HealthEconomics.Com - The Resource for Health Outcomes Professionals

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Associate Director, Health Economics and Pricing - EU Abraxis BioScience

Tenure Track Outcomes Research Faculty University of Utah Department of Pharmacotherapy

Research Associates - Center for Health Economics, Epidemiology and Science Policy United BioSource Corporation

Clinical Outcomes Research Director UC San Francisco

Senior Associate, Health Policy Evaluation and Analysis VNAA

Agency for Health Care Research and Quality

Agency mission is to improve the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of health care for all Americans.

Agency for International Development

Helps developing countries in their efforts to create demographic and health information systems and to improve decision making by identifying emerging problems and better understanding trends across countries. AID statistical activities include measuring the impact of immunizations, HIV/AIDS, and other infectious diseases, and studying methodological approaches to collecting the core data needed for program planning, monitoring, surveillance, and evaluation.

Agency for Toxic Substances Disease Registry

(ATSDR) in the Dept of Health and Human Services (HHS) conducts public health assessments, health studies, and health surveillance for those exposed to hazardous materials, and maintains exposure and disease registries for long- term follow-up or specific scientific studies. ATSDR analyzes the statistical significance of human disease, biomarkers, and other health outcomes in the presence of environmental contamination to establish possible relationships between exposure and health.

Ambulatory Care, Hospitalization, and Mortality Data

Links to HCUPS, MEPS, NHDS, etc.

Bureau of Primary Health Care (US)

A core set of information appropriate for monitoring and evaluating health center performance and reporting on trends is collected through UDS. UDS collects basic demographic information on populations served, such as race/ethnicity and insurance status of patients, birth outcomes, etc. Reported by the following groups: Community Health Center; Migrant Health Center; Health Care for the Homeless; Public Housing Primary Care;and any section 330 funded Health Center

Center for Disease Control

(CDC) provides data on morbidity, epidemiologic surveillance of infectious diseases, chronic diseases, occupational diseases and injuries, vaccine efficacy, and safety.

Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services

In the Dept of Health and Human Services (HHS) collect administrative data associated with oversight of the Medicare and Medicaid programs; study the quality of care delivered by those programs; and sponsor a survey of current Medicare beneficiaries to obtain data on health care utilization and expenditures, including expenditures not covered by Medicare, the sources of health care coverage and payment, and the assets, income, health, functional status, work history, and family support systems of the Medicare population.

Community Health Status Indicators Project Health Resources Services Administration, U. S. Department of Health and Human Services

3,082 reports of health status indicators, one for each county in the nation. (Note: Data retired as of October 11, 2002)

Community Tracking Study - Center for Studying Health System Change

Community Reports provide information and insights about developments in the 12 communities that HSC is studying intensively over time to better understand the changing health system and variations across markets. The Center for Studying Health System Change is a nonpartisan research organization and “seeks to provide objective, incisive analyses that lead to sound policy and management decisions, with the ultimate goal of improving the health of the American public.

Consumer Expenditure Survey - Bureau of Labor Statistics

Details of consumer health care expenditures

Consumer Price Indexes - Bureau of Labor Statistics

The Consumer Price Indexes (CPI) program produces monthly data on changes in the prices paid by urban consumers for a representative basket of goods and services.

Current Population Survey – U.S. Census Bureau

Annual Demographic Survey (March CPS Supplement) includes health insurance coverage.

Data User’s Reference Guide* - Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)

The purpose of the Data Users Reference Guide is to introduce health care data users to the Medicare and Medicaid program data maintained by CMS.” Details of raw data files, intended for use by researchers and analysts.

Department of Veterans Affairs

Good research information on VA research and development, funding opportunities, updated guidance and deadlines, etc.

Directory of Data Resources* - Department of Health and Human Services

A compilation of information about virtually all major data collection systems sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Expansion of Quality of Care Measures (Q-SPAN)

AHRQ Project designed to strengthen the science base of quality measurement while expanding the scope and availability of validated, ready-to-use measures. Q-SPAN builds on past work in quality measurement by public and private organizations through eight cooperative agreements to develop and test additional clinical performance measures for specific conditions, patient populations, and health care settings.

