Quality Metrics, Contractors and the "Right to Control": Extending "Employee" Rights to the Independent Medical Staff
The era of the fully “independent medical staff” has passed.
As hospitals increasingly seek to control all aspects of the care delivery system within their walls, including the physician component, this increased control will bring with it increased employment discrimination liability exposure.
Today's hospitals need to anticipate and mitigate the potential risks arising under the employment discrimination laws which previously have not applied to independent staff practitioners.
Authored by Health Care Co-Chair Robin Locke Nagele and Employment & Employee Relations Principal Andrea M. Kirshenbaum, the white paper, "Quality Metrics, Contractors and the 'Right to Control': Extending 'Employee' Rights to the Independent Medical Staff," explores the trend of independent physicians being found to qualify as “employees” under employment discrimination statutes. The white paper also offers ways for hospitals to pro-actively anticipate, prevent, and manage these potential employment discrimination exposures.
This comprehensive white paper includes:
- The origin of hospitals' employment law exposures
- Why independent staff physicians have not been treated as employees
- The expanded liability that comes when physicians become "employees"
- Measures for hospitals to take to mitigate the associated legal risks