Physician Builder Spotlight: Chaitanya Mamillapalli

We’re shining light on MD-entrepreneurs! Each week, we feature an entrepreneurial doctor who’s building a cool product, company, or working on a big idea that you definitely want to know about. This week, meet Chaitanya Mamillapalli, CEO of CareHealth (more on the company’s mission below!). You can connect further with Chaitanya on LinkedIn.

1. Chaitanya, what inspired you to become a physician entrepreneur As a practicing endocrinologist, I experienced firsthand the administrative burnout plaguing our profession. While EHRs handle about 90% of general tasks reasonably well, they're monolithic systems that fail at specialty-specific workflows where we spend most of our time. When customization is possible, it can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and take months to implement. What frustrated me most was discovering that health tech companies often build solutions without meaningful input from physicians. By the time products reach us, they are often "fully baked," making them difficult to modify and lacking critical workflow nuances that only practicing clinicians understand.

As an experienced physician with a deep, granular understanding of clinical workflows, what I call "6 levels down" knowledge, I realized I had a unique opportunity. My passion for solving complex problems through healthcare technology motivated me to found CareHealth, where I can collaborate with cross-functional teams to build solutions from the ground up, ensuring they work in real clinical environments rather than just conference room demos.

2. Tell us what your company does and what problem you're trying to solve. CareHealth creates EHR-embedded specialty modules that target the critical 10% gaps where existing EHRs fall short: the specialty-specific, complex clinical tasks where physicians spend most of their time. We start by identifying specific workflow problems that practicing physicians face daily, then build customized solutions using the Smart on FHIR framework that work directly within existing EHR marketplaces, much like apps on your smartphone. Our suite includes AI-assisted clinical workflow improvement (EHR-integrated AI scribe with patient context + ultra-customizable workflows for providers), ChemoFlow for comprehensive oncology workflow management, specialty-specific flowsheets for complex medical conditions, and cross-EHR communication tools. These communication solutions include Microsoft Teams embedded apps that connect different hospital systems and Cisco contact center embedded apps that reduce the time call center staff spend accessing patient information.

The core problem we're solving is that EHRs lack comprehensive specialty modules, forcing providers to implement expensive workarounds, manual processes, or costly customizations that can cost over $1 million and take months to complete. Meanwhile, communication silos between different EHR platforms create dangerous care gaps when patients transfer between health systems.

CareHealth has been successfully deployed at Springfield Clinic, a large Midwest healthcare system with 650+ physicians serving over half a million patients. We achieved this implementation through bootstrapping, proving that physician-led innovation can scale effectively without massive venture funding.

By operating directly within existing EHR interfaces rather than as standalone applications, we eliminate context switching and restore clinical focus, allowing physicians to spend more time with patients and less time navigating their technology.

3. What's your advice to anyone thinking about entrepreneurship or a nontraditional career in medicine? Start by solving problems you experience daily in your practice. In the current era of AI, taking a granular, six-levels-deep approach to understanding the problem has become equally important as the solution itself.

• Embrace AI as your ideation partner. Utilize tools like Claude, ChatGPT, and Perplexity to generate ideas and brainstorm solutions. If the current market doesn't offer a comparable product, you've found a potential starting point. This creative problem-solving process can be an antidote to physician burnout.
• Finding the right cofounder is critical. Prioritize curiosity, dedication, and passion over credentials. Look for someone who combines genuine excitement about solving healthcare problems with demonstrated technical talent and willingness to get their hands dirty with coding and system architecture.
• Start before you're ready. Accept that you won't know all the answers - you'll find them as you go along. Focus on specific, underserved needs where you can deliver measurable value rather than trying to build the next big EHR.
• Stay adaptable. Be willing to pivot and evolve your ideas based on what you learn. Use AI as a communication bridge with technical cofounders to translate clinical concepts into technical requirements and vice versa.

