The F.A.R Institute

What The F.A.R Institute does

The F.A.R. Institute (FARI)—formally the Florence A. Rothman Institute—is a non-profit 501(c)(3) medical research organization headquartered in Sarasota, Florida, operating with 1-10 employees. Founded following the death of Florence A. Rothman from unrecognized post-operative complications, the institute develops and validates data-science methodologies that convert electronic medical record (EMR) data into actionable clinical intelligence. Its core product, the Rothman Index (RI), is a universal health acuity score calculated automatically from 26 clinical variables—including vital signs, nursing assessments, and laboratory results—that tracks each patient's condition in real time and supports early detection of clinical deterioration, mortality risk assessment, and continuity of care across caregiver hand-offs. In 2016 two major hospitals reported a 30% reduction in mortality following rigorous use of the RI by nursing personnel. Additional active research programs include a machine-learning model combining Word2Vec and convolutional neural networks for 30-day hospital readmission prediction, a new methodology for clinical risk-based laboratory reference intervals, the Proactive Patient Acuity Stewardship (PACT) trial, an Alzheimer's disease identification feasibility study using EMR data, and a multiple chronic conditions clinical phenotyping study.

FARI operates a research-and-licensing model rather than a direct commercial sales model. Its funding comes from research grants, contracts, philanthropic donations, and partnerships with healthcare institutions and foundations, including the Sarasota Memorial Healthcare Foundation and the Greenfield Foundation that backed the original Rothman Index development. The RI is commercialized through two channel partners: PeraHealth, Inc., which deploys the index in U.S. acute-care hospitals, and Alive Sciences, LLC, which extends the methodology to non-acute settings (nursing homes, home health, independent living) and to international markets in China, Spain, Italy, Lithuania, and Ireland. Pricing and end-customer licensing for the index are managed by these commercial partners, not by FARI itself. FARI publishes peer-reviewed research in journals such as BMJ Open, Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, Journal of Biomedical Informatics, and Journal of Hospital Medicine, and presents at scientific symposia. Over 90% of the institute's expenses are attributable to program activities.

FARI's direct counterparties are concentrated: Sarasota Memorial Hospital serves as the primary longitudinal data and clinical-research partner with over 18 years of EMR data; New College of Florida's Data Science Program provides academic collaboration; and the institute is governed by a Board of Trustees chaired by G. Duncan Finlay, M.D., former President and CEO of Sarasota Memorial Health System, with co-inventor Steven I. Rothman serving as Director of Research. End-user reach—30+ major U.S. hospitals and academic medical centers plus non-acute and international deployments—flows through the commercial partners rather than through direct FARI contracts, which structurally separates research-funding concentration from end-customer diversification.

Name

The F.A.R Institute

Legal name

The F.A.R Institute

Website

https://farinstitute.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2003

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The F.A.R. Institute (FARI) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) medical research organization that develops data-science methodologies for analyzing EMR data, including the Rothman Index—a universal patient acuity score used by 30+ U.S. hospitals—and machine-learning models for 30-day readmission prediction.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Medical Research and Healthcare Data Analytics

NAICS

Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (54171)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Real-World Data (RWD) / Real-World Evidence (RWE) & Observational Research Platforms (HLACAOAM)

akta.pro secondary industry

Healthcare Outcomes & Real-World Evidence (RWE) Analytics (BPAHALAN)

Keywords

• Medical data analytics
• Electronic medical records
• Patient acuity monitoring
• Healthcare research
• Clinical decision support

Headquarters

HQ city

Sarasota

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Research Grants and Contracts: FARI seeks funding from grants, contracts or partnerships with other firms for data analysis. The institute is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that receives funding from various sources.
2. Donations and Philanthropy: Accepts donations from individuals, trusts, businesses and foundations. Registered as tax-exempt under IRC section 501(c)(3), allowing donors to deduct contributions.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

The F.A.R Institute (FARI) is a non-profit medical research organization that develops and applies innovative data science and machine learning techniques to analyze electronic medical record (EMR) data. Its core deliverable is the Florence A. Rothman Patient Monitoring Index (Rothman Index or RI), a universal health acuity score computed from 26 routine EMR variables that tracks patient condition in real time and is used by more than 30 major hospitals and academic medical centers. FARI also conducts supplementary research on hospital readmission prediction using NLP and convolutional neural networks, clinical risk-based laboratory reference intervals, Alzheimer's disease identification, and proactive patient acuity stewardship, with the Rothman Index and related methodologies commercialized through partner companies PeraHealth, Inc. and Alive Sciences, LLC.

