Syam Palakurthy is the CEO of SamaCare, a platform simplifying the prior authorization process for healthcare providers, payers, and patients. Last year, his team raised a $17M Series B with the goal of making paying for healthcare as simple as a credit card swipe.

In this episode, we explore how Syam went from Bain & Company and ClearCost Health to tackling one of healthcare’s most hated administrative burdens. He breaks down why prior authorization exists, why it’s so entrenched in our system, and what it would take to increase transparency. We talk about the coordination failures across insurers, providers, and pharma companies - and how AI and automation are finally closing those gaps. Syam also shares how scaling a solution in such a fragmented ecosystem requires both deep empathy for providers and a systems-level understanding of healthcare economics.