Bryan Schuessler

Bryan’s Story

Dr. Schuessler received his Pharm.D. from the University of Kansas School of Pharmacy in 2010 and went on to complete a Health System Pharmacy Administration residency earning a Master's degree from The University of Kansas Health System. After residency Dr. Schuessler worked at The University of Florida at Shands Hospital as an operations supervisor, and in 2014 transitioned back to the Midwest to Saint Luke's Health System where he began managing inpatient operations. Shortly after joining Saint Luke's he took the opportunity to move into his current role as the Director of Home Infusion and Specialty Pharmacy. Dr. Schuessler is involved in several local and national organizations including currently serving as the President of the Greater Kansas City Society of Health System Pharmacists and is actively involved with ASHP through the Practice Managers Section Advisory Group on Leadership Development. .

Overview of Facility/Health System

The Saint Luke’s Health System network includes 10 hospitals and campuses across the Kansas City region including a home care and hospice division. Saint Luke's is best known for having the region’s longest continuously operating adult heart transplant program, and one of the nation’s top 20 cardiology and heart surgery programs as well as the region’s only treatment center for advanced breast cancer, the Koontz Center for Advanced Breast Cancer at Saint Luke’s Cancer Institute. .

Significant Projects 

Most recently Dr. Schuessler led the design and development of Saint Luke's Advanced Care Pharmacy which included redesigning and building a new USP 797 compliant cleanroom for home infusion as well as implementing a specialty pharmacy division. He has begun work with Saint Luke's pharmacy leaders on the integration of inpatient and ambulatory pharmacy practice models to efficiently care for patients across the system and continues to work heavily on expanding the specialty and home infusion pharmacies through focused services related to pharmacy reimbursement.

Advice for Someone New to Your Specialty Area

"Develop an understanding of medical and pharmacy billing as well as reimbursement practices. Being able to grasp these concepts, as well as communicate with leaders within your organization related to these, will assist you in multiple aspects of your career development. Similarly, challenge yourself by observing other professions to understand how they are reimbursed for their services and review payer contracts for an even more in depth understanding of reimbursement models. A leader must understand how to manage the business of pharmacy in order to care for the patient's the pharmacy serves."

Initial Involvement in ASHP

"I first became involved through my HSPA residency program in order to gain a better overall understanding of the practice of pharmacy within a health system as well as to help begin developing my pharmacy network. I found that ASHP offered a great opportunity to build relationships that would continue to positively impact my career for years to come."

Value of ASHP

"There are a variety of opportunities within ASHP which offer value to it's members but for me the networking framework that ASHP fosters has been critical to my professional development. Many of the valuable relationships I've built have been created and reinforced through ASHP meetings and work groups. Likewise, ASHP can serve to reenergize practitioners who are looking for career growth by providing a network to help expand your horizons."

"The value ASHP provides for the profession is a national unified voice in Washington in order to support members. There are certainly a variety of educational and research opportunities ASHP fosters yet the unified representation is key to the continued success of the profession."