CoverMyMeds (McKesson)
The largest electronic prior authorization network for medications
Our take
CoverMyMeds, founded in Columbus in 2008 and acquired by McKesson in 2017 for about $1.1B, operates the largest electronic prior authorization network for medications in the US. Prescribers and pharmacy staff use it at no charge to submit and track PA requests across payers and PBMs, working inside hundreds of EHRs and pharmacy systems; pharmaceutical manufacturers and payers pay for the network and for medication access, affordability, and adherence programs built on top of it.
It remains the default utility for pharmacy benefit PA, reporting 43 million prior authorizations completed during the 2025 reverification season. In June 2025 it bought RxLightning, which digitizes specialty medication enrollment, and FastAuth, which handles medical benefit PA in areas like oncology and radiology, pushing it beyond retail pharmacy workflows. The main watch item for buyers is payer coverage: some plans have moved ePA volume to Surescripts (Independence Blue Cross did in August 2025), so confirm that the payers you bill most actually transact through the network.
What it does
- Electronic prior authorization for retail and specialty drugs
- Specialty enrollment and hub services (RxLightning)
- Medical benefit PA for oncology and radiology (FastAuth)
- Benefit checks and prescription price transparency
- Patient affordability and copay program delivery
Where it's strong
- Network effects are real: it completed 43 million prior authorizations in the 2025 reverification season and most prescribers already have accounts.
- Free for providers and pharmacies, which makes adoption easy.
- McKesson ownership ties it into specialty distribution and pharma services that competitors cannot match.
What buyers should weigh
- Coverage is payer-dependent and shifting: Independence Blue Cross dropped CoverMyMeds for Surescripts ePA in August 2025, so verify your payer mix routes through it.
- It centers on medication PA; medical benefit and procedure prior auth needs mostly require other tools despite the FastAuth acquisition.
- Its revenue comes from pharma and payers, so provider-side feature priorities can lag.
Latest
Acquired RxLightning and FastAuth in mid 2025 to extend from pharmacy PA into specialty enrollment and medical benefit prior authorization.
Also in Prior Authorization
Cohere Health
Intelligent prior auth platform for payers
Rhyme
Connecting payers and providers for touchless auths
Humata Health
AI prior authorization for providers and payers
Develop Health
AI benefit verification and prior auth for prescriptions
Silna Health
Prior auth and benefits automation for therapy providers
SamaCare
Prior authorization platform for buy-and-bill specialty drugs
Valer (Voluware)
Prior auth submission and tracking automation across payer portals
Anterior
Clinician-led AI for health plan clinical reviews
Infinx
AI plus specialists for prior auth and patient access
SparkChange
Finds missing auths and fixes them before denials
Track this market
First Pass covers Prior Authorization and the rest of the getting-paid stack every week.