The Supreme Court on Monday announced it will hear Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, a case from Mississippi that could challenge the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that established a constitutional right to abortion, in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Texas.

• District of Columbia: The Supreme Court on Monday announced it will hear Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, a case from Mississippi that could challenge the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision establishing a constitutional right to abortion. In Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, lower courts ruled as unconstitutional a Mississippi law banning abortion if the fetus's gestational age is more than 15 weeks, citing as precedent Roe v. Wade's prohibition on banning abortion before fetal viability, which is typically understood to occur around 23 or 24 weeks. The Supreme Court will hear arguments for the case in its next term, which starts in October, with a decision expected in the spring or summer of 2022 (Liptak, New York Times, 5/17).

• Maryland: Johns Hopkins University (JHU) on Monday announced it is launching a "pandemic data initiative" to highlight inconsistencies in Covid-19 data collection and reporting. The initiative will highlight and analyze challenges and irregularities in data as part of JHU's Coronavirus Resource Center (Fernandez, Axios, 5/17).

• Texas: HCA Houston Healthcare North Cypress has named Alexandra Brock as COO, effective June 21. Brock has served as VP of operations for the hospital since January and previously served as VP of cardiovascular services at HCA Healthcare's Gulf Coast division (Gooch, Becker's Hospital Review, 5/14).