Letter to the Editor: Blame noncompetes for physician shortage

Dear editor,

We often hear about the health care workforce shortage ongoing in our country. I feel it pertinent to clarify that much of the shortage is intentionally induced by hospital systems and the noncompete clauses standard in their employment contracts.

A noncompete clause essentially ties a physician’s hands to a hospital. The hospital can make any changes they desire, and the physician has no recourse. In many cases, if the physician refuses and leaves, they must uproot their entire family and move to a new location to be able to treat patients.

This creates an unnecessary access barrier to health care nationwide with a far greater impact felt by rural America.

As an example, I previously served 14 years as the medical director of a 14-bed inpatient physical rehabilitation unit at a local hospital. My noncompete included standard language of not taking patients upon my departure but went even further preventing me from practicing medicine, in any capacity whatsoever, within a 30-mile radius for two years. When our hospital was purchased by a local university, the noncompete was increased to a 50-mile radius and was nonnegotiable. I refused to sign and left. After almost a year, the hospital has not even tried to fill the outpatient void left by my resignation, leaving far too many undertreated and without access to the care they need.

The overreaching noncompete language commonplace in health care employment contracts must be reconsidered as it continues to exacerbate our health care workforce shortage and diminish patient care.

—Dr. David Lancaster, a physician based in Columbia