What We Do

Population Data

We use data from health insurers, medical records, and government agencies to identify optimal strategies to improve care for people who use substances.

One powerful approach to measuring economic value is using data from the real world. Administrative claims records and data repositories from electronic health records complement data from clinical trials and cohort studies. These datasets reach their maximum potential when they are linked across service agencies, enabling us to follow drug use-related outcomes through multiple settings.

How We Work

Our investigators lead the effort to employ a linked administrative record database in Massachusetts to examine opportunities to improve substance use care. Based in part on our successes in Massachusetts, we are supporting other similar state-level initiatives to link administrative record datasets.

Our investigators and CHERISH Research Affiliates also work with diverse national datasets that contain records from commercial health insurers, Medicaid, Medicare, and pharmacies as well as national population data. Data on substance use patterns and treatments are notably difficult to identify nationally because of disparate sources of care and financing, stigma, and other factors. By comparing outcomes observed in different datasets we improve the quality of economic research in the substance use field.

Databases We Have Used:

Related Content

03/04/25 Research Highlight

Hepatitis C Virus Screening in Pregnant and Nonpregnant Women After Universal Screening Guidelines

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) testing guidelines were updated in 2020 to provide universal, one-time screening for adults ages 18 through 79 and during each pregnancy. This departure from their 2013 recommendation not only aims to improve early detection of HCV across age groups but also acknowledges pregnancy as a critical period for diagnosing and treating […]

01/17/25 Research Highlight

Research Highlights Prevention Efforts in Fentanyl Overdoses

The overwhelming majority of those in New York City who obtained a naloxone kit to counteract opioid overdose had a high need for the drug, according to a new study by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators and the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The study, published Jan. 16 in the Journal of Urban Health, […]

12/31/24 Research Highlight

Offering Buprenorphine in Homeless Shelters in Massachusetts Projects Life- and Cost-saving Results

Overdose is the leading cause of death among people with opioid use disorder (OUD) who are experiencing homelessness. Innovative care models that meet this population outside of office-based settings can improve access to buprenorphine, a medication for treating OUD, and avert fatal overdoses. In this study, Avik Chatterjee, lead author and addiction specialist at Boston […]

Rebecca Arden Harris, Tara Calderbank, and Yuhua Bao.
12/18/24 Research Highlight

We’re barely using a key resource to help people with addiction

Rachel was making her 25th visit to the emergency department. The wound on her leg from injecting drugs had spread to her entire calf and required a lengthy course of antibiotic treatment in the hospital. The few times she had been admitted to the hospital, she had left without finishing treatment because the pain and […]

11/06/24 Research Highlight

Racial and Ethnic Disparities Along the Hepatitis C Care Cascade Among Priority Populations

Over the last two decades, injection opioid use has increased among reproductive-aged women, with resultant increases in mother-to-child hepatitis C virus (HCV) transmissions in the U.S. Direct-acting antiviral (DAA) treatment is highly effective at reducing and eliminating the risk of HCV transmissions. Yet, studies show lower odds of receiving DAA treatment for women compared to […]

09/12/24 Research Highlight

Insurance Instability for Patients with Opioid Use Disorder in the Year After Diagnosis

Access to health insurance is crucial to gaining the necessary diagnostic and therapeutic services to achieve and maintain good health. Insurance is especially necessary to access medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) as the cost of MOUD can be a barrier to staying in treatment. If insurance coverage is disrupted, MOUD treatment may be more […]

08/12/24 Research Highlight

Association between claims-based setting of diagnosis and treatment initiation among Medicare patients with Hepatitis C

Direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) have been available since 2015 for hepatitis C (HCV). Nonetheless, very few patients with HCV initiate DAA treatment, ranging from 5% to 30%. The location where a patient is first diagnosed can also influence the care patients receive afterward, especially when a referral to a specialist or coordinated care is needed. In […]

07/10/24 Research Highlight

Medicaid-Covered Peer Support Services Used by Enrollees With Opioid Use Disorder

Peer support services (PSS) play an increasingly important role in supporting recovery for people with substance use disorder (SUD). Through these services, peer support workers combine lived experience and professional training to provide health education, encouragement and empathy, recovery modeling, and concrete assistance in overcoming barriers to recovery. As of 2018, 37 Medicaid programs covered PSS for SUD. In a research letter in JAMA Network Open, Dr. Yuhua Bao, professor of population health sciences, and colleagues investigated multi-state utilization of Medicaid-covered PSS in 2019. Researchers found that overall use of Medicaid-covered […]

a lit candle is seen against a dark background
04/02/24 Research Highlight

New Study Reveals Preventable-Suicide Risk Profiles

Individuals with physical health concerns made up the largest and fastest growing of five subgroups of individuals who died by suicide n the United States over roughly twenty years, according to an analysis led by Weill Cornell Medicine in collaboration with Columbia University, UC Berkeley School of Public Health, the University of Hong Kong and […]

08/04/23 Research Highlight

Initiation of Hepatitis C Treatment Low Among Medicaid Recipients

While there are highly effective treatments for the hepatitis C virus (HCV), only 1 in 5 Medicaid enrollees diagnosed with HCV started treatment, according to a retrospective study led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and Cornell University’s Ithaca campus. The findings revealed that treatment uptake rates were even lower among people under 30, women, […]