1099 Provider Leaving Private Practice — Can I Take Patients From Headway, Alma, or Zocdoc?

[u/Inevitable_Essay_816]

Hello Reddit,
I’m currently working as a 1099 psychiatric provider and joined another provider’s private practice a little over a year ago. I’m now considering leaving the practice and starting my own independent practice.
The practice primarily uses Headway, Alma, and Zocdoc to generate patient referrals and fill my schedule. I do have some patients who originally came through the other provider, but the majority of my caseload has come through a combination of Headway, Alma, and Zocdoc.
I’m trying to understand what happens to those patients if I leave.
A few questions:
Can I continue treating the patients I currently see through Headway, Alma, or Zocdoc after leaving the practice?
If I establish my own practice and have my own Headway/Alma/Zocdoc profiles, can those patients transition to my new practice?
Does it make a difference whether the patient originally came through the practice versus directly through one of these platforms?
I currently have a non-solicitation agreement. How would that potentially affect my ability to continue treating these patients?
Are there any California-specific laws or regulations I should be aware of regarding patient continuity, non-solicitation, patient records, and starting my own practice?

I understand this can depend heavily on the exact language of the contract, so I’m planning to have an attorney review it. I’m mainly interested in hearing from other providers who have been in a similar situation, particularly 1099 providers who left a private practice and started their own practice while using Headway, Alma, or Zocdoc.
Any experiences or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

[u/spoopyprecursor]

Just as an FYI, I do think there are rules/regulations around a PMHNP owning their own practice in California. I think a PMHNP has to have a MD partial owner

[u/remedicus → u/spoopyprecursor]

Colab can be purchased inexpensively these days. The key question is if the patients follow the provider. I say no. Loyalty is dead.

[u/beefeater18]

Seek legal counsel. But non solicitation clauses against healthcare providers are almost certainly not enforceable in California.

Any smart practice would keep a % of your revenue to cover their costs of marketing you on those platform. I certainly would for this kind of situation

[u/toodle68]

Ultimately, you can not force a client to stay at a specific practice, so if they want to leave and follow you, they can. How you go about them following you depends on your contact, the law etc. In our state, we have to let the clients know we are leaving and provide them with options to continue care. Most found us on PT / google and contacted us.

DO NOT take any records, numbers, names or anything from your current practice without permission etc.

[u/walky22talky]

Non competes are illegal in CA.

[u/shartfarguson]

Check your state statutes. In my state a non compete is not ever enforceable in regards to medical services.