Health workers’ hands are tied

Politico May 17, 2023
By Erin Schumaker, Carmen Paun and Ben Leonard

Noncompete agreements that protect businesses by making it difficult for workers to switch jobs are pervasive in health care, a congressional watchdog reported Tuesday.

That finding from the Government Accountability Office could buttress the Federal Trade Commission’s resolve to ban the contract provisions.

“The report addresses many issues that are of great importance and confirms the Commission’s preliminary determination that non-competes are an unfair method of competition,” Elizabeth Wilkins, director of the FTC’s Office of Policy Planning, wrote in a letter to the GAO.

Why it matters: Hundreds of health care workers wrote to the agency this spring during the public comment period on the FTC’s proposed rule. They described difficulty changing jobs and consolidation in the health care industry...

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