For a physician, a partner buy-in agreement is an admission to the ownership and management of the practice as well as a landmark in a medical career. The agreement determines many of the most important aspects of a physician’s career, including compensation, ownership stake, management responsibilities and the terms under which he or she can leave the practice through retirement or resignation, Medical
Economics reports.
However, the agreements do not always get the scrutiny they deserve, according to health care attorneys who have represented practices and physicians in negotiations over the contracts. “A partnership agreement is a crucially important agreement that could be in place for 30 years or more and it should be approached that way,” says health care attorney Jeffrey Sansweet of Wayne, Pennsylvania.
Buy-in agreements are different from the employment contracts physicians sign when joining a practice as an associate. However, employment contracts often stipulate the time of service and other conditions necessary for an associate to be considered for or automatically offered a partnership.
Usually, terms of the buy-in agreement are negotiated separately, after a physician has been with the practice for two to five years. That period allows the associate and partners to evaluate one another and the partners to learn the revenue-generating capacity of the associate. Read more.
