OptumLabs

Optum and Mayo Clinic co-founded the legacy OptumLabs in late 2012. Through OptumLabs, the Mayo Clinic Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery is delving into data from hundreds of millions of patients to find optimal treatments for conditions in a given setting, understand variations in care, and examine the effectiveness of patient care programs and approaches.

Headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, OptumLabs was established as a collaborative research and innovation center. It provides a research environment — including technology, tools, collaboration space and operating processes — and a translation network to assist in translating knowledge to changes in practice and policy.

Its core linked data asset, the OptumLabs Data Warehouse, is a comprehensive, real-world data asset with de-identified lives across claims and clinical information. It includes de-identified administrative claims data for commercially insured and Medicare Advantage enrollees in a large, private U.S. health plan and de-identified electronic health record (EHR) data from a nationwide network of health care groups.

The database contains longitudinal health information on patients representing a diverse mixture of ages, ethnicities and geographical regions across the United States. The EHR data is sourced from health care groups and reflects all payers, including uninsured patients.

All data is kept in a secure environment and, in accordance with Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) regulations, no personally identifiable information is shared.

Mayo Clinic contributes several key attributes to the success of OptumLabs, including:

  • Clinical and research expertise to guide research agendas and interpret comparative effectiveness results.
  • Pathways and protocols that represent best clinical practices tested and standardized at Mayo.

Today, OptumLabs cites its collaborations thus: "By engaging experts across diverse industries and fields, we work collaboratively to facilitate research programs, develop data-driven applications, and innovate with new technologies and more to solve complex problems in health care."

At Mayo Clinic, the Mayo Clinic Kern Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery leads collaborative activities.

Projects

Mayo Clinic researchers use the OptumLabs Data Warehouse to investigate a wide range of health care concerns, including:

  • Over- and under-use of tests and medications, including identifying resultant medical complications and burdens to individuals and the health care system.
  • Comparative effectiveness of medications, surgeries or other therapeutic interventions on patient outcomes.
  • Incidence and outcomes of diseases and conditions.
  • Preference and prevalence of different treatments for a particular disease or condition.
  • Effects of adherence to or change of therapy on long-term patient outcomes.

Publications

Since co-founding OptumLabs, Mayo Clinic researchers have published and presented research findings in a variety of national and international venues.

The link below returns citations from PubMed, a service of the National Library of Medicine. PubMed is composed of references and abstracts from Medline, life science journals and online books. It includes publications authored by members of the OptumLabs collaborative team.

Review publications from the OptumLabs collaboration in the Mayo Clinic Kern Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery.

Contact

Shannon M. Dunlay, M.D., M.S.

  • Associate Medical Director, Mayo Clinic Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery
  • Email: dunlay.shannon@mayo.edu

Lindsey R. Sangaralingham, M.P.H.