Managed care organizations (MCOs) have vast amounts of data from myriad sources about the real-worldhealth care and the costs of services for the millions of customers whose health and wellbeing they helpserve. MCOs also have large data analytic operations by which to generate clinical and business insights.In this presentation, we advocate that MCOs take the next step of publishing in peer reviewed journals theprojects they undertake, not only to advance the standing of the organization, but to improve the state ofhealth services science.
We describe our own efforts at Cigna to disseminate this sort of information,which involved contracting with a medical writer. We also describe how one of several resultingpublications, specifically focused on treating opiate use disorder, started with an initial research questionand lead to benefit design considerations and care management decisions.