Efforts to limit the use of noncompetition clauses in Utah doctors' contracts will be back before the Legislature next year, the sponsor of a failed 2006 measure said Thursday.

Rep. Roz McGee, D-Salt Lake, told members of the Privately Owned Health Care Task Force she intended to reintroduce her bill, which would invalidate doctors' noncompete clauses that impose a restriction on the rights of a doctor to practice within a particular geographic area or if the contracts impose financial penalties on a doctor for "terminating a professional relationship."

McGee sought the approval of the legislative task force Thursday, bringing forth many of the same experts that ultimately won the approval of the House Business and Labor Standing Committee earlier this year. The bill never made it to the House floor.

"I would certainly hope that the task force would be looking upon this with favor and making a recommendation," McGee said.

Support for the measure, which many believe is necessary to put an end to overbroad contracts that drive them far away from patients, appeared split among task force members Thursday. Some questioned the appropriateness of carving out special protections for doctors and not other professionals, while others supported the idea as a protection for doctors and their patients.

"When it comes to employment, people want to take care of their families," said Sen. Ed Mayne, D-West Valley, noting that an "intimidation factor" can be present when a large medical group approaches physicians. "People have responsibilities, and they sign those noncompetes. And that's the unfairness."

Mayne has worked in the past for a wider prohibition of noncompetition clauses in Utah.

The task force, meeting for the first time since last fall, did not vote Thursday on whether to support McGee's proposed legislation.

Also on Thursday, the group discussed priorities for its second year of meetings about the state of health care in Utah. A consultant hired to examine the issue will present his findings to legislators at a May 11 meeting.

The Privately Owned Health Care Task Force was created in the 2005 legislative session as a result of a debate over Intermountain Healthcare's tax-exempt status and its delivery of health care. Its focus has since expanded beyond that company's operations to things such as market penetration and business and financial practices of Utah's health-care organizations in general.

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