Contracts and Negotiation: The Fundamentals for Interventional Radiologists.

There are numerous situations in which a physician may be in a position to negotiate a high-value contract. For an interventional radiologist, these may include personal employment contracts, vendor contracts for capital equipment, show-site agreements, research contracts, group partnerships, professional services agreements, and other types of relationships. Opportunities for physicians to learn about the nuances of contracts, themselves, are limited, and most will learn about negotiation and contracts through experience and sometimes through failure. This article will review contracting as it relates to physician employment relationships, with the goal of reviewing the fundamental principles of contracting and negotiation, exploring the prerogatives of hospitals, physician groups, and individual physicians as they relate to building mutually beneficial and productive relationships, and examining common pitfalls of contracting.