Advocate Health has formed a national center for clinical trials with the goal of making participation in research part of the standard of care for its patients.

Charlotte, N.C.-based Advocate Health is the third-largest nonprofit, integrated health system in the United States, created from the combination of Advocate Aurora Health and Atrium Health. With its 69 hospitals, over 1,000 care locations and nearly 6 million patients, the Advocate Health National Center for Clinical Trials will be the nation’s largest clinical trial network, the health system said. 

Advocate noted that researchers face challenges navigating an increasingly complex and time-consuming nationwide clinical trial system and that the structures that support that system haven’t evolved to reflect the increasing complexity. As a result, clinical trials are taking longer and costing more, reducing potential speed to market and decreasing the industry’s overall ability to deliver breakthrough treatments. 

Advocate said the new center is designed to change that paradigm by connecting people to trials in their own communities and by modernizing the clinical trial process through AI-powered tools, centralized data tracking and more. 

“Advocate Health National Center for Clinical Trials will reshape clinical trials to meet the current moment and deliver for the future,” said Ebony Boulware, M.D., M.P.H., Advocate Health’s chief science officer and dean of the Wake Forest University School of Medicine, in a statement. 

Driven by Advocate Health’s academic core at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, the new center already offers a single institutional review board and is developing AI-powered matching to connect patients with the right trials as well as systems that centralize real-time data tracking and predictive analytics, all in the name of making trials more accessible, integrated and actionable. 

The national center will operate across a full range of care settings, from academic centers to rural community clinics. The health system states that with enrollment in clinical trials built directly into the workflows of providers, patients who are eligible for clinical trials will be identified and enrolled, reducing administrative burden, while care teams will be supported by centralized infrastructure and designated trial sites that can handle logistics, compliance and coordination.  

By connecting researchers with relevant patients across demographics and geographies, the center aims to generate more robust data and accelerate the speed and accuracy of clinical trials. This effort will be especially critical in oncology, cardiology, neurology and rare diseases. More than 10,000 patients are already participating in trials for these diseases across Advocate Health. 

“Research has shown patients who participate in clinical trials often have better outcomes and improved care experiences. And, when more people participate in trials we can drive more breakthroughs that benefit everyone,” said Jamy Ard, M.D., vice dean for clinical research at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, in a statement. “With Advocate Health National Center for Clinical Trials, we will put in place the systems and means to make it easier for patients to access trials and more efficient for researchers working on important new treatments to get the robust, accurate data they need to be successful.”