USING HEALTH-INSURANCE CLAIMS DATA TO ANALYZE SUBSTANCE-ABUSE CHARGESAND UTILIZATION

It is crucial to evaluate whether health insurance data sets will prov ide robust answers to significant research questions in advance of und ertaking large research studies using these data. In this article we p resent the research challenges of using insurance claims data sets to study substance abuse. Using illustrations from the itemized claims fr om three large employers, we focus on using administrative data to ana lyze costs to employers, utilization of services to treat abuse of spe cific drugs, and the effects of managed care strategies. We conclude t hat insurance claims data sets are useful for reporting employers' pay ments for treatment of identified substance abusers and for tracking c hanges over time but are not useful for studies of the use of treatmen t for specific drugs.