Health insurance giant UnitedHealth Group has joined forces with the Mayo Clinic to form an open, collaborative research and development program. Working together in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the two organizations will comb through their extensive troves of patient clinical records and health claims data to help providers create the most effective approaches to care. By leveraging what the groups believe to be the largest combined source of clinical and claims information, they plan to create a comprehensive picture of patients’ diagnoses, disease progression, comparative treatments, costs, and outcomes.

Optum, UnitedHealth Group’s analytics unit, will put 100 million patient records going back 20 years into the open research center, and the Mayo Clinic will contribute five million clinical records from 15 years of treatments. Optum Labs expects to find optimal treatments for conditions in any given setting, to better understand variations in care, and to examine the effectiveness of patient care programs and approaches. By forging open collaborations between academic institutions, life sciences companies, commercial and government payers, and other like-minded care providers, Optum and the Mayo Clinic hope to transform healthcare delivery.

Optum Labs’ scientists will work on projects such as determining the best treatment options for the serious blood cancer chronic myelogenous leukemia, developing applications that measure the relative cost effectiveness of medical devices, and analyzing how to improve the diagnosis of hepatitis C.

Though unique in scale, Optum Labs is part of a growing array of projects leveraging data and best practices to improve patient outcomes. In September, for instance, big data analytics company GNS Healthcare formed a partnership with the health insurer Aetna to use its modeling and analytics technology to better treat and prevent heart disease, stroke, and diabetes in people with or at risk of developing metabolic syndrome.

“Bringing together in one location health information and insights from many contributors can provide a deeper understanding of important trends and patient care issues that no single organization could achieve on its own,” says Andy Slavitt, group executive vice president of Optum. “At Optum Labs, we have the opportunity to generate insights and develop practical innovations that care providers, life sciences companies, and government agencies can begin using today to improve patient care.”