Part of growing your practice generally means adding new healthcare providers to your practice. Whether to add individuals as employees or independent contractors it is critical decision that should not be taken lightly. There are very specific requirements as to how the relationship is arranged, how the parties interact on a daily basis and how they are paid and receive other benefits that are unique to each. While an independent contractor label is often tempting to owners, penalties are severe for improperly labeling. An attorney should certainly be consulted when making this decision.
You must also ensure the terms of the agreement are in line with your plans for your practice and are not going to hurt your practice in the event of a termination of the relationship. The use of a restrictive covenant is an agreement between an employer and employee that limits an employee’s ability to compete after leaving the employer, generally within a certain geographic limitation. The most common and restrictive type of agreement is a non–compete agreement. The drafting of the language of these covenants is crucial as courts will throw out those that are overly restrictive and should never be done by a non or inexperienced lawyer.
