Employment, Supervision and Collaboration Agreements

Offering all employees an employment agreement is not a good idea. Placing an employee on a contract, if not worded properly, can force you to hold on to an employee. For example, if you offer an “annual salary,” you may have unknowingly agreed to keep them employed for a year. This is why most salaries are communicated as bi-weekly or weekly salaries. Zetter HealthCare recommends that only certain employees be under contract. These employees include higher levels of management, such as an administrator, office manager, C-suite level, or licensed clinicians and physicians.  Employees in these roles would normally be provided with an employment agreement. This ensures they know their requirements as a higher-level or “billing” employee and what they can expect from the employer. Employment agreements are legal documents and should be vetted by an attorney. At Zetter HealthCare, all of our employment agreements are vetted by a healthcare or employment attorney.  

Supervision and Collaboration Agreements

Supervision and collaboration agreements are specific to physician assistants and nurse practitioners. Almost every state still requires supervision for a physician assistant. However, this is subject to change in the coming years but remains for now. These agreements dictate specific requirements based on state medical or osteopathic board regulations. For clarity, the supervision agreement details how the supervision will be carried out. In some states, alternate supervisors are required when the main supervising physician is not available. Typically, nurse practitioners must have collaborating physicians available when reviewing patient conditions or treatment plans. As of recently, that is no longer the case. Now, some states require nurse practitioners to have a certain number of medical records reviewed by their collaborating physicians. State law dictates the requirements for a collaboration agreement and how it should be documented. Some may also need to be filed with the state nursing board. Always check your state laws to determine what requirements you must follow.  When you work with Zetter HealthCare, we ensure your agreements comply with all of your state or board requirements. Contact our offices at (717) 691-6768.