The Bittinger Law Firm

01/30/2026

Looks like change may be on the way.

A wide-ranging health and human services measure advanced in the Florida House on Thursday after clearing its first committee stop. The Florida House of Representatives Health Care Facilities &…

11/04/2025

Thank you to the American College of Gastroenterology for asking me to share my knowledge with them on negotiating physician employment agreements and compensation.

11/04/2025

Thanks to the fantastic American College of Gastroenterology for asking me to share my knowledge with them on negotiating physician employment agreements and compensation.

10/07/2025

Kindness, pausing to acknowledge with pen, paper and stamp a man and his career, expecting nothing in return but receiving the same, is professionalism at its finest.

09/05/2025

If you are a physician advancing into a leadership position like medical director or chief medical officer, this lecture is for you: https://doctorsonsocialmedia.com/how-to-legally-protect-your-career/?aff=Ann+Bittinger
(tap to read more and register)

Attorney Ann Bittinger, a physician contract attorney, teaches how to legally protect your career as you climb the ladder into leadership.

05/29/2025

I address physician employment agreement noncompetes on a near daily basis in my practice, as I help physician clients offboard current jobs, restructure current ones and onboard to new and better ones. As of May 2025, several significant developments have reshaped the landscape of physician employment agreements in the United States, particularly concerning noncompete clauses.

Federal. You may recall that the Biden administration’s Federal Trade Commission issued a proposed federal regulation banning most noncompetes in all industries. But in August 2024, before the rule became official, a federal judge in Texas fully blocked it. This ruling effectively halted the implementation of the rule, which had been scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2025. I don’t think anyone expects the Trump administration to challenge the Texas ruling or revive this rule or policy.

State-Level Changes. A number of state legislatures have taken action to ban or restrict physician non-competes:

Indiana

Senate Enrolled Act No. 475: Effective July 1, 2025, this law prohibits hospitals and hospital-affiliated entities from entering into noncompete agreements with any physicians, regardless of specialty. Additionally, it invalidates financial penalties or repayment obligations in contracts with physicians employed for three or more years.

Louisiana

Act No. 273: Effective January 1, 2025, this act limits noncompete clauses for physicians. For primary care physicians, noncompetes are unenforceable after three years of employment. For other physicians, noncompetes are unenforceable after five years.

Pennsylvania

Fair Contracting for Health Care Practitioners Act: Effective January 1, 2025, this law prohibits noncompete agreements longer than one year for healthcare practitioners, including physicians. The law also includes provisions for notification requirements by employers.

Arkansas

New Legislation: On March 4, 2025, Arkansas enacted a law amending the state's noncompete statute to ban physician noncompetition agreements. The law takes effect in the summer of 2025.

Key Takeaways

Increased Physician Mobility: These legislative changes aim to enhance physician mobility and improve patient access to care by limiting restrictive employment clauses. Using Bittinger Law’s mantra: they make it easier for physicians to offboard from one job and onboard another.

Understanding: Physicians who are considering leaving their jobs need to understand not only what their contracts say but also whether the contract language remains legal. Generally speaking, in states that have not taken recent legislative action to ban non-competes, the prohibitions are enforceable if reasonably drafted as to time, service and geography.
Other Blocks. Don't be niaive. Just because your contract doesn't have a noncompete doesn't mean there are not significant hurdles to leaving. Do you pay for tail insurance? Do you repay a signing bonus? Do you lose shares or other vesting benefits? How much notice do you have to give? Do you automatically relinquish privileges when you terminate your contract?

Ongoing Legal Developments: While federal efforts to ban noncompete agreements have been blocked, state-level reforms continue to progress, indicating a trend toward limiting such clauses in healthcare employment.

If you need assistance in understanding how these changes might affect your specific situation or require guidance on contract revisions or employment changes, feel free to ask. I’m happy to help you strategize your offboarding.

10/21/2024

Thank you American College of Surgery for inviting me to speak for a third year! Happy to be your go-to speaker on physician employment agreements.

10/21/2024

Standing Room Only! American College of Surgeons huge annual meeting. Ann Bittinger speaking on pearls and pitfalls in negotiating physician employment agreements.

09/06/2024

https://www.postandcourier.com/opinion/commentary/private-equity-medical-practices-charleston/article_4c69585a-6afa-11ef-9ee5-93d194b20ab4.html?utm_term=charleston&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=%2F%3Ftpcc%3Dchssocial&tpcc=charleston_facebook_organic&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0pC2-KkSX-bbvJh1txjbLZSYHmbiFXmWE3Nry8HEXX_U1cE9w8RoK2ORQ_aem_I2oMAYNlsKPxnjaB-pRluQ

Dr. Marcelo Hochman writes that in a worrisome trend several dermatology and ophthalmology practices have been acquired by private equity firms in Charleston SC

06/28/2024

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.

The decision is expected to prompt a rush of litigation challenging regulations across the entire federal government, from food safety to the environment.

04/19/2024

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.

10/20/2023

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.