Judge Christopher Coury on Friday ruled that the number of cases of and deaths from Covid-19 in nursing homes, long-term facilities, and retirement homes, aren't required to be made public, in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from Arizona, District of Columbia, and Oklahoma.
- Arizona: Judge Christopher Coury on Friday ruled that Arizona does not have to make available to the public data on the numbers of cases and deaths of Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, among nursing homes, long-term facilities, and retirement homes in the state. Coury issued the ruling in a lawsuit filed by a group of news organizations that asked the court to compel Arizona's Department of Health Services to make the data public. Coury in his ruling stated that the information is considered private under several state regulations (AP/Modern Healthcare, 6/1).
- District of Columbia: The American Pharmacists Association (APhA) on Monday swore in Scott Knoer as its new CEO. Knoer previously served as chief pharmacy officer for the Cleveland Clinic. Knoer succeeds Thomas Menighan, who was APhA's CEO for 11 years (Anderson, Becker's Hospital Review, 6/1).
- Oklahoma: Oklahoma officials have submitted a letter to CMS asking to withdraw its waiver request to expand the state's Medicaid program via block grants that would have capped the amount of federal funding Oklahoma would receive for the expansion. The state had been one of the first to apply for a block-grant Medicaid expansion under guidance the Trump administration released earlier this year, but officials now are seeking to pull the request due to funding concerns brought on by the country's Covid-19 epidemic (Reuter, MedCity News, 6/1).