Physician Archives | Chelle Law

As a physician it’s important to be cautious about entering an employment contract without having it reviewed. This is because not only does an employment contract affect your professional life, but your personal life as well. At Chele Law, we know you’ve worked hard to get where you’re at, which is why it’s critical to cover all your bases.

Understanding Physician Contracts

As a physician, you should never blindly sign a contract without fully understanding its terms and implications. By signing blindly you can face future pitfalls such as:

Unfavorable call schedules.
Small production bonuses.
Lack of benefits.
Not enough paid-time-off.
Not enough vacation time.
Unfair non-compete.
Inadequate professional liability coverage.

When you have your employment contract reviewed, it helps you to avoid these contractual pitfalls that can mean trouble for you in the future. If you’re concerned about the terms in your physician employment agreement, contact Chelle Law to schedule a consultation with one of our experienced healthcare attorney’s.

How Chelle Law Can Help With A Physician Contract Review

During your consultation, we will review the contract term by term.

Our attorney will then conduct a full review of the employment agreement. While doing this they identify all of the components that are not in your best interest. After all, we know the optimal contract offers you ideal liability coverage, benefits, call schedules and more. That’s why as we review your contract we also conduct a financial review using MGMA data. You can then present our attorney’s findings to your employer or we can assist with contract negotiations.

Are you left wondering if we can assist you with an employment contract review? We offer the following professions with physician employment agreement services in Arizona, Texas and Indiana:

Physician contract review.
Nurse practitioner contract review.
Physician assistant contract review.
Dentist contract review.

Whether you’re an Arizona physician, Texas nurse practitioner or a Dentist in Indiana looking for employment review services, Chelle Law can help. Contact us today to learn more about who we assist or to schedule your consultation.

Since COVID-19 began physicians, like all health care workers, have faced unprecedented challenges. Being offered a salary reduction is one of them. Many of these physicians have the same story with most employers offering them a temporary 10% salary reduction through the end of 2020. Some employers, however, have offered entirely new Employment Agreements with substantially different compensation systems. (These new agreements either reduce base compensation drastically or shift the entire compensation structure to a production-based system. If there’s a long-term reduction in volume which necessitates the employer create future compensation reductions; a pure production-based compensation system clearly would negatively affect the physician’s overall compensation.

This is all dependent upon:

The specialty the physician is in and it’s been negatively affected by Covid-19.
Where they practice geographically
How COVID-19 has impacted the region and the number of Covid-19 patients it has. (This may have caused short-term cancellations of elective surgeries and other related procedures).

The most frequent question our attorney’s are asked, should a physician unilaterally accept a salary reduction or are there other options?

Physician Without Cause Termination

Every Physician Employment Agreement (Agreement) contains a without cause termination clause. Without cause termination allows either party to terminate the Agreement for any reason with some notice to the other party. 60 to 90 days notice is the industry standard. So, if the physician refuses to accept the salary reduction, one option for the employer would be to simply exercise the without cause termination clause and terminate the Agreement. This is the likeliest scenario if the physician refuses to accept the salary reduction.

The downside for the physician, if the employer exercises the without cause termination clause, is that all restrictive covenants (non-compete, non-solicit) will still apply in this situation. Additionally, any repayment obligations (signing bonus or relocation assistance) will still likely be enforced. There is nothing a physician can do to stop their employer from exercising without cause termination.

Employment Agreement Compensation Amendment

Physicians who desire to stay with their current employer, but not accept a long-term salary reduction, can agree to an amendment. This amendment may contain a salary reduction for a limited period. This gives the employer short-term cost relief, but limits the amount of time the physician receives a reduced salary.

Peer Pressure by other Medical Staff Members

The final tactic utilized by employers is pressuring the physician into taking a salary reduction by using intimidation. Employers tell the physician they’re a bad colleague if they refuse a pay cut when other physicians have agreed without trepidation. The appearance of being a “bad teammate” applies pressure to physicians who are reluctant to agree to a compensation reduction. This is an effective management tactic which each individual physician must consider.

Overall, there isn’t much a physician can do if their employer offers a unilateral compensation reduction if the employer if willing to terminate the Agreement. However, physicians who work in specialties difficult to staff or in undeserved areas difficult to attract new physicians have a much better likelihood of refusing a unilateral pay cut and may not be terminated. As with any physician contract negotiation, leverage is everything.

Contact an Attorney

If you’re a physician with questions about your options or your contract, contact us today or schedule a consultation.

Physician Contract Review: Getting Started