Physician Non-Solicitation Clauses: What They Are and How They Differ from Noncompetes (2026)

Non-solicitation vs. noncompete: the key distinction

Most physicians know to watch for a noncompete clause — the provision that bars you from practicing within a certain geographic radius after you leave. But physician employment contracts routinely include a second category of restriction that receives far less attention: the non-solicitation clause. The two are often bundled in the same section, and sometimes treated as if they are the same thing. They are not.

A noncompete restricts where you can practice — typically preventing you from seeing patients or taking employment within a defined radius for a set period after your contract ends.

A non-solicitation clause restricts who you can actively recruit away from your former employer after you leave. It does not necessarily prevent you from practicing across the street. What it does prevent is actively reaching out to your former employer's patients or staff to draw them to your new location.

That distinction carries real consequences. In many states, courts have grown skeptical of broad physician noncompetes, and several states have enacted bans or severe restrictions on them in recent years. Non-solicitation clauses, by contrast, are generally viewed as a narrower and more targeted restraint — and they tend to survive legal challenge more reliably. That means your non-solicitation clause deserves careful attention even when the noncompete feels like the bigger issue.

Patient non-solicitation: what it restricts (and what it does not)

A patient non-solicitation clause prohibits you from actively reaching out to your former employer's patients after your departure to bring them to your new practice. A representative version might read along these lines: "For a period of [one to two] years following the end of employment, physician shall not solicit patients with whom physician had contact during the twelve months preceding termination to receive care from physician at a new or competing practice."

Three elements within a clause like that are worth examining closely.

Who is actually covered

The clause should cover patients you personally treated, not every patient enrolled at the entire health system. A lookback window — frequently the 12 months before your departure — is standard. Watch for clauses that cover the whole practice roster with no time limit; those are overbroad and worth negotiating.

What "solicitation" actually means

A direct mailing to your former patient list, a targeted phone campaign, or a social media message sent specifically to former patients asking them to come see you at your new location — those are textbook solicitation. Simply being present in a community where patients may hear that you have moved is not. Answering honestly when a patient calls to ask where you went is generally not solicitation either — it is basic information the patient needs to make their own care decision. Courts consistently draw a line between a physician's affirmative, targeted act to recruit patients and a patient's independent choice to follow a physician they trust.

What a clause cannot do to patients

Patients have their own right to choose their own physician, and that right exists independently of any agreement between you and your employer. A non-solicitation clause binds you; it does not bind your former patients. If a patient decides on their own to follow you to your new practice, your employer cannot enforce the clause against that patient, and your liability under the clause is limited to your own affirmative conduct — not to the patients' independent choices. This meaningfully limits the real-world reach of most patient non-solicitation clauses.

Staff and employee non-solicitation

The second half of most non-solicitation clauses covers employees and contractors — your MA, your nurse, your APP, your office staff. If you leave a practice and attempt to hire the team you worked with, your former employer may claim that doing so violates this provision.

Employee non-solicitation clauses are generally enforceable when two conditions are met:

• Reasonable duration. One to two years is the common range. Courts in most states will uphold this timeframe; provisions extending beyond two years encounter more resistance.
• Limited scope. The clause should cover employees you directly worked with during your tenure, not every person employed by a large health system. A clause that purports to prohibit you from ever hiring any employee of a 5,000-person hospital — including people you have never met — is likely overbroad and may not be enforced as written.

Keep in mind that the restriction applies to your active solicitation of former colleagues. If a former employee independently reaches out to ask about opportunities at your new practice, that contact originates with them, not with you.

What "solicitation" actually means — and why the definition matters

The word "solicitation" carries the entire weight of these clauses, yet most contracts do not define it. Courts generally interpret it as a targeted, affirmative act by the departing physician designed to persuade a patient or employee to sever their relationship with the former employer — a direct appeal, a personalized letter, a phone call, a private message sent to a specific individual.

