Case Study: National Institute of Mental Health achieves comprehensive national insights into autism healthcare utilization and medication use with Optum360

Unparalleled data and analytic expertise for a large-scale national study

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) contracted The Lewin Group to run a two‑year national study of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), their siblings and parents to understand health trajectories, service use and psychotropic medication patterns. Optum360 supported the effort by supplying de‑identified medical and pharmacy claims from its Optum Research Database, enrollment and socioeconomic linkages, and analytic expertise, and by validating claims‑based ASD identification with medical chart abstraction.

Optum360’s approach—linking longitudinal claims, enrollment, socioeconomic data and chart abstraction—produced robust, generalizable results: claims‑based ASD identification had an 87.4% positive predictive value; children with ASD showed higher health care utilization and costs, greater comorbidity (gastrointestinal and neurologic/neurodevelopmental disorders), and heavier psychotropic use (64% on ≥1 psychotropic class, 35% on ≥2, 15% on ≥3); family members had higher utilization and parents had increased odds of stress‑related conditions. Optum360’s analysis yielded actionable insights, more precise estimates for researchers and policymakers, and attracted widespread media attention.

National Institute of Mental Health