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synthetichealth/synthea

Open-source simulator that generates realistic but synthetic patient populations with health records in formats such as FHIR, C-CDA and CSV.

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What is it?

Synthea is a synthetic patient population simulator. It models patients from birth to death and produces synthetic health records that look realistic but do not describe real people, which makes it useful where real clinical data is restricted or unavailable.

Each simulated patient goes through conditions, allergies, medications, vaccinations, vitals, labs, procedures and care plans, driven by a modular rule system. Default statistics and demographics are based on Massachusetts census data, and users can adjust them through configuration or add custom Generic Modules or Java rule modules.

Output formats include HL7 FHIR (R4, STU3 and DSTU2), bulk FHIR in ndjson, C-CDA, CSV and CPCDS, each switched on via properties in synthea.properties. The project is written in Java and built with Gradle, requiring JDK 17 or newer.

Key features

  • 01Simulates patients from birth to death with encounters, conditions, medications and vitals
  • 02Configurable demographics and statistics, with defaults based on Massachusetts census data
  • 03Modular rule system with Generic Modules and custom Java rule modules
  • 04Exports HL7 FHIR (R4, STU3, DSTU2), bulk FHIR ndjson, C-CDA, CSV and CPCDS
  • 05Command-line options for state, city, population size, seed and filters

Use cases

  • Testing healthcare software or FHIR integrations without using real patient records
  • Generating sample datasets for analytics, dashboards or machine learning prototypes in health data
  • Creating realistic test populations for interoperability and data pipeline validation

Topics

#synthetic-data#fhir#health-data#simulation#healthcare#java#synthea#synthetic-population

FAQ

What is synthea?
Open-source simulator that generates realistic but synthetic patient populations with health records in formats such as FHIR, C-CDA and CSV. Synthea is a synthetic patient population simulator. It models patients from birth to death and produces synthetic health records that look realistic but do not describe real people, which makes it useful where real clinical data is restricted or unavailable.
Is synthea free to use? What license does it have?
synthea is open source under the Apache-2.0 license. Check the license terms before using it in commercial products.
Is synthea still maintained?
Actively maintained. The last commit to synthea was on Oct 21, 2026.
What can I use synthea for?
Testing healthcare software or FHIR integrations without using real patient records Generating sample datasets for analytics, dashboards or machine learning prototypes in health data Creating realistic test populations for interoperability and data pipeline validation
Where can I get synthea?
The source code and installation instructions are on GitHub: https://github.com/synthetichealth/synthea

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