In this video, we talk to our physician clients about key protections that you’ll want to include in your employment agreement.  Now, if you’re a medical practice or medical group, you’ll also want to know what provisions to include on your side of employment agreement.

I’m Michael H. Cohen, founding attorney of the Cohen Healthcare Law Group. We’ve had the pleasure and good fortune to represent hundreds and hundreds of healthcare and FDA law clients on their issues.  Among our clients are many medical doctors, chiropractors, dentists, psychologists, and other licensed healthcare professionals. We also include them in our clientele: telemedicine and digital health startups, medical device and nutraceutical companies, cosmetics manufacturers, and other FDA-regulated companies.

Okay, so what goes in a physician employment agreement?

Lots of things.

First, there are the duties and responsibilities of the physician employee.  The physician employee agrees to work full-time or part-time; exclusively or non-exclusively; they will perform services competently and not in any way that will violate any law or regulation.

The physician employees also can be asked to agree on a number of things that can helpful to the employer.  For example: “Physician Employee will attend and participate in all meetings and trainings required by Employer.”

Now, the Physician Employee, from the employer’s perspective, can be required to have a probationary period, let’s say 30 days or 90 days.  During this time, the medical doctor employee may not entitled to any paid time off or other benefits.  So look for this depending on which side of the transaction you are on. Of course, this depends on state law, and we’re assuming here that employment law allows this provision on your state.

Next, the medical doctor employee makes certain promises, which are also known as “covenants.”  For example, the MD covenants that he or she has “never been disciplined, placed on probation, suspended, or revoked by any licensing agency and there are no disciplinary complaints pending or under investigation to the best of Employee’s knowledge.” You don’t know what you don’t know, but you can covenant to the stuff that you do know.

Also, the physician employee is not aware of any claims of professional negligence made against him or her; and, has never been suspended or prohibited from participation in any Health Care Program, including but not limited to Medicare and Medicaid. That’s a good thing to know, you don’t want to hire somebody who’s been excluded.

The Physician Employee represents covenants that their information is accurate, complete, and true.

Thanks so much for watching. Here’s to the success of your healthcare venture, we look forward to speaking with you soon.