WASHINGTON, DC (February 2, 2021) — The Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI) today announced the launch of its new health care claims dataset for research. The new dataset is more than 25% larger than the original HCCI dataset, containing more than 1 billion claims per year for more than 55 million people who receive health care coverage from their employers. Researchers will initially have access to data from 2012 to 2018, with 2019 and 2020 information being added as soon as possible. The data is sourced from Aetna/CVS, Humana, Kaiser Permanente and more than 30 Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans nationwide, enabling researchers to conduct analysis at the national, state, and sub-state level. The data contains comprehensive diagnostic, procedure, site of care and cost information, including the actual payments made by insurers as well as what patients pay out of pocket.
“This rich new claims data enables the critical research and reporting that will be needed in the coming years, to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and other challenges facing the health care system as the US approaches spending 20% of GDP on health care,” said Niall Brennan, President and CEO of HCCI. “HCCI is a critical national resource for researchers, policymakers, employers, journalists, and the public to understand trends in health care access, spending and utilization.”
“HCCI has a rich history of facilitating leading edge academic and policy research and this new data will allow for even greater insights,” said Bob Town, Chairman of the HCCI Board and the James L. and Nancy Powell Professor of Economics at the University of Texas at Austin. “As we launch our new, expanded dataset, in addition to our data contributors, we want to acknowledge the support of our philanthropic funders, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Arnold Ventures, West Health and The Commonwealth Fund, without whom the launch of this dataset would not be possible.”
HCCI’s data covers all 50 states and D.C., and is open to researchers at universities and non-profit research organizations. The data can be accessed on an annual basis to pursue approved research proposals. The research teams get access to all available years of the full dataset via a secure data enclave with included analytic software licenses.
Interested researchers should visit HCCI’s newly launched Data Access Hub website, which provides granular details about the new dataset and will guide them through the application and data access processes. Transparent pricing details are also available on the site.
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