When a Contract Isn’t a Contract
This is for you young pups out there. Buyer beware. I have been around the block in the past 16 years. I have worked for two different hospital organizations and have been recruited by many others. I am absolutely amazed how much administrators want all the leverage and not even the pressing need to hire doctors in the era of physician shortages will change their stance.
My most recent communication involved a contract where at ANY time they could change the compensation parameters. As an added benefit, the company strictly enforces a two year non-compete clause for a 25 mile radius if you leave. So let’s summarize. The contract can change a moment’s notice (or if the company feels they are paying you too much) and yet they hold you tight to a restrictive covenant. So basically the contract is not a contract. Imagine a ballplayer signing a contract. He gets productivity bonuses, maybe, for RBIs and batting average, etc. That is normal. But what if his salary is cut because the team is losing and the stadium is not filling up…all because the owner is a giant douche. That, my friends, is what we are seeing in today’s physician contracts. We need a revolution!
I’m no lawyer, but I understand that contracts represent the agreement between two parties. I frequently negotiate changes in risky clauses to reflect my understanding of the terms. It doesn’t matter if folks on the other side seek to minimize concerns by calling it standard or saying everyone else signs it as is or saying those detailed scenarios won’t happen. You have to take everything you’re signing seriously. What if every physician renegotiated those clauses individually, or worked toward best practices in contract clauses as a local professional organization.
Physicians have one power left. In the face of a stupid populace and obsequious politicians, doctors no longer have any serious power of moral suasion. Physicians have no direct power to alter their work environments, or the manner in which they see patients (apart from cash-only); through redundant, and punitive CME requirements and maintenance of certifications, physicians have needlessly surrendered control over determinations of their professional competency; they have long since given up any attempt to stand up for themselves in the public eye.
Payment will be cut, control will get tighter, society will scream about it’s “rights”, and politicians will threaten financial and criminal sanctions, but … the only power left to physicians is the power NOT to work.