What's useful
- Longitudinal records: several years of consultations, diagnoses, prescriptions and outcomes for the same (de-identified) patients.
- Free-text clinical notes, which carry the reasoning that coded data leaves out.
- Test results and referrals linked to those records.
What qualifies
The listing is for medical practices and health systems with at least 10 clinicians or 2,500 patients, with records held electronically.
What to check first
Patient records carry the strictest rules of any data covered on this site. Involve your Caldicott Guardian (or equivalent), data protection officer and legal adviser before any conversation goes beyond the basics.
- Confidentiality and UK GDPR. Patient information is protected by the common law duty of confidentiality as well as UK GDPR, where it's special category data. Data must be properly anonymised, not just pseudonymised, unless another legal route clearly applies.
- NHS records. GP practices and NHS bodies operate under NHS contracts and national rules, including the national data opt-out. Many NHS-funded records can't be licensed this way at all. Private practices have more room but the same core duties.
- Free text is hard to de-identify. Clinical notes often contain names, places, dates and rare details that identify people. Ask exactly how they would be processed.
- Transparency. Patients and regulators expect to know how records are used. Consider how you would explain it.
What it's worth
Mercor lists potential company earnings of $80k–$820k for medical practices and health systems, depending on what's in scope. That is Mercor's own figure, not a promise or guarantee from us.
We're an NHS GP practice. Can we take part?
Possibly not. NHS records are subject to national rules and contracts that usually rule this out. Check with your data protection officer before going further.
Who would do the de-identification?
The marketplace removes or protects personal information as part of preparing the export, but your organisation remains responsible for deciding whether sharing is lawful.