The Bittinger Law Firm

If you are a physician looking forward to the Biden administration's ban on non-competes going into effect, kiss that good bye thanks to today's decision by the US Supreme Court to essentially overturn legal precedent (the Chevron rule) to limit the scope of federal agencies' administrative rule power.

Here’s What the Court’s Chevron Ruling Could Mean in Everyday Terms The decision is expected to prompt a rush of litigation challenging regulations across the entire federal government, from food safety to the environment.

When learning that a decision may be made Tuesday on a federal ban of non-competes, a line from my favorite children’s book came to mind: “Let the wild rumpus start!”
That was Max speaking, the mischievous boy who slumbered and sailed off to Where the Wild Things Are to fete with fun-loving monsters while donning a white wolf suit after being sent to bed without eating anything.
A wild rumpus – in court as well as in clinics and hospitals – will indeed start if the rule is issued.
At 2 pm ET on Tuesday, the Federal Trade Commission will hold a special meeting to vote on whether to issue the proposed rule to ban non-competes.
The rule would immediately void all non-compete agreements over which the FTC has jurisdiction.
That jurisdiction may not include employment agreements with non-profit employers. And state statutes authorizing non-compete agreements may be used in court by employers to try to trump the federal ban.
The FTC’s rule is only a federal regulation. It is not a federal law passed by Congress; nor is it a state law enacted by elected legislators. That distinction may come into play in courts across the country if the rule is promulgated on Tuesday by the appointed board members of the Commission.
“Oh please don’t go,” the monsters plea with Max after the party gets out of hand. “We’ll eat you up we love you so.”
And Max said, “No!”
He sailed home, “back over a year and in and out of weeks and through a day,” almost akin to a year-long non-compete being gone in the flash of a dream.
As I have for the last 25 years, I’ll be here to guide physicians through this latest potential wild rumpus on the physician employment agreement landscape.

The beauty of engaging in professional associations is you learn so much from sharing your expertise vulnerably with others. Greetings from Vancouver at the American College of Gastroenterology’s Practice Management Summit, where I shared everything they need to know about non-compete agreements. It was a very advanced crowd, and I had 3 clients in the audience. The GI practice model, with such emphasis on private equity, is in for a ride with the forthcoming economic flux (interest rates!), and non-competition agreements are going to be very important in how the specialty evolves.

25 years ago today, I was sworn in to the Missouri Bar. Two years later I added Kansas, with Florida to follow. I'm so grateful for my profession, for the intellectual, emotional and creative moxie it forces me to find in myself every day. -- Ann Bittinger

I enjoyed spending time chatting with the wonderful Carrie Reynolds, MD on her Hippocratic Hustle podcast, which just went live. In this episode, I demystify the process of negotiating a physician employment agreement. Whether you're on your first or seventh physician employment agreement, if you're thinking of offboarding your current job and onboarding another, you'll enjoy this discussion.

Hippocratic Hustle: Physician Contracts Demystified with Attorney Ann Bittinger   Two ways to support the show: Subscribe to Hippocratic Hustle Podcast today! Click this link to learn more - Support our sponsors by visiting the link below:  Hippocractic Homes Premier Realtor Referral Service or email [email protected] for any questions. Attorney Ann Bittinge...

Join Ann Bittinger of The Bittinger Law Firm tomorrow for an American Health Law Association webinar on the FTC’s new proposed rule of banning non-competes.

Ann will be joined by Joe Miller, Member and Co-Chair of Mintz’s Antitrust practice group, Christine White of Northwell Health, and Lona Fowdur of Secretariat Economists.

The topics covered during this webinar include:

- The typical physician employment agreement non-compete terms & why they are used.
- The impact of this rule on the physician employment market and physician mobility.
- Other ways physicians may find themselves restricted regardless of non-competes.
- And More.

https://bit.ly/44mSdBD

I'm looking forward to speaking about non-competes in physician employment agreements and about ownership structures of gastroenterology practices. Thanks American College of Gastroenterology, for inviting an attorney to your podium.

Potentially huge for physician employment agreements— anticipate pushback from BigHospital industry, although it has other ways to block physicians from competing post-employment (forced resignation from med staff, not reapply for X years, etc).

U.S. Moves to Bar Noncompete Agreements in Labor Contracts A sweeping proposal by the Federal Trade Commission would block companies from limiting their employees’ ability to work for a rival.

I have entertained many health law speaking gigs over the last 24 years, but the American College of Surgeons topped the list. “Know Your Worth” was the topic of our session on negotiating physician employment agreements - at the Clinical Congress at the San Diego Convention Center. Many thanks to surgeons Jay Lieberman, Jason Wilson, Christopher Stenkowski and Megan McNally, and Andrew Hadje from MGMA and ACS senior associate for regulatory affairs Lauren Foe for helping this lawyer speak to a couple conference rooms full of surgeons.

After many months of planning, we are less than a week away from our presentation at the American College of Surgeons' Clinical Congress in San Diego. I'll be the only attorney on a panel of surgeons and an executive from MGMA to discuss negotiation of physician employment agreements. The topic is especially timely considering the recent publication of the Mayo study showing the high degree of burn out among physicians. Not clearly setting expectations during the negotiation period and being locked in to bad terms is certainly detrimental to physicians' mental health. https://lnkd.in/d53RsVif

What's that in the sky? A bird? A plane? No, it's a Super Lawyer! Ann Bittinger was the only healthcare business attorney in Jacksonville named to the Super Lawyers list in Health Law. And that wasn't the only peer review award she received this year...

HCA profit more than doubles to $1.4B in Q1 HCA Healthcare, a 186-hospital system based in Nashville, Tenn. , said April 22 that its revenue and profit increased in the first quarter this year.

Further rationale on why paying physicians based on wRVUs is dangerous.

‎Simply Worth It: Physician Negotiations: The Overworking Trap: How to Separate Our Value From Our Productivity on Apple Podcasts ‎Show Simply Worth It: Physician Negotiations, Ep The Overworking Trap: How to Separate Our Value From Our Productivity - Apr 7, 2021