in a vacuum.”

Giesting did not want to play a guessing game on whether or not the deal would get done.

He did mention that, if it is finalized, he still expects for it to be completed by the end of 2024.

Other factors to consider

Theoretically, governmental agencies are supposed to stick with relatively consistent guiding principles, no matter who is the president.

But let’s call a spade a spade and recognize that that’s generally not how things work now. And, less than a year from now, there could be an entirely new administration in Washington, D.C.

That’s one thing to consider.

For now, though, another thing to consider is how this affects the rest of the home health industry. If the Amedisys deal doesn’t get done, that would be major news, of course.

But it could also affect other home health care dealmaking, particularly on the larger scale. I wrote earlier this month that I believed UnitedHealth Group would have happily submitted a bid for Enhabit Inc. (NYSE: EHAB) had it not been for all the antitrust noise (and this was before the investigation was launched).

The emergence of payviders has meant more potential landing spots for larger home health providers.

Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM), for instance, already has CenterWell Home Health, but would like to grow its home health footprint. It’s likely watching the Optum-Amedisys saga closely.

This all could mean a pause from payers on that aggressive payvider strategy.

Or not, as Giesting believes.

“I would not expect other payers [to change course],” he said. “I think you’re going to continue to see payers looking to expand as Medicare Advantage continues to grow, even despite some of the rate headwinds. And also expand in a way that helps manage costs and coordinate care for some of their sicker, higher-cost members and patients within that vertical network.”

And, even while the investigation is a big deal in a sense, Giesting isn’t so sure it’s enough to force UnitedHealth Group to change course on its M&A thesis – at least not yet.

“I don’t think it will have a significant effect in the near-term on their corporate development approach and strategy,” he said. “I think that would be a little too premature.”

The post What The UnitedHealth Group Antitrust Investigation Means For Amedisys, Home Health Industry appeared first on Home Health Care News.

Specifically, the Justice Department is interviewing subjects around interactions between UnitedHealth Group and its health care provider services arm, Optum.

UnitedHealthcare is one of the largest insurers in the country. Meanwhile, Optum is one of the larger provider organizations in the country. With both under the same umbrella, regulators have grown concerned over the competitive advantage UnitedHealth Group may have in certain markets.

“The investigators have in recent weeks been interviewing health care industry representatives in sectors where UnitedHealth competes, including doctor groups, according to people with knowledge of the meetings,” the WSJ report read. “During their interviews, investigators have asked about issues including certain relationships between the company’s UnitedHealthcare insurance unit and its Optum health-services-arm, which owns physician groups, among other assets. Investigators have asked about possible impacts of the company’s doctor-group acquisitions on rivals and consumers, the people said.”

Optum and UnitedHealthcare both have asserted that they regularly work with each other’s competitors, and don’t lend favors to each other.

This may or may not have an effect on the home health market. UnitedHealth Group – and Optum – has been one of the most active acquirers of health care providers over the last decade-plus.

It entered into home health dealmaking when it acquired LHC Group – one of the largest home health and hospice providers in the country – for $5.4 billion in February of last year. After that, it agreed to acquire another home health giant, Amedisys Inc. (Nasdaq: AMED), for $3.3 billion last June.

The Amedisys deal is still pending.

Though Optum would only own about 10% of the home health market with both LHC Group and Amedisys, it would still be the largest owner of home health assets in the country.

Last October, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) asked antitrust regulators to take a closer look at the Amedisys deal.

“We urge DOJ and FTC to closely scrutinize UnitedHealth’s proposed acquisition of Amedisys and oppose the growing trend of insurers buying up health care providers to reduce competition and pad their profits at the expense of their patients,” Warren and Jayapal reportedly wrote in a letter to the Department of Justice (DOJ) at the time.

The post With Amedisys Deal Pending, Justice Department Opens Antitrust Investigation Into UnitedHealth Group appeared first on Home Health Care News.

Specifically, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) have asked antitrust regulators to take a closer look.

“We urge DOJ and FTC to closely scrutinize UnitedHealth’s proposed acquisition of Amedisys and oppose the growing trend of insurers buying up health care providers to reduce competition and pad their profits at the expense of their patients,” Warren and Jayapal reportedly wrote in a letter to the Department of Justice (DOJ) Tuesday.

Bloomberg first reported the news.

UnitedHealth Group’s Optum agreed to acquire Amedisys in late June for $3.3 billion in an all-cash deal. Optum also completed its $5.4 billion deal of LHC Group – another home health giant – in February. If the Amedisys deal goes through, it’s expected that Optum would own about 10% of the U.S. home health market.

