(a) A hospital shall not require hospital-based physicians to:

Terms Used In Tennessee Code 68-11-227

  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Department: means the department of health. See Tennessee Code 68-11-201
  • Hospital: means any institution, place, building or agency represented and held out to the general public as ready, willing and able to furnish care, accommodations, facilities and equipment for the use, in connection with the services of a physician or dentist, of one (1) or more nonrelated persons who may be suffering from deformity, injury or disease or from any other condition for which nursing, medical or surgical services would be appropriate for care, diagnosis or treatment. See Tennessee Code 68-11-201
  • physician: includes a podiatrist licensed under title 63, chapter 3. See Tennessee Code 68-11-201
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • written: includes printing, typewriting, engraving, lithography, and any other mode of representing words and letters. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(1) Pay for the cost of the use of necessary medical equipment related to the provision of medical services by the hospital-based physicians; or
(2) Share in the cost of advertising related to their services or services of the hospital, unless specifically required by contract.
(b) The termination of an oral or written contract between a hospital and a hospital-based physician shall not result in loss of medical staff privileges, through contractual provisions or hospital policy, unless there is a written contract that contains a section separately executed by the parties that provides for the loss of medical staff privileges:

(1) If such physician is provided with at least six (6) months’ written notice of the termination of the contract; and
(2) If such physician either:

(A) Provides medical services under the contract to a department of the hospital that has a closed staff and will have a closed staff after termination of the contract; or
(B) Provides medical services under the contract to a department of the hospital that has an open staff, but will have a closed staff after termination of the contract. In the case of an emergency physician, the notice of termination described in this subsection (b) may be less than six (6) months in order to obtain emergency coverage to satisfy requirements of state licensing rules, accreditation or applicable managed care plans.
(c) As used in this section, “hospital-based physician” means an anesthesiologist, emergency physician, pathologist, or radiologist.