Physicians Practice - June 2008 - (Page 47) HUMAN RESOURCES is the perfect opportunity to describe every expectation, outline every potential offense to avoid, detail each practice policy and performance requirement. But most experts urge practices to keep the employment agreement as simple as possible. “Sometimes you need to balance the need to protect yourself with the need to bring somebody in,” says Roediger. “You have to have some common sense in reading the agreement and realizing that something that is 30 pages in length and single-spaced — something the size of ‘War and Peace’ — is going to scare off candidates.” It’s one reason why Roediger doesn’t like to see indemnification language — clauses that require the incoming physician to assume all financial and legal liability for anything from billing and coding to … well, anything. “When you think back to what really is the traditional principle of employment law, you, the employer, have a duty to supervise your employee,” she explains. certain elements of the physicianemployment agreement has worked well for the practice and gives candidates an idea of what working for Society Hill Anesthesia will be like. On the other hand, says Edwards, “If you come back and you say ‘Look, it just is the way it is,’ people tend to get a little turned off by that.” Witte agrees and recommends that practices be proactive when it BY THE HOUR With more than 60 physicians and 100-plus nurse anesthetists, Society Hill Anesthesia Consultants is always in hiring mode. So what area does the practice see physician candidates ask about most these days? Keeping with trends in other careers, the issue for many physicians is the negotiation of hours. “In the past, doctors just kind of signed on and asked ‘What’s my salary?’ The expectation was you do the same job as everybody else,” says Richard Edwards, the practice’s chief operating officer. Now, Edwards is finding that recruits ask about the hours they can expect, the kind of call required, and the length of an average working day. Some candidates even ask to specify hours and call in the contract. Society Hill Anesthesia does not deviate much from its boilerplate contract, so hours are not spelled out in the physician-employment agreement. Neither is call, though the practice does specify call requirements in internal documents. So what does Society Hill Anesthesia think about this latest trend? “Interestingly enough, we haven’t been too enamored with it,” says Edwards. “This is a private-practice model, so as such you do what it takes to get the job done. … There definitely seems to be a growing trend toward — I don’t want to say an ‘hourly’ mentality — but definitely they want a blend of lifestyle and income.” “It’s important to figure out the practice service area and derive a noncompete based on reality, not fear.” JUST THE FACTS Joan Roediger, healthcare attorney On the other hand, if you feel you have come up with an agreement that is fair to both you and the prospective physician don’t feel you have to compromise yourself. Society Hill Anesthesia Consultants, for example, uses a standard boilerplate contract from which it rarely deviates. According to Edwards, prospective candidates often come in knowing that the practice’s contract is a standard deal that all physicians in the organization receive. That has gained the practice a certain credibility in the marketplace. But it doesn’t mean that Society Hill Anesthesia takes a hard approach to negotiation. “Many people have come back to us and said, ‘My attorney has a problem with the wording of the restrictive covenant, they think it’s too broad,’” says Edwards. “I will immediately explain the concept of what we’re trying to accomplish there and say: ‘If you do come into this organization as a shareholder, wouldn’t you want to protect what you have created?’” Explaining the reasoning behind comes to contract negotiation. “A lot of things that hang up employment agreements can be avoided by really talking to the candidate about what is going to be in the agreement before they even see it,” he says. • Robert Anthony, a former associate editor for Physicians Practice, has written for the healthcare and practice management industries for six years. His work has appeared in Physicians Practice, edge, Humana’s Your Practice, and Publisher’s Weekly. He is based in Baltimore, Md., and can be reached via bkeaveney@physicianspractice.com. WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM JUNE 2008 | PHYSICIANS PRACTICE | 47 http://WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM
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