Data, tools and services options designed for life sciences
Life sciences organizations must substantiate the need for and value of their treatments to healthcare providers, payers and patients — and this requires integrated, patient-level evidence that spans the continuum of care. IBM® MarketScan® Research Databases can help by providing one of the longest-running and largest collections of proprietary privately and publicly insured, de-identified claims data in the US. You can gain insights from this data in the formats that work best for your organization — including licensing proprietary data with or without IBM integrated analytic tools and working with the IBM services team. These options can help you efficiently and confidently demonstrate the clinical and commercial value and viability of your treatments.
Products and services
Databases and data sets
Three core claims databases, a hospital discharge database and an EHR database. Linked databases, data sets and files combine claims with other data.
Analytic tools
Cloud-based software — no programming skills required — to cut research time, map treatments and estimate market sizes and opportunities.
Services
Health economics and outcomes research to gain insights from real-world evidence using global data, rigorous design and advanced methodologies.
Analyzing cost offsets
Use case: Researchers compared real-world cost data from the MarketScan Databases for two different prescription therapies Findings: Data showed that the two-year average cost of the TCAs was lower, but the overall cost of treatment for patients using TCAs was higher.
for depression: selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs).
Quantifying vaccine outcomes
Use case: CDC researchers used the MarketScan Databases to conduct a retrospective, population-based study on the impact of the varicella (chickenpox) vaccine. Findings: Data showed that hospitalizations declined by 88 percent and ambulatory visits by 59 percent from 1994 to 2002. Estimated direct medical expenditures declined by 74 percent — a savings of USD 62.8 million.
Evaluating economic costs
Use case: Researchers leveraged MarketScan HRA and Health and Productivity Management (HPM) Databases to quantify the economic implications of obesity in the US. Findings: Analysis of patient-level direct and indirect costs from claims and HPM data showed that severely obese patients had higher overall healthcare costs and lost more work time than normal weight individuals.
Estimating indirect costs
Use case: Researchers examined the association between non-adherence to bipolar medications and lost productivity. Findings: Data showed that only 35.3 percent of patients adhered to their medication, and that non-adherent patients had higher adjusted indirect costs. Hypothetically, an employer could save USD 578,378 if all employee patients who were prescribed a bipolar medication adhered to their treatments.
Benefits
Simplify research and analysis
A single source of patient-level information from over 265 million unique patients makes information easier to access and analyze. Getting different data types, tools, and services from a single vendor can help save time and effort.
Explore real-world costs
Information covers complete episodes from physician visits to carve-out care, such as mental health services. It reflects real-world costs — including indirect costs — to help conduct more inclusive and accurate cost and treatment studies.
Expand and enhance research
Linked data — including hospital discharge, EMR, claims, absenteeism, disability and workers’ compensation — can help you expand research in disease areas, incorporate drug therapies, analyze relationships with oral health and more.
Develop customized insights
Deep proprietary data from multiple care settings can be analyzed with our intuitive, self-service tools and/or by our team of data scientists, enabling you to develop insights customized to address your unique research requirements.
Broaden scope and improve accuracy
Robust, high-quality coding data such as fully paid and adjudicated claims, complete payment or charge information and complete outpatient services and prescription drug information can help increase the scope and accuracy of your research.
Follow data across health plans
Because the MarketScan Databases are derived from multiple sources — employers, managed care organizations, hospitals and Medicare/Medicaid — they continue tracking patient-level data even if individuals switch health plans.
Research unique patient populations
In the most recent full year, the MarketScan Databases include over 36.4 million patients with employer-provided health insurance. This coverage can help you achieve highly specific patient segmentation without sacrificing sample size.
Rely on a trusted partner
Cited in more than 2,400 peer-reviewed studies and journals, the data sets offer the quality, detail and reliability to support research conducted by life sciences, government, and academic organizations.