Q: DEAR DR. MARGOLIES: I AM HIRING A DC TO COVER MY PRACTICE FOR A FEW MONTHS FOR MATERNITY LEAVE. SHE WILL BEGIN MAY 1ST AND WORK THRU JULY/AUGUST. I HAVE NEVER DONE THIS BEFORE AND AM WONDERING IF YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE/INFO FOR ME. SHOULD I HIRE AS ASOCCIATE OR INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR, DO YOU HAVE ANY SAMPLE CONTRACTS I CAN USE, ANY OTHER ADVICE? ANY INPUT YOU HAVE WOULD BE VERY HELPFUL. MY STATE ASSOCIATION IS USELESS. THANKS SO MUCH, A: Thanks for the e-mail and congrats on having a baby. I wish I had the best answer for you. I would suspect you pay this DC possibly 40% of what she or he takes in or you can go 50/50. The expenses of supplies etc is on you and therefore this split is clean and fair. If this is not acceptable there are relief DC's that get paid $300 a full day no matter what they do per day or $150-200 for a half day. See if that works. Be sure they have malpractice insurance or are covered under yours .. just call your company and get a rider for it. There shouldn't be any complications other than liability and a fee to pay them. As far as a contract .. I don't have one to provide you but you may wish to visit this webpage: www.chiro-connect.com which has some ideas about associateships. The associate title represents a salary rather than the IC which pays you a salary for rental space and/or a %. Since this is a salaried person for a few months you may wish to discuss a set salary as above with bonuses built in if they get new patients or even maintain the same numbers before you left for leave. I will post your request this week Have a Great day Dr. M