Forus vs TailorMed (2026)
Both work the gap between a prescription being written and a patient actually taking the medicine, and they are funded differently. Forus automates the paperwork, generating and submitting the prior authorization, drafting appeals and routing to pharmacy, free to the prescriber. TailorMed finds the money, identifying financially at risk patients and matching them to assistance programs, sold to providers and pharmacies. Both are legitimate and they are not substitutes. The question to settle first is who pays for the free one, because a platform that routes prescriptions has an economic relationship somewhere in the chain, and neither vendor publishes what the patient is told about who is contacting them.
- It automates the paperwork path from prescription to pharmacy, generating and submitting authorizations, drafting appeals and finding affordability programs, at no cost to the prescriber.
- Coverage is stated as any drug, any insurance, any pharmacy, embedded at the point of prescribing.
- It states plainly that protected health information is covered under a business associate agreement, alongside a typed attestation.
- It identifies financially at risk patients across a large network of assistance programs, which is provider side work aimed at what the patient can pay.
- The buyer is the health system or pharmacy, so the incentive is the patient completing therapy affordably rather than a specific therapy being dispensed.
- Financial navigation reaches across therapies and payers rather than following one prescription.
This comparison is published by AI Health Index, an independent research platform that compares healthcare AI vendors objectively. Forus and TailorMed are each graded against the same capability taxonomy, from each vendor's own public materials and the regulatory record, under the AI Health Index verification standard. No vendor pays for placement, and no vendor has reviewed this page. How this evidence is graded
Plain facts
| Fact | Forus | TailorMed |
|---|---|---|
| Primary category | RCM & Prior Auth AI | Healthcare Administrative Automation |
| Founded | 2022 | 2016 |
| Headquarters | New York, New York, United States | New York, New York, United States |
| Website | forus.com | tailormed.com |
Side by Side
Select any grade to read the note behind it.
Each vendor in one paragraph
Written to be quoted whole. Each paragraph opens the AI Health Index profile of the vendor: what the product is, who buys it and what it does.
Forus, formerly Tandem (renamed in May 2026 with no change in ownership), is a medication access platform that automates the path from prescription to therapy at the point of prescribing.
Source: AI Health Index, August 2026
Medication access and financial navigation platform that identifies financially at risk patients, matches them against a large network of financial assistance and manufacturer programs, and automates enrollment inside health system workflows using live EHR data.
Source: AI Health Index, August 2026
Questions buyers ask
How do Forus and TailorMed work with the EHR?
Forus says it integrates with all major or cloud-based record systems and picks up the prescription at the point of electronic prescribing; practices whose record system does not integrate can upload records when asked, and practices that do not e-prescribe are not yet supported.
The Core page says the platform is deeply integrated with health system IT, keeps patient, prescription and program data in sync via HL7 and FHIR, the TailorMed API or SFTP, and populates program forms from live EHR data, and it verifies benefits through a clearinghouse. From the AI Health Index, drawn from each vendor's own published materials and the regulatory record, verified August 4, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
How are Forus and TailorMed priced and sold?
Forus says it is free for providers and patients, with no trial qualifier attached. The company describes itself as a network connecting doctors, pharmacies, payers and biopharma, and its privacy policy says it may sell anonymized data and aggregated insights to customers and other third parties.
For TailorMed, the company monetizes on several sides at once: a care team platform sold to providers, a patient facing product, a tech enabled service arm, and separately digital solutions sold to life sciences companies to improve access and time to therapy across its network. A provider is buying from a company that is also selling to the manufacturers whose assistance programs the platform matches patients into. From the AI Health Index, drawn from each vendor's own published materials and the regulatory record, verified August 4, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
How do Forus and TailorMed handle patient data?
Forus says its platform is HIPAA compliant and that all protected health information is covered by a business associate agreement. Its privacy policy, updated May 2026, says it may create anonymized and aggregated information and 'may sell anonymized data and aggregated insights to customers and other third parties', and keeps personal information as long as needed for its purposes, including pharmacy regulations.
The privacy notice covers patients whose data reaches TailorMed through its customers, and states general handling: encryption in transit and at rest, access limited to a small number of authorized staff under confidentiality commitments, retention for as long as needed to provide the services, and a security program said to comply with HIPAA and HITECH. From the AI Health Index, drawn from each vendor's own published materials and the regulatory record, verified August 4, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
How much do Forus and TailorMed leave to the clinician?
Forus says a clinician writes the prescription in the record as normal and Forus automatically generates and submits the prior authorization form, checks status with the plan, and routes the prescription to a pharmacy. When a request is denied the practice chooses the next step, such as starting an appeal that Forus drafts, and staff can follow every prescription in real time and step in.
With TailorMed, the structure itself is partly described. Navigators work queues the platform builds, forms are pre filled from live record data, and signatures are captured digitally. From the AI Health Index, drawn from each vendor's own published materials and the regulatory record, verified August 4, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
Related comparisons
Other published head to head assessments involving these vendors or their closest peers. The full set for this category is on the RCM & Prior Auth AI page.
The funding question is the whole comparison on one side: a platform free to the provider is paid for by someone else, and in medication access that is usually a manufacturer or pharmacy channel, so establish who funds it and what data flows back, because a platform routing prescriptions has an interest in where they land.
Neither vendor publishes what the patient is told at first contact, which matters because a patient often cannot tell whether the person helping them works for their clinic or for a drug company. Neither publishes subgroup performance.