Contract questions to ask of surgical subspecialty employers when looking for a job

[smk0170]

I am a hospitalist and my wife is in her last year of a surgical subspecialty residency and is currently looking for jobs. Can anyone provide some general advice on questions to ask about private practice contracts? As a hospitalist my contracts are usually pretty simple and there is no buying into the practice or anything like that and so I feel somewhat clueless. What specific questions should she be asking about a future contract she is offered with a private practice (ie about buying into the practice, how compensation is structured)?

[Ozarka]

Some things off the top of my head...others can likely provide better insight or topics:

• Compensation structure - have them run projections or at least show you the formula. If it's productivity based then know the variables (nurses, # of rooms, marketing, etc can affect production/efficiency). If the variables worry you then could try to negotiate a base plus productivity for the first year or 2 until she gets a good grip of how things will run
• Partnership track and terms?
• Noncompete - would try like ************************ to negotiate this out or at a minimum a smaller radius/time frame
• Malpractice insurance - tail coverage
• Leave - are you all planning on children? what's their leave policy? if there's a paid leave policy then make sure it's in writing
• vacation time - when does it increase? does it seem fair?
• CME $
• on call schedule
• what's the insurance look like (health, disability, etc)

Plenty of more topics out there that I've missed. And not all of these may be negotiable but certainly worth knowing on the front end. My biggest advice would be to get things in writing in the contract.

[CordMcNally]

How many people have left the practice (retirement or other reason) in the last 10 years?