University of Minnesota, National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education among 10 organizations to access insurance claims data for 50 million Americans

University of Minnesota, together with National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education, are among 10 leading research, actuarial and government organizations that will now be able to access the Health Care Cost Institute’s (HCCI) detailed claims data from over 50 million privately insured Americans to support research studies. The information is deidentified to maintain the confidentially of the records.

HCCI recently announced that letters of intent had been signed with University of Minnesota, Dartmouth College, Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, University of Pennsylvania, University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and Yale University, along with the American Academy of Actuaries, Society of Actuaries, the Congressional Budget Office and MedPAC.

These partners will have academic institutional access to HCCI’s large private claims database for three years to further health care research and better understand what drives health spending and use of services.

According to University of Minnesota’s Stephen T. Parente, PhD, MPH, MS, “The U of M is one of a small handful of organizations across the country that will now be able to use data from private insurers for research purposes. We have never before been able to access a database like this with such a large and broad population – younger and older patients alike.” Parente is the Minnesota Insurance Industry Chair of Health Finance in Carlson School of Management and the Director of the Medical Industry Leadership Institute at the University of Minnesota. The HCCI data is one approach to help National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education, housed at the University of Minnesota, explore the effectiveness of the team approach to improving health. “Access to this data permits us to look for patterns of team care in the private insurance market and in people under 65. These are very different populations,” according to Frank Cerra, MD, interim deputy director. “This approach will reduce the time it takes us to publish research results from several years to just a few months.”

For more information, go to www.healthcarecostinstitute.org.