Medical Data Sources
Research on clinical data sources, subscription pricing, and API access for AI integration with Starlight Practice.
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) |