BLS Survey Finds 60% Of Private Employers Offered Health Insurance To Their Employees In March 2007; Physicians Hourly Pay Ranking Increased

[Source: Health Lawyers Weekly, August 31, 2007]

Sixty percent of private employers offered health insurance to their employees in March 2007 and more employees had access to health insurance plans (71%) than to retirement plans (61%), according to a new report released August 22 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

The report, National Compensation Survey: Employee Benefits in Private Industry in the United States, March 2007, presents data collected from the survey on the incidence and key provisions of these and other employee benefit plans by a variety of employer and employee characteristics and for various geographic areas.

Among the key findings in the report are the following:

• Firms employing fewer than 100 employees were less likely to offer medical care plans (59%) than larger firms (93%).
• Firms employing fewer than 100 employees also were less likely to offer retirement plans (approximately 45%) than larger firms (approximately 85%).
• Of the 71% of employees in private industry that had access to medical care plans, 52% participated in a plan.
• Of the 61% of employees in private industry that had access to retirement plans, 51% participated in at least one type of retirement plan (20% in defined benefits plans, 43% in defined contribution plans, and some employees participating in both types).
• Employee contributions for medical care premiums averaged $81.37 per month for single coverage and $312.78 per month for family coverage.
• Employer premiums for medical care plans averaged $293.25 a month per participant for single coverage and $664.04 for family coverage; on average, employers paid 81% of that premium for single coverage and 71% of the premium for family coverage.

In addition to presenting data on access to and participation in benefit plans, the report also includes tables and charts summarizing data on other employee benefits.

BLS also released August 29 an unrelated analysis based on data from its National Compensation Survey that found that twelve of twenty occupations with the highest hourly pay in 1997 remained in the top twenty in 2005, and of those twelve, physicians had the largest upward change in ranking, moving from twelfth place in 1997 to fourth place in 2005.

The analysis, Changes in Occupational Ranking and Hourly Earnings, 1997-2005, also said the median percentage change in hourly pay for these twelve occupations was 32%, with a percentage increase of 63.6% for physicians.

Read BLS’ report on employee benefits in private industry.

Read BLS' occupational ranking and hourly earnings analysis.

Tennessee Supreme Court Finds Physician Did Not Anticipatorily Breach Noncompete Provision

[Source: Health Lawyers Weekly, August 31, 2007]

A physician did not anticipatorily repudiate a noncompete covenant in her employment contract with a medical practice when she expressed an ongoing desire to exercise the agreement’s buy-out option, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled August 20.

Plaintiff Val Y. Vogt, M.D., a urogynecologist, entered into an employment agreement with UT Medical Group, Inc. (UTMG), a not-for-profit organization in which faculty members of the University of Tennessee Medical School practice medicine privately.

The agreement included a noncompete provision that restricted Vogt from practicing within a 150-mile radius of Shelby County, Tennessee for one year. The provision also provided a "buy-out" provision that would allow Vogt to practice in the restricted area.

Vogt eventually informed UTMG’s chief medical officer that she planned to resign her position on March 12, 2004. In a subsequent follow-up email, Vogt indicated that she planned “to engage in the practice of medicine locally” and wished to discuss the buy-out option.

When the parties failed to reach an agreement on the buy-out amount, UTMG sued Vogt claiming she had committed an anticipatory breach of the agreement and seeking declaratory and injunctive relief.

Several physicians who were going to practice with Vogt intervened in the action, alleging UTMG unlawfully restrained trade and unlawfully interfered with the medical treatment of their patients, among other things.

The intervenors eventually settled with UTMG, which prevented them from practicing with Vogt until March 12, 2005.

Vogt, who consistently had sought to exercise the buy-out option, then informed the court that she was not going to practice medicine in Shelby County and instead had found employment far outside the restricted area in Indianapolis, Indiana.

The trial court dismissed UTMG’s suit, finding it failed to present a continuing controversy. The appeals court reversed, holding the trial court should have allowed UTMG more time for discovery.

The Tennessee Supreme Court reversed, holding Vogt did not commit an anticipatory repudiation of the agreement and therefore no justiciable controversy was ever before the trial court.

UTMG based its anticipatory repudiation claim on Vogt’s email correspondence indicating she planned to practice medicine locally and evidence that she had leased office space.
The high court found neither of these pieces of evidence demonstrated an anticipatory contract breach.

In the email, as well as throughout subsequent dealings, Vogt indicated her desire to exercise the buy-out option, as specifically allowed under the contract, the high court noted.
According to the high court, the lease only showed that Vogt was considering practicing medicine in the restricted area and must also be considered in light of her ongoing intentions to pursue the buy-out option.

Because Vogt did not commit an anticipatory breach, UTMG failed to present a justiciable controversy.

UT Med. Group, Inc. v. Vogt, No. W2005-00256-SC-R11-CV (Tenn. Aug. 20, 2007).