Eskenazi Medical Group gets rid of noncompete clauses for all employees
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Eskenazi Medical Group plans to end its noncompete clauses for doctors.
It’s in response to the new Indiana law that goes into effect on July 1.
The law gets rid of noncompetes for all primary care physicians, but the Eskenazi Medical Group took the law one step further and got rid of noncompetes for all physicians.
“Part of the idea of noncompetes is to make it difficult for the physician to leave before their contract expires, or after that, to encourage them to stay,” said Purdue University Global Health Law Professor Scott Johnson.
Johnson shares with I-Team 8 the possible benefits of this move by Eskenazi.
“It could be an advantage in attracting employees. The physicians might want to go to a place that does not have a noncompete,” said Johnson.
Johnson also added, “If they bring people in, train them, have a process that they go through, and then the doctor leaves that that results in a cost to them, an unencumbered cost, that they can’t recoup.”
Eskenazi Medical Group told I-Team 8 this decision will impact roughly 100 physicians.
“They are more or less betting on themselves and that they’re program is a good program and the doctors will want to stay even though they’re not required to stay,” said Johnson.
When I-Team 8 asked how big of a deal this may be, Johnson said it could be significant, saying it could be the start of more and more private entities making these decisions.
I-Team 8 asked Indiana University Health about their noncompete policy in response to what Eskenazi Medical Group is doing.
IU Health responded in a statement, “IU Health will comply with the new version of the law. We will continue to evaluate this topic and its impact on IU Health’s ability to make Indiana one of the nation’s healthiest states.”
Johnson told I-Team 8 that this is all coming about because the Federal Trade Commission will be voting in next year to decide if all noncompete clauses will be eliminated for all contract employees in the United States, regardless of profession.