Are Non-Competes Enforceable for Therapists and Behavioral Health Staff in New Mexico?

It depends on which clinician signs, and New Mexico answers by statute.

Under the Health Care Practitioner Agreements law, a non-compete provision restricting a covered health care practitioner from providing clinical health care services in New Mexico is unenforceable once the agreement — or its renewal or extension — or the practitioner's employment ends.

The statute's list of covered practitioners is closed at ten professions, and among the ten are psychologists, physicians (your psychiatrists) and certified nurse practitioners (your PMHNPs).

For those clinicians, a non-compete is not something you can draft your way around.

The same closed list decides the other half of your roster: licensed counselors, social workers, marriage and family therapists, behavior analysts and other behavioral health staff are not on it, so this law does not protect them and their covenants are governed by New Mexico common law instead.

How New Mexico compares with the rest of the country — non-competes nationally tracks the other states and the fate of the FTC's rule.

New Mexico's rule is statutory.

The legislature enacted the Health Care Practitioner Agreements law in 2015, and as amended in 2023 the law applies to agreements, renewals or extensions executed on or after July 1, 2015 for the original professions.

Legislative drafting since 2025 cites it as NMSA 1978, Chapter 24A, Article 4 (§§24A-4-1 to 24A-4-5) — formerly §§24-1I-1 to -5 — so you may see either citation in New Mexico legislative drafting and legal writing.

Two later changes matter for drafting.

A 2017 act voided provisions that make an agreement for clinical health care services subject to another state's law or require litigation in another state, for agreements executed on or after April 6, 2017.

And 2023 SB 106 added psychologists: the bill was signed by New Mexico's Governor as Chapter 96 of the 2023 laws on April 4, 2023, and the law applies to the agreements, renewals or extensions of psychologists, physician assistants and pharmacists executed on or after that date.

The covered list has been stable since.

A 2025 bill that would have added veterinarians died, so the statute still covers the ten professions the 2023 act left.

The statute defines "health care practitioner" by a closed list of ten: dentists, osteopathic physicians, physicians, podiatrists, certified registered nurse anesthetists, certified nurse practitioners, certified nurse-midwives, psychologists, physician assistants and pharmacists.

For a behavioral health practice, three of those professions carry most of the weight.

A psychologist has been covered since April 4, 2023.

A psychiatrist is covered as a physician.

A PMHNP is covered as a certified nurse practitioner.

The other seven professions matter for practices that also employ medical or dental staff.

Equally important is who is missing.

Licensed professional counselors, clinical social workers, marriage and family therapists, behavior analysts and the rest of your behavioral health staff are not named, so the statute's unenforceability rule does not protect them — their covenants rise and fall under New Mexico common law instead, which is a question for employment counsel.

One more boundary: the law does not apply to agreements between practitioners who are shareholders, owners, partners or directors of a health care practice.

A psychologist who buys in as an owner is in a different position from a W-2 employee psychologist.

For the ten covered professions, there is nothing to balance.

The statute keys unenforceability to termination itself: once the agreement, its renewal or extension, or the employment ends, a non-compete restricting practice in New Mexico is unenforceable.

It does not ask whether one year would have been reasonable or whether the radius was tight, so the classic drafting levers do not rescue a covered clinician's covenant.

For staff who are not on the list, the statute is silent and New Mexico common law governs.

How New Mexico courts weigh time, geography and legitimate business interest for counselors, social workers and BCBAs was outside the research for this page, so treat any covenant covering an unlisted role as untested and have New Mexico employment counsel review it before you rely on it.

For the clinicians the statute covers, non-solicits survive where non-competes do not.

The law does not limit nonsolicitation provisions covering patients and employees that last one year or less after the last date of employment.

For a covered clinician — the psychologist or PMHNP whose non-compete is unenforceable — a patient and employee non-solicit of one year or less is the covenant the statute leaves you.

Keep to the one-year ceiling: the verified text preserves non-solicits of one year or less after the last date of employment, and the sources for this page do not establish how a longer tail would fare.

Note that the clause reaches both patients and employees — the two groups affected when a clinician leaves with an active caseload.

For staff outside the statute's list, the statute does not speak to their agreements at all, and how New Mexico common law treats their non-solicits was outside the research for this page — review those clauses the same way you would their non-competes.

And before you copy a non-solicit from an out-of-state template, check how that state treats it: our guide to non-solicitation clauses maps the states and the ethics standards that shape a client handoff.

Start by taking the dead clause out of your templates rather than leaving it in as a bluff: for a covered clinician whose agreement the statute's dates reach, the non-compete will not hold once the employment ends, and a clause you cannot enforce still colors an offer.

Then use what the statute leaves enforceable:

• A non-solicitation provision covering patients and employees for one year or less after the last date of employment.
• Repayment provisions: the law leaves enforceable provisions requiring a practitioner who worked less than three years to repay loans, relocation expenses, signing bonuses or recruiting, education and training expenses. A training repayment agreement is its own instrument with its own rules — our guide to training repayment agreements covers them.
• Nondisclosure provisions on confidential information and trade secrets.
• Liquidated damages that are reasonable when the agreement is signed — unreasonably large liquidated damages are void as a penalty.

Two structural notes.

First, you cannot draft around the statute by importing another state's law: a provision in an agreement for clinical health care services in New Mexico that makes the agreement subject to another state's law, or requires litigation in another state, is void.

Second, the statute does not apply to agreements between practitioners who are shareholders, owners, partners or directors of a health care practice — ownership and buy-in agreements sit outside it, and they need counsel to paper.

For counselors, social workers, MFTs and BCBAs, do not read the statute's silence as a green light: common law governs, so have counsel review before you rely on the covenant.