US Chamber of Commerce sues to block ban on noncompete clauses

What about radiology?

The Radiology Business Management Association said Wednesday that it does not have a definitive stance for or against the FTC ban. The American College of Radiology could not provide comment on the rule by late Wednesday.

Sources have indicated that many medical associations are grappling with divided memberships on this issue. Younger radiologists may desire the freedom to change jobs locally as they please, while older shareholders fear physicians jumping ship to the new private equity player in town, potentially plummeting practice valuations.

“This continues to be a difficult issue for all physician groups,” Executive Director Bob Still told Radiology Business.

The American College of Emergency Physicians—which, like radiology, has seen growing interest from private equity and has aligned with the specialty on previous issues—said it supports the ban. ACEP previously invited the FTC chair as a speaker at its annual meeting and said that it agrees with the agency that noncompete clauses are “unfair, exploitative and coercive.”

ACEP issued an announcement about the ban Tuesday, celebrating that its members can finally “practice EM freely.”

“Emergency physicians should not be subject to harmful noncompete agreements,” Christopher S. Kang, MD,  president of ACEP, said last year after the initial rule was proposed. “Restricting an emergency physician’s ability to choose a job can stall or upend their career, contribute to workplace dissatisfaction, and accelerate currently high rates of burnout, especially in rural or underserved communities where it is already challenging to attract and retain physicians.”  

Texas neuroradiologist and independent blogger Ben White, MD, also weighed in on the FTC ban, as did Nisha Mehta, MD, radiologist and founder of Physician Side Gigs.

“Obviously this is just the beginning of a lot of questions about nuances with different employer types and physician roles, not to mention impending legal challenges,” Mehta wrote in a social media post that had 54 comments as of late Wednesday. “On the whole, though, I do think this ruling will eventually have a huge impact on physicians and physician contracts.”