Activity that generally does not constitute solicitation includes:

• Updating your professional profile, practice website, or social media bio with your new location
• A general public announcement that you have joined a new practice (as opposed to a targeted appeal to named former patients)
• Answering honestly when a patient or former colleague calls to ask where you are now
• Standard professional networking not specifically directed at your former employer's patient roster or staff

The line can get blurry when contracts are drafted broadly. Some clauses attempt to extend the definition to "indirect" solicitation or to "encouraging" patients to switch providers, which could potentially sweep in legitimate activity. If your contract uses language like that, an employment attorney familiar with your state's courts can help you assess what it would actually mean in practice.

State law variation and enforceability

Non-solicitation clauses are governed by state law, and the states treat them differently — sometimes very differently.

Some states that have severely limited or outright banned physician noncompetes still permit reasonable non-solicitation clauses, reasoning that protecting a practice's patient relationships and trained staff is a narrower interest than locking a physician out of a geographic market entirely.

At the other end of the spectrum, a few states apply their general restraints on post-employment restrictions broadly enough to affect even narrowly written non-solicitation clauses — particularly those tied to patient contact. The analysis in those states often turns on how the clause is worded and whether it effectively functions as a noncompete in disguise.

A practical note: even a clause that a court would ultimately refuse to enforce is still a clause you will have to deal with. Litigation is expensive and disruptive whether you win or lose, and many physicians comply with restrictions they might successfully challenge simply to avoid the conflict and the professional risk. The far better position is to negotiate cleaner terms before you sign.

What to negotiate before you sign

Non-solicitation clauses are negotiable, and because they are less emotionally charged in most negotiations than a noncompete, employers are sometimes more flexible on the specifics than you might expect. Target these elements:

• Duration. Push for one year or less. Two years is the outer edge of what is common and defensible; anything longer is a red flag. Courts in most states will enforce one-year restrictions without difficulty; shorter is always better.
• Patient lookback window. Insist that patient restrictions apply only to patients you personally treated within a defined period before your departure — 12 months is standard. A clause covering all patients you ever treated, or that lacks any lookback period, is overbroad.
• Staff scope. Push to limit the employee restriction to staff who worked directly with you, not everyone employed by the health system or even by the practice group as a whole if it is large.
• Carve-out for patient-initiated contact. Add explicit language stating that you may respond to a patient who contacts you first without that response constituting solicitation. Most employers will accept this because it reflects the legal standard anyway.
• Definition of solicitation. Ask for a clear, narrow definition. If the contract currently uses language like "directly or indirectly encourage" patients to transfer care, push to replace it with "directly and affirmatively solicit."
• Mutual patient-notification commitment. Request a provision requiring your employer to notify your patients of your departure, so patients have the information they need to make their own care decisions. This also provides practical cover for you, since patients who call after receiving such notice are clearly not acting in response to your solicitation.

How non-solicitation interacts with your departure obligations

Non-solicitation clauses do not operate in isolation. When you leave a practice, several other contractual and legal obligations run alongside them:

• Patient records. Patients own their medical information and have the right to receive their records. Your non-solicitation clause cannot be used to withhold records from patients who request them or to prevent patients from transferring care.
• Continuity of care. Medical ethics bodies, including the AMA, hold that physicians have an obligation to ensure patients have the information they need to arrange continued care when a physician-patient relationship ends. That obligation can require patient notification even when a non-solicitation clause exists — those two things are not in conflict when the notification is about continuity of care rather than recruitment.
• Noncompete and tail coverage. If your contract also includes a noncompete, the geographic and temporal scope of that clause operates separately from the non-solicitation period. The two restrictions can have different durations, and you should track them separately.
• Sign-on and relocation bonus clawbacks. Breach of a non-solicitation clause could, depending on your contract's language, be construed as a material breach that triggers repayment of a sign-on or relocation bonus. Read your contract to understand whether breach of a restrictive covenant is listed as a clawback trigger.