The DOJ filed a request for additional information regarding the Amedisys deal in August.

“This is a huge transaction,” Les Levinson, co-chair of the transactional health care practice Robinson & Cole LLP, told Home Health Care News at the time. “You’ve got a handful of public companies. LHC was acquired earlier, and I think that most practitioners and most deal people would agree that putting LHC and Amedisys under one umbrella was going to get government scrutiny.”

Based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Amedisys provides home health, hospice and high-acuity care in the home via over 520 care centers in 37 states and the District of Columbia.

UnitedHealth Group has two sides of its operations. The first is UnitedHealthcare, which is one of the largest insurance providers in the country. The other is Optum, which is a diversified health care services provider that delivers primary, specialty, urgent, surgical and home health and hospice care to about 103 million consumers.

Amedisys and UnitedHealth Group are expecting their deal to close in 2024.

LHC Group and Amedisys do have “minimal overlap” in coverage, which could negate some of the antitrust concerns, analysts previously noted.

“The acquisition of Amedisys by [UnitedHealth Group] is one such transaction that the agencies should examine, though by no means the only one of its kind,” Warren and Jayapal continued. “We therefore urge the agencies to closely scrutinize this and other similar acquisitions and block any activity found to be illegal under antitrust law.”

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The Health & Human Services Office of Inspector General’s (HHS-OIG) annual report, released Monday, details the distribution of funds, as well as the enforcement actions of the Department of Justice (DOJ) throughout 2021.

Overall, the federal government won or negotiated more than $5 billion in health care fraud judgments and settlements.

As far as enforcement actions, the DOJ opened 831 new criminal health care fraud investigations in 2021. Federal prosecutors filed criminal charges in 462 cases involving 741 defendants. In total, 312 defendants were convicted of health care fraud-related crimes last year.

The DOJ also opened 805 new civil health care fraud investigations and had 1,432 civil health care fraud matters pending at the end of 2021. 

The OIG’s investigations were responsible for 504 criminal actions against individuals or entities that engaged in crimes related to Medicare and Medicaid. They also included 669 civil actions, which include false claims and unjust-enrichment lawsuits filed in federal district court, as well as civil monetary penalty settlements.

Plus, almost 1,700 individuals and entities were excluded from participating in Medicare, Medicaid and other federal health care programs because of criminal convictions connected to those programs.

The report also highlighted a number of home health-related cases.

In 2019, trial evidence proved that a physician signed fraudulent home health care paperwork in order to submit false claims to Medicare. In exchange for certifying and recertifying patients for care services, the physician made home health agencies pay her an illegal kickback.

“The evidence showed she would not release the home health care paperwork until the home health care companies or their marketers paid her the kickback,” OIG wrote in the report.

In 2020, the physician received a 5-year prison sentence and was ordered to pay restitution to the tune of $9.5 million.

Another case — which took place in late 2020 and early 2021 — ended with four defendants receiving various prison sentences for their roles in a $80.4 million home health care fraud case. Specifically, it was a wire fraud and money laundering scheme.

“These individuals operated three sham home health agencies that never treated a single patient, yet billed Medicare for over $80 million in fraudulent claims, of which they received approximately $50 million,” the agency wrote. “They laundered the proceeds through dozens of shell companies. They evaded law enforcement detection for years by requiring nominee owners of the home health agencies and shell companies to permanently flee to Cuba upon the conclusion of their involvement in the scheme, beyond the jurisdiction of the United States.” 

Additionally, a residential care company and its owner agreed to pay $2.9 million to resolve civil FCA allegations that occured between March 2013 and September 2018. It had billed the Oregon Medicaid program for services not provided.

In general, the home health sector has been an area of focus for the Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program (HCFAC).

On top of this, experts believe the OIG’s recent audits on the hospice industry could be an indication of what’s next for home health.

“As we have been following and reporting on those hospice audits, the OIG has been looking at the home health space as well,” Bryan Nowicki said recently on a podcast episode of Hospice Insights. “They’re very similar in overall structure with what we have been working on with hospice. They’re looking for certain kinds of errors that they’ve identified as being recurring or ‘top of mind’ in the home health field.”

The post Home Health Sector Remains Area of Focus For Fraud Watchdogs appeared first on Home Health Care News.

There have been developments with at least two multi-million-dollar fraud schemes, with the watchdog arm of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) also releasing findings from a large hospice-related audit.

