📌 Merative MarketScan Databases – Unites States 🇺🇸

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🔍 What is it?

The Merative MarketScan Databases (formerly IBM MarketScan) are a set of comprehensive real-world data (RWD) sources derived from claims, encounters, and electronic health records (EHRs) across commercial, Medicare, and Medicaid populations in the United States. These databases support health economics and outcomes research (HEOR), pharmacoepidemiology, and regulatory decision-making.

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📊 Key Features & Scope

📍 Geographical coverage: United States 🇺🇸

🏥 Data type: De-identified health insurance claims, EHRs, and linked datasets covering inpatient, outpatient, and pharmacy claims

🕒 Time coverage: Data available since the 1990s, with continuous updates

👥 Population covered: Over 270 million patients across commercial, Medicare, and Medicaid payers

🔄 Longitudinal data: Tracks individuals over time, including healthcare utilization, diagnoses, procedures, and costs

📈 Therapeutic areas: Broad coverage across chronic conditions, oncology, infectious diseases, and rare diseases

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✅ Strengths & Best Use Cases

🌍 Comprehensive payer data – Covers commercially insured, Medicare, and Medicaid populations

💊 Pharmacoepidemiology & drug utilization – Ideal for analyzing medication adherence, persistence, and treatment patterns

📊 Cost & healthcare utilization insights – Enables economic burden assessments and healthcare resource use studies

🚀 Longitudinal tracking – Supports disease progression studies and healthcare pathways analysis

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⚠️ Limitations & Considerations

🏥 Lack of clinical detail – Primarily based on claims data, which may not capture disease severity, biomarkers, or patient-reported outcomes

📉 Coverage gaps – Patients may switch insurers, leading to potential loss of follow-up in longitudinal studies

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📚 How to Access & Learn More

🔗 Access: Requires licensing through Merative

🎓 Publications: https://www.merative.com/insights

📄 More info: MarketScan by Merative