Standards, Practices, And Methods for the Use of Administrative Claims Data (Economics ARTICLES‪)‬

INTRODUCTION In a recent paper, Safran et al., (2007) discuss the increasing secondary use of health data for research and other purposes. The authors note that the "lack of coherent policies and standard good practices for secondary use of health data impedes efforts to transform the U.S. health care system" (p. 1). This paper seeks to contribute to this important discussion in two ways. First, a set of standards and practices for researchers to follow is proposed for the acquisition and proper use of administrative data. Second, the literature is reviewed that relates to specific shortcomings with administrative databases and methods to address the problems. The paper is geared towards students with an interest in health economics, but may also be useful to other students and established researchers given the increasing use of administrative data (both health-related and otherwise). The goal is to help researchers use administrative data correctly so that policy makers can have greater confidence in findings, and consequently research can have a greater effect on public policy.