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Attending contracts and compensation

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A higher headline salary can hide a weaker formula, more call, unpaid tail, or a costly exit. Read the whole contract as one compensation package.

THE IDEA

A straight salary pays a stated amount for the role. A productivity model connects some pay to work relative value units (wRVUs), collections, or another formula. Hybrid contracts often guarantee a base for a period, then add or replace it with productivity compensation. Ask for the formula, threshold, conversion factor, quality adjustments, reconciliation timing, and worked examples using realistic volume.

Compensation is only one section. Review call frequency and pay, termination rights and notice, restrictive covenants, malpractice form and tail responsibility, signing-bonus repayment, relocation, CME, retirement benefits, and whether outside work is permitted. Also read the without-cause termination clause (how either side can end the deal, and at what cost), assignment and change-of-control terms (what happens to your contract if the practice or hospital is sold), and moonlighting and intellectual-property clauses (which outside work — and whose inventions — the employer claims). Signing bonuses can function like loans until the service obligation is satisfied.

Get physician-specific legal reviewNon-compete enforceability and contract law vary by state and continue to change. The research found physician restrictions commonly written as 5–15 miles for one to two years and termination notice ranging from 60 days to more than six months, but those ranges are examples—not a statement that a clause is enforceable.

Your next steps

  1. Request the compensation formula and two worked examples.
  2. Make one consolidated list of economic and non-economic asks.
  3. Have a physician-contract attorney in the relevant state review the agreement.

Check your understanding

Select each question to reveal the answer.

✓ The formula, threshold, conversion factor, adjustments, timing, and realistic worked examples.
✓ The contract may require repayment if you leave before the service obligation ends.
✓ Claims-made coverage without employer-paid tail.
✓ No. Enforceability is state-specific and requires current legal review.

Planning questions

  1. Which three contract terms matter most to your work life, and which three matter most financially?
  2. Who will review the contract, and what is your walk-away point on compensation, call, tail, or restrictions?

Sources