Moonlighting

Policy Statement:

Trainees must not be required to engage in moonlighting activities.

PGY-1 residents are not permitted to moonlight.

Programs are not required to permit moonlighting for their trainees and may choose to disallow these activities as a matter of program policy.

Moonlighting must not interfere with the trainee's ability to achieve the goals and objectives of the training program.

Moonlighting activities are not considered to be part of the educational curriculum in University of Minnesota residency and fellowship programs.

Time spent moonlighting must be reported as a part of duty hours monitoring and must be included in assessments of compliance with ACGME duty-hour requirements.

Trainees on J-1 visas are not permitted to be employed outside their training program and are not permitted to moonlight.

Trainees on H-1B visas must obtain separate H-1B visas for each facility where the trainee works outside the training program.

Trainees must seek and receive written permission from their program director BEFORE engaging in moonlighting activities, and the program must retain a copy of this correspondence in the trainee's personnel record in RMS. This permission must acknowledge the trainees understanding that

• their trainee professional liability coverage through the University of Minnesota does not cover moonlighting activities,

• moonlighting activities must not interfere with their achieving program goals and objectives, including compliance with duty hour regulations, and

• the program director may review moonlighting activities at a later date and reserves the authority to withdraw permission to moonlight.

Reason for Policy:

The purpose of this policy is to provide residents/fellows (trainees) and their programs with information on managing moonlighting in compliance with ACGME requirements, CMS regulations, immigration law and the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice. If statements in this policy contradict those of ACGME, CMS, immigration law or the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice, those policies take precedence.

Procedures:

1. The trainee thoroughly reviews the institutional moonlighting policy, their program moonlighting policy and the moonlighting request form.

2. If the trainee’s program allows moonlighting, the trainee must complete the University of Minnesota Graduate Medical Education Standard Moonlighting Request Form (see below in forms)

3. The trainee must complete all sections of the form and present it to their program director for review.

4. The program director may deny or approve the request.

5. If the program director approves the request the trainee may proceed with applying to moonlighting at the approved site.

6.  If the program director denies the request, the trainee may not moonlight.

7. The fully executed moonlighting request form (all signatures obtained) will be uploaded to RMS by the program.  It will reside in the files and notes section of the trainee’s personnel record in RMS.

8. The program must use this naming standard as they scan and save the completed form: Moonlighting Request Form Year/Month_Last Name, First Name (e.g. Moonlighting Request form 2013.10_Smith, John)

Forms/Instructions

University of Minnesota Graduate Medical Education Standard Moonlighting Request Form

Responsibilities

Trainee:

1. Trainees who wish to moonlight must obtain prior permission from their program directors, using the approved University of Minnesota Graduate Medical Education Standard Moonlighting Request Form. Failure to get prior approval is grounds for discipline under Section VI of the Residency/Fellowship Agreement.  This form must be completed and approved for each moonlighting site.

2. Trainees must report moonlighting as a part of their duty hours in the Residency Management Suite (RMS).

Program:

1. The Program Director determines the moonlighting policy for all trainees within their program.

2. Program directors will acknowledge in writing (via approval of the moonlighting form) their awareness that a trainee is moonlighting and will include this information in their training file.

3. Program directors may withdraw permission to moonlight for any given trainee or group of trainees at their discretion.