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For-profit hospitals provide most inpatient physical therapy but tend to have worse readmission rates to general hospitals. Medicare doesn鈥檛 tell consumers about troubling inspections.
The Trump administration wants to shutter the CDC鈥檚 National Asthma Control Program, which provides millions in funding to state-administered initiatives aimed at fighting the disease. The program鈥檚 closure, combined with massive cuts to environmental programs, could put the 28 million Americans with asthma at increased risk.
Ballad Health, a state-sanctioned hospital monopoly in Tennessee and Virginia, can now be deemed a 鈥渃lear and convincing鈥 benefit to the public with performance that would earn a 鈥淒鈥 on most grading scales, according to Tennessee state documents.
One thing experts agree on: The damage from the funding cuts will be varied and immense.
Michael Kestner, CEO of Pain MD, was convicted of 13 fraud felonies after his company gave patients hundreds of thousands of questionable injections at clinics in Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina.
Correctional officers often dictate end-of-life care for incarcerated people who are terminally ill. Most states either don鈥檛 have a formal policy or are given leeway 鈥 a big concern for families and advocates, as the incarcerated population rapidly ages.
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A disruption in federal funds has jeopardized HIV testing and outreach in Mississippi, and researchers warn of a resurgence of the epidemic in the South.
The Biden administration shut off federal family planning grants to Tennessee and Oklahoma after the states directed clinics not to provide abortion counseling. The Trump administration restored the money, claiming two lawsuits were settled. They weren鈥檛.
In his first term, President Donald Trump granted pardons or clemency to more than 60 convicted fraudsters, including health care executives who defrauded Medicare out of hundreds of millions of dollars, courts and juries found. Now, Trump says cracking down on fraud is a priority.
As politicians demand that more Medicaid recipients work, many people with disabilities say their state programs鈥 income and asset caps force them to limit their work hours or turn down promotions.
Union Health has made a new bid to buy its only rival hospital in Terre Haute, Indiana. The system passed one hurdle after lawmakers watered down a bill that threatened the proposed deal. That means the merger will now face a likely showdown with Indiana鈥檚 new governor.
Republicans have proposed legislation in several states to ban the pioneering technology used in covid shots. Many doctors worry a huge medical advance could be rolled back.
Amid doctor shortages, several states have stopped requiring foreign-trained providers to repeat residencies before they鈥檙e fully licensed. Critics say patients could be harmed because of the loosened training requirements.
Frustrated by high health care prices, many who backed President Donald Trump support strong government actions to protect patients. It鈥檚 unclear whether GOP leaders will listen.
Pain MD, which once ran as many as 20 clinics across three states, gave chronic-pain patients about 700,000 total injections near their spines, according to court documents. Last year, federal prosecutors proved at trial that the shots were medically unnecessary and part of an extensive fraud scheme.
State legislatures nationwide, including several in the South, are spending millions to improve rural health outcomes and access. For years, though, most Southern states have refused billions of federal dollars to provide public health insurance to more low-income adults. That isn鈥檛 likely to change with Trump back in office.
Telehealth startups including Ro and Nurx are spending millions to promote themselves as easy dispensers of medicines. Some companies offer care for birth control, sexual dysfunction, and more complex conditions, including behavioral health disorders and obesity.
Mississippi, Tennessee, and West Virginia 鈥 states with some of the worst health outcomes 鈥 also have some of the highest childhood vaccination rates. But doctors and health officials worry a rising tide of vaccine skepticism is causing those public health bright spots to dim.
After rival hospitals in Terre Haute scuttled plans to merge, a state senator has introduced a bill to forbid similar mergers by repealing a state law he helped write.
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