What is Flatiron Health?
Flatiron Health provides a platform designed to aggregate and analyse cancer patient data for research purposes. The tool collects real-world oncology data from clinical settings and makes it available to researchers, pharmaceutical companies, and healthcare providers who need insights into cancer treatment patterns and outcomes. Rather than relying on traditional clinical trials alone, the platform draws from actual patient records, electronic health records, and treatment histories to identify trends and support evidence-based research. This approach allows researchers to study larger, more diverse patient populations and answer questions about treatment effectiveness in routine practice. The platform is free to access, making it available to academic institutions, hospitals, and research organisations that want to contribute to and benefit from its dataset.
Key Features
Real-world oncology data aggregation
collects deidentified patient records and treatment information from clinical partners
Data analysis tools
enables researchers to query and analyse cancer patient outcomes, treatment patterns, and survival data
Research collaboration
connects researchers with patient cohorts relevant to their studies
EHR integration
pulls data from electronic health records systems used in clinical settings
Outcome tracking
follows patient responses to treatment and long-term outcomes
Pros & Cons
Advantages
- Free access removes cost barriers for academic and non-profit research institutions
- Large, real-world dataset reflects actual clinical practice rather than controlled trial conditions
- Enables analysis of treatment effectiveness across diverse patient populations
- Data comes from active clinical settings, providing current information
Limitations
- Data availability depends on participating clinical sites, so geographic or institutional gaps may exist
- Deidentified data may limit ability to conduct certain longitudinal follow-up studies
- Requires institutional partnerships and data governance agreements to access full platform capabilities
Use Cases
Academic cancer researchers analysing treatment outcomes and efficacy across patient populations
Pharmaceutical companies studying real-world effectiveness of oncology drugs post-approval
Healthcare systems examining their own treatment patterns and outcomes against broader datasets
Clinical trial designers identifying patient populations and refining eligibility criteria
Health policy organisations researching cancer care access and equity issues