Iowa House lawmakers have passed a bill that would prohibit noncompete agreements in employment contracts for physicians employed by the University of Iowa Health Care.
The legislation passed the chamber with a 70-19 vote. Representative Ann Meyer, a Republican from Fort Dodge who managed the bill, told the Globe Gazette Feb. 26 that the bill is intended to help retain physicians in Iowa, which is currently fighting a shortage of physicians.
Ms. Meyer added that the bill is targeted at UIHC because “it’s our public institutions that we fund.”
“I am more than willing to open this up next year to other institutions, because we have bigger hospital systems that we talked about in the state that are open that have satellites everywhere,” she told the publication. “So we would lose talent from the state, which we can’t afford to lose doctors. … We’re 44th in the nation for the number of physicians per capita. So this is a start. We’re starting with our public institution, and we’ll look at going farther next year.”
The bill now moves to the Senate for consideration.
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