State caps on clinician non-competes: the term, radius and buyout limits

Which states limit non-competes for doctors and nurse practitioners?

Four statutes cover most of the range, and they do not do the same thing. Pennsylvania voids nearly every new health care covenant 1Ref 1Pennsylvania General Assembly (2024).Fair Contracting for Health Care Practitioners Act, Act of Jul. 17, 2024, P.L. 846, No. 74.Pennsylvania's rule that a noncompete covenant entered into after the January 1, 2025 effective date is void against a physician, CRNA, CRNP or PA; the single exception for a covenant of one year or less where the practitioner was not dismissed; the act's non-reach to agreements predating that date; and the employer's duty to notify the practitioner's patients within 90 days of departure.. Colorado voids the part of a physician's covenant that restricts the right to practice medicine 2Ref 2Colorado General Assembly (2022).House Bill 22-1317 — Concerning Restrictive Employment Agreements (amending C.R.S. § 8-2-113).Colorado's voiding of a physician-noncompete provision that restricts the right to practice medicine after termination, the survival of a damages provision reasonably related to the injury suffered by reason of termination, the rare-disorder patient notification carve-out, the 14-day separate signed disclosure required of any covered worker's non-compete, and the $5,000 per worker penalty for presenting a void covenant.. Maryland voids one at or below a pay line and caps it above that line 3Ref 3Maryland General Assembly (2024).Md. Code Ann., Labor and Employment § 3–716 (Noncompete and conflict of interest provisions).Maryland's voiding of a noncompete for a Health Occupations Article licensee in a direct patient care role at or below $350,000 in total annual compensation and for anyone earning no more than 150 percent of the state minimum wage, and the limits on a permitted covenant above that threshold: one year from the last day of employment, 10 miles from the primary place of employment, and the patient-notice duty.. Texas leaves the covenant enforceable and writes its term, its distance and its buyout price into the statute 4Ref 4Texas Legislature, 89th Regular Session (2025).S.B. No. 1318 — An Act relating to restrictions on covenants not to compete for physicians and certain health care practitioners.The Texas caps on a physician covenant not to compete: expiry no later than the one-year anniversary of termination, a five-mile radius from the location primarily practiced, and a buyout no greater than total annual salary and wages; the September 1, 2025 extension of that framework to dentists, nurses licensed under Occupations Code Chapter 301 and physician assistants; the patient-list and records-access carve-outs and the void-if-discharged-without-good-cause rule; and the statute's use of professional or vocational nursing without naming nurse practitioners..

Two more states decide a clinician's covenant without writing a clinician rule. Massachusetts caps every noncompetition agreement's restricted period at 12 months, with no health care carve-out in the section 5Ref 5Massachusetts General Court (2018).Massachusetts General Laws Part I, Title XXI, Chapter 149, Section 24L (Noncompetition Agreement Act).The Massachusetts 12-month cap on the restricted period of every noncompetition agreement, the two-year extension available only for a fiduciary-duty breach or unlawful taking of employer property, the requirement that the agreement be supported by a garden leave clause paying at least 50 percent of the employee's highest annualized base salary or by other mutually agreed consideration specified in the agreement, and the absence of a health-care-specific carve-out in the section.. California voids any contract that restrains someone from a lawful profession, trade or business 6Ref 6California Legislature (2024).California Business and Professions Code Section 16600.California's categorical rule voiding a contract that restrains a person from engaging in a lawful profession, trade or business, used as the contrast case in which a mileage radius identical in wording to a Texas or Pennsylvania clause restrains nothing..

No federal rule is doing this work at the moment. The Federal Trade Commission's 2024 rule would have banned most worker non-competes, a federal district court set it aside that year, and employer non-competes remain governed by state law while appeals proceed, as of July 2026 7Ref 7Federal Trade Commission (2024).Noncompete Rule.The FTC's 2024 rule banning most non-competes and its litigation posture, set aside by a federal district court in 2024 so that employer non-competes remain governed by state law while appeals proceed, as of July 2026.. So the question is which state, and then which license class inside it.

