Our Georgia and South Carolina healthcare law firm has learned that the United States Department of Justice issued a press release announcing a resolution by settlement of fraud and abuse allegations levied against a Detroit physician, Gerald Daneshvar M.D. Due to our focus on healthcare law, our law firm follows legal developments in the healthcare industry.
Dr. Daneshvar was criminally charged and, following a two-week jury trial, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud. His alleged co-conspirators and co-defendants were Stephen Mason, M.D. and Leonard Van Gelder, M.D. Mason and Gelder plead guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud. These doctors were alleged to have worked for Lake MI Mobile Doctors, which provided physician home visits to homebound patients who were Medicare beneficiaries. However, according to the Government’s evidence at trial, Dr. Daneshvar billed Medicare for patient visits where the patient was not really sick or homebound and, along with his codefendants, conspired to bill Medicare at the highest rates even though the patient visits were short or unnecessary. For doing so, these physicians received greater compensation from Mobile Doctors.
Earlier this month, Doximity released a new study that provides a national review of physician compensation information and job trends, as the strong trend of physician employment by hospital systems continues. 
All good things must end. Every employment relationship will end sooner or later, one way or the other. While it is obviously important that parties to an agreement convey on the front end of the relationship positive feelings, the exit strategy should never be disregarded in one’s planning or evaluation of contractual terms. Life happens. Things can change one’s desire or ability to be in a deal, a contract, or an employment relationship. Therefore, while perhaps it may feel counterintuitive to dwell on how to end a relationship just as you are forming it, the termination provisions are very important and, sometimes, critical.
Virtually every week, our business and healthcare law firm is engaged to provide advice and assistance concerning a physician employment agreement, either as counsel to the physician or for an employer/hospital or medical practice. “Restrictive covenants,” including non-competition agreements, are desired by the majority of employers and therefore included in their proposed form of employment agreement. Physicians most often prefer, however, if they had their druthers, not to be restricted in their ability to work following the expiration or termination of a job. Hence this section of the proposed employment agreement, particularly those with more broad and onerous non-compete provisions, can be the source of tension on the front end of the employment relationship. Restrictive covenants also show up in a variety of other contractual arrangements, including medical practice ownership agreements (e.g., shareholder agreements, operating agreements), joint venture contracts, and medical director agreements.
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If you are like most of the healthcare industry, the answer is “yes” according to a recent study by the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The department’s 
Georgia physicians seeking licensure in other states hope to benefit soon from a more streamlined process. In fact, a bill was recently introduced in the Georgia House of Representatives to allow Georgia to join the growing number of states participating in the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact. (