Building Accurate, Real-World Affiliations in Veeva OpenData

Jan 05, 2026 | Ryan Sowers

Commercial, medical, and analytics teams need accurate affiliations data to understand the market. But new care models, changing employment patterns, and rapid consolidation among healthcare providers create constant churn. Manual processes and traditional data pipelines can’t keep up.

To keep affiliations accurate amid constant change, Veeva OpenData introduced four core innovations:

• Claims-based scoring
• Agentic data curation (ADC)
• Upgraded research model
• Primary affiliation field

These improvements deliver deeper insight into HCP-HCO relationships, keep pace with change, and give U.S. field teams insights that reflect what they see in the field.

Claims-based scoring: real-world evidence for every affiliation

OpenData now uses Veeva Compass claims data to link HCPs to the HCO where care was delivered. Every claim shows where an HCP saw a patient, and longitudinal claims data reveals when those relationships begin and end. Clinical volume shows where an HCP spends most of their time, helping distinguish primary affiliations from secondary ones.

Incorporating this real-world evidence helps:

• Remove outdated or inactive relationships quickly
• Identify where an HCP meaningfully practices today
• Provide a reliable foundation for determining primary affiliation

This improves affiliation accuracy, enabling field teams to visit the right locations and avoid wasted time and schedule disruptions.

Agentic data curation: near real-time signals of market change

We now apply agentic AI to solve one of the hardest problems in healthcare data: detecting change the moment it happens. We will assign a dedicated agent to every healthcare organization (HCO) in OpenData. Agents are trained on the HCO’s context, including its locations, clinicians, relationships, and structure.

These agents will continuously monitor public data streams to uncover:

• New HCP-HCO relationships
• Shifts in HCO-HCO relationships
• New locations
• Emerging hierarchies
• Structural changes hidden in unstructured data

Because agents can find schema within unstructured information, they function as a near real-time signal of market changes. This closes the gap between when change happens and when they appear in OpenData, reducing the risk of field teams planning their day around out-dated information.

Enhanced research: agentic speed with human judgment

Our improved research model combines agentic speed with expert human judgment. Here’s how it works:

• Agents assign a confidence score to potential changes by comparing a variety of sources.
• High-confidence scores are applied by agents automatically.
• Lower-confidence scores are routed to our U.S.-based researchers for verification.
• Agents will point researchers to sources they can use to verify changes.

Humans can spend their time where it matters most, and automation handles the rest. The enhanced research model proactively identifies and fixes changes in affiliations in near-real time, improving data quality and reducing DCRs.

New primary affiliation: a clearer view of where care happens

OpenData now provides a primary affiliation field for every HCP in our dataset. A scoring model triangulates claims, agentic signals, public sources, and human-validated research to assess the strength of each affiliation. Where an HCP sees the most patients is typically where they are primarily affiliated.

This enhancement gives customers:

• A single, trusted primary affiliation rooted in real-world activity
• Better alignment between CRM and reality in the field
• A stronger foundation for targeting, segmentation, and analytics

Even in cases without complete claims coverage, the triangulation model ensures we identify the best available primary affiliation using all other sources.

Enhancements help you keep pace with increasing complexity and change

Affiliations are changing more frequently, and expectations for accuracy and recency continue to rise. With OpenData, you can equip field and analytics teams with:

1. CRM insights that reflects reality
   Your CRM should match what your field teams experience in the market. With claims, agents, and improved research, it will.
2. Near real-time data
   As the healthcare system evolves, your data will evolve with it, capturing changes faster and more consistently than ever before.
3. A future-proof foundation
   Agents get smarter. Models become sharper. Data reflects reality. This foundation positions OpenData to incorporate more sources and more intelligence over time.
   
   These enhancements bring deeper visibility, stronger evidence, and more intelligence into OpenData so your field teams have the clarity and confidence they need to engage effectively.

Learn how Boehringer Ingelheim simplified operations, improved data quality, and helped the field move with greater speed and confidence.