Product overview

The F.A.R Institute (FARI) is a not-for-profit medical research organization that has developed the Florence A. Rothman Patient Monitoring Index (Rothman Index or RI) as its core product—a universal health acuity scoring system that converts Electronic Medical Record data into real-time patient condition metrics. The Rothman Index, calculated from 26 clinical variables including vital signs, nursing assessments, and laboratory results, generates continuous scores used nationwide by more than 30 major hospitals and academic medical centers. The institute conducts additional research methodologies including a hospital readmission prediction model using machine learning, a lab reference interval methodology based on clinical risk rather than population norms, and multiple clinical studies (Alzheimer's Disease Initiative, PACT Trial, MCC NatX Study). The Rothman Index has been commercialized through PeraHealth, Inc. and Alive Sciences, LLC, and has demonstrated 30% reduction in mortality in rigorous hospital implementations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Florence A. Rothman Patient Monitoring Index (Rothman Index / RI) A universal health acuity score that converts routine Electronic Medical Record data into real-time patient condition information. Calculated automatically from 26 clinical variables including vital signs, nursing assessments, and laboratory results, the Rothman Index generates a continuous score that tracks each patient's condition over time and is used by hospitals and non-acute care providers to detect clinical deterioration, support caregiver hand-offs, and reduce mortality.
• Hospital Readmission Prediction Model A machine learning model that combines Word2Vec (developed by Google) with convolutional neural networks to analyze unstructured clinical text in Electronic Medical Records and predict 30-day hospital readmissions more precisely than established models, targeting a metric that triggers financial penalties from CMS.
• Lab Reference Interval Methodology A new methodology for determining laboratory reference levels based on clinical risks rather than population norms, discovering that values considered 'normal' by usual reference levels can carry increased mortality risk. The work was recognized as a 'Best Abstract in the Informatics Division of the American Association of Clinical Chemistry.'
• Alzheimer's Disease Initiative (AD Feasibility Study) A research study designed to develop and validate an index to identify undiagnosed patients and those at risk for Alzheimer's Disease and other dementias using EMR data collected since 1999, with secondary objectives to characterize disease progression and identify potential protective medicines.
• Proactive Patient Acuity Stewardship (PACT) Trial A clinical trial evaluating the impact of Rothman Index monitoring thresholds embedded in EMR prompts on 30-day readmissions and supportive care consult rates for hospitalist patients, designed to demonstrate that Rothman Index monitoring can contribute to building a 'learning health system' across the acute/post-acute care continuum.
• Multiple Chronic Conditions (MCC) Clinical Phenotyping Study (MCC NatX Study) A research methodology examining records of patients with multiple chronic conditions to characterize clinical pathophysiological presentation using cross-sectional and longitudinal EMR data, testing the feasibility of characterizing MCC patient presentation to inform quality improvement, clinical research, institutional learning, and clinical practice guideline development.

Quantifiable outcome

• 30% reduction in mortality following rigorous use of the Rothman Index by nursing personnel at two major hospitals in 2016
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability5 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core, supporting and flagship.

• Sarasota Memorial Healthcare SystemcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerStrategic partnership with the healthcare system where the Rothman Index was developed. SMH was an early adopter of EHR (1996) and has over 18 years of EMR data available for research. Provides data access and clinical collaboration for FARI's research initiatives.
• New College of Florida Data Science ProgramsupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with local academic institution's data science program, providing academic expertise and research collaboration for FARI's analytical approaches.
• PeraHealth, Inc.flagshipTechnology or IntegrationCommercial partner implementing the Rothman Index in hospitals across the United States. The Rothman Index is published in peer-reviewed medical journals and is being implemented commercially by PeraHealth.
• Alive Sciences, LLCflagshipTechnology or IntegrationCommercial partner adapting the Rothman Index for non-acute care settings including nursing homes, home health agencies, and independent living facilities. Has international presence with customers in China, Spain, Italy, Lithuania, and Ireland.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Others

• SAS Institute (Health Analytics): Provides advanced analytics, AI/ML, and data management software used by healthcare organizations for clinical and operational analytics. Comparable as an enabling analytics vendor whose tools support similar research and modeling.

Broad incumbents

• Health Catalyst: Healthcare data and analytics platform serving hospitals and health systems with RWD/RWE and outcomes-improvement offerings. Comparable as an established analytics incumbent in the same hospital decision-support space.
• Epic Systems Corporation: Largest US EHR vendor with embedded predictive deterioration scores (e.g., Deterioration Index). Comparable as a competing source of EMR-derived patient acuity analytics in hospitals.
• Premier, Inc. Healthcare improvement and analytics company serving hospitals and health systems with performance and clinical analytics. Comparable as a broader-scale analytics incumbent addressing similar hospital operational and clinical questions.
• Optum (UnitedHealth Group): Operates one of the largest healthcare analytics and RWE platforms, leveraging massive claims and clinical datasets. Comparable as a broad incumbent in healthcare outcomes analytics and real-world evidence.

Emerging players

• Sema4 (a Mount Sinai spinoff): Clinical intelligence and genomic data analytics company applying data science to clinical decision support. Comparable as a health-data-science player building predictive tools from clinical records.
• Medial EarlySign: Applies machine learning to EMR data for early identification of high-risk patients across multiple conditions. Comparable as an emerging AI-EMR analytics company pursuing similar early-detection use cases to FARI.
• Dascena: Develops machine-learning predictive algorithms using EHR data (e.g., InSight platform for early detection of patient deterioration). Comparable as a focused AI/EMR-analytics emerging player targeting similar clinical problems.

Direct peers

• PeraHealth, Inc. Commercial licensee of the Rothman Index; provides real-time patient acuity and deterioration surveillance to hospitals. Most directly comparable because it operationalizes the very IP FARI develops.
• Alive Sciences, LLC: Commercial partner adapting the Rothman Index for nursing homes, home health, and independent living facilities. Operates the non-acute deployment of FARI's research and is the second of FARI's two commercialization channels.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/FARInstitute
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/f-a-r--institute

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about The F.A.R Institute