Expanding life sciences research with linked real-world data

Top webinar takeaways

• MarketScan can serve as a longitudinal evidence foundation. Its employer-sourced model captures medical, pharmacy and eligibility data across care settings, supporting denominator estimates, cohort development, trend analysis and cost studies.

• Research questions increasingly require on-demand depth. Clinical variables, lab results, mortality, productivity data, electronic health record (EHR) detail, or chargemaster data can be layered in with the MarketScan Partner Ecosystem when claims alone are not enough.

• Linked evidence can strengthen value messaging. Combining MarketScan breadth with fit-for-purpose depth can help researchers define precise cohorts, evaluate treatment impact, measure indirect burden and support economic models.

• The right data strategy depends on the question. Some studies can be answered with the MarketScan foundation alone, while others benefit from partner data or bring-your-own-data linkage.

Life sciences teams are under increasing pressure to build evidence that can stand up to more complex research questions, more scrutiny from stakeholders and a growing need to demonstrate value in real-world settings. Claims data remains a powerful foundation, but many questions now require additional clinical, specialty or proprietary data to tell a more complete story. 

In MarketScan’s recent webinar, Life sciences research: The value story with MarketScan real-world data, I was joined by Rachel Connolly and Luke Boulanger to discuss how MarketScan real-world data can help researchers move from a trusted claims foundation to fit-for-purpose evidence depth.  

MarketScan as a foundation for real-world evidence

MarketScan is a strong starting point for real-world evidence generation, as it’s closed system administrative claims, sourced primarily from large, self-insured employers, with monthly enrollment records that make it possible to know when patients are continuously observable in the data. That eligibility information gives researchers confidence that “the absence of care is in fact absence of care and not the absence of data.” 

Because MarketScan is built directly from decision support data used by employer and health plan contributors, it has several differentiators that are key for life sciences research:

• Longitudinal follow-up averaging more than four years of detailed medical and pharmacy claims  

• Broad geographic representation across all 50 states

• Actual cost data for most claims  

These differentiators support a broad spectrum of evidence generation and regulatory grade analytics including impact of medication use, detailed views of care patterns, and utilization and financial responsibility across patients, payers, and families over time.

Adding depth when claims alone are not enough

Being able to start with MarketScan and add the right level of data depth only when a research question requires it is also important. For many health economics and outcomes research (HEOR) questions, claims data can answer questions about treatment patterns, utilization, cost and burden of illness. But other questions require variables that claims alone do not capture, such as lab values, biomarkers, disease severity, device identifiers, mortality outcomes or worker productivity. 

The MarketScan Partner Ecosystem is designed to support that need by connecting researchers to fit-for-purpose data with clinical and specialty depth. The Ecosystem is a flexible model built around “optionality and flexibility,” with partner data layered in based on the research question at hand. Depending on the therapeutic area and research objective, that may include expanded lab results, ambulatory EHR detail, hospital chargemaster data, specialty EHR information, mortality, productivity measures or sponsor-owned data. The goal is not simply to add more data, but to add the right data needed to answer the question with greater confidence.

Using linked data to answer more precise research questions

MarketScan breadth and Ecosystem depth can also support a wide range of evidence-generation needs. Researchers can use linked data to measure clinical response and progression, define more precise cohorts by severity or biomarker status, identify devices and downstream outcomes, detect safety and tolerability signals, and validate claims-based algorithms before using them at scale. Adding fit-for-purpose depth can turn a claims-based view into a clinically and economically richer evidence story in areas such as chronic kidney disease, MASH, device research, hyperkalemia and heart failure, and claims-algorithm validation. 

For example, MarketScan and Biodesix linked proprietary VeriStrat blood-based immune profile results to MarketScan claims for non-small cell lung cancer research. The diagnostic result helped classify patients, while MarketScan added visibility into treatment patterns, healthcare resource utilization, hospitalizations and costs over time. Together, the linked data made it possible to examine patterns that neither the test-result data nor claims data could fully show alone.  

The case study presented during the webinar similarly provided an example of research that would not have been possible without the integration of clinical and specialty data.  

Case study: Capturing the full burden of obstructive sleep apnea

We used obstructive sleep apnea in employees with obesity as an example of how linked evidence can reveal a broader value story. Claims can show healthcare utilization and medical cost, but “lost work and disability can represent a substantial additional burden.” That matters because employers are significant healthcare payers, and a value story focused only on direct medical costs may miss a meaningful part of the total economic impact. 

By linking administrative claims, work-loss data and clinical detail from physician notes, the study approach helped quantify productivity impact by sleep apnea severity. MarketScan provided the breadth to identify and follow patients over time, while linked EHR detail helped identify body mass index, weight and Apnea-hypopnea index scores that were needed to define the study cohort and stratify severity. Specialty productivity data then enabled measurement of absenteeism, short- and long-term disability, workers’ compensation, utilization and costs. 

The findings showed how this type of linked approach can move beyond a claims-only view. The study identified nearly 20,000 patients with obstructive sleep apnea and an Apnea-hypopnea index score of five or higher, then applied additional eligibility and body mass index criteria to create a final study population of more than 4,600 patients.  

Compared with matched controls, employees with obstructive sleep apnea and obesity experienced higher rates of work productivity loss. The study also found more motor vehicle accidents and serious injuries among patients with obstructive sleep apnea, adding another dimension to the burden story. The ability to identify patients, stratify by severity and measure productivity loss “was really only possible” by combining MarketScan claims, specialty employer data and linked clinical information.

Building evidence that fits the question

The takeaway for life sciences researchers is clear: stronger value stories start with a data strategy that fits the research question. Sometimes the MarketScan foundation provides what is needed. Other times, the question requires building off the strong MarketScan backbone with additional clinical, specialty, productivity or proprietary data. The value of the Ecosystem is that researchers can derive value from MarketScan’s core differentiators while determining “the best fit” for augmentation based on the client-specific research question. 

By anchoring research in MarketScan and expanding with on-demand depth when needed, organizations can generate evidence that better reflects patient experience, treatment impact, economic burden and real-world value. There is also on-demand depth capitalizing on the organizational efficiencies of pre-established partnership, without the potential downside of narrower data elements of pre-linked assets.  

Connect with our team to learn more about how MarketScan can add a stronger value story in your research.  

Watch the complete webinar here.