Optum Labs, a Cambridge, Mass.-based collaborative research and innovation center co-founded by Optum and Mayo Clinic, has added five new collaborators committed to improving the quality and value of patient care. These include:

• The Brown University School of Public Health
• Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
• MIT Sloan School of Management
• Novartis Pharmaceuticals
• ResMed

“Our 20 diverse collaborators provide unique insights and perspectives to the growing number of research studies under way,” said Paul Bleicher, M.D., Ph.D., CEO of Optum Labs. “These additional organizations bring a new level of depth and breadth to Optum Labs’ ability to make continued progress in collaborative research that enhances patient care.”

Launched in 2013, Optum Labs is the first open, collaborative research and innovation center designed to accelerate improvements in patient care and patient value. Its resources include a robust, de-identified health information database capable of linking both clinical and administrative claims information.

Optum Labs brings together a community of healthcare organizations dedicated to improving patient care by sharing information assets, technologies, knowledge, tools and scientific expertise. Research is linked to the clinical environment through prototyping and testing in Optum and partners’ care settings, with a goal of achieving knowledge that improves health care delivery and patient outcomes.

Optum Labs participants have access to information resources, proprietary analytical tools and scientific expertise to help drive the discovery of new applications, testing of new care pathways and other opportunities to drive innovation in wellness and care delivery.