Dear AAPS members and friends of liberty in South Carolina,
There is good legislation moving through the SC legislature that would ban physician non-compete agreements. This would be a huge win for physicians and patients.
H. 4767 was passed by the House of Representatives and now resides in the Senate Committee on Labor, Commerce, and Industry. We have a narrow window of time to move this bill across the finish line before the end of the legislative session. There is a subcommittee meeting scheduled to discuss this bill on April 29th.
What you can do: contact members of the senate subcommittee and urge them to support H. 4767 with their vote! Below is a breakdown of senators on the subcommittee with their contact information.
Take a moment to call each of them, especially the senators who may be on the fence, and ask them to SUPPORT H 4767. We need four committed supporters to advance the bill to the senate floor. One phone call usually has an amplified impact when it comes to these issues.
- Tom Davis (Beaufort – appears to support) 803-212-6080
- Michael Johnson (York – appears to support) 803-212-6172
- Josh Kimbrell (Spartanburg – appears to support) 803-212-6108
- Margie Bright Matthews (Colleton – position unclear) 803-212-6132
- Deon Tedder (Charleston – position unclear) 803-212-6132
- Sean Bennett (Dorchester – appears opposed) 803-212-6410
Thank you for speaking out! Your voice makes a difference.
P.S. If you would like to join other active AAPS members in South Carolina who are working to make a difference for medical freedom in the state, please contact Stephen Hughes at [email protected] or 864-906-1009.
Why are non-competes harmful?
Hospitals and other corporate entities that increasingly employ physicians, like insurance companies, too often trap physicians and their patients by coercing doctors to sign anti-competitive non-compete clauses.
In short, these harmful contract terms prohibit medical professionals from leaving an employer without giving up their ability to continue practicing medicine for a competing hospital or even as an independent clinician. Nearly half of physicians are bound by a non-compete clause, according to various reports.
This means that even when physicians feel the hospital, insurance company, or corporation that employs them hampers their ability to treat patients to the best of their ability, or endangers patient safety, they are essentially coerced to stay and keep quiet, or give up their patients and the practice of medicine in their community.
The good news is that many states are beginning to pass legislation prohibiting non-compete clauses, and there are even bipartisan sponsors for federal legislation to do the same. Even the American Medical Association agrees that noncompete agreements “restrict competition, can disrupt continuity of care, and may limit access to care.” The vast majority of physicians surveyed concur that removal of non-compete clauses would improve the overall medical care of patients.
One profession is already protected from non-competes: “The American Bar Association’s (ABA) prohibition on lawyer non-compete agreements is intended to protect attorneys’ ‘professional autonomy’ and to ensure ‘the freedom of clients’ to select counsel of their choice,” explains malesculaw.com. The same should clearly apply to physicians.
