OpenEvidence Benchmark — What the Leader Sources From
Research on OpenEvidence's licensed corpus as a benchmark / reference for what a leading clinical-AI platform draws from. Used as a reality-check on Starlight's own data-source mix — sister pages in this section catalog what's available to us (free / paid / standardized).
About OpenEvidence
OpenEvidence is the most widely used medical AI platform among verified U.S. physicians, founded in 2021 by Daniel Nadler (PhD, Harvard; previously founded Kensho, acquired by S&P Global for $550M) and Zachary Ziegler (CTO). As of early 2026, it has a $12 billion valuation, ~$700M in total funding, ~$150M ARR, and is used by 40%+ of U.S. physicians across 10,000+ hospitals.
Source Data Sets — Complete Enumeration
OpenEvidence draws from a proprietary corpus of 35+ million peer-reviewed medical publications via a combination of licensed content partnerships, open biomedical databases, and clinical guideline agreements.
Licensed Journal & Publisher Partnerships
| Source | Description | Pricing Model |
|---|---|---|
| NEJM | Full-text content from the world's most-cited medical journal. Partnership Feb 2025. | Licensed/Subscription — Institutions ~$175-$4,000+/yr; OpenEvidence pays licensing fee |
| JAMA Network (12 journals) | JAMA and 11 specialty journals. Multi-year agreement June 2025. | Licensed/Subscription — Institutional $2,000-$20,000+/yr |
| Wiley (400+ journals & books) | Comprehensive portfolio including Holland-Frei Cancer Medicine, Rook's Dermatology, Yamada's Gastroenterology. Partnership March 2026. | Licensed/Subscription — Institutional bundles $10K-$100K+/yr |
| Cochrane Database | Gold-standard evidence syntheses + Cochrane Clinical Answers. Licensed via Wiley. | Licensed/Subscription — Institutional ~$2,000-$20,000+/yr |
Clinical Guideline & Society Partnerships
| Source | Description | Pricing Model |
|---|---|---|
| NCCN | Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology — standard of care | Proprietary License — institutional-level |
| ACC | American College of Cardiology — cardiovascular guidance | Partnership/Licensed — member-gated |
| ADA | American Diabetes Association — diabetes management guidelines | Partnership — partly open-access |
| AAFP | American Academy of Family Physicians — evidence-based family medicine | Partnership — member/subscriber-based |
| AAOS | American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons — orthopaedic guidelines | Partnership — society-gated |
| AAO-HNS | American Academy of Otolaryngology — ENT guidelines | Partnership — society-gated |
| ACEP | American College of Emergency Physicians — emergency medicine policies | Partnership — society-gated |
Open/Public Biomedical Databases
| Source | Description | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| PubMed / MEDLINE | ~36 million citations/abstracts from NLM. Backbone of the 35M+ corpus. | Free (NIH/NLM) |
| PubMed Central (PMC) | Full-text archive of biomedical literature | Free (NIH) |
| FDA Drug Labels | Drug prescribing information, indications, interactions | Free (FDA public data) |
| ClinicalTrials.gov | Registry of clinical studies | Free (NIH) |
| GeneReviews | Expert-authored genetic condition reviews | Free (NIH/NCBI Bookshelf) |
Proprietary / Internal Data
| Source | Description |
|---|---|
| Proprietary medical LLMs | Vertical language models trained exclusively on licensed medical texts (not open internet) |
| Clinician feedback data | RLHF from 100M+ clinical consultations |
| Clinical calculators | 50+ widely-used calculators (cardiovascular risk, kidney function, etc.) |
Pricing Models Summary
| Category | Model | Cost Range |
|---|---|---|
| NEJM, JAMA, Wiley journals | Subscription/Institutional License | $199-$100,000+/yr |
| Cochrane Library | Subscription/Institutional License | $2,000-$20,000+/yr |
| NCCN Guidelines | Proprietary License | Varies (institutional) |
| Medical Society Guidelines | Partnership/Membership-gated | Varies by society |
| PubMed/MEDLINE, PMC | Free / Open Access | $0 |
| FDA Drug Labels | Free / Open Access | $0 |
| ClinicalTrials.gov | Free / Open Access | $0 |
| GeneReviews | Free / Open Access | $0 |
OpenEvidence's "gold in, gold out" strategy means it pays significant content licensing fees to premium publishers (NEJM, JAMA, Wiley/Cochrane, NCCN) while supplementing with open-access biomedical databases. These licensing costs are a major operating expense and represent a growing data moat.
Enterprise API License Status
Current State: Emerging, Not Yet Broadly Available
| Aspect | Status |
|---|---|
| Public API | ❌ No publicly available developer API or self-service portal |
| Enterprise Licensing | ✅ In development. Revenue includes "API licensing for clinical decision support integration" |
| Microsoft/Dragon Copilot | ✅ OpenEvidence agent service embedded into Dragon Copilot (Oct 2025) |
| EHR Integration (Epic/FHIR) | 🔄 Early FHIR-based pilots with Epic underway |
| Enterprise Pricing | Projected $500-$2,000/user/year for health systems; large contracts $500K-$2M/year |
| Current Revenue Model | Pharmaceutical/medical device advertising ($70-$1,000+ CPMs); free for clinicians |
Enterprise Roadmap
Current (2026): Free for physicians → Ad-supported ($124 ARPU)
Near-term: Microsoft Dragon Copilot integration (enterprise agent service)
FHIR-based EHR integration pilots (Epic)
Future: Per-seat enterprise licensing ($500–$2,000/seat/yr)
API access for clinical decision support integration
Health system contracts ($500K–$2M/yr)
Bottom Line
OpenEvidence does not currently offer a standalone enterprise API license for general purchase. However, they are actively building toward enterprise integration through:
- The Microsoft Dragon Copilot collaboration (first major enterprise integration)
- FHIR-based EHR integration pilots with Epic
- Planned API licensing for clinical decision support
For API access, contact OpenEvidence directly at their enterprise team or via media@openevidence.com.
