Develop Health vs SamaCare
Updated October 16, 2026
Clinics losing hours to medication prior authorizations often compare Develop Health and SamaCare. Develop Health works inside the EHR on pharmacy-benefit drugs such as weight-loss injections, while SamaCare focuses on medical-benefit drugs given in the clinic and is funded largely by drug makers. The type of drug behind most of your requests points to the answer.
Our analysts compared Develop Health and SamaCare on drugs covered, current users, automation, reported results, data, and rollout, using the HIR review of each company and SamaCare's own announcements. In the following sections, we compare the platforms, describe the clinic each fits, and note SamaCare's news this year.
Develop Health vs SamaCare at a glance, October 2026
| What buyers weigh | Develop Health | SamaCare |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Benefits checks and prior authorization automation for medications, built into the EHR, with quotes for each customer. | Platform access for specialty practices, often paid for through drug maker partnerships. Terms vary. |
| What drives cost | The number of submissions, the mix of drugs and specialties, how deeply it connects to the EHR, and appeals modules. | Practice volume, drug areas, and whether drug maker programs cover access. |
| Which drugs it covers | Pharmacy-benefit drugs a patient picks up or has shipped, such as GLP-1s and other specialty medications. | Medical-benefit drugs given in the clinic, such as infusions and injections in retina, oncology, neurology, and rheumatology. |
| Who uses it today | Telehealth and virtual care prescribers, including Ro, LifeMD, Sunrise, and Calibrate. | Specialty practices that account for more than $20 billion a year in specialty drug spend. |
| How much is automated | AI drafts the answers, staff review them, and it submits, follows up, and writes results back to the EHR. Clear edge | Staff submit through one workflow and it tracks status across payers, with AI guidance drawn from its prior authorization data. |
| Results it reports | Calibrate cut hands-on time per prior authorization from 10 minutes to 3. | With drug-maker premium services, a 70 percent cut in time to approval and a 20 percent rise in approval rates. |
| Data behind it | Newer, with a dataset built since 2022. | Says it holds the largest real-world dataset of medical-benefit prior authorization outcomes, built over nearly a decade. Clear edge |
| Getting it live | Scores 6.8, because it needs EHR and pharmacy benefit manager connections. | Scores 7.0, as a lighter rollout inside practice workflows. |
| Time to full value | About 3 to 9 months | About 3 to 7 months |
| What you need first | A list of the drugs and specialties you handle under the pharmacy benefit. | Specialty practices with real prior authorization volume for medical-benefit drugs. |
| Deal-breaker | You need a health plan's utilization review policy engine. | You are a payer buying a large utilization management suite. |
| Pricing clarity score | 6.7 | 6.6 |
| HIR overall score | 7.0, Recommend. | 7.1, Recommend. |
| Best for | Telehealth and specialty clinics buried in pharmacy-benefit prior authorizations for drugs such as GLP-1s. | Specialty practices buried in medical-benefit drug prior authorizations. |
| Not a fit for | Practices whose prior authorizations are mostly medical-benefit drugs given in the clinic. | Its price for practices is unclear, because drug makers fund most of the platform. |
Which fits which buyer
Sort last month's requests by pharmacy or medical benefit.
Choose Develop Health if
- Most requests are for pharmacy drugs patients pick up or receive by mail.
- You run a telehealth or virtual care practice.
- You want AI to draft, submit, and follow up inside the EHR.
Choose SamaCare if
- Most requests are for infusions and injections given in your clinic.
- You practice retina, oncology, neurology, or similar specialties.
- You are comfortable with a platform paid for mainly by drug makers.
Verdict
The scores are nearly even, so the drug mix decides. Develop Health suits telehealth and specialty prescribers of pharmacy drugs, and SamaCare suits clinics that give medical-benefit drugs on site.
Ask SamaCare how its practice-side terms work before signing.
Where the two tools are headed in 2027 and beyond
SamaCare: SamaCare published second-quarter benchmarks for medical-benefit prior authorization on July 28, 2026, and was named a Prix Galien USA finalist on August 13, 2026.
Track hands-on minutes per request for a month on each.
Methodology
Each row comes from the HIR reviews of Develop Health and SamaCare, scored under the HIR method, and from each vendor's public pricing where it exists. Any published price for Develop Health or SamaCare was checked on that vendor's own site on October 16, 2026.
A green check marks a clear edge for Develop Health or SamaCare only where their review scores differ by at least 0.3 points or the two reviews show a plain difference. Rows with nothing published for either Develop Health or SamaCare are left out, and time to full value for each adds up the rollout stages in its review.
Sources
- HIR review of Develop Health and HIR review of SamaCare
- Develop Health website
- SamaCare website
- SamaCare Q2 2026 benchmarks, July 28, 2026
- SamaCare Prix Galien finalist, August 13, 2026