Fastats from Nat

QuickStats (from CDC/NCHS) ranging from Alzheimers to Work Loss Days. Key state data available too. Get email updates on relevant areas. Linkds to NHANES, NCHS, NHIS, NIS, LSOA, NSFG, SLAITS

FDA Code of Federal Regulations

The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) is a codification of the general and permanent rules published in the Federal Register by the Executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government.

Fedstats

Gateway to statistics from over 100 agencies. Sort by health and get links to AHRQ, CDC, CMS, etc. etc.

Finding and Using Health Statistics: A Self Study Course** - National Information Center on Health Services Research & Health Care Technology (NICHSR)

A very useful interactive tutorial.

Food and Drug Administration

Press releases, backgrounders, meeting calendars, etc.

Glossary of terms in health economics

From a self-study course developed by the National Information Center on Health Services Research and Health Care Technology (NICHSR). Other modules include scope of appraisal, resources, identification and retrieval, critical appraisal/analysis.

HCUPnet– Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project - Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)

national statistics and trends and selected State statistics about hospital stays.

Health Canada Online

In partnership with provincial and territorial governments, Health Canada provides national leadership to develop health policy, enforce health regulations, promote disease prevention and enhance healthy living for all Canadians.

Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA)

The federal agency that administers the Medicare, Medicaid and Child Health Insurance Programs.

Health Economic Appraisal Self Study

Self study education course from National Information Center on Health Services Research and Health Care Technology (NICHSR). This module explains why health economic evaluations require appraisal; explains each of the key areas to consider in the critical appraisal of health economic evaluation studies; Helps you appraise a selected paper.

Health Services and Sciences Research Resources*** - National Information Center on Health Services Research & Health Care Technology (NICHSR)

Searchable database of information about research datasets and instruments/indices. Includes description of and links to resources. Very useful finding aid.

Health Services Research Internet Sites National Information Center on Health Services Research & Health Care Technology (NICHSR)

Selected HSR Web Sites - see especially Health Policy and Economics and also Data Sets and Data Sources

Health Systems in Transition (HiT) profiles

HiT profiles seek to provide relevant information to support policy-makers and analysts in the development of health systems in Europe. They are building blocks that can be used: * to learn in detail about different approaches to the organization, financing and delivery of health services and the role of the main actors in health systems;* to describe the institutional framework, the process, content and implementation of health care reform programmes; * to highlight challenges and areas that require more in-depth analysis; and * to provide a tool for the dissemination of information on health systems and the exchange of experiences of reform strategies between policy-makers and analysts in different countries.

Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, 1988-1994

Download the data! Both databases contain patient-level information for inpatient hospital stays using national sample of about 900 hospitals. The State Inpatient Database (SID) covers inpatient care in community hospitals in 12 States that represent nearly half of all U.S. hospital discharges.

Healthy People 2000 (National Center for Health Statistics)

Downloadable file includes 26 objectives based on mortality data. State-level mortality for five population subgroups; Numbers of deaths. Data are also presented for HIV-related mortality.

ICD-9 Download

Include the entire text of ICD-9-CM by year, up to 2007

Identification and Retrieval of Published Health Economic Evaluation Studies

Self study education course from National Information Center on Health Services Research and Health Care Technology (NICHSR). This module describes the definition and purpose of economic evaluation studies; outlines and highlights the characteristics of the health economic evaluation literature; outlines an effective approach to identifying and retrieving economic evaluation studies from bibliographic databases; considers how economic evaluation studies are indexed in the two major bibliographic databases, MEDLINE and EMBASE

Indian Health Service

Provides vital event, demographic, social, and economic statistics on American Indians and Alaska Natives living in IHS service areas, as well as patient care and morbidity information for those who use IHS services.

Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS)

Download the data and the questionnaire! Nationally representative survey of health care use, expenditures, sources of payment, and insurance coverage for the U.S. civilian noninstitutionalized population, as well as a national survey of nursing homes and their residents. AHRQ survey is designed to yield comprehensive data that estimate the level and distribution of health care use and expenditures, monitor the dynamics of the health care delivery and insurance systems, and assess health care policy implications.

