The convention, which had been scheduled to take place in mid-July, is now scheduled to begin Aug. 17, and last four days, in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from the District of Columbia, Oregon, and Wisconsin.
- District of Columbia: HHS' Office for Civil Rights (OCR) on Thursday announced that it would relax HIPAA enforcements and not penalize hospitals and businesses that disclose health information related to Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, in good faith. The move will help ensure CDC, CMS, and state and local health departments have "quick access to Covid-19 related health data to fight this pandemic," OCR Director Roger Severino said (Garrity, Becker's Hospital Review, 4/2; Meyer, Modern Healthcare, 4/2).
- Oregon: Army veteran William Lapschies on Wednesday celebrated his 104th birthday after recovering from Covid-19. Lapschies was one of Oregon's first residents to test positive for the disease after developing pneumonia in March. Now, "[h]e is fully recovered," according to his daughter Carolee Brown. Lapschies is now one of the oldest-known survivors of Covid-19 in the United States (Shepherd, Washington Post, 4/3).
- Wisconsin: The Democratic National Convention, which had been scheduled to take place in mid-July, has been postponed until Aug. 17 due to the Covid-19 epidemic in the United States. The convention currently is scheduled to last four days, but officials said they haven't yet determined whether the event's length or format will change. The change also pushes back the date when the Democratic Party's nominee will be able to use general election dollars to help fund their campaign (McCormick/Thomas, Wall Street Journal, 4/2).