SpendRule names Beth Graefe as strategic advisor
The healthcare software company said Graefe will help guide growth as it expands in purchased services.
SpendRule said Aug. 27, 2026, that Beth Graefe, EdD, has joined the company as a strategic advisor. The Dallas-based company said she will help guide growth strategy and align the company with health system supply chain and finance priorities as it expands in purchased services.
SpendRule said healthcare purchased services is a roughly $360 billion category and one of the least governed areas of hospital spend. The company said its platform validates invoices against negotiated contract terms before payment is released.
The company said the platform adds contract compliance as a fourth layer to traditional three-way match, an accounting check that compares purchase orders, receipts and invoices. SpendRule said purchased services can include laundry, food services, maintenance and clinical engineering, and that contracts may run hundreds of pages with tiered pricing, price escalators, rebates, incentives and service-level terms.
According to the release, Graefe has more than 20 years of experience in health system transformation and has led more than 100 margin improvement initiatives nationwide. SpendRule said she previously served as chief performance officer for a hospital consortium and as chief operating officer of an academic medical center-led joint venture. The company said her work has included physician engagement, supply chain transformation and technology-enabled performance improvement.
The company also said Graefe is an author and speaker, holds dual master's degrees and a doctorate in organizational leadership, and serves as an adjunct professor at Texas Tech University and Grand Canyon University.
“I’m excited to help bring AI to a problem healthcare has faced for decades: ensuring hospitals pay only what they negotiated,” Graefe said in the release. She said the goal is to help make healthcare more affordable, transparent and accessible, and to unlock savings in areas that have lacked visibility and control.
SpendRule co-founder and CEO Chris Heckler said Graefe has spent her career where major margin decisions get made. He said her operator perspective and understanding of healthcare transformation will be valuable as the company expands and aims to help more health systems stop overpayments before they happen.
Co-founder Joseph Akintolayo said building AI that enforces contract terms requires more than engineering. He said it also requires understanding how supply chain and clinical teams operate inside a health system.
The release said SpendRule works with OSF HealthCare, Kettering Health, MemorialCare and MUSC Health. It also identified Daniel MacKinnon as chief revenue officer and included media contact details.
The company did not announce financial terms, a product launch timeline or new customer deals in the release.
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