Seyfarth Synopsis: Washington’s health care employers have spent years navigating tighter and tighter restrictions on noncompetes—but under HB 1155, the state has decided to largely eliminate them altogether. Beginning June 30, 2027, physician and provider noncompetes will be largely void, and the law may extend far beyond traditional restrictive covenants to scrutinize compensation terms that penalize employee mobility. The real challenge for health care organizations is no longer how to enforce a noncompete—it’s how to retain physicians, protect competitive interests, and manage patient transitions in a world where provider mobility is the rule, not the exception.

Washington health care employers have spent years living in an increasingly restrictive noncompete environment. First came salary thresholds. Then disclosure requirements. Then additional restrictions on nonsolicitation agreements. Then the courts got involved.

Apparently, after years of tinkering with noncompete regulations, the legislature concluded the experiment had failed—not because the restrictions were insufficient, but because employers continued to have noncompetes at all.

Beginning June 30, 2027, Washington’s new noncompete law will effectively eliminate nearly all employment-related noncompetition agreements, including for physicians, and advanced practice providers.

Olympia’s message could not be much clearer: employers should retain physicians by giving them reasons to stay, not by making it...

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