The IQVIA LifeLink PharMetrics Plus™ database is comprised of commercial health plan information from managed care plans throughout the United States, with adjudicated claims of more than 150 million unique enrollees since 2006. TRI has obtained a multi-user data use agreement to access a random 10 percent sample that contains records for over 8 million individuals.
Key IQVIA LifeLink PharMetrics Plus features include:
- Data have diverse geographic representation of employers, payers, providers, disease, and therapy areas, coming from 90 percent of U.S. hospitals, 80 percent of all U.S. doctors, and representation from 85 percent of the Fortune 100 companies.
- In addition to standard fields such as inpatient and outpatient diagnoses and procedures, retail and mail order prescription records, PharMetrics Plus has detailed information on the pharmacy and medical benefit (copayment, deductible), inpatient stay (admission type and source, discharge status) and provider details (specialty, provider ID).
- Due to the broad reach of the data, individuals in the PharMetrics Plus database are similar to the national, commercially insured population in terms of age and gender for individuals aged 65 and under.
- Data are longitudinal, with more than 30 million individuals who have both medical and pharmacy coverage with three or more years of continuous enrollment.
- All data are HIPAA compliant to protect patient privacy.
The Translational Research Institute (TRI) has acquired a 10 percent random sample of the proprietary administrative claims IQVIA LifeLink PharMetrics Plus to facilitate exploratory research projects and train students and researchers.
TRI provides data documentation, access to the server in which the data are housed and data-related technical support. Data files are organized as SAS files on a password-protected server. To utilize this data system, it is essential to have computer programming support or knowledge in SAS programming, conventional administrative file layout and coding conventions such as ICD-9-CM, CPT-4, and HCPCs codes.
Researchers are responsible for performing the computer programming to construct the analytic files and research findings. As an additional service to the research community, TRI will help identify trained programming staff and graduate assistants to construct analytic files. However, the researchers must provide salary support for any hired staff.