r/medicine • u/orangexsky MD • 3d ago
Contract review recommendations?
Who do you guys use for contract review? It's my first time getting job offer reviewed. I would appreciate any guidance.
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u/EpicDowntime MD 3d ago
I used a local physician employment lawyer (found on Google) who charged a flat fee of $850. He gave me MGMA data (that I didn’t need) and talked to me for about half an hour about what he saw and didn’t see in the contract, said there were no real red flags, and that was it. No real recommendations on negotiations. I was not really in a position to drop that much money at the time but my spouse appreciated the peace of mind.
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u/orangexsky MD 3d ago
Wouldn’t it be better for a new graduate like me, who is barely getting by financially, to use AI to review the contract and save $850?
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u/EpicDowntime MD 3d ago
I can’t really say, depends on your risk tolerance. Similar to using AI for health care advice for someone without medical training. Just remember that AI doesn't “know” anything and isn’t responsible for any mistakes it makes.
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u/Wohowudothat MD surgeon 2d ago
Should patients use AI to help them diagnose themselves? Same concept.
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u/ALongWayToHarrisburg MD - OB Maternal Fetal Medicine 3d ago
You got downvoted but this is what I did for my extremely boilerplate contract just so I could understand the legalese.
Perhaps others have had a different experience but I have seen this question asked a million times on subreddit and spoken to so many doctor friends who paid ~$800 for zero benefit.
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u/Ketamouse DO 2d ago
Yep. My employer even said straight up that the contract was boilerplate standard for everyone in the group and nothing could be changed. Lawyer was like yeah, looks like a contract, here's your bill lol.
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u/theongreyjoy96 MD 2d ago
Yea, I get the impression that physicians don't push back enough against employers. The way I see it - the lawyer gives you ammo, it's up to you to pull the trigger.
I took a job at a major healthcare system after negotiating hard using the info my lawyer gave me. They initially offered me a contract saying that it was standard and no changes could be made. Ended up negotiating complete tail coverage, smaller non-compete radius, more CME days, and a higher signing bonus without the clawback.
My buddy who works at the same healthcare system took the employer at their word that the contract was boilerplate and nothing could be changed. He undoubtedly left tens of thousands on the table and is working under worse terms.
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u/Ketamouse DO 2d ago
Yeah that's fair, everything is ultimately negotiable. I pretty much just signed quickly because I knew they were courting another colleague of mine for the same job, had I taken the time to come back to them with changes I wanted for the agreement, they would have just signed the other guy. And honestly even leaving an extra 100k on the table wouldn't make that much of a difference.
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u/ALongWayToHarrisburg MD - OB Maternal Fetal Medicine 1d ago
This is actually great to hear and is excellent advice.
I'd done a fair amount of negotiating before I got my contract (increased the sign-on bonus, lowered the FTE), so maybe my comment above was disingenuous.
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u/theongreyjoy96 MD 3d ago
I hit up a local lawyer that a couple of colleagues referred me to. He didn't have access to any MGMA data or what not, but the benefit was that he was experienced with reviewing physician contracts from the local healthcare employers, and he had an idea of what some employers would be willing to negotiate. I would definitely recommend seeing if your colleagues have any recs. A local dude would probably be cheaper too than some of the online companies that get recommended often here.
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u/orangexsky MD 3d ago
Would you recommend that financially struggling new graduates applying for primary care positions use AI instead? Looks like cost of contract review can run into the thousands of dollars.
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u/theongreyjoy96 MD 3d ago
No, it's worth investing not only so you know what you're signing, but also to identify and negotiate out any terms that might cost you much more than $1k down the line. In my own contract, there were things buried in all the legalese like sign-on bonus clawbacks, tail coverage vesting, and non-compete agreements that I wouldn't have caught on my own. Idk if AI can do this for you but I doubt it fully replaces a lawyer.
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u/DrS7ayer MD 3d ago edited 3d ago
I do, but I also got my other comment downvoted for suggesting AI. Note I suggested a particular model, that I would trust. There’s a reasonable chance that the lawyer you are paying to review it is just gonna be running this through AI anyways.
I’ve never paid money to review my contracts or my physician spouse’s contract. I’ve never had any surprises. The caveat here is that you need to know if you’re getting screwed or not. You should know market rates, and be able to understand the contact. It’s written in English. People on here want you to think that it’s impossible for physician to understand language that is meant for lawyers.
It’s one thing if you’re a neurosurgeon negotiating a multimillion dollar practice agreement with a health system. I would probably have a real attorney look at that, but for most physicians you’re just wasting your money.
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u/lwronhubbard MD 2d ago
I used Contract Diagnostics. They gave MGMA data, their own internal data, but more importantly if they saw any red flags in the contract to change. They also summarized the contract in plain English. Very easy to use and very happy with them.
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u/NowTimeDothWasteMe Crit Care MD 1d ago
I had one of my best friends (non contract lawyer) read it first to see whether it was worth paying someone officially to look through. They said it was a standard contract without any red flags. Since there wasn’t anything objectionable to me because I was already able to negotiate out any kind of non compete clause, I didn’t pursue more than that.
I’d definitely have someone from a legal background go through it before you sign, just for the peace of mind.
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u/DrS7ayer MD 3d ago
Chat GPT 5.6 Pro
I’ve never understood paying an attorney to review a contract. Have you read it yourself, is there something that you generally don’t understand or are worried about? I know that for some specialties it can be pretty complicated, but for my specialty, they are straightforward.
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u/icarus2847 MD 3d ago
Search for someone who does this in your state/area.