Let's talk about noncompete clauses in dermatology. Clearly the time, distance, and scope can be modified and negotiated, but for those dermatologists who refused to sign any noncompete, how did it turn out? What was your strategy for negotiating them out of your contract?
Dermatology noncompetes
- Thread starter doc1324
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Just like anything else, noncompetes can and should be negotiated.
Noncompetes can be regional. For instance, I received contracts where noncompetes were measured in city blocks in urban areas and in miles in less urban areas. (e.g. a 20 mile noncompete would be unreasonable in a city setting. If you practiced in NYC and wanted to continue practicing in NYC, 20 miles would knock you out of NYC)
Noncompetes can be ridiculous. For instance, I received a contract from a PE group where if I left the practice, I would not be allowed to practice medicine anywhere within a 20 mile radius of every practice they had. That would exclude almost the entire midwest... My understanding is that noncompetes like these would be struck down in court as unfair but the onus is still on the physician to fight this if he/she decides to leave. Better to negotiate this away before signing a contract (for me, this was eventually modified to a 20 mile radius from any practice within the PE group that I worked at)
Noncompetes can be modified after the fact. I took over a practice from another dermatologist. Over the course of the next 12 months, she had set up a competing practice directly across the street from her former place of employment as well as slowly extracted staff from my team to work for her new practice. Should have been obvious but she paid a large sum of money to my employer to break the noncompete and be allowed to do these things.
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Why do doctors even agree to non-competes? If every doctor refused to sign one it wouldn't even be a thing. Doctors have all the cards because they are the labour but they do things directly against their interest all the time. It's ridiculous.
Have you refused to sign them in the past? How did it turn out?
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Frankly, non-competes haven't been a hill worth dying on in the past. People haven't worried about their follow-up job opportunities at the time of signing. Now people switch jobs far more often and the non-compete is becoming increasingly more important.
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If the group/health system is big enough, they won't budge.
In an ideal world you would be correct, no one would sign non competes but life happens and people need jobs in certain areas and compromise.
A few states make non competes illegal, like California, which is nice.
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Non-enforceable in California, but it continues to appear in contracts nonetheless.
