For physicians · residents · fellows

Physician contract red flags — and the exact asks that fix them

Most contract damage comes from a handful of clauses.

Each has a known fix — specific language you can ask for.

Run the whole checklist on your contract in 60 seconds, free.

Negotiating is normal and expected: recruiters budget for it, and published surveys report most physicians who ask get at least one improvement. What separates physicians who negotiate well isn't aggressiveness — it's specificity. "Can we discuss the non-compete?" gets a shrug; "please limit the covenant to my primary practice site and void it on without-cause termination" gets redlined.

The checklist below is the pre-signing pass we run on every decoded contract. Every item exists because it has cost a real physician real money — several of them repeatedly, in the 65 lawsuits we track from public court records.

Tail coverage

Claims-made policy + physician-paid tail = a $15K–$50K+ bill when you leave. The single most expensive surprise we see.

Non-compete

Duration, radius, and which locations it measures from — checked against your state's law, including the states that ban physician non-competes outright.

wRVU formula

Conversion factor and threshold vs. published norms, and whether the formula is locked to a CMS fee-schedule year or free to drift.

Termination

60-day without-cause notice sounds fine until you learn credentialing takes 90–120 days — and your non-compete may still apply.

☐ Confirm who pays tail coverage, in writing, with the dollar mechanics.
☐ Map the non-compete radius on an actual map from every location it measures from.
☐ Ask for a worked example of any productivity formula, locked to a named CMS fee-schedule year.
☐ Check the without-cause notice period against realistic credentialing timelines (90–120 days).
☐ Check bonus and relocation clawbacks: do they lapse if the employer terminates you without cause?
☐ Calendar the auto-renewal / non-renewal notice deadline the day you sign.
☐ Get every verbal promise — schedule, call, bonuses — into the written agreement.
☐ Have an attorney licensed in the employment state review the final draft of anything contested.

60 seconds. Free. The second opinion most attendings wish they'd gotten.

Decode my contract — free

The $99 full report adds clause-by-clause analysis, counter-proposal language, and a ready-to-send negotiation email — a fraction of the $500–$2,000 a typical attorney review costs, and a good way to arrive prepared if you hire one.

How this comparison was built

• joboffer.ink is built with care by children of physicians — Harvard- and MIT-trained engineers.
• Every number traces to a named public source — 26 registered sources, 106 lineage-linked values across 20 specialties.
• Covenant and tail-coverage norms are cross-checked against a corpus of 65 physician employment lawsuits (2021–2026) built from court records.
• No licensed survey data is resold here: everything cited is public, with links, and the full method is documented on the methodology page.

Harvard and MIT do not endorse or have any affiliation with joboffer.ink; the reference describes the founders' training.

Full methodology & sources →

Frequently asked questions

What are the biggest red flags in a physician contract?

Physician-paid tail on a claims-made policy ($15K–$50K+ exit bill), a non-compete measured from every system facility, a wRVU formula not locked to a CMS fee-schedule year, without-cause termination notice shorter than credentialing timelines (90–120 days), and bonus clawbacks that survive employer-initiated termination.

Can I negotiate my first attending contract?

Yes — and you're expected to. Employment offers are drafted by the employer's counsel to favor the employer; the first draft is a starting position. Asking for employer-paid tail, a narrower covenant, or longer notice does not put the offer at risk in any normal hiring process.

When should I involve an attorney?

After you know what's in the contract. Run the free decode first so you know your risk flags; if the flags are serious or the employer pushes back, a licensed attorney (typically $500–$2,000) negotiates from the map you already have. We can introduce you to vetted physician-contract attorneys.

Keep reading

Physician contract review, without the two-week wait Physician compensation benchmarks by specialty wRVU rates by specialty — and what your formula is actually worth Physician non-compete laws, all 50 states Tail coverage: the $15K–$50K clause most physicians never read

Information and preparation, not legal advice. Benchmarks cite public sources inline; verify every number against your own documents.