Veradigm Taps Patient Voice for Research Amid Data Security Scrutiny

CHICAGO, IL – February 13, 2026

Veradigm, a company known for providing technology solutions to independent medical practices, has launched a new initiative aimed at placing the patient's personal experience at the center of healthcare research. The company announced a new survey capability that integrates directly with its FollowMyHealth patient portal, allowing life sciences organizations to gather what is known as patient-reported outcomes (PROs) and merge them with existing clinical data.

The new solution promises to give pharmaceutical companies and researchers a more complete picture of a treatment's real-world impact by collecting information on symptom burden, quality of life, and treatment adherence directly from individuals. This move signals a broader industry trend toward leveraging Real-World Evidence (RWE) to accelerate drug development and better understand how therapies perform outside the controlled environment of a clinical trial.

“By integrating insights directly from patients with Veradigm’s real-world data resources, we can give life sciences organizations a more holistic view of patient experiences and outcomes,” said Stuart Green, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Veradigm Life Sciences, in the company's announcement.

Beyond the Clinical Chart

For decades, medical research has relied heavily on data collected in clinics and hospitals—lab results, physician notes, and diagnostic codes. While essential, this information often misses a crucial element: the patient's own lived experience. Patient-reported outcomes are designed to fill this gap, capturing the effects of a disease or treatment on a person's daily life from their unique perspective.

Veradigm's system is built upon its FollowMyHealth patient engagement platform, a portal used by patients to communicate with providers, view test results, and manage their health information. Through this established channel, the company can send project-specific survey invitations to targeted patient groups. The platform integrates consent and compensation to streamline the process, aiming to encourage participation and ensure the data collected is both authentic and relevant.

This fusion of data is at the heart of the company's strategy. Veradigm has access to a vast repository of first-party clinical data from its network of over 20,000 independent provider practices. By linking this de-identified clinical data with corresponding patient survey responses, the company aims to create a powerful, multi-dimensional dataset for analysis.

“By connecting clinical insights with the patient’s own voice, we’re building solutions that reflect how care actually happens,” noted Tehsin Syed, Veradigm's Chief Technology and Product Officer. The company validated this approach in a 2025 study, demonstrating the feasibility of collecting PROs through the FollowMyHealth portal and linking them with real-world clinical data.

A Crowded and Competitive Field

Veradigm is entering a burgeoning and highly competitive market. The global real-world evidence solutions market was valued in the billions in 2025 and is projected by some analysts to exceed $10 billion by 2034. This growth is fueled by the pharmaceutical industry's need for faster, more efficient R&D and pressure from regulators like the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which has issued guidance on using RWE to support decision-making.

Veradigm will be competing with established giants such as IQVIA and Optum, as well as specialized players like Flatiron Health, which dominates the oncology RWE space by curating deep insights from cancer patients' electronic health records. Other firms, like PatientIQ and Evidation Health, are also focused on integrating patient-generated data into the research ecosystem.

Veradigm's strategic differentiator lies in its unique combination of assets: a direct data pipeline from a diverse network of independent practices, an established point-of-care reach, and an integrated patient portal. This allows the company to potentially connect the dots between a doctor's visit, the resulting clinical data, and the patient's subsequent experience at home—a journey that is often fragmented across different systems.

The Lingering Questions of Trust and Engagement

While the potential benefits for medical research are clear, Veradigm's new venture is not without significant challenges, particularly concerning data privacy and user engagement. The company's press release emphasizes its “privacy-preserving insights” and “strong privacy protections.” However, these claims are shadowed by a recent, significant data security incident.

In 2025, Veradigm disclosed a data breach that affected approximately 2.5 million patients. The incident, which stemmed from compromised customer credentials, exposed a range of sensitive information, including names, diagnoses, medications, and in some cases, Social Security numbers. The breach ultimately led to a $10.5 million settlement in a class action lawsuit. This history raises the stakes for the company as it asks patients to share even more personal information about their health experiences.

Furthermore, the success of the PRO initiative hinges on the usability and reach of the FollowMyHealth platform. Patient engagement is critical for collecting a robust and representative dataset. User reviews for the FollowMyHealth portal are mixed. While some users appreciate its convenience for basic healthcare tasks, others have reported difficulties with navigation, slow performance, and a clunky interface. Ensuring a seamless and trustworthy user experience will be paramount to convincing patients to not only use the platform but also to consistently and honestly contribute their personal health data for research purposes.

For life sciences organizations, the promise of a richer, more patient-centric dataset is alluring. However, they will be weighing that potential against the inherent challenges of RWE, including the risk of bias in observational data, the complexities of data integration, and the critical need to ensure patient consent and trust are rigorously upheld.