Physicians/
Healthcare Providers
(Representative
Clients/ Legal Projects, Attorneys)
What factors determine if a physician non-compete restriction satisfies Colorado case law for enforceability?
Colorado statutes prohibit non-compete provisions in contracts between physicians that restrict the right to practice medicine. Colorado statutes only permit liquidated damages provisions in contracts between physicians to compensate an employer for the competition of a departing physician. Colorado courts have only published a few decisions involving the enforceability of non-compete and liquidated damages provisions in contracts between physicians. The courts have generally examined the reasonableness of liquidated damages provision at the time that the contract was executed. In practice, however, the reasonableness of liquidated damages is determined largely on whether actual damages can be reasonably estimated or proven following competition by a departing physician. Courts have also scrutinized the scope of the restricted activities, the scope of the geographic restriction, and the length of time of non-compete clauses for reasonableness before enforcing either the non-compete or the liquidated damages provision.
Can a group of physicians own and operate a clinical laboratory and bill for lab tests as part of their
practice?
Clinical laboratory services are one of the designated health services for which financial relationships (including ownership) between the lab and referring physicians are generally prohibited for any tests which would be paid by a federally funded health program. These prohibitions are referred to as the Stark Laws. Physicians may, in Colorado, own a clinical laboratory as long as they do not make referrals for lab tests which would be paid for by Medicare or other government-funded programs. The Stark Laws prohibit physicians from referring lab tests paid by governmental programs if they have an ownership interest in the laboratory. There are some statutory exceptions to this prohibition, however. The principal exception would be for “group practices” (a physician service entity that meets numerous tests as to its organization, patient care and compensation) that provide such services through their physicians or staff as an ancillary service in their offices. Some of the other designated health services to which the Stark Laws apply are diagnostic imaging, radiation therapy, physical or occupational therapy, and durable medical equipment.
If I
have organized my practice as a professional corporation, does my company have any liability if an employed physician commits malpractice?
Any professional faces personal liability for his or her own malpractice. The responsibility does not go away just because one practices through a professional
corporation (or LLC or
LLP). The Colorado Medical Practices Act (and most of the other licensure statutes, which usually track the Medical Practices Act) does provide an individual owner of a professional corporation with protection from personal liability for the negligence of the other licensed professionals practicing through the entity, if the P.C. maintains malpractice insurance for each physician. The Colorado Supreme Court recently clarified that this protection only benefits the shareholders, and the professional corporation itself still is liable for its physicians’ malpractice. A P.C.’s equipment and receivables are therefore at risk for malpractice claims, and the P.C. should consider obtaining insurance coverage to protect the entity itself as well as the doctors.
Representative
Clients/ Legal Projects, Attorneys
Physicians and Physician Groups, IPAs, and other Licensed Providers
- Administrative and Legislative Matters – State
- Antitrust Analysis and Defense
- ASCS, Imaging Centers, IDTFs, Labs,
MSOs, etc.
- Bond Financing – Health Care
- Buy-Sell Agreements
- Civil and Criminal Health Care Investigations
- Consulting and Medical Director Agreements
- Corporate Law and Business Organization
- Corporate Restructuring and Mergers
- Credentialing
- EEOC and CCRD Defense
- Employment and Independent Contractor Agreements
- Entity Selection and Formation
- HIPAA/Privacy
- Human Resources Law
- Intellectual Property Law
- Joint Ventures
- bad credit personal loans not payday loans Litigation
- Medicare Compliance Plans
- Noncompete Drafting and Enforcement
- Payor and Medicare Audits and Payment Disputes
- Peer Review/Medical Staff Matters
- Physician Practice and Group Practice Formation
- Physician Recruitment and Retention
- Practice Mergers and
Consolidations
- Practice Succession and Buyouts
- Professional Licensing
- Real Estate Law
- Regulatory Compliance
- Representation of Hospital-Based Physicians (Pathologists, Anesthesiologists,
- Emergency/Trauma, Physicians, Radiologists)
- Research and Clinical Trial Agreements and Compliance
- Risk Management/Professional and General Liability
- Tax Law Issues – Health Care
- Third Party Payor, Licensing Issues, Credentialing and Certification Issues
Behavioral / Mental Health (MHASAs, Residential Treatment Centers, Mental Health Providers)
- Contracting Issues
- HIPAA/Privacy
- Joint Ventures and Consortia
- LSLPN License
- Medical Record Protection
- Nonprofit Issues
- Operational Issues
- Regulatory Compliance
- Restraint and Seclusion Policies
- Same General Legal Services Listed Above
- Tax Exemption Issues
Attorneys practicing in this area:
Wallis S. Stromberg, Henry C. Cleveland,
III, Barbara L. Crawford, Michael M.
Schmidt, Paul D. Godec, Colleen M.
Rea, Taylor T. Pollock, Peter C. Middleton
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