Pennsylvania and Colorado void the covenant, and void different things

Pennsylvania's act is the broader of the two. It makes a noncompete covenant entered into after January 1, 2025 unenforceable against a physician, a certified registered nurse anesthetist, a certified registered nurse practitioner or a physician assistant, and leaves the employer one narrow exception: a covenant of one year or less, enforceable only where the practitioner was not the one dismissed 1Ref 1Pennsylvania General Assembly (2024).Fair Contracting for Health Care Practitioners Act, Act of Jul. 17, 2024, P.L. 846, No. 74.Pennsylvania's rule that a noncompete covenant entered into after the January 1, 2025 effective date is void against a physician, CRNA, CRNP or PA; the single exception for a covenant of one year or less where the practitioner was not dismissed; the act's non-reach to agreements predating that date; and the employer's duty to notify the practitioner's patients within 90 days of departure.. Colorado's rule is narrower.

But the date on the signature page decides whether the act reaches you, because it does not cover an agreement entered into before its effective date 1Ref 1Pennsylvania General Assembly (2024).Fair Contracting for Health Care Practitioners Act, Act of Jul. 17, 2024, P.L. 846, No. 74.Pennsylvania's rule that a noncompete covenant entered into after the January 1, 2025 effective date is void against a physician, CRNA, CRNP or PA; the single exception for a covenant of one year or less where the practitioner was not dismissed; the act's non-reach to agreements predating that date; and the employer's duty to notify the practitioner's patients within 90 days of departure.. The act also puts a duty on the employer at the other end: patients seen within the past year get notice of the departure, and the employer has 90 days from that departure to provide it 1Ref 1Pennsylvania General Assembly (2024).Fair Contracting for Health Care Practitioners Act, Act of Jul. 17, 2024, P.L. 846, No. 74.Pennsylvania's rule that a noncompete covenant entered into after the January 1, 2025 effective date is void against a physician, CRNA, CRNP or PA; the single exception for a covenant of one year or less where the practitioner was not dismissed; the act's non-reach to agreements predating that date; and the employer's duty to notify the practitioner's patients within 90 days of departure..

Colorado voids the provision that restricts a physician's right to practice medicine after termination, and leaves standing a separate clause requiring payment of damages in an amount reasonably related to the injury suffered by reason of the termination 2Ref 2Colorado General Assembly (2022).House Bill 22-1317 — Concerning Restrictive Employment Agreements (amending C.R.S. § 8-2-113).Colorado's voiding of a physician-noncompete provision that restricts the right to practice medicine after termination, the survival of a damages provision reasonably related to the injury suffered by reason of termination, the rare-disorder patient notification carve-out, the 14-day separate signed disclosure required of any covered worker's non-compete, and the $5,000 per worker penalty for presenting a void covenant.. It carves out one patient category as well: a departing physician may tell an existing patient with a rare disorder where the new practice is 2Ref 2Colorado General Assembly (2022).House Bill 22-1317 — Concerning Restrictive Employment Agreements (amending C.R.S. § 8-2-113).Colorado's voiding of a physician-noncompete provision that restricts the right to practice medicine after termination, the survival of a damages provision reasonably related to the injury suffered by reason of termination, the rare-disorder patient notification carve-out, the 14-day separate signed disclosure required of any covered worker's non-compete, and the $5,000 per worker penalty for presenting a void covenant..

A void restriction and an enforceable damages clause can sit in the same contract.

Colorado also regulates how a covenant is put in front of a worker: a separate signed document at least 14 days before it takes effect, and a $5,000 per worker penalty for presenting a void covenant 2Ref 2Colorado General Assembly (2022).House Bill 22-1317 — Concerning Restrictive Employment Agreements (amending C.R.S. § 8-2-113).Colorado's voiding of a physician-noncompete provision that restricts the right to practice medicine after termination, the survival of a damages provision reasonably related to the injury suffered by reason of termination, the rare-disorder patient notification carve-out, the 14-day separate signed disclosure required of any covered worker's non-compete, and the $5,000 per worker penalty for presenting a void covenant..

