Your halfway through your last year of residency and you’re getting ready to sign your first contract for your new job after you graduate. The hospital/clinic/group you’re working for sends you a contract that is several pages long. What to do next? Well, several people may hire a contract lawyer to read through the contract for anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand bucks. But who wants to do that? Anyways, there are things to look for even the contract lawyer sometimes misses. The following are recommended to include in the contract. Unfortunately, several employers won’t include some of the recommended additions in hope to sign you at a lesser price or contract you cheaper than some of their well-seasoned experienced providers. In my opinion, a contract is a good one if it includes the following:

1. Sign On Bonus – Believe it or not, there are contracts out there that are lacking a simple sign on bonus. It’s not uncommon to see sign on bonuses for nurses ranging from 5-10k in areas of need, and physicians are in short supply. I have seen sign on bonuses for new resident graduates ranging from 10-50k on average. If not included in the contract, it is usually a standard to any physician contract and should be asked about.
2. Relocation – Several Employers will help with relocation. A standard amount would 10k in my opinion
3. Loan Repayment – This one should be asked about. Several facilities will offer anywhere between 30-100k in loan repayment over 3 years or so.
4. CME – A fair amount for CME would be 5k a year in my opinion which is a standard amount
5. Non-Compete Clause – Alot of states are throwing out non-complete clauses as they are usually unenforceable. If working Emergency Medicine or Urgent Care, any non-complete clause would be red flag unless you plan on leaving the area after your contract is up.
6. Malpractice Insurance – Should be covered by the Employer or Group. Recommend that tail coverage is included.

In addition to the above, many employers will offer retirement benefits such as 401k or IRA with or without match, partial or full coverage of group health insurance premiums, life insurance, flex spending accounts, etc.

It is also important to make sure you are getting a good rate if you are hourly (Such as Emergency Medicine, Urgent care, etc). It is important to look around at advertised rates online for different jobs for your region to get a feel for what a fair rate is. If being contracted for guaranteed salary and then converting to production, research the patient practice data to make sure you aren’t being taken advantage of when switched to production. Some facilities will convert to production knowing the provider will be making less than the national average wage and some will keep on salary knowing if on production would do much better financially. In a way it can be a game for some systems when dealing with the provider that isn’t foreseen until it is too late. Let’s face it, the administrators of the facilities are trying to make a good profit and are trying to hire workforce at as little cost as possible in many cases. In general, these are a few basics of what to look for in provider contracts. There are other things to explore such as specialty duty hours and fair call schedules but those are usually included in the contract itself based on the practice and needs of the facility.

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