Physician non-compete law has changed quickly. Several states have adopted physician-specific statutes in the last few years, and many of the new rules apply only to agreements signed or renewed after a stated date. Below is a state-by-state overview of the rules in the jurisdictions our clients ask about most. It is general information, not a substitute for advice on your specific contract.
If your covenant comes from selling a practice rather than employment, different rules often apply. See our guide to non-competes after selling a medical practice. For contract-review strategy, see physician non-compete clauses.
Virginia
Non-compete rules
For agreements entered into or renewed on or after July 1, 2026, Va. Code § 40.1-28.7:8 generally prohibits employers from entering into, enforcing, or threatening to enforce a non-compete with a health care professional, a term that includes physicians licensed by the Virginia Board of Medicine. The 2026 act states that it does not invalidate or alter agreements entered into or renewed before July 1, 2026. Those earlier covenants are evaluated under prior law, and Virginia courts enforce them only if they are narrowly drawn to protect a legitimate business interest, not unduly burdensome, and consistent with public policy, looking at the restricted activity, territory, and duration together. Virginia courts do not rewrite overbroad covenants. Separately, an employer-employee non-compete is unenforceable after a discharge without cause unless the employer provides severance or another payment disclosed when the covenant was signed. The statute preserves reasonable covenants given in the sale of a business by a health care professional or that professional's business entity.
Patient non-solicitation
The 2026 amendment does not ban all non-solicitation provisions. It preserves a provision, for a stated period, against directly soliciting business from the employer's customers with whom the physician had material contact, for the same or substantially similar services, and it directs that such provisions be construed narrowly. Even under a valid non-solicit, a physician may tell patients the physician consulted or treated before leaving that the physician is continuing to practice, provide new contact information, and explain the patient's right to choose a health care professional.
Maryland
Non-compete rules
For employment agreements executed on or after July 1, 2025, Md. Code, Lab. & Empl. § 3-716 restricts non-competes for licensed health care providers who provide direct patient care. If total annual compensation is $350,000 or less, the non-compete is void. Above $350,000, a non-compete may last no longer than one year after employment and extend no farther than 10 miles from the primary place of employment. Those are statutory ceilings, not a guarantee that a covenant within them is enforceable. On a patient's request, the employer must give notice of the former employee's new practice location. Agreements executed before July 1, 2025 are not automatically voided by these provisions.
Patient information
The statute does not prohibit contract provisions concerning the taking or use of patient lists or other proprietary patient-related information.
District of Columbia
Non-compete rules
The District generally bars new non-competes for covered employees but permits conditioned agreements with highly compensated employees, including a defined category of medical specialists, physicians who have completed residency and meet a compensation threshold that is adjusted annually. For a qualifying medical specialist, an agreement executed on or after October 1, 2022 must specify its functional and geographic scope, may restrict competition for no more than 730 days after separation, and must be provided at least 14 days before employment begins or before the employee must sign, along with a required statutory notice. Covenants by the seller of a business not to compete with the buyer are excluded from the statute's definition of a non-compete.
Pennsylvania
Non-compete rules
Under the Fair Contracting for Health Care Practitioners Act, a non-compete with a physician (MD or DO), certified registered nurse anesthetist, certified registered nurse practitioner, or physician assistant entered into after January 1, 2025 is generally void. An employer may enforce one lasting no longer than one year only if the employer did not dismiss the practitioner, and the statute contains no exception for dismissals for cause. Covenants entered into before January 1, 2025 are not automatically voided. The Act has qualified provisions for certain ownership and sale transactions.
Patient notice
When a practitioner departs, the employer must notify qualifying patients within 90 days, generally patients seen in the past year with an ongoing outpatient relationship of at least two years. The notice must explain the departure, how a patient may transfer records to another practitioner, and the option to stay with the employer and be assigned a different practitioner. A provision whose effect is to impede a practitioner's ability to keep treating or accept patients raises a substantial issue under the Act.
Massachusetts
Non-compete rules
G.L. c. 112, § 12X makes void any restriction, in a contract establishing a physician's partnership, employment, or other professional relationship, on the physician's right to practice medicine in any geographic area for any period after the relationship ends. The rest of the agreement survives. The statute contains no express sale-of-practice exception. The later Massachusetts Noncompetition Agreement Act excludes certain non-solicitation and business-sale covenants from its own definition, but that does not override § 12X.
New York
Non-compete rules
New York courts evaluate physician non-competes under a common-law reasonableness test: the restraint must be no greater than necessary to protect the employer's legitimate interest, must not impose undue hardship on the physician, must not injure the public, and must be reasonable in time and area (BDO Seidman v. Hirshberg, 1999). The Court of Appeals has upheld a physician-partner restraint on its particular facts (Gelder Medical Group v. Webber, 1977), but that decision does not establish a duration or radius that is always acceptable. Legislative proposals should be checked for current status before relying on this summary.
