ELMSFORD, N.Y. — Richard Smith has been promoted from president and chief operating officer to chief executive officer at BioScrip Inc.

Plans call for Smith to take the chief executive reins at the pharmacy operator January 1. He will replace current chairman and chief executive officer Richard Friedman, who will step down as chief executive to serve as nonexecutive chairman.

“Rick has made significant improvements to the operations of BioScrip, as demonstrated by the integration of the Critical Homecare Solutions acquisition. Now is the perfect time to transition leadership over to him,” Friedman states. “Having spent more than a decade at BioScrip in various executive management and board roles, I’m proud to have been a part of the company’s transformation into a key player in the specialty pharmacy and home infusion industry.”

Smith has served as BioScrip’s president and chief operating officer since January 2009.

Before joining BioScrip, he was chief executive officer and a director of Byram Healthcare Center Inc., a provider of medical supplies and pharmacy items for long-term chronic patients, and prior to that he was president and chief operating officer of Option Care Inc., a home infusion and specialty pharmaceutical firm.

“It’s an exciting time to lead BioScrip, given our strong position in the industry,” comments Smith. “We have many great assets, and I look forward to building an organization based on accountability, growing value through leveraging core competencies, and maximizing margins and operating cash flow generation.”