Brett Kelman

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bkelman@kff.org

Dentists Are Pulling 鈥楬ealthy鈥 and Treatable Teeth To Profit From Implants, Experts Warn

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Americans are getting dental implants more than ever 鈥 and at costs reaching tens of thousands of dollars. Experts worry some dentists have lost sight of the soul of dentistry: preserving and fixing teeth.

Tennessee Tries To Rein In Ballad鈥檚 Hospital Monopoly After Years of Problems

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Ballad Health, a 20-hospital system with the nation’s largest state-sanctioned hospital monopoly, serves patients in Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky, and North Carolina.

Tennessee Agrees To Remove Sex Workers With HIV From Sex Offender Registry

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For years, Tennessee has required anyone convicted of prostitution while HIV-positive to register as a sex offender for life. In response to DOJ and ACLU discrimination suits, the state has agreed to reverse course.

鈥楢 Bottomless Pit鈥: How Out-of-Pocket TMJ Costs Drive Patients Into Debt

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Millions of Americans suffer from temporomandibular joint, or TMJ, disorders. The high cost and poor insurance coverage of TMJ care can bury patients in debt even as the treatments do more harm than good.

Fake Therapist Fooled Hundreds Online Until She Died, State Records Say

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A Florida woman with no training in mental health services pretended to be a licensed social worker during online therapy sessions with Brightside Health patients.

Falsa terapeuta enga帽贸 a cientos de pacientes en Internet, y solo se supo porque muri贸

麻豆女优 Health News Original

Cientos de estadounidenses pueden haber recibido terapia, sin saberlo, de una impostora sin formaci贸n que se hizo pasar por terapeuta en sesiones por internet, posiblemente durante dos a帽os. El enga帽o s贸lo se descubri贸 cuando muri贸, seg煤n registros de departamentos de salud estatales.

Tennessee Gives This Hospital Monopoly an A Grade 鈥 Even When It Reports Failure

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Ballad Health, a 20-hospital system in Tennessee and Virginia, benefits from the largest state-sanctioned hospital monopoly in the United States and is the only option for hospital care for a large swath of Appalachia.

Medics at UCLA Protest Say Police Weapons Drew Blood and Cracked Bones

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In contrast to police statements, volunteer medics said they treated serious wounds as UCLA鈥檚 pro-Palestinian protest was besieged by police and counterprotesters, including some injuries that appeared to be caused by 鈥渓ess lethal鈥 projectiles fired by cops.

M茅dicos que atendieron a manifestantes en la protesta estudiantil en la UCLA dicen que la polic铆a dej贸 huesos rotos y hemorragias

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La protesta de la UCLA, que reuni贸 a miles de personas que se oponen a los continuos bombardeos de Israel sobre la Franja de Gaza, comenz贸 en abril y alcanz贸 un peligroso crescendo en mayo, cuando manifestantes pro Israel y la polic铆a se enfrentaron a los activistas y a los que los apoyaban.

FDA Said It Never Inspected Dental Lab That Made Controversial AGGA Device

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Johns Dental Laboratories stopped making the Anterior Growth Guidance Appliance last year after a 麻豆女优 Health News-CBS News investigation into allegations of patient harm. The company had 鈥渘ever鈥 reported any complaints about its products to the FDA, according to the agency.

The NIH Hopes To Make TMJ 鈥楤earable.鈥 It Has a Long Way To Go.

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The National Institutes of Health is spending more money than ever to solve the mysteries of TMJ disorders 鈥 little-understood ailments that afflict as many as 33 million Americans. Temporomandibular joint disorders, known as TMJ or TMD, cause pain in the jaw and face that can range from discomfort to disabling, with severe symptoms far […]

The Horrors of TMJ: Chronic Pain, Metal Jaws, and Futile Treatments

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TMJ disorders affect as many as 1 in 10 Americans and yet remain poorly understood and ineffectively treated. Many common treatments used by dentists lack scientific evidence.

A State-Sanctioned Hospital Monopoly Raises Concerns

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The Federal Trade Commission has long argued that competition makes the economy better. But some states have stopped the agency from blocking hospital mergers that create local or regional monopolies, and the results have been messy. Two dozen states have at some point passed controversial legislation waiving anti-monopoly laws, allowing rival hospitals to merge and replacing competition […]

After Appalachian Hospitals Merged Into a Monopoly, Their ERs Slowed to a Crawl

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Ballad Health was granted the nation鈥檚 largest state-sanctioned hospital monopoly in 2018. Since then, its emergency rooms have become more than three times as slow.

鈥楢GGA鈥 Inventor Testifies His Dental Device Was Not Meant for TMJ or Sleep Apnea

麻豆女优 Health News Original

The FDA and Department of Justice are investigating the Anterior Growth Guidance Appliance, or 鈥淎GGA.鈥 TMJ and sleep apnea patients have filed lawsuits alleging the device harmed them. Its inventor now says the AGGA was never meant for these ailments.

Patients Expected Profemur Artificial Hips to Last. Then They Snapped in Half.

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The FDA and the manufacturer were alerted to Profemur titanium hips breaking inside U.S. patients as of 2005. It took 15 years to recall the devices. Many fractures could have been avoided.

“Peor de lo que la gente cree”, cambios en Medicaid crean caos en los estados

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Tanto beneficiarios como defensores de pacientes dicen que los funcionarios de Medicaid enviaron formularios de renovaci贸n obligatoria a direcciones viejas, calcularon mal los niveles de ingresos e hicieron malas traducciones de los documentos.

These Appalachia Hospitals Made Big Promises to Gain a Monopoly. They鈥檙e Failing to Deliver.

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Ballad Health, the only hospital system across a large swath of Tennessee and Virginia, has fallen short of quality-of-care and charity care obligations 鈥 even as it鈥檚 sued thousands of patients for unpaid bills.