PBN Leaders & Achievers Awards 2025
BETHANY SPADARO
Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island Commercial pharmacy director
INSPIRED BY HER maternal grandmother, who helped establish a Lynn, Mass.-based program for the elderly, Bethany Spadaro has been paying it forward in her own way.
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Pharmacy chain, long-term care, primary care, health insurance member-level care, regardless of employer or role, Spadaro – Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island’s commercial pharmacy director – has championed dignity, respect and patient-centered decision-making throughout her 28-year career.
“I felt becoming a pharmacist aligned with working with older adults and advocating for their health care,” she said. “My work definitely advanced beyond geriatrics.”
Spadaro graduated from the University of Rhode Island College of Pharmacy with board certifications in geriatric pharmacy and diabetes care and education. Certified in pharmaceutical management by Cornell University, Spadaro works with Blue Cross’ pharmacy benefit manager, sales department and employer group.
As more pharmacy-related legislative bills have been proposed over the past two years, Spadaro has shared her clinical expertise and perspective to simplify pharmaceutical complexities. After Blue Cross’ legislative affairs team heard negative feedback, Spadaro leveraged her experience on the provider side and her experience as a dual-eligible special needs plan pharmacist to create a more “personal touch” approach to challenges being voiced by external providers and members.
“A lot of businesspeople don’t have that pharmacy know-how,” Spadaro said. “I couple the business side of pharmacy with the clinical aspect of pharmacy to ensure we are providing good care to our members – offering the right medications at the right time at the right cost to treat them wholistically.”
As she carves out her role in this newly created director’s position, Spadaro sees affordability as a concern she wants to tackle. With medication costs continuing to increase and inflate, affordability is an issue for people who need to take medicines and for employer groups trying to offer good benefits for the people who work for them, she says.
“I’m not sure where exactly it starts,” she said. “But we absolutely need to do something to help make medication more affordable.”