Detailed Subscription Pricing (March 2026 Research)
These are surprisingly affordable for individual/personal use. Deepak and Erik can pick these up directly.
Individual Subscriptions — Reading Access
| Source | Plan | Price | How to Subscribe |
|---|---|---|---|
| NEJM | Online only | ~$189/yr | NEJM Store — 2026 pricing PDF |
| NEJM | Print + Online | ~$259/yr | Same store |
| JAMA (main journal) | Online only | $238/yr | JAMA Network Store |
| JAMA Dermatology | Individual | $186/yr | JAMA Network Store |
| JAMA Oncology | Individual | $649/yr | JAMA Network Store |
| JAMA Network (all 12) | Via AMA Membership | ~$420/yr | AMA Member Benefits — includes ALL JAMA journals |
| Cochrane Library | Individual license | $265-$495/yr | Contact cs-cochrane@wiley.com |
| Wiley (individual journals) | Per-journal | Varies by title | Check each journal on Wiley Online Library |
For Dr. P's clinical reference (~$430/yr total):
- NEJM Online ($189/yr) — the most-cited medical journal
- JAMA via AMA Membership ($420/yr) — gets all 12 JAMA journals + AMA benefits
This is a rounding error for the practice and gives Dr. P direct access to the world's best medical literature.
Reading Access vs. Building With — Critical Distinction
| Use Case | What You Need | Cost | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dr. P reads journals for clinical reference | Individual subscription | $189-$495/yr each | Buy now |
| Embed content in Starlight Practice AI features | Commercial/API license | Custom negotiation | Contact licensing teams |
| RAG over full-text articles for clinical AI | Text & Data Mining (TDM) agreement | Custom negotiation | Contact licensing teams |
| Display article snippets to users | Redistribution license | Custom negotiation | Future (requires traction) |
Free APIs — Build on These Today
These have free programmatic access and can power AI features immediately:
| Source | API | What You Get | Rate Limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| PubMed / MEDLINE | NCBI E-utilities | 36M+ citations and abstracts, full search | 3 req/sec (free), 10 req/sec (with API key) |
| PubMed Central (PMC) | PMC API | Full-text open access articles, bulk download | Free, generous limits |
| Cochrane | Cochrane API | Review metadata, structured data | Available — data request form |
| ClinicalTrials.gov | Free API | Trial registry data | Free |
| FDA Drug Labels | DailyMed API | Prescribing information, interactions | Free |
| CDC Data | Various APIs | Immunization schedules, growth charts | Free |
| NIH RePORTER | RePORTER API | Research funding and project data | Free |
Phase 1 (Now): Build on PubMed/PMC APIs — free, 36M+ papers. This is what OpenEvidence started with before adding licensed content.
Phase 2 (With traction): Negotiate TDM/API licenses with NEJM and JAMA. NEJM explicitly works with 3rd parties to "enhance healthcare applications with research and evidence."
Phase 3 (Scale): Submit Cochrane data request form for systematic review data. Contact Wiley re: Cochrane API access (Deborah Pentesco-Murphy at Wiley).
Relevance to Starlight Practice
Immediate Opportunities
- AAP Guidelines Integration: The wellness check schedule (2, 4, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 24, 30 months) is already implemented. Future AI could provide clinical guidance at each milestone.
- Vaccine Schedules: CDC/ACIP immunization schedules are public data that could be integrated.
- Developmental Screening: M-CHAT and other screening tools mentioned in the patient journey could be AI-enhanced.
- PubMed-powered clinical Q&A: Build RAG over PubMed abstracts for evidence-based answers at point of care — free, no licensing needed.
Future Integration Points
- Clinical decision support at point of care (PubMed RAG → licensed full-text RAG)
- Evidence-based answers to parent questions
- Developmental milestone tracking with AI assessment
- Drug interaction checking via FDA drug label API
- Growth chart percentiles via CDC data
Open-Access Resources for Pediatrics
These free resources are most relevant for building AI features:
| Resource | URL | Use Case | API Available |
|---|---|---|---|
| AAP Bright Futures | brightfutures.aap.org | Wellness visit guidelines and schedules | No (reference) |
| CDC Immunization Schedules | cdc.gov/vaccines/schedules | Vaccine schedule integration | Yes (CDC API) |
| M-CHAT-R/F | mchatscreen.com | Autism screening at 18/24 months | No (manual) |
| ASQ-3 | agesandstages.com | Developmental screening questionnaires | No (licensed tool) |
| PubMed | pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov | Medical literature search + AI RAG | Yes (E-utilities, free) |
| PubMed Central | pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov | Full-text articles for AI | Yes (PMC API, free) |
| CDC Growth Charts | cdc.gov/growthcharts | Pediatric growth percentile tracking | Yes (public data) |
| FDA DailyMed | dailymed.nlm.nih.gov | Drug labels, interactions, dosing | Yes (free API) |
| ClinicalTrials.gov | clinicaltrials.gov | Active trials relevant to patients | Yes (free API) |