Medical products agency

The Swedish authority for registration of new drugs. Like FDA but in Sweden.

Medicare HMO Home Page

Oriented toward consumers, but educational.

Mortality Data from National Vital Statistics System (download)

Causes of death, life expectancy, marriages, divorces, etc.

Natinal Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Disease

National Cancer Institute

(NCI) in the Dept of Health and Human Services (NIH) conducts extensive surveillance research on cancer incidence, mortality, morbidity, survival, patterns of cancer care, cancer risk factors and health practices, cost of care, health systems operations applied to cancer control, and progress against cancer.

National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine

(NCCAM) in the National Instistutes of Health (NIH) supports research on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), trains researchers in CAM, and disseminates information to the public and professionals on which CAM modalities work, which do not, and why.

National Center for Health Statistics

(NCHS) in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the principal agency that produces general-purpose health data. NCHS is responsible for the collection, maintenance, analysis, and dissemination of statistics on the nature and extent of the health, illness, and disability of the U.S. population; the impact of illness and disability on the economy; the effects of environmental, social, and other health hazards; health care costs and financing; family formation, growth, and dissolution; and vital events (i.e., births and deaths).

National Eye Institute

(NEI) in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) carries out studies of the causation, prevention, and treatment of eye diseases and vision disorders.

National Guideline Clearinghouse (NGC)

A comprehensive database of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines and related documents produced by the Agency for HealthCare Research and Quality(AHRQ), in partnership with the American Medical Association (AMA) and the American Association of Health Plans (AAHP).

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

(NHLBI) in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) conducts basic epidemiological research related to heart, lung, and blood diseases, as well as research in theoretical statistics and biometric methods.

National Home and Hospice Care Data

Public use files from NCHS

National Hospital Discharge Survey

Contains a smaller sample than the HCUP-3 dataset above, but the data are cross-validated using a sample of medical records.

National Institute Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering

(NIBIB) in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) fosters, conducts, supports, and administers research and training programs in Bioinformatics, Image Processing, and Computational Modeling.

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

(NICHD) in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) directs an epidemiological and statistical program that includes research on risk factors of adverse pregnancy outcomes, coordinates clinical trials for the evaluation of strategies of obstetric management and neonatal intensive care, and analyzes data to understand recent trends in indicators of maternal and child health.

National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research

(NIDCR) in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) studies the impact of sociodemographic and economic trends on oral health, surveys oral health knowledge and practices of health providers, and investigates the oral health status of populations. The Institute also provides support to NCHS for the inclusion of an oral health component in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive Kidney Disease

NIDDK) in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) studies recipients of human growth hormones; the epidemiology of diabetes and its complications; digestive diseases and their complications; and major chronic kidney, urologic, and hematologic diseases.

National Institute of Environmental Health Services

(NIEHS) conducts a variety of activities such as the design and analysis of animal carcinogenicity experiments; statistical studies in genetic toxicology, mathematical modeling of molecular phenomena, and risk assessment methodology development; and a training program and consulting service, including efforts focusing on bioinformatics and the tools needed to analyze and interpret microarray data.

National Institute on Aging

(NIA) in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) conducts research on aging and age-associated diseases and conditions using population-based epidemiological and biometric methods.

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism

(NIAAA) in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) maintains the Alcohol Epidemiology Data System, a national repository of alcohol-related databases; sponsors a longitudinal survey of alcohol use, abuse, and dependence; and makes available information on alcohol-related policies adopted by state governments.

National Institute on Allergy and Infectious Disease

(NIAID) in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) coordinates a multi-centered clinical trial of a comprehensive intervention program to reduce asthma morbidity in inner city children; creates databases containing chemical structures and biological data in order to monitor and analyze developments in the chemotherapy of HIV and opportunistic infections; makes available information on clinical trials that evaluate experimental drug treatments; and supports training activities that include statistical and clinical research training on AIDS and emerging infectious diseases, as well as training in biostatistical and data management and methods for analysis of HIV vaccine trials.

National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders

(NIDCD) in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) conducts epidemiologic studies related to deafness and other communication disorders, and maintains a data system to facilitate the monitoring of levels and analysis of trends in relevant health problems.

