Dive Brief:
- OptumLabs, which was co-founded by Optum and Mayo Clinic, has announced the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is now collaborating with the healthcare research and innovation center.
- Through the arrangement, agencies under HHS’s purview will be able to utilize OptumLabs’ big data resources which include de-identified medical claims and clinical data.
- HHS stated partnering with private-sector organizations like OptumLabs will enable accelerated progress in healthcare models and practices.
Dive Insight:
The collaboration represents a further attempt to harness big data in pursuit of better patient care.
OptumLabs says the first joint project under the arrangement will be with researchers at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). It plans to compare and contrast trends in its Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) with trends in claims records from OptumLabs’ databases. Their intent is to increase the value of MEPS in healthcare cost research.
The collaborative added other projects will revolve around population health and the economics of healthcare.
Susannah Fox, chief technology officer of HHS, stated, “We are eager to collaborate with OptumLabs and its partners on a variety of initiatives that harness the power of health data to improve patient care and outcomes.”