All-Payer Claims Databases

All-Payer Claims Databases (APCDs) are state-level comprehensive efforts to collect health insurance claims data including most insurance carriers and most healthcare providers.

As part of its mission, the CHeSS Methods Core curates data for use by the UC research community and has had a developing interest in promoting awareness of and access to APCD data. Pursuing this interest, the Methods Core partnered with the GPHAP internship program in 2016 to engage second-year Harris School student Melissa Whitney to research and report on the development of APCDs. Ms. Whitney conducted extensive on-line research as well as interviews with national and state-level APCD leaders. The results of her efforts are summarized in our white paper An Introduction to All Payer Claims Databases.

Currently, 15 states have APCDs in place and an additional five are in the process of implementation. However, not all APCDs are created equal.  They can vary by which entities submit data, what data is included, ease of access to the data, governance and data release policies, permissible use, and other factors. These issues are detailed and discussed in the white paper.

For copies of the white paper, please contact Methods Core Director, Andrea Flores.

CAR T-Cell Therapy

The University of Chicago Medicine (UCM) has collaborated with several pharmaceutical companies on breakthrough cellular therapy clinical trials for the treatment of lymphomas and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), many of which have the potential to achieve FDA approval this year. One therapy, CAR T-Cell Therapy, genetically modifies T-cells to have chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) which allow the T-cells to recognize tumor cells. Patients will receive infusions of CAR T-cells which can recognize and kill cancer cells.

Once the treatment is approved by the FDA, UCM will be one of five sites for the initial commercial introduction of the new treatment protocol. UCM is building the infrastructure for the new Cellular Therapy Program which will serve as a model to help other institutions to design their own CAR T-cell therapy program.

Methods Core plays a critical role in the data capture process for this new therapy. Methods core will help collect patient data through REDCap. The resulting data warehouse will serve to help refine the treatment protocols to improve treatment effectiveness.

Learn more about Methods Core here.