Texas and Maryland leave the covenant standing and cap it

Both states allow a clinician covenant and then write its outside edges into the statute. Texas caps a physician's at the one-year anniversary of the date the contract or employment terminated, at no more than a five-mile radius from the location the physician primarily practiced, and at a buyout no greater than total annual salary and wages at termination 4Ref 4Texas Legislature, 89th Regular Session (2025).S.B. No. 1318 — An Act relating to restrictions on covenants not to compete for physicians and certain health care practitioners.The Texas caps on a physician covenant not to compete: expiry no later than the one-year anniversary of termination, a five-mile radius from the location primarily practiced, and a buyout no greater than total annual salary and wages; the September 1, 2025 extension of that framework to dentists, nurses licensed under Occupations Code Chapter 301 and physician assistants; the patient-list and records-access carve-outs and the void-if-discharged-without-good-cause rule; and the statute's use of professional or vocational nursing without naming nurse practitioners.. Maryland allows one only above $350,000 in total annual compensation 3Ref 3Maryland General Assembly (2024).Md. Code Ann., Labor and Employment § 3–716 (Noncompete and conflict of interest provisions).Maryland's voiding of a noncompete for a Health Occupations Article licensee in a direct patient care role at or below $350,000 in total annual compensation and for anyone earning no more than 150 percent of the state minimum wage, and the limits on a permitted covenant above that threshold: one year from the last day of employment, 10 miles from the primary place of employment, and the patient-notice duty..

The Texas caps stopped being physician-only on September 1, 2025. A new section extends the same buyout ceiling and the same one-year and five-mile limits to dentists, to nurses licensed under Chapter 301 of the Occupations Code, and to physician assistants 4Ref 4Texas Legislature, 89th Regular Session (2025).S.B. No. 1318 — An Act relating to restrictions on covenants not to compete for physicians and certain health care practitioners.The Texas caps on a physician covenant not to compete: expiry no later than the one-year anniversary of termination, a five-mile radius from the location primarily practiced, and a buyout no greater than total annual salary and wages; the September 1, 2025 extension of that framework to dentists, nurses licensed under Occupations Code Chapter 301 and physician assistants; the patient-list and records-access carve-outs and the void-if-discharged-without-good-cause rule; and the statute's use of professional or vocational nursing without naming nurse practitioners.. The statute also carves out a departing practitioner's patient list and access to records, and voids the covenant where the practitioner was discharged without good cause 4Ref 4Texas Legislature, 89th Regular Session (2025).S.B. No. 1318 — An Act relating to restrictions on covenants not to compete for physicians and certain health care practitioners.The Texas caps on a physician covenant not to compete: expiry no later than the one-year anniversary of termination, a five-mile radius from the location primarily practiced, and a buyout no greater than total annual salary and wages; the September 1, 2025 extension of that framework to dentists, nurses licensed under Occupations Code Chapter 301 and physician assistants; the patient-list and records-access carve-outs and the void-if-discharged-without-good-cause rule; and the statute's use of professional or vocational nursing without naming nurse practitioners..

Maryland runs the line the other way. At or below $350,000 in total annual compensation, a noncompete against a Health Occupations licensee in a direct patient care role is void 3Ref 3Maryland General Assembly (2024).Md. Code Ann., Labor and Employment § 3–716 (Noncompete and conflict of interest provisions).Maryland's voiding of a noncompete for a Health Occupations Article licensee in a direct patient care role at or below $350,000 in total annual compensation and for anyone earning no more than 150 percent of the state minimum wage, and the limits on a permitted covenant above that threshold: one year from the last day of employment, 10 miles from the primary place of employment, and the patient-notice duty.. Above that figure a covenant may exist, capped at one year from the last day of employment and 10 miles from the primary place of employment, with a duty to give patients the departed clinician's new location on request 3Ref 3Maryland General Assembly (2024).Md. Code Ann., Labor and Employment § 3–716 (Noncompete and conflict of interest provisions).Maryland's voiding of a noncompete for a Health Occupations Article licensee in a direct patient care role at or below $350,000 in total annual compensation and for anyone earning no more than 150 percent of the state minimum wage, and the limits on a permitted covenant above that threshold: one year from the last day of employment, 10 miles from the primary place of employment, and the patient-notice duty..

But the sorting is done by a number, not by a title, so two clinicians holding the same license in the same building can hold covenants with different legal status.

