Use of Claims Data for Cost and Cost-Effectiveness Research

Administrative claims data are big data generated from healthcare encounters. Claims data contain information on insurance payment as well as clinical diagnoses and procedure codes to ascertain medical conditions and treatments, making them valuable sources for economic evaluation research. This paper offers an introductory overview of the use of claims data for oncology-related cost-of-illness, cost comparison, and cost-effectiveness analyses. We reviewed analytical methods commonly employed in these analyses, such as the phase of care approach and net costing method for cost-of-illness studies, propensity score matching methods for cost comparison studies, and net benefit regression models for cost-effectiveness studies. We used published studies to explain each method and to discuss methodological challenges of conducting economic studies using claims data.