Health System Continues Asking Physicians to Sign Contract With Noncompeting Amid Minnesota Attorney General Investigation

Aspirus St. Luke’s, Duluth. (Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer)

(Minnesota Reformer) – A multi state health system is pausing changes to compensation but continuing to ask Duluth physicians to sign a heavily amended contract that includes a non compete clause barring them from seeking work elsewhere.

Aspirus St. Luke’s push for physicians to sign the amended contract comes even as Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison is investigating the noncompete clause, which were banned in Minnesota for contracts after 2023.

An email from Aspirus St. Luke’s, forwarded by two physicians who were granted anonymity due to fear of retaliation, acknowledged the attorney general’s investigation into “proposed amendments to physician contracts and how the amendment might, or might not, impact an underlying non-compete commitment in our employment agreement.”

Aspirus is now pausing changes to compensation and its performance incentive program. Even amid the investigation, however, the company is still asking physicians to sign the amended contract in December — a month after an initial deadline — according to an email sent to physicians from Kim Terhaar, the vice president of ambulatory care.