Coffee industry stakeholders have argued that the measure should not apply to coffee, noting that acrylamide, the substance that subjects it to the ban, is a byproduct of roasting, not an ingredient, in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from California, Texas, and Wisconsin.
- California: The California agency in charge of regulating carcinogenic substances on Thursday heard testimony on a proposal that would exempt coffee from cancer warnings currently required by Proposition 65. A California judge this spring in a preliminary ruling said coffee should be subject to Proposition 65. Coffee industry stakeholders—including the National Coffee Association, a trade group that includes Starbucks—argued that the measure should not apply to coffee. Stakeholders note that acrylamide, the substance that subjects it to the ban, is a byproduct of roasting, not an ingredient. The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment will take comments on the proposal until Aug. 30 (Percannella, Los Angeles Times, 8/16).
- Texas: St. Joseph Medical Center in Houston named Kimberly Bassett as its new president, effective June 14. Bassett most recently served as the president of Norwood Hospital and previously served as president of Morton Hospital, both in Massachusetts. She succeeds Carl Beaudry, who served as interim president for St. Joseph since August 2017 (Para, Houston Business Journal, 8/16).
- Wisconsin: Children's Hospital of Wisconsin is planning a $265 million project at the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center in Wauwatosa. The project will include upgrades to its surgical department and ED, as well as a six-story addition. The expanded ED will help manage a 14% increase in emergency patients the hospital has seen over the past decade, according to Children's Hospital (Kirchen, Milwaukee Business Journal, 8/17).
Just updated: Your cheat sheets for understanding health care's legal landscape
To help you keep up with the ever-changing regulatory environment, we recently updated our cheat sheets on some of the most important—and complicated—legal landmarks to include a brand new one-pager on the new tax law.
Check out the cheat sheets now for everything you need to know about MACRA, the Affordable Care Act, antitrust laws, fraud and abuse prevention measures, HIPAA, and the two-midnight rule.