Buy Now

Physician Contract Glossary · Ownership & Partnership

Assignment of Patients

Assignment of patients governs how patients are allocated to you, which directly affects your volume and your production-based pay.

This provision addresses how patients are assigned within the practice: whether you build your own panel, inherit one, take unassigned or walk-in patients, or rotate coverage. In a production-based pay model, patient assignment is income, because the physician who gets the high-volume or high-acuity assignments earns more. Vague assignment terms let the practice control your earning potential.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR

If your pay is production-based, understand how patients are assigned and whether you control your panel. Being handed low-volume or low-reimbursement assignments can cap your income regardless of how the formula reads.

Related terms

Stop being recruited. Start choosing.

You are about to sign something the senior people in your program signed without reading.

They had no guide either. You do. Start with the option that costs you nothing: see every practice that is actually out there before anyone hands you a contract.

Browse the Practice Directory    The Real Contract Course