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Home News ABFM Partners with Stanford University to Expand PRIME Registry and Advance Health Data Research ABFM Partners with Stanford University to Expand PRIME Registry and Advance Health Data Research New American Family Cohort Health initiative aims to transform the way primary care data is collected, validated, and shared. December 12, 2025 The American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) is collaborating with researchers at Stanford University to build a comprehensive health data ecosystem that will strengthen primary care research and innovation. This new American Family Cohort (AFC) Health initiative, funded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), aims to transform the way primary care data is collected, validated, and shared, creating a more complete and actionable picture of health in communities across the country. As part of this effort, Stanford will work with ABFM to expand the PRIME Registry, the largest national Qualified Clinical Data Registry for primary care. Established by ABFM in 2016, PRIME currently includes more than 1,300 primary care practices across all 50 states. By enhancing PRIME, ABFM aims to ensure that family physicians have access to robust data resources that support quality improvement, research, and better patient care. The award for Stanford’s American Family Cohort is good news for anyone who cares for the health and health care of Americans wherever they live. Primary care constitutes about half of health care visits in the U.S. but actual data from primary care and communities has long not been a part of federal policy and research. With hundreds of millions of primary care visits, PRIME is the largest national registry of its kind: its inclusion means that the experience of patients and doctors on the front line will now be available to shape how we care for patients and improve health. This partnership will help family physicians' voices to be heard. ABFM is proud to support this movement. Warren Newton, MD, MPH President and CEO, American Board of Family Medicine The AFC seeks to develop the first comprehensive and privacy-protected national primary care electronic health record resource. The project will bring together clinical information with social, environmental, and behavioral factors that shape health and well-being. The project’s potential impact is substantial, particularly in the prevention of chronic diseases. Protecting patient privacy is a critical pillar of the initiative. Currently, the PRIME Registry has systems and processes in place to protect patient privacy, only providing approved users with access to de-identified real-world data under strict oversight. As part of this initiative, with guidance from a Data Community Advisory Committee that includes privacy experts and primary care physicians, efforts to protect patient privacy will be expanded. Primary care clinicians are very good at helping patients prevent and navigate chronic disease, but AFC allows the collective data of millions of patients to inform how we identify patients at the greatest risk of developing chronic disease or of having worse outcomes and better understand how to intervene earlier and prevent those from happening. These data can also help us understand the personal and environmental factors that increase risk of disease or poorer outcomes to understand where to intervene with the greatest effect. Robert L. Phillips, MD, MSPH Executive Director, Center for Professionalism & Value in Health Care This initiative represents a significant step toward a more proactive health system. Data collected in everyday clinic visits can fuel new insights, guide AI tools, inform policy decisions, and support healthier communities. By ensuring that patients from small towns, urban centers, and all points in between are represented, the project aims to build a foundation for a healthier future across the United States. Read the full announcement from Stanford University.
The award for Stanford’s American Family Cohort is good news for anyone who cares for the health and health care of Americans wherever they live. Primary care constitutes about half of health care visits in the U.S. but actual data from primary care and communities has long not been a part of federal policy and research. With hundreds of millions of primary care visits, PRIME is the largest national registry of its kind: its inclusion means that the experience of patients and doctors on the front line will now be available to shape how we care for patients and improve health. This partnership will help family physicians' voices to be heard. ABFM is proud to support this movement. Warren Newton, MD, MPH President and CEO, American Board of Family Medicine
Primary care clinicians are very good at helping patients prevent and navigate chronic disease, but AFC allows the collective data of millions of patients to inform how we identify patients at the greatest risk of developing chronic disease or of having worse outcomes and better understand how to intervene earlier and prevent those from happening. These data can also help us understand the personal and environmental factors that increase risk of disease or poorer outcomes to understand where to intervene with the greatest effect. Robert L. Phillips, MD, MSPH Executive Director, Center for Professionalism & Value in Health Care