Most importantly, embrace the uncertainty. If you can't handle not knowing what next month will bring, entrepreneurship probably isn't for you.

4. How can a physician overcome the "start" problem and their biggest fear? AI has democratized innovation, wisdom, intelligence, and opportunities, making this an exceptional time to start an entrepreneurial journey. The barriers that once prevented physicians from building technology solutions have largely disappeared. Your curiosity and passion for solving problems are now more valuable than ever, and AI can help you tie up the loose ends where you lack technical expertise.

I was inspired by the simple truth that "even a 10,000-mile journey starts with a single step." The idea you start with will evolve - it doesn't need to be perfect from day one. It shouldn't be. The market will teach you what matters, and your initial concept will morph based on real user feedback.

Begin with small pilots in your practice or with trusted colleagues. This gives you real-world validation and immediate feedback. This approach eliminates the intimidation factor of selling to strangers and provides a safe environment for iteration and improvement.

Remember, you don't need to quit your day job immediately. Start small, validate your concept, and let the results guide your next steps. The biggest fear most physicians have is failure, but the biggest risk is not trying at all while watching non-clinicians build suboptimal solutions to problems that we understand better than anyone.

5. What's the #1 lesson you've learned that wasn't obvious before? Your biggest competition isn't other startups - it's the status quo. I spent months analyzing competitors, but the real battle was convincing physicians to adopt new, automated processes. Even broken workflows become comfortable habits. We had to prove our solution was dramatically better, not just incrementally better.

6. What are some top resources for physician entrepreneurs?

• Microsoft for Startups: Provided critical early validation and $150K+ in cloud credits. Great mentors.
• AWS for Startups
• Gust Launch: For incorporation and agreements.
• EHR Marketplace partnerships:
  • Athena Health
  • EPIC
• Mass Challenge accelerator program
• Clearwater Security partnership: Essential for HIPAA/SOC2 compliance without building security expertise in-house

7. How can other physicians support you? We're always open to clinical feedback, pilot opportunities, and strategic partnerships. Here's how you can help:

• Share workflow pain points - If you're experiencing EHR challenges, let's brainstorm solutions together. The best innovations come from understanding actual clinical friction points.
• Specialty collaboration - We've developed ChemoFlow for oncology workflow management. Oncologists, I'd love your feedback on optimization and safety protocols.
• Leadership connections - Introductions to physician IT leaders, administrators, and clinical directors help us understand unmet needs and explore collaborative solutions.
• Beta testing - We're seeking forward-thinking physicians willing to pilot our solutions. Early adopters get input on development, preferential pricing, and satisfaction of building tools that work.
• Industry connections - Introductions to other physician entrepreneurs, healthcare investors, or strategic partners are always appreciated.
• Investment opportunities - We're raising our $1M SAFE round and welcome connections with qualified investors.

You can learn more at https://carehealth.ai, reach me at chaitanya@carehealth.ai, or connect on LinkedIn here. I respond to every message from fellow physicians - we're all in this together to fix healthcare technology.

Bonus Questions About AI

1. What's an actual helpful GPT prompt for clinical work?

"Generate a professional insurance prior authorization appeal letter for [specific medication/procedure] for a [age]-year-old patient with [diagnosis]. Include: clinical rationale based on current guidelines, previous treatment failures with [list alternative treatments tried], Format for [insurance company name] submission requirements."

2. What's one AI tool you can't live without?

Claude

3. What are the top AI resources for physicians?

• Open Evidence
• BrainX AI Community: Active physician community focused on practical AI implementation in healthcare
• Practical AI Tools for Daily Use:
  • Perplexity Pro: Best for quick clinical literature searches with citations
  • Claude/ChatGPT: Patient education materials, clinical documentation, and complex case analysis
  • Consensus.app: Academic paper synthesis for evidence-based decision making

If you are interested in investing or learning more, you can connect with Chaitanya on LinkedIn and learn more about his company here.