Frequently asked questions.
What is SunshineMD?
SunshineMD is a clinical trial intelligence platform that helps sponsors and CROs understand investigator experience and enrollment performance in U.S.-based clinical trials. It is designed to support feasibility and site selection decisions before a study begins.
What data does SunshineMD use?
SunshineMD is built on publicly reported data, including information mandated by the Physician Payments Sunshine Act (Open Payments), along with other public sources such as ClinicalTrials.gov.
This data is cleaned, reconciled and structured to create a usable view of investigator activity across studies and sponsors.
How is SunshineMD different from Open Payments alone?
Open Payments data is publicly available, but it is not designed for operational use. On its own, it is fragmented, inconsistently structured and difficult to connect to real trial activity.
SunshineMD applies data engineering and normalization to transform this transparency data into structured investigator histories and performance signals that clinical teams can use during feasibility and site selection.
This includes correcting invalid or missing NCT identifiers and adjusting reported payments based on site type, investigator experience and geography to better reflect underlying enrollment activity.
What is the Sunshine Score?
The Sunshine Score is SunshineMD’s proprietary metric for comparing investigator enrollment performance. It is a 1–100 percentile score based on an investigator’s historical enrollment activity across industry-sponsored, U.S.-based clinical trials.
The score helps teams prioritize investigators and identify potential enrollment risk earlier in the trial planning process.
How should teams use the Sunshine Score?
The Sunshine Score is designed to support decision-making, not replace clinical judgment.
Teams use it to:
- Compare investigators consistently across indications or sponsor lists
- Flag potential underperformers early
- Support feasibility and site selection discussions with data
Does SunshineMD predict enrollment for my specific trial?
SunshineMD does not make trial-specific enrollment predictions.
Instead, it provides historical context on investigator performance and enrollment behavior, helping teams assess relative risk and make more informed site selection decisions.
How far back does the SunshineMD data go?
The SunshineMD Database includes investigator activity dating back to 2013, providing more than a decade of historical context for U.S. clinical trial investigators.
Who typically uses SunshineMD?
How do teams access SunshineMD data?
Teams can access SunshineMD data through:
- A searchable SunshineMD web application
- The Snowflake marketplace
- API-based access for integration into internal systems
Availability may vary based on use case and engagement.
Does SunshineMD include patient-level data or PHI?
No. SunshineMD is built entirely on publicly reported, non-patient data sources. The platform does not collect, store or process protected health information (PHI).
Can SunshineMD replace our existing feasibility tools?
SunshineMD is not intended to replace existing feasibility processes or tools.
It is designed to complement them by adding clearer visibility into investigator experience and historical enrollment performance earlier in the decision-making process.