With more and more physicians practices being acquired by groups and hospitals one of the key questions raised is will the physicians retain their rights to supplemental income?
These rights include fees for: consulting, acting as an expert medical witness (plaintiff and defense), performing Independent Medical Evaluations (IME’s), performing disability and file reviews, medical writing, physician inventions etc. Retaining these rights can result in supplemental income for physicians in the hundreds of thousands of dollars or more over the course of years.
Many physicians inadvertently give up their rights to this income by signing agreements that state “the physician shall devote 100% of his/her professional time to the new employer”. Physicians are then rudely surprised when their new employer prohibits their pursuit of this supplemental income even on their own time. Other employers demand a portion of the supplemental income in exchange for letting physicians work on their own time.
Bottom Line
Physicians need to be very cautious before giving up their rights to earn supplemental income.
