OptumLabs, www.optum.com the collaborative healthcare research and innovation center co-founded by Optum and Mayo Clinic, announced that HHS has joined the collaborative as a research partner.
HHS agencies will now be able to lead research using OptumLabs big data resources to link de-identified medical claims and clinical data to provide holistic views of populations and patient care. More than 100 research projects are currently underway or in development.
The first research project will be conducted with scientists at AHRQ www.ahrq.gov. Researchers will compare and contrast healthcare trends identified in the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) http://meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb with those identified in real-world administrative healthcare claims records for the commercially insured population in OptumLabs databases.
MEPS is a set of large-scale surveys of families and individuals, their medical providers, and employers across the U.S that collects data on the specific health services that Americans use, how frequently they use them, costs, and how they are paid as well as data on health insurance available to U.S. workers.
HHS will work with OptumLabs on other projects, including research related to population health and the economics of healthcare to identify whether disparities exist and can be measured in healthcare delivery at the national and local levels. Optum also rolled out a federal data hub to enable government agencies such as SSA, IRS, and the Department of Transportation to share data on individuals.