On July 15, federal authorities announced that the owners of ANG Health Care Inc., Excel Home Healthcare Inc. and Excel Hospice Inc. pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud as well as one count of conspiracy to pay and receive health care kickbacks.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the owners paid and directed others to pay kickbacks to multiple individuals for referrals from July 2015 through April 2019. In total, the kickbacks meant that the home health and hospice agencies submitted over 8,000 claims to Medicare, which paid roughly $31 million for those services.

As part of the guilty plea, one of the owners agreed to pay more than $2.5 million in restitution to HHS and forfeit that same amount to the U.S. government.

The California case came roughly two weeks after a federal grand jury returned an indictment charging the former COO and CFO of United Home Care Inc. and Trinity Home Health Care with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and four counts of bank fraud.

In a July 2 announcement, DOJ alleged that, from April 2016 until March 2017, the home health execs were involved in a scheme to defraud Origin Bank, Peoples Bank and Louisiana National Bank (LNB) by fraudulently obtaining money and credits from the institutions.

“It is alleged that [they] orchestrated and executed a check kite between accounts at Origin Bank and LNB, wherein they deposited hundreds of checks between multiple accounts they controlled at both banks and took advantage of the float when they passed the checks, timing the exchanges to artificially inflate the account balances,” DOJ’s announcement reads. “In so doing, [they] caused Origin Bank and LNB to honor checks and payments drawn against accounts with insufficient funds and put the financial institutions at risk.”

An indictment is an accusation, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, DOJ was careful to note.

Meanwhile, also in July, the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) released findings from a Medicare audit of a San Mateo, California-based home health and hospice provider. Following an audit of 6,142 claims, OIG found that the provider received an estimated $10.5 million in unallowable Medicare reimbursement for hospice services that shouldn’t have been rendered.

OIG came up with that total after reviewing a random sample of 100 claims and finding that 34 did not comply with Medicare requirements.

“Specifically, for 33 claims, the clinical record did not support the beneficiary’s terminal prognosis, and for one claim, the clinical record did not support the level of care billed to Medicare,” OIG described. “In addition, for a few claims, there was no evidence that beneficiaries elected hospice care before the periods covered by the sampled claims, or there was no support for physician services billed to Medicare.”

The provider challenged the bulk of OIG’s findings.

In addition to the DOJ and OIG developments, the Department of Labor (DOL) announced it had taken actions against a Harrisburg, Pennsylvania-based home health care company, recovering $1.5 million in back wages for nearly 250 workers.

A DOL investigation found that Neoly Home Care LLC “manipulated pay rates to create the appearance that they paid overtime when employees worked more than 40 hours in a workweek.” In reality, the company paid employees approximately the same rate for all hours worked.

“Many workers in this industry depend on their wages just to make ends meet, so actions like those taken by Neoly Home Care are especially harmful,” DOL Wage and Hour Division Acting Administrator Jessica Looman said in a statement. “Employers that violate the law also gain an unfair competitive advantage over law-abiding employers.”

The post DOJ Highlights Multiple Home Health-Related Fraud Cases in July appeared first on Home Health Care News.

DOJ had also alleged that the agency offered bonuses to physicians’ spouses, who were Doctor’s Choice employees

Timothy Beach and Stuart Christensen founded Doctor’s Choice and formerly served as its top executives. The Sarasota-based home health agency has branches throughout the state of Florida.

Under terms of the settlement, Doctor’s Choice will pay nearly $3.9 million, with Beach and Christensen each paying $647,000. The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only, as there has been no determination of liability, according to DOJ.

“The Department of Justice will continue to hold companies and individuals accountable for the payment of illegal remuneration in any form,” Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Bossert Clark of DOJ’s civil division said in a statement. “Improper inducements have no place in our federal health care system, which relies on health care providers making decisions based on the health care needs of their patients and rather than their personal financial interests.”

Doctor’s Choice will reportedly pay an additional $675,000 to resolve separate allegations that employees pressured clinical personnel to increase the number of home visits for Medicare patients to avoid being hit with a Low Utilization Payment Adjustment (LUPA).

“Operating an illegal referral scheme and providing medically unnecessary services places patients at risk and jeopardizes millions of taxpayer dollars,” Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Tampa Division Michael McPherson said.

The allegations resolved in the settlement were originally brought in two lawsuits filed under whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act by former Doctor’s Choice employees.

For their involvement in the case and subsequent financial settlement, the employees will jointly receive a share of about $145,000, specifically from the government’s recovery of the LUPA allegations.

