Over the past year, several large U.S. pharmacies have blocked or delayed Adderall prescriptions from telehealth startups, in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from Alabama, California, and New York.

• Alabama: Walker Baptist Medical Center appointed Suzanne Pugh as its new COO. Pugh, who previously served as the hospital's associate administrator, has experience managing operations and completing acquisitions and updates. "One of the main concerns and impacts during the pandemic was that many patients delayed routine visits and screenings," Pugh said. "With that in mind, we focused on increased access and availability of those services to meet the needs of our community. Our team remained diligent in establishing new services and updates needed over the past couple years. For example, we added 3D mammography, anterior hip replacement surgery, (bariatric) weight loss surgeries and we invested in new equipment and facility upgrades." (Birmingham Business Journal, 4/27)

• California: Some of the largest U.S. pharmacies have blocked or delayed Adderall prescriptions from telehealth startups Done Health and Cerebral over concerns that clinicians are writing too many prescriptions for stimulants. The federal government classifies these drugs as controlled substances—the same category as cocaine—because of their potential for abuse. Among the pharmacies that have blocked prescriptions from Done are Walmart, CVS, Walgreens Boots Alliance, and pharmacy startup Capsule. In addition, some pharmacies have blocked or delayed prescriptions from Cerebral clinicians over similar concerns. "There have been incidents where prescriptions have been temporarily delayed by pharmacies due to confusion around today's telehealth policies," Cerebral said. "This is an industrywide issue that we've seen and experienced with pharmacies across the country." Notably, the Wall Street Journal last month reported that some NPs at both Cerebral and Done have said they felt pressured to prescribe stimulants like Adderall, even though many believe the companies' 30-minute evaluations do not give them enough time to properly diagnose ADHD. (Winkler/Nassauer, Wall Street Journal, 4/27)

• New York: Teladoc Health on Monday appointed Vidya Raman-Tangella as its new CMO, effective April 25. As CMO, Raman-Tangella will focus on advancing health equity, clinical evidence and best practice, and physician training. "We are excited to welcome Vidya to the Teladoc Health team to lead our enterprise clinical strategy, policy and quality efforts and partner with our engineering and product teams to pursue innovation that drives better health outcomes," said Teladoc CEO Jason Gorevic. "Her background as a physician combined with her expertise and belief in the power of data to treat, cure and save lives make Vidya the perfect leader for our clinical vision and to further our mission to deliver the best-possible care when and where it's needed." (Diaz, Becker's Hospital Review, 4/25)