Massachusetts and California name no clinician and still decide the question

Neither statute mentions a clinician, and both govern one. Massachusetts caps every noncompetition agreement's restricted period at 12 months from the end of employment, stretching to two years only where the employee breached a fiduciary duty or unlawfully took employer property. The agreement must also be supported by garden leave, pay of at least 50 percent of the employee's highest annualized base salary, or by other agreed consideration it names 5Ref 5Massachusetts General Court (2018).Massachusetts General Laws Part I, Title XXI, Chapter 149, Section 24L (Noncompetition Agreement Act).The Massachusetts 12-month cap on the restricted period of every noncompetition agreement, the two-year extension available only for a fiduciary-duty breach or unlawful taking of employer property, the requirement that the agreement be supported by a garden leave clause paying at least 50 percent of the employee's highest annualized base salary or by other mutually agreed consideration specified in the agreement, and the absence of a health-care-specific carve-out in the section.. California is shorter and harder.

California voids the contract itself. Section 16600 makes void every contract by which anyone is restrained from engaging in a lawful profession, trade or business, and no mileage math is needed to get there: a 25-mile radius written into a covenant signed in California restrains nothing 6Ref 6California Legislature (2024).California Business and Professions Code Section 16600.California's categorical rule voiding a contract that restrains a person from engaging in a lawful profession, trade or business, used as the contrast case in which a mileage radius identical in wording to a Texas or Pennsylvania clause restrains nothing..

Word for word, the same paragraph is enforceable in Texas up to the caps the statute sets and void in California.

Doctors and nurse practitioners are not always in the same class

The class definition is where a page like this stops being general. Pennsylvania names certified registered nurse practitioners and certified registered nurse anesthetists in the same list as physicians and physician assistants, so all four read one rule 1Ref 1Pennsylvania General Assembly (2024).Fair Contracting for Health Care Practitioners Act, Act of Jul. 17, 2024, P.L. 846, No. 74.Pennsylvania's rule that a noncompete covenant entered into after the January 1, 2025 effective date is void against a physician, CRNA, CRNP or PA; the single exception for a covenant of one year or less where the practitioner was not dismissed; the act's non-reach to agreements predating that date; and the employer's duty to notify the practitioner's patients within 90 days of departure.. Colorado's provision speaks to a physician's right to practice medicine, so it does not settle a nurse practitioner's covenant on its own terms 2Ref 2Colorado General Assembly (2022).House Bill 22-1317 — Concerning Restrictive Employment Agreements (amending C.R.S. § 8-2-113).Colorado's voiding of a physician-noncompete provision that restricts the right to practice medicine after termination, the survival of a damages provision reasonably related to the injury suffered by reason of termination, the rare-disorder patient notification carve-out, the 14-day separate signed disclosure required of any covered worker's non-compete, and the $5,000 per worker penalty for presenting a void covenant..

Maryland sorts by license and by pay at once. The rule attaches to a Health Occupations Article licensee in a direct patient care role, then splits that group at the compensation figure, so one statute can void one clinician's covenant and permit a capped version of a colleague's 3Ref 3Maryland General Assembly (2024).Md. Code Ann., Labor and Employment § 3–716 (Noncompete and conflict of interest provisions).Maryland's voiding of a noncompete for a Health Occupations Article licensee in a direct patient care role at or below $350,000 in total annual compensation and for anyone earning no more than 150 percent of the state minimum wage, and the limits on a permitted covenant above that threshold: one year from the last day of employment, 10 miles from the primary place of employment, and the patient-notice duty..

Texas is the one to read closely if you are a nurse practitioner. The section effective September 1, 2025 extends the buyout, one-year and five-mile framework to nurses licensed under Chapter 301 of the Occupations Code, and the language runs to professional or vocational nursing without ever using the phrase nurse practitioner 4Ref 4Texas Legislature, 89th Regular Session (2025).S.B. No. 1318 — An Act relating to restrictions on covenants not to compete for physicians and certain health care practitioners.The Texas caps on a physician covenant not to compete: expiry no later than the one-year anniversary of termination, a five-mile radius from the location primarily practiced, and a buyout no greater than total annual salary and wages; the September 1, 2025 extension of that framework to dentists, nurses licensed under Occupations Code Chapter 301 and physician assistants; the patient-list and records-access carve-outs and the void-if-discharged-without-good-cause rule; and the statute's use of professional or vocational nursing without naming nurse practitioners.. Whether an advanced practice license sits inside that chapter for this purpose is a question to put to counsel with the license and the statute side by side.