Georgia
Non-compete rules
Under the Georgia Restrictive Covenants Act, a properly limited post-employment non-compete may be enforced against an employee performing specified duties, including professional duties, so physician status does not by itself make a covenant void. For an employee covenant, two years or less is presumed reasonable in time and more than two years is presumed unreasonable. For the seller of all or a material part of a business or professional practice, the dividing line is the longer of five years or the period of sale payments. These are rebuttable presumptions, not absolute limits. Georgia courts may modify an overbroad covenant but may not make it more restrictive.
Patient non-solicitation
The Act separately permits a non-solicitation covenant for a stated period, limited to customers with whom the employee had material contact and to competitive services.
North Carolina
Non-compete rules
In North Carolina, a non-compete must be in writing and signed by the person restricted (N.C. Gen. Stat. § 75-4), supported by consideration, reasonable in time and territory, and consistent with public policy. Courts have declined to enforce physician covenants where enforcement would create a substantial question of harm to public access to care (Iredell Digestive Disease Clinic v. Petrozza, 1988; Statesville Medical Group v. Dickey, 1992), but physician covenants are not categorically void (Calhoun v. WHA Medical Clinic, 2006). North Carolina follows a strict blue pencil rule, so a court can strike separable unreasonable terms but cannot rewrite an overbroad covenant.
Patient non-solicitation
Patient non-solicitation provisions are not automatically unenforceable, but breadth matters. The Court of Appeals invalidated a provision covering all former and current practice patients, their household members, and referral sources, because it reached people with no meaningful practice relationship and could impede access to a scarce specialist (Aesthetic Facial & Ocular Plastic Surgery Center v. Zaldivar, 2019).
Florida
Non-compete rules
Florida generally applies Fla. Stat. § 542.335: the covenant must be in a signed writing, protect a legitimate business interest such as patient relationships or professional goodwill, and be reasonably necessary to protect that interest, with consideration of public health. Courts modify overbroad restraints. For an employee covenant without a trade secret basis, six months or less is presumed reasonable and more than two years presumed unreasonable. Under § 542.336, a covenant with a specialist physician is void where one entity employs or contracts with all physicians practicing that specialty in the county, and it remains void for three years after a second entity begins offering the specialty there. Florida's 2025 CHOICE Act excludes health care practitioners from its definition of covered employees.
Texas
Non-compete rules
For physician covenants entered into or renewed on or after September 1, 2025, Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 15.50 requires, in addition to general reasonableness, that the covenant expire no later than one year after termination, extend no more than five miles from the physician's primary practice location, be clearly and conspicuously written, and include a buyout not exceeding the physician's total annual salary and wages at termination. The physician must have access to a list of patients seen in the last year and to their records with authorization, and cannot be barred from continuing to treat a patient during an acute illness. A physician non-compete is void if the physician is involuntarily discharged without good cause. Covenants entered into or renewed before September 1, 2025 are governed by the law in effect when they were signed.
California
Non-compete rules
Ordinary post-employment physician non-competes are generally void under Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 16600, and including one in an employment contract is unlawful. Employers were required to notify affected current and former employees of invalid non-competes by February 14, 2024. A non-compete void under California law is unenforceable regardless of where or when it was signed. Section 16601 permits covenants by a qualifying seller of business goodwill or ownership interests in a genuine sale.
What about malpractice insurance?
Insurance requirements are separate from non-compete law but often come up in the same negotiation. Pennsylvania requires health care providers to carry approved professional liability insurance or approved self-insurance under the MCARE Act, with limits that depend on provider category. Massachusetts requires covered physicians to carry malpractice insurance of at least $100,000 per claim and $300,000 annual aggregate, or an approved bond, under 243 CMR 2.07(16). Whether your employer must provide coverage, including tail coverage, is usually a matter of contract. See our guide to who pays tail coverage.
About Med Contract Law. Med Contract Law is a focused practice group of McCormick Law & Consulting dedicated to physicians. We review and negotiate physician employment agreements, including non-compete and non-solicitation provisions. In these matters, we represent the physician side, not hospitals or health systems.
Our attorneys are licensed in Virginia and North Carolina. When a contract is governed by another state's law, we work with appropriately licensed counsel or undertake that work only when applicable law permits. Schedule a free consultation to talk through your contract.
Unfamiliar with a term? See our physician contract and practice sale glossary.
Frequently asked questions
Are physician non-competes enforceable? It depends on the state and the date of the agreement. Some states void or tightly limit them by statute, while others apply reasonableness tests with physician-specific considerations such as public access to care.
Does Virginia ban physician non-competes? For agreements entered into or renewed on or after July 1, 2026, Virginia generally prohibits employer non-competes with physicians and other health care professionals. Earlier agreements are evaluated under prior law, and reasonable covenants given in the sale of a practice are preserved.
Can I still be barred from soliciting patients? Often, yes, within limits. Many states allow narrowly drawn patient non-solicitation provisions, but some, including Virginia, protect a physician's right to tell existing patients where the physician is practicing.
Does termination without cause affect my non-compete? In some states, yes. Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Texas each limit enforcement after certain employer-initiated terminations.