Jeff Lagasse

By choosing to take on some concierge clients and maintaining other clients who access their care through traditional insurance, doctors say they can keep their practices economically viable while transitioning away from a volume-centric model of care.

CMS' initiative was launched in late 2012 in response to the cost of avoidable hospitalizations to Medicare and Medicare.

Physicians from the six affected countries also make up a significant share of the workforce in the Rust Belt and Appalachian states.

The authors estimated that 12 percent of telehealth visits replaced visits to other providers, while 88 percent represented new utilization.

The move comes on the heels of its acquisition of Washington-based Group Health Cooperative on Feb. 1.

No longer the sole province of top-shelf regional health systems, the technological approach is being utilized even by outfits that don't provide direct care.

In all, healthcare employment accounts for about 12 percent of total employment in the state, and continues to grow faster than in other sectors.

Patient-advocacy organizations should have more rigorous disclosure practices, including fully identifying donation amounts, sponsors, authors say.

Main focus will be creation of an eight-bed, 3,900-square-foot transition unit located adjacent to the existing 16,600-square-foot adult ER.

Wisconsin's average penalty for 2017 will be 0.33 percent, which ranks the state at 17th when compared to other states.