DiscoverInspiring Women with Laurie McGrawWhat Happens When a Cancer Diagnosis at 17 Shapes Your Entire Career? With Rae McMahan || EP.206
What Happens When a Cancer Diagnosis at 17 Shapes Your Entire Career? With Rae McMahan || EP.206

What Happens When a Cancer Diagnosis at 17 Shapes Your Entire Career? With Rae McMahan || EP.206

Update: 2025-07-08
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Standing at a hospital desk at 17, facing a Hodgkin's disease diagnosis, Rae McMahan heard words that would reshape her entire life: "We don't have your prior authorization on file."


That broken moment in a broken system launched a career dedicated to fixing what fails patients every day. Now, as Senior Vice President of Payer Solutions at Prescriptive, Rae is revolutionizing how 260 million Americans access medications—because no one should discover what their life-saving prescription costs only when they reach the pharmacy counter.


But her journey wasn't straightforward. Expected to "get married, have kids and stay home," Rae chose a different path—one that led from nearly becoming a physician to mastering the business of healthcare transformation.


In this episode of Inspiring Women with Laurie McGraw, Rae also speaks about:



  • Why pharmacy benefits are the number one utilized benefit and first indicator of health problems

  • How text message prescriptions are disrupting decades of pharmacy confusion

  • What happens when technology costs go down everywhere except healthcare

  • Why connecting lab tests, AI, and genetics could eliminate medication guesswork

  • How to choose your own journey when it doesn't match family expectations

  • What it means to say "no" in a culture that expects women to say "yes"


Chapters


04:02 - A Teenager's Cancer Diagnosis Meets a Broken System 


06:33 - From Patient to Healthcare Revolutionary 


08:22 - The Reverse Technology Paradigm in Healthcare 


10:57 - The Magic Wand: Personalized Medicine Without the Guesswork 


13:35 - Choosing Your Journey Over Others' Expectations 


15:55 - Finding Your Village and Your Voice


Guest & Host Links





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What Happens When a Cancer Diagnosis at 17 Shapes Your Entire Career? With Rae McMahan || EP.206

What Happens When a Cancer Diagnosis at 17 Shapes Your Entire Career? With Rae McMahan || EP.206

Laurie McGraw