Matching involves a systematic comparison of a patient's clinical and demographic information against the eligibility criteria of various trials. Methods include:
* Manual: Healthcare providers or clinical trial coordinators manually review patient records and available trial criteria to identify potential matches. This might also include manually searching in clinical trial databases.
* Electronic health records (EHR). Some systems integrate with EHRs to automatically flag patients that may be eligible for trials based on their medical data. These systems may leverage machine learning, artificial intelligence or precision medicine  methods to more effectively match patients to trials. These methods are faced with the challenge of overcoming the limitations of EHR records such as omissions and logging errors.
* Direct-to-patient services: Resources are specialized to support patients in finding clinical trials through online platforms, hotlines, and personalized support.