ORLANDO SENTINEL REPORTS
HOSPITALS HIRING MORE PHYSICIANS
The Orlando Sentinel published a recent article indicating that hospitals are increasing their direct employment of physicians, citing statistics from national physician recruiters about the increase in recruiting arrangements, and opining that one of the biggest reasons for this national trend is that “physicians are sick of the…
PHYSICIAN DISABILITY CLAIMS
Physicians are facing increasing opposition from disability insurance carriers regarding claims for “own occupation” disability policies. This scrutiny and opposition is a predictable reaction to the expensive claims, which typically have long payouts including COLA and life-time riders, and the fact that the degree of disability or physical impairment necessary to substantially impede…
As published in the September 2007 edition of Bulletin, a publication created by the AlleghenyCounty Medical Society.
While medical practice acquisitions continue, some physicians and practices are returning to private practice. These returns are sometimes driven by regional strategies, specialty strategies, or just individual decisions made on a physician-to-physician basis, some voluntary and some involuntary. Although returning to private practice presents many of the same issues as starting a new practice, we will focus on those issues as they are presented in a return to private practice environment. The return to private practice is actually more similar to a separation from an existing practice because, rather than starting a new practice, you are actually transitioning a practice from a third party.Continue Reading Planning Your Return to Private Practice
RESTRICTIVE COVENANT UNENFORCEABLE
BY SURVIVING SPOUSE
The Virginia Supreme Court ruled that a medical practice corporation, ownership of which had transferred from the deceased sole physician shareholder to his spouse and which was converted to a business corporation by state law, could not enforce a restrictive covenant because it could not practice medicine and had…
When physicians have finally completed the medical education journey, many are confronted with a “physician employment contract,” usually from a hospital or medical practice, which could define the essential terms of their professional relationship for many years to come. If the parties live happily ever after, neither may ever read the contract again. However, if a problem arises, the scramble to find and read the contract begins.
Continue Reading Basic Physician Contract Issues for Residents and Fellows
“These are my patients – how can you stop me from seeing them?” This is a familiar refrain heard when medical practices break up or physicians leave an ongoing practice. Almost everyone knows that nobody “owns” patients and that patients have absolute freedom of choice as to what doctors they choose to see (excluding health plan participation issues). However, the fact that patients may be free to see the physician of their choice does not necessarily mean that physician will be just as free to see them. This issue is not about patient ownership; it is an issue about restrictive covenants, ownership of medical records, privacy and confidentiality, and ownership of confidential intellectual property or trade secrets.
Continue Reading Whose Patients Are They Anyway?