Read the covenant against the statute that governs it

Start with two dates and one word. Pull the signed copy, read the date on the signature page against the effective date of your state's statute, and find the noun the statute uses for your license. Pennsylvania's act reaches covenants entered into after January 1, 2025 and does not reach one signed before that 1Ref 1Pennsylvania General Assembly (2024).Fair Contracting for Health Care Practitioners Act, Act of Jul. 17, 2024, P.L. 846, No. 74.Pennsylvania's rule that a noncompete covenant entered into after the January 1, 2025 effective date is void against a physician, CRNA, CRNP or PA; the single exception for a covenant of one year or less where the practitioner was not dismissed; the act's non-reach to agreements predating that date; and the employer's duty to notify the practitioner's patients within 90 days of departure.. The Texas extension took effect September 1, 2025 4Ref 4Texas Legislature, 89th Regular Session (2025).S.B. No. 1318 — An Act relating to restrictions on covenants not to compete for physicians and certain health care practitioners.The Texas caps on a physician covenant not to compete: expiry no later than the one-year anniversary of termination, a five-mile radius from the location primarily practiced, and a buyout no greater than total annual salary and wages; the September 1, 2025 extension of that framework to dentists, nurses licensed under Occupations Code Chapter 301 and physician assistants; the patient-list and records-access carve-outs and the void-if-discharged-without-good-cause rule; and the statute's use of professional or vocational nursing without naming nurse practitioners..

Then read the text rather than a summary of it. Each statute is published in full by the legislature that passed it:

• Texas Business and Commerce Code sections 15.50 and 15.501
• Pennsylvania Act 74 of 2024, the Fair Contracting for Health Care Practitioners Act
• Maryland Labor and Employment section 3-716
• Colorado Revised Statutes section 8-2-113
• Massachusetts General Laws chapter 149, section 24L
• California Business and Professions Code section 16600

Four things in your own paperwork then decide how much of that text applies: your license name against the class the statute prints, the compensation figure the statute uses, which in Maryland is total annual compensation 3Ref 3Maryland General Assembly (2024).Md. Code Ann., Labor and Employment § 3–716 (Noncompete and conflict of interest provisions).Maryland's voiding of a noncompete for a Health Occupations Article licensee in a direct patient care role at or below $350,000 in total annual compensation and for anyone earning no more than 150 percent of the state minimum wage, and the limits on a permitted covenant above that threshold: one year from the last day of employment, 10 miles from the primary place of employment, and the patient-notice duty., any damages clause sitting apart from the practice restriction, which Colorado leaves standing when the restriction falls 2Ref 2Colorado General Assembly (2022).House Bill 22-1317 — Concerning Restrictive Employment Agreements (amending C.R.S. § 8-2-113).Colorado's voiding of a physician-noncompete provision that restricts the right to practice medicine after termination, the survival of a damages provision reasonably related to the injury suffered by reason of termination, the rare-disorder patient notification carve-out, the 14-day separate signed disclosure required of any covered worker's non-compete, and the $5,000 per worker penalty for presenting a void covenant., and what the employer owes your patients, which in Pennsylvania is notice within 90 days 1Ref 1Pennsylvania General Assembly (2024).Fair Contracting for Health Care Practitioners Act, Act of Jul. 17, 2024, P.L. 846, No. 74.Pennsylvania's rule that a noncompete covenant entered into after the January 1, 2025 effective date is void against a physician, CRNA, CRNP or PA; the single exception for a covenant of one year or less where the practitioner was not dismissed; the act's non-reach to agreements predating that date; and the employer's duty to notify the practitioner's patients within 90 days of departure..

The statutes give the outside limits, and whether your covenant is enforceable as written is a question for counsel licensed in that state. Three things make that call worth its fee: a signature date that straddles an effective date, a license class the statute does not name outright, and a damages clause written separately from the restriction.

One more, for anyone whose next practice is remote. A mileage radius was drafted with an office in mind, so ask counsel how the radius is measured before assuming distance settles it.