This is the simple story of when the Federal Trade Commission decided to focus its massive enforcement resources on a small cooperative of hospitals and physician clinics in rural southwestern Minnesota.
Best known as the home to Lake Wobegon, where all the men are strong, all the women are good looking and all the children are above average, it is one of the most sparsely settled parts of the country.
Like all areas in rural America, this region faces daunting challenges in the delivery of adequate health care: diminishing population, vulnerable high-use citizens and the difficulty of retaining physicians or keeping community hospitals in operation.
The above excerpt was originally published in Hospitals and Health Networks.
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