The post Home Health Agency, Former Executives to Pay $5.8M to Settle False Claims Act Allegations appeared first on Home Health Care News.

Between 2011 and 2017, both Terra Dean and Larita Walls admitted they played a role in a wide-ranging conspiracy to defraud the Pennsylvania Medicaid program. They did so by submitting fraudulent claims for services they never provided.

Overall, the scheme netted more than $87 million, federal watchdogs estimate.

During the multimillion-dollar scheme, Dean and Walls were both home health employees at Pittsburgh-based Moriarty Consultants Inc., which was one of the four home health companies that were named in the Department of Justice’s announcement last week. The other three were Activity Daily Living Services Inc., Coordination Care Inc. and Everyday People Staffing Inc.

Moriarty Consultants was approved under the Pennsylvania Medicaid program to offer certain services to qualifying Medicaid recipients. Of the $87 million worth of fraudulent claims from the scheme, $80 million came from personal assistant services.

Each charge — both for conspiracy and health care fraud — carries a maximum total sentence of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both. The actual sentences will depend on other factors, such as the defendants’ criminal history, for example.

“Dean and Walls each admitted causing losses to the Pennsylvania Medicaid program in excess of $150,000,” the Department of Justice said in its announcement.

The two former home health employees also admitted that they had submitted Medicaid claims from ghost employees, which sometimes included the names of relatives. The personal assistance services they submitted claims for were never provided to those listed on the claims. They would also pay off consumers so that they’d also cooperate in the scheme, according to DOJ officials. 

The defendants are scheduled to be sentenced on May 19.

In April 2019, Autumn Brown and Brenda Horton were sentenced to probation for their roles in the scheme. The probation included six months of home detention, with Brown ordered to pay $68,000 in restitution and Horton was ordered to pay $67,000 to the Pennsylvania Medicaid program.

Overall, about 20% of the Pennsylvania population is covered by Medicaid or CHIP, according to Kaiser Family Foundation statistics. The state’s Medicaid program covers one in six adults, two in three nursing home residents, two in five individuals with disabilities and one in six Medicare beneficiaries.

As of October 2019, Pennsylvania’s Medicaid program totaled $30 billion, with managed care and long-term care accounting for 53% and 35% of that spending, respectively.

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On Oct. 7, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that, after a six-day trial, Dr. Yolanda Hamilton was convicted of a single count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and conspiracy to solicit and receive health care kickbacks. Hamilton was also convicted of two counts of false statements relating to health care matters.

Hamilton is the owner and operator of Houston, Texas-based HMS Health and Wellness Center PLLC.

In a scheme that took place from January 2012 to August 2016, Hamilton and her co-conspirators allegedly signed fraudulent plans of care and other medical documents while submitting fraudulent claims for home health services to Medicare. Patients were paid to sign-up and recertify for home health services that were either medically unnecessary or, in some cases, not provided.

According to trial evidence, Hamilton charged home health agencies an illegal patient fee — a kickback — for certifying and recertifying patients for these services.

In total, the scheme amassed $16 million in false and fraudulent claims for home health services to Medicare, making it one of the biggest single cases in recent memory.

Hamilton will be sentenced before U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison of the Southern District of Texas, who presided over the trial, at a time that has not been set yet.

In other legal news, DOL is cracking down on a Pennsylvania-based home health company and its CEO for supposed overtime and recordkeeping violations.

Toni Chandler Duncan, the CEO and owner of Heart 2 Heart LLC, was sued by DOL for alleged overtime, recordkeeping and employee classification violations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

DOL officials claimed that Duncan used sham staffing agencies for the purpose of misclassifying workers, intentionally included false information in payroll records and failed to pay employees the statutory minimum rate for hours worked.

The department further alleged that Duncan misclassified employees as independent contractors, according to court documents.

Founded in 2012, Pittsburgh-based Heart 2 Heart provides care for adults with intellectual or physical disabilities, in addition to direct care services to seniors and clients who are homebound.

The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania found that Duncan violated the FLSA’s overtime and recordkeeping provisions. The court ruled that Heart 2 Heart workers were not independent contractors but employees.

Under the FLSA, an employment relationship is determined through the economic realities test, which includes: the degree of control the employers have over the work, the opportunity for profit or loss depending upon an employees managerial skill, the employee’s investment in equipment or materials required for work, whether their service requires special skills and whether the service is an integral part of the employer’s business.

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