Truven Health Analytics MarketScan Databases for Clinical Research in Colon and Rectal Surgery

Abstract

The MarketScan databases are a family of administrative claims databases that contain data on inpatient and outpatient claims, outpatient prescription claims, clinical utilization records, and healthcare expenditures. The three main databases available for use are each composed of a convenience sample for one of the following patient populations: (1) patients with employer-based health insurance from contributing employers, (2) Medicare beneficiaries who possess supplemental insurance paid by their employers, and (3) patients with Medicaid in one of eleven participating states. Eleven supplemental databases are available, which are utilized to overcome the limited clinical data available in the core MarketScan databases. There are several limitations to this database, primarily related to the fact that individuals or their family members within two of the core databases mandatorily possess some form of employer-based health insurance, which prevents the dataset from being nationally representative. Nonetheless, this database provides detailed and rigorously maintained claims data to identify healthcare utilization patterns among this cohort of patients.

Keywords: Truven MarketScan; colorectal surgery; health insurance.

Fig. 1

Number of articles per year in PubMed identified using the search term “MarketScan,” from 2000 to 2015. *The year 2016 only includes January through November estimates.

Fig. 2

Overview of strengths and limitations of the MarketScan family of databases.

Fig. 3

Time trends in endoscopy procedure rates in commercially insured patients in the United States, 2000–2009. (Reprinted from Peery et al, © Peery 2012, with permission from Elsevier.)

Fig. 4

Adjusted costs of cetuximab administration by IR status. ER, emergency room; IR, infusion reaction. (Reproduced with permission from Foley et al. © Foley 2010, Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society for Medical Oncology.