The federal government is targeting New York City-based Mount Sinai Health System's inclusion of noncompete clauses in contracts for part-time physicians in a June 18 complaint filed with the National Labor Relations Board.
Here are five things to know:
1. The contracts ban part-time physicians from recruiting, soliciting or inducing to terminate the employment of hospital system employees or contractors.
2. Mount Sinai must respond to the complaint, which alleges the language restrains or coerces employees, by July 16. An administrative law judge is scheduled to hear the case on Sept. 24.
3. The news comes after the Federal Trade Commission voted to ban noncompetes in April. Most recently, the ban is facing a preliminary injunction from a federal court in Texas, which prevents the ban from taking effect Sept. 4 while the court considers if the FTC has authority to ban noncompetes.
4. Physicians nationwide have been pushing to ban or reform noncompetes. Employers say noncompetes protect their investment in recruiting and supporting physicians, while physicians say they restrict care access and push clinicians to remain silent about unethical conditions.
5. "Banning noncompete clauses for physicians can significantly enhance community benefit," Ernest Braxton, MD, chief of neurosurgery at Vail-Summit Orthopaedics and Neurosurgery in Vail, Colo., told Becker's. "Such clauses restrict doctors from practicing within a certain radius of their former workplace for a specified period, hindering patients' access to healthcare services. By eliminating these constraints, physicians can freely relocate to areas with underserved populations, improving medical access and quality of care."
Mount Sinai declined Becker's request for comment.