Rhyme vs SamaCare
Two Prior Authorization vendors, side by side. Facts from public sources; judgments are ours.
At a glance
Derived from public facts · a rough scale, not a ranking
| Rhyme | SamaCare | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Not published · Network deal terms not public | Free to providers (funded by payers/pharma) · Pharma funds premium services and data |
| Speed to go live | EHR integration project plus payer connections | Web portal, no IT project required |
| Automation model | Data / network utility · payer-provider prior auth network | Software platform · Unified PA portal, AI touchless tier |
| Built for | Enterprise systems, Payers | Small practices, Mid-size groups |
| Security posture | No certifications published | SOC 2 Type I, HIPAA |
| Company maturity | 12 yrs (est. 2014) | 8 yrs (est. 2018) |
| Financial backing | $57M · Venture-backed (Series B era) | $33M+ · Series B |
| Named customers | 3 named | None public |
| Published results | No public numbers | No public numbers |
| Documented integrations | EHR-agnostic | 4 listed |
| Third-party validation | None found | None found |
Bottom line
- Pick Rhyme if you are a large health system or health plan that wants prior auth handled inside the EHR through a shared payer-provider network.
- Pick SamaCare if you are a specialty practice buried in medical-benefit prior auths and want one free web portal replacing faxes and payer portals today.
Rhyme
Connecting payers and providers for touchless auths
- Founded
- 2014
- HQ
- Columbus, OH
- Stage
- Venture-backed (Series B era)
- Raised
- $57M
What it does
- Submits and tracks prior auths inside provider EHR workflows
- Connects providers and payers on one shared auth network
- Touchless auth processing with real-time payer decisions
- Gold carding programs that waive auths for trusted providers
- Shared payer-provider dashboard for auth status and collaboration
Where it's strong
- A working two-sided network: 80 to 90 of the largest health systems and over 300 payers processing 4 to 5 million auths a year.
- Auths run inside the EHR workflow staff already use, so adoption requires little retraining.
- Its gold carding model removes prior auth entirely for high-performing providers rather than just speeding up submissions.
What buyers should weigh
- Rhyme is connectivity and workflow, not a clinical decision engine; payers still need their own UM review stack (its Medical Mutual deal paired it with Cohere for exactly that reason).
- Value depends on payer overlap; auths for payers outside the network fall back to portals, fax, and phone.
- At roughly $57M raised and a modest team, it is a smaller vendor than RCM incumbents like Availity or Waystar, so weigh long-term durability and roadmap capacity.
Named customers
Medical Mutual of Ohio · Norton Healthcare · Ohio Hospital Association
Integrations
SamaCare
Prior authorization platform for buy-and-bill specialty drugs
- Founded
- 2018
- HQ
- San Francisco, CA
- Stage
- Series B
- Raised
- $33M+
What it does
- One portal for all medical benefit PA submissions
- AI-assisted form completion and payer requirements
- Status tracking, renewals, and expiration alerts
- Benefit verification and enrollment workflows
- Approval analytics across a 20K-provider network
Where it's strong
- Purpose-built for buy-and-bill drugs, a workflow retail-focused PA tools handle poorly.
- Free for practices because pharma funds it, which removes the budget fight.
- Network data from roughly 20,000 providers improves payer form accuracy and approval odds.
What buyers should weigh
- The pharma-funded model means manufacturers see aggregate data; understand the data terms before signing.
- Scope is medication PA for specialty drugs, not procedures, imaging, or surgical auths.
- Smaller company (Series B) than incumbent networks, so vendor risk is higher than with McKesson or Optum.
Integrations
Compare against the rest of Prior Authorization
Deciding between these two?
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