Pennsylvania’s rollout of vaccines left smaller private physician practices with little to no information about when or if their staff can expect to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, a group of nine Pennsylvania physician associations wrote in an open letter to Gov. Tom Wolf and Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine.

Since Highmark Inc. began offering its value-based reimbursement program for primary care physicians in 2017, the Pittsburgh-based insurer says it helped its members avoid more than $1 billion in emergency department visits and hospital admissions.

Maintaining personal protection equipment for patients and staff has become a full-time job for independent health care providers who have not received the help from the state that their counterparts in health care systems have.

WellSpan Health’s newest executive vice president and chief physician executive is slated to join the York-based hospital system in July.