PROVEM: A Platform to Transform Health Data into Actionable Insights in Oncology
The generation of real-world evidence (RWE) has become essential to better understand the impact of therapeutic innovations in oncology. However, the fragmentation of data sources and their heterogeneity continue to limit their effective mobilization in supporting clinical, organizational, and economic decision-making.
In this context, the PROVEM platform — PRObantes éValuées En Milieu réel — was established to address a central challenge: transforming heterogeneous health data into actionable insights in oncology, by mobilizing and analyzing clinical, administrative, and patient-reported data across Quebec.
With its inception, PROVEM has aimed to provide a scientific and operational framework to support real-world research and evaluation projects, in collaboration with academic, clinical, governmental, and industry partners.
A platform built on complementary expertise
PROVEM is based on an integrated approach combining expertise in:
- pharmacoepidemiology and health economics
- clinical data analysis and care trajectories
- patient-reported outcomes and quality of life
- advanced data analytics, including artificial intelligence
Together, these complementary areas of expertise enable coverage of the full continuum of real-world data, from patient-level information to population-level health system insights.
The platform is led by a multidisciplinary team of experts in their field:
- Prof. Alice Dragomir (Université de Montréal/McGill university)
- Dr. Armen Aprikian (McGill university/MUHC)
- Prof. Aude Motulsky (Université de Montréal/CHUM)
- Prof. Sylvie Lambert (McGill university/St-Mary’s research centre)
- Adj. Prof. Jean-Noël Nikiema (Université de Montréal)
Their complementary expertise enables the mobilization of diverse health data sources and the development of analytical approaches tailored to complex oncology questions.
Three foundational projects
These projects were strategically selected to reflect the expertise of the platform’s directors and to demonstrate PROVEM’s ability to operate across different data types and levels of analysis.
These projects span complementary levels of analysis:
- patient-reported and clinical data, including integration of unstructured data
- longitudinal hospital clinical data, enabling detailed analysis of treatment trajectories
- population-level administrative data, to assess the impact of innovations at the health system level
Together, these projects illustrate PROVEM’s capacity to generate real-world evidence across multiple levels, from individual patient data to population-level insights.
A structured approach to data mobilization and analysis
PROVEM was designed to:
- mobilize health data from multiple sources
- integrate heterogeneous datasets (structured and unstructured)
- analyze care trajectories in real-world settings
- evaluate the clinical, organizational, and economic impact of therapeutic innovations
These analytical capabilities enable the generation of results that are directly relevant to clinical decision-making, health technology assessment, and healthcare resource planning.
Beyond the generation of results, this approach also produces structured learnings on:
- the strengths and limitations of different data sources
- methodological challenges related to data integration
- the conditions required for large-scale data mobilization
These learnings directly contribute to the development of future projects and enhance the platform’s ability to effectively mobilize health data.
Toward continuous real-world data generation
The projects currently underway represent the first phase of PROVEM’s development.
PROVEM also includes the development of the PROVEM-PRO databank, a major initiative aimed at collecting patient-reported data in oncology at the provincial level. This initiative complements ongoing work by focusing on the generation of real-world data, upstream of real-world evidence. This initiative positions PROVEM not only as an analytical platform, but also as a structured generator of real-world data.
Additional initiatives will progressively expand the platform’s activities, driven by collaborations and emerging needs within the healthcare ecosystem.
Project milestones, scientific results, and publications will be shared through the News section of the website.
PROVEM supports public and private organizations in designing and conducting real-world analyses tailored to clinical, economic, and strategic needs.
To discuss your needs or explore collaborations, the PROVEM team can be contacted through the website.