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NORC at the University Chicago

Health Care Cost Institute Research Database

Closeup of server rack
Managing one of the nation’s largest multi-payer claims databases to drive insights into health care spending trends
  • Client
    Health Care Cost Institute
  • Dates
    2014 – Present

Problem

The United States spends heavily on health care, but health outcomes lag.  

Despite spending nearly twice as much per capita, the United States lags behind its peers in many health care metrics, including life expectancy, disease burden, and health care access. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 required private insurers to disclose detailed annual claims and coverage information. The Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI), a nonprofit research institute, makes that data available to researchers, policymakers, and journalists to help them understand the disconnect between health care spending and health care outcomes.

Solution

NORC provides the expertise needed to build and maintain a secure data repository.  

HCCI selected the NORC Data Enclave® for its end-to-end secure data hosting, access, and dissemination solution. The Enclave provides a secure platform, which allows authorized users to access the environment remotely, and its powerful tools enable rich search options and data analysis.

With each year’s data release, NORC’s Advanced Data Solutions project team implements a rigorous process to ingest, validate, clean, and aggregate the data. Our data pipeline then standardizes, enhances, enriches, and aggregates the data. The de-identified output populates two analytically ready views for researchers.

Because timeliness is so important, NORC turns around the data quickly, giving HCCI time to conduct its tests and release the data to the researcher community in the first quarter of every year.

Result

Research has shed light on nearly every aspect of the health care system.

The HCCI Data Enclave has been the backbone of many annual reports from federal agencies, institutions, foundations, and academics, providing policymakers and businesses invaluable insights into national trends in health care spending and underlying cost drivers.

Institutions that have accessed the HCCI Data Enclave include the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Society of Actuaries, and RAND Corporation, and numerous universities and colleges, including Harvard University, University of Chicago, Northwestern University, Duke University, University of California-Berkeley, University of California San Diego, University of Southern California, University of Michigan, University of Minnesota, University of Pennsylvania, University of Washington, and The Ohio State University.

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