I founded Lauth O'Neill Physician Agency because my professional and personal experiences taught me there is a need for physician agents. Not only do physicians benefit from having someone in their corner, looking out for their interests, but they also need a "go to" person who can take on many of the tedious tasks that come in searching for a new job.
In my experience as a health care attorney, and combined with being married to a physician, I have naturally crossed paths with many physicians. Many of them are at the beginning of their careers, and once they receive a job offer, they often ask me if it is necessary to have a lawyer look at the employment agreement. My answer is always a resounding "YES!" And often times, I perform the legal analysis myself. I have worked on both sides of physician employment. And after serving hospitals and other group practices as my clients, I am acutely aware of what employers do to make a physician employment contract extremely favorable to themselves. This, of course, often means the contract is unfavorable to the physician in certain ways. Not to mention, they almost never offer compensation and benefits at the levels trained physicians can expect based on national benchmark data. So yes, the need for physicians to have their employment offers reviewed by a lawyer has always been very clear to me.
What I had not experienced until recently was the immense amount of time and effort that goes into finding and securing a physician's ideal employment arrangement. In assisting my husband in his recent job search, I gained an intimate understanding of numerous steps that go into a successful physician job search. First, locating the opportunities that fit your professional desires, then communicating with the potential employers to let them know you're interested and qualified, and interviewing multiple times with the same folks- this is only the beginning of the process. Once an offer is made, then the hours spent on this task really start to climb. Physicians not only need a legal review of each offer completed, but they must also endure what seems to be endless back-and-forth with the potential employers to ensure they receive the compensation, benefits, and terms they have earned.
In talking with my husband's colleagues about the trials and tribulations of their job search processes, the rhetorical question has often been posed: "Can't I just pay someone to do this for me?" I only had to hear that question once before I recognized the need for physician agents.
As a physician agent, it is my goal to do all that is necessary to make my clients' job search not only successful, but as little of a burden to them as possible. Therefore, I provide our Premier Opportunity service so that physicians can simply tell me what sort of job they are looking for, and in what region, and I will go to work finding their options. Seeing the physician's job search process through to the end, the Premier Opportunity service includes every crucial step that allows physicians to find and shape their ideal employment arrangement. I am excited to make each next clients' success my priority.