The Review Podcast

It is becoming more common for physicians to feed their employment contracts through an AI system prior to seeking professional help or signing. Even Resolve offers an "Instant Review," which utilizes an attorney-trained AI model to spot problematic clauses and gauge the risks of signing a contract as is.
However, having only AI review a contract comes with its own risks. AI systems will sometimes misinterpret important contract language, indicating the terms are better or worse than they actually are.
AI review is often a great way to quickly understand the bulk of a contract, but physicians likely need detailed, hands-on review from a specialized attorney to fully grasp what they are signing.
In this episode, attorneys Zach Beare and Kyle Claussen discuss the pros and cons of AI contract review and describe some of their personal experiences with different AI systems.

Physicians are particularly prone to burnout for a variety of reasons. Long hours, unpredictable call schedules, administrative burdens, and general lack of autonomy are among the contributing factors.
But what if improving physician well-being and preventing burnout could all be accomplished by correcting one important document?—an employment contract.
Mary Wolf, an executive coach and president of Veritee Partners, joins the show to explain how her physician clients struggle with burnout and what she recommends as a solution. Mary and Resolve CEO, Kyle Claussen, discuss how an employment contract might be edited to improve work-life balance and avoid burnout before it ever starts affecting a physician.

A non-compete clause is a type of restrictive covenant which limits where an employee can go to work after they leave their job. Typically, a non-compete will specify employer locations, geographic areas around those locations, and a timeframe during which the employee is not allowed to work for a competitor in those areas.
Unfortunately, non-compete clauses are common in healthcare, and they can be extremely detrimental to physicians when they need to leave their current employers. If a non-compete is too restrictive, it could force a physician to move to a different city, county, or state for a new job.
Attorneys Lauren Kaufman and Kyle Claussen describe how non-competes are usually structured in physician employment contracts. They also explain how physicians should handle non-competes and what the current legislative trends are for these clauses.

The FIRE movement is a lifestyle strategy focused on becoming financially independent as soon as possible in order to retire early. Physicians, depending on their spending and saving habits, can be well positioned to quickly reach FIRE.
Dr. Leif Dahleen, a (retired) anesthesiologist, is the founder of Physician on FIRE, a website providing financial education in the form of blog articles and courses to physicians pursuing some level of FIRE.
Dr. Dahleen visits the podcast discuss his career, the creation of Physician on FIRE, and how the right employment contract terms can help physicians become financially independent and even retire early.

Today, the majority of physicians are employed by corporate entities like hospitals or large health systems. However, there are still plenty of doctors joining private practices, perhaps with partnership tracks outlined in their employment contracts.
Contracts for private practice can be structured differently than those for purely employed settings, and details surrounding partnership need to be absolutely clear before ever signing an agreement. Attorneys Kyle Claussen and Skyler Mickelson describe what physicians should expect from these contracts and how terms might need to be negotiated.

For a J-1 waiver application to be approved, a physician's employer and employment contract must meet certain requirements. For instance, the contract must offer full-time employment for at least three years and exclude any sort of non-compete clause. The employer must also be located in an area which is federally designated as "medically underserved."
Immigration attorney, Angela Lopez, revisits the podcast to explain these requirements in more detail and discuss how they might vary depending on location, employer type, and other factors.

The employment landscape is always changing and presenting new challenges for physicians. Dr. Yalda Jabbarpour, a family medicine physician and Director of the Robert Graham Center for Policy Studies, joins Resolve CEO and attorney, Kyle Claussen, to discuss current family medicine physician employment trends. Dr. Jabbarpour references recent research concerning these trends and explains how physicians should make employment decisions based on the available data.

For physicians on a J-1 visa, finding a first attending job and applying for a J-1 waiver is a lengthy process with many steps. It's crucial to start a job search as early as possible, so there will be enough time to find the right position, sign a contract, apply for a waiver, and have the application approved. Immigration attorney, Angela Lopez, returns to the podcast and discusses the timeline for physicians who are completing training and will need a J-1 waiver.

In the event that one party is in breach of contract, liquidated damages define an amount of compensation that will be owed to the opposing party. Physician employers typically define liquidated damages for contract breaches where an exact damage amount could, in theory, be difficult to calculate—for example, if a physician leaves a job without giving the proper notice or violates a non-compete agreement.
Attorneys Kyle Claussen and Brady Glissendorf discuss how liquidated damages could affect physicians and whether such contract terms should be negotiated.

A J-1 visa allows foreign medical graduates to participate in graduate medical training programs within the United States. However, once that training is complete, physicians on a J-1 visa must return to their home country for a minimum of two years before they can return to the U.S. and practice medicine as an attending. A J-1 visa waiver allows these physicians to circumvent the two-year foreign residence requirement. Angela Lopez, an immigration attorney, visits the podcast to further explain J-1 visas, waivers, and the different options physicians have for obtaining a waiver.