National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research

(NIDRR) in the Dept of Education supports national data centers that coordinate data collection activities of burn injury, traumatic brain injury, and spinal cord injury model systems program grantees and provide technical assistance on data collection methodology. In addition, NIDRR funds a Rehabilitation Research Training Center on demographics and statistics and funds a small number of field-initiated projects that conduct secondary analyses on existing data sets.

National Institute on Drug Abuse

(NIDA) in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) supports research on the nature, patterns, extent, causes, consequences, prevention, and treatment of drug abuse and works with state, Federal, and international governmental agencies to develop drug abuse surveillance capability through the establishment of epidemiology networks.

National Institutes of Health

supports data collections and analyses examining populations training for and participating in medical research as well as biological and medical sciences instrumentation and research facilities, and maintains a database on characteristics of America's medical school faculties.

National Institutes of Mental Health

(NIMH) in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) provides biostatistical analysis and data management for studies in support of its mission to reduce the burden of mental illness and behavioral disorders through research on mind, brain, and behavior.

NHS Centre for Reviews and Dissemination

Produce and disseminate reviews concerning the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of healthcare interventions. The aim is to identify and review the results of good quality health research and to disseminate actively the findings to key decision makers in the NHS and to consumers of health care services.

OASIS

OASIS- Online Analytical Statistical Information System of the Georgia Division of Public Health. A web based tool for Public Health and public policy analysis. The site includes many sources of relevant content, mapping to census tract level and demographic profiling.

Prices and Wages from Bureau of Labor Services

Wages by area and occupation

Product Approvals: FDA

Monthly listing.

PROMIS

Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) initiative stablishes a collaborative relationship between NIH and individual research teams through a cooperative agreement (U01) mechanism. The broad objectives of the PROMIS network are to: * Develop and test a large bank of items measuring patient-reported outcomes * Create a computerized adaptive testing system that allows for efficient, psychometrically robust assessment of patient-reported outcomes in clinical research involving a wide range of chronic diseases * Create a publicly available system that can be added to and modified periodically and that allows clinical researchers to access a common repository of items and computerized adaptive tests. The network will collaborate on the collection of self-reported data from diverse populations of individuals with a variety of chronic diseases, using agreed-upon methods, modes, and questionnaires.

Sources and Characteristics of Information Relating to Health Care Financing in the US

Self study education course from National Information Center on Health Services Research and Health Care Technology (NICHSR). Goals of module include: 1) the significant trends in spending, outcomes, and access within the U.S. health care system; and; 2)the main sources of literature and data relating to health care financing in the U.S.

Spending by Consumers on Health Care: A Data Brief

Prepared for Congress December 2007.

Statistical Resources on the Web

University of Michigan Library - A statistical portal. Links to health stats (example, Deaths; disability; Health Care; Health Insurance; HMOs; International Life Tables; Prescription Drugs; Social Security Death Index; Surgery; transplants; Vital Statistics, etc.) Demographics: population, race, ethnicity, etc.

Subtance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

(SAMHSA) in the Dept of Health and Human Services (HHS) provides information on health problems related to the use and abuse of drugs and alcohol (the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention); substance abuse treatment (the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment); the mental health condition of the population (the Center for Mental Health Services); and the prevalence and incidence of substance abuse and its medical impact (the Office of Applied Studies).

The Scope of Health Economics

Self study education course from National Information Center on Health Services Research and Health Care Technology (NICHSR)in 2 parts: Part 1 - outlines the scope of the subdiscipline of health economics and highlights the range of potential information required; Part 2 - outlines and highlights the type of information that may be required and key sources of that information

U.S. Census Bureau Home Page

Downloadable files on demographics, maps, etc.

US Health Resources and Services Administration

(HRSA) in the Dept of Health and Human Services (HHS) collects data on general health services, the health professions workforce, and resource issues related to access, equity, quality, and cost of care. HRSA maintains the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients and the National Bone Marrow Donor Registry.

US Pharmacopoeia

Official public standards-setting authority for all prescription and over-the-counter medicines, dietary supplements, and other healthcare products manufactured and sold in the United States.

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