On Thursday, the 40,000-member organization unveiled an unusual arrangement to solve that problem by partnering with two private companies that will pay for the rights to analyze the database, known as CancerLinQ, and deliver clinical information to doctors nationwide.

The licensing deal with Tempus and Precision HealthAI is not just a new line of attack in the effort to apply big data in cancer care. It is also a novel way of financing that effort by professional societies, which are uniquely capable of amassing patient information, but lack the money and technical expertise to unlock its secrets.