non-competition clause

[GreatSaphenous]

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Is it common practice for a surgery fellowship to include a non-compete clause in their contract? A MIS fellowship that I'm aware of is trying to block its fellows from practicing in a 5 county area. Seems unreasonable for a 1 year fellowship to dictate what a fellow can do w/ the next 2 years.

All for now, go back to your sashimi
I am the Great Saphenous!!!!

 

[Leforte]

They exist in my specialty for fellowship. Especially the non-accredited ones. Some of the accredited ones that go through a match system (each sub-specialty has their own) also get around this by choosing fellows who have strong roots in other places and would likely not choose to practice in the area of the fellowship. When I was looking at jobs, all had them in the contracts, too. Part of the business of medicine.

 

[Pilot Doc]

I don't think ACGME fellowships allow that, but for non-accredited (e.g. MIS) anything is fair game.

I don't think it's unreasonable. Why would a 3-4 man group want to fill it's backyard with competitors they trained.

 

[maxheadroom]

I don't think ACGME fellowships allow that, but for non-accredited (e.g. MIS) anything is fair game.

I don't think it's unreasonable. Why would a 3-4 man group want to fill it's backyard with competitors they trained.

Restricted covenants (non-competes) are not allowed for ACGME accredited programs of any sort.

 

[MediumDef]

Non-compete clauses are also questionably enforceable depending on size of restricted area, wording, state etc... That doesn't mean that the fellowship doesn't have the resources to run a newly minted fellow ragged and make it not worth their while to try and fight it but it may let your friend at least change the language to be less restrictive if he knows that they are over reaching going in to it.

 

[Castro Viejo]

Perhaps this is the same MIS fellowship, but I know of one program that has a non-compete AND does not cover the fellow's tail insurance, so that the only way out is to pay the tens of thousands of dollars out of your own pocket... Or serve your time with the PD as his "junior associate" and pay your way out, not unlike an indentured servant. As the "junior associate," which doesn't begin until after the year of MIS "fellowship," you'll cover bread and butter cases and ED call for the PD and get paid just enough to cover rent and your malpractice tail.

Terrible how we screw our own in the interest of keeping competition at bay, huh?

 

[dilated]

Perhaps this is the same MIS fellowship, but I know of one program that has a non-compete AND does not cover the fellow's tail insurance, so that the only way out is to pay the tens of thousands of dollars out of your own pocket... Or serve your time with the PD as his "junior associate" and pay your way out, not unlike an indentured servant. As the "junior associate," which doesn't begin until after the year of MIS "fellowship," you'll cover bread and butter cases and ED call for the PD and get paid just enough to cover rent and your malpractice tail.

Terrible how we screw our own in the interest of keeping competition at bay, huh?

Why in the world would anyone ever take this fellowship? MIS isn't even that competitive, do they not find out about it until they're already in the program?

 

[JackADeli]

Why in the world would anyone ever take this fellowship? MIS isn't even that competitive, do they not find out about it until they're already in the program?

residency is a very coddled and protected environment....
most do not appreciate or understand billing and malpractice issues coming out of residency. you start to learn about the details as you apply for a job.

So, most do not think of these things when enterring another residency (aka fellowship). It is quite likely most folks do not even consider the differences between "residency" and "fellowship". It is even less likely folks will appreciate ACGME accredited vs newly formed and non-accredited type fellowships. At major academic universities it is not uncommon (though not universal) for all accredited residencies and non-accredited fellowships to be covered under the same umbrella of protections, rules, regulations....

The long and short of it.... folks probably do not even know to ask about malpractice and non-compete clauses when interviewing for non-accredited training programs.

 

[Castro Viejo]

Why in the world would anyone ever take this fellowship? MIS isn't even that competitive, do they not find out about it until they're already in the program?

As has already been mentioned, I don't believe every person coming out of residency about to sign a fellowship contract will read the fine print. Most of us out of residency have never heard of things like tail coverage, non-compete clauses, etc., and couldn't even imagine a "training program" putting us in a bind on graduation day.

Just remember to always read your contract!

 

[Pilot Doc]

Non-compete clauses are also questionably enforceable depending on size of restricted area, wording, state etc...

You know how you find out if a non-compete is enforceable? Spend $50K to litigate it, and you generally lose.