A bipartisan bill in the Indiana state legislature banning noncompete agreements for physicians is moving toward being passed into law, according to TheStatehouseFile.com.
Here are five things to know about the bill:
1. The bill eliminates the legal use of noncompete agreements for physicians, if the noncompete interferes with the treatment of a patient.
2. The bill is authored by three Republicans and three Democrats.
3. Ethan Manning, one of the bill’s sponsors, highlighted certain aspects of this noncompete bill compared to previous ones.
“We reworked some of the definitions and really restructured the whole bill in a much cleaner way, and it just makes a lot more sense the way we have it drafted now,” Mr. Manning said. The bill defines a noncompete agreement as a contract that prevents a physician from working in a certain area for a certain time after they leave their employer.
3. Elizabeth Struble, MD, a family medicine physician in the state, told committee members that noncompetes contribute to the physician shortage in Indiana.
4. Three citizens also came to testify in support of the bill, including the Indiana State Medical Association’s vice president of governmental affairs, John Ruckelshaus.
“[I’m] representing the Indiana State Medical Association and over 10,000 positions statewide,” Mr. Ruckelshaus said. “We strongly support this conference committee and urge this committee to push this bill over the finish line.”
5. The committee is currently in recess and can reconvene on short notice to finalize the bill. The session ends April 29.
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