Stephanie Norris, Chelsea McCormick, Ryan Hare
Ryan Hare, PharmD, BCOP (Board Certified in Oncology Pharmacy), is excited to combine his love for science with his desire to help others. Dr. Hare is the Pharmacy Director brought on to head WNYBC’s specialty in-house pharmacy services critical to the long-term health maintenance of individuals with bleeding disorders.
Ryan believes in an “open” pharmacy model that prioritizes accessibility for patients and clinical staff. His goal is to enhance the overall patient experience by offering information, alleviating fears, and ensuring convenience and support for medical management.
In addition, a key focus area of Hare’s is on improvements to Pharmacy processes and procedures. The organization’s application for Specialty Pharmacy URAC (Utilization Review Accreditation Commission) certification demonstrates the value WNYBC places in delivering enhanced clinical services to patients, payers, manufacturers, and providers.
“Having a pharmacy embedded within the clinic allows for enhanced care coordination, shared decision-making, real-time response and reducing fragmentation found when pharmacy services are handled by a separate entity,” said Hare.
Hare’s commitment to personalized patient care is founded in a multidisciplinary approach. He brings more than just dispensing medication to comprehensive patient care. In fact, evidence-based literature shows that the more time a pharmacist spends with a patient in educating them on their medications the better the patient’s outcome. Patient education on side effects and expectations has been shown to reduce hospital admissions and medication errors.
Ryan shared that at WNYBC, “We have the unique niche of being able to provide patients with comprehensive care by seeing several health care specialists in one visit but are roughly the size of a primary care office. Usually, comprehensive care is provided in large medical centers where patients have extensive wait times and must go to multiple clinics and areas throughout the hospital center. This is where fragmentation of clinics often results in miscommunication between care clinics and long patient wait times”. At WNYBC specialists rotate to see the patients rather than patients having to move around multiple clinics.
Dr. Hare values the increased patient counseling and involvement with the comprehensive team. “Medication management is a huge and very important component for hemophilia and other blood disorders. A medication specialist should be an active participant in the comprehensive care team”.
The numbers show that a patient may only retain a portion of what a provider tells them in a clinical setting. At WNYBC, our specialized pharmacist can provide follow-up support that can maximize the benefit of patient medication management.
WNYBC’s Specialty Pharmacy is distinct from other outside dispensing pharmacies in that Dr. Hare’s role allows for formal and intimate knowledge of the patient receiving the medication, including access to a patient’s electronic medical record. That’s not the case at outside pharmacies with dispensing pharmacists only.
Personal patient care is a priority for Hare and the center. While some out-of-state pharmacies, or dispensing pharmacies may not be responsive to patient medication refills, causing lapses in treatment, Ryan and his team have driven to patients’ homes throughout WNY to deliver medications after hours. That’s the commitment of a comprehensive care approach to patient care.
“In addition, my Board Certification in Oncology Pharmacy (BCOP) offers a huge advantage because of the level of specialty required in supporting patients with hematological and oncological complications”, said Hare. Dr. Hare is one of only about 180 BCOP pharmacists in New York State. Because NYS has Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and others there are more BCOP pharmacists. Some states have less than five in the entire state and most HTCs do not employ Board Certified Hematology/Oncology pharmacists.
Hare received his Bachelor of Science in Biology from Western Carolina University. It was his time as a senior pursuing his BS that he discovered his interest in pharmacology. “I found that I appreciated the research opportunities in this area of medicine”, said Dr. Hare. He also spent a semester abroad in Australia at Macquarie University in Sydney. He received his Doctor of Pharmacy from the State University of New York at Buffalo with a specialty in Hematology/Oncology, where he graduated Cum Laude.
Dr. Hare is Board Certified in Oncology Pharmacy and holds a license from the NYS Board of Pharmacy. Before joining WNY BloodCare, Hare spent 14 years working in the pharmacy department at the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, NY.
He also has enjoyed serving as an adjunct professor for Oncology in the Schools of Pharmacy at various institutions. He has contributed to scientific articles published in reputable journals such as Blood, the Journal of Oncology, the Journal of Oncology Pharmacy Practice, and Anticancer Research.
Ryan is a native of Central NY. He enjoys being with his wife and two boys, hiking, running, playing tennis and golfing.
