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Dean Resnick

Principal Data Scientist
Dean is an expert on record linkage methodology and the use of administrative record data.

Dean is an expert on record linkage methodology and software development. He has developed innovative approaches to enhancing the Fellegi-Sunter record linkage model and has led developed of a proprietary record linkage software package (NORCLink) that applies enhanced methods and includes the use of the Expectation-Maximization algorithm to estimate linkage parameters. Dean is also an expert on the use of administrative records for policy analysis and survey evaluation and highly proficient implementing survey analysis methods such as weighting, imputation, and variance estimation.

He has developed methods and code that are used in the linkage program for the National Center for Health Statistics. This work includes linkages of the National Hospital Care Survey (NHCS) to the National Death Index (NDI), Medicare and Medicaid administrative records, and HUD and VA administrative records. He also developed an imputation model for race and ethnicity and synthetic data to allow users access to data that protected the privacy of represented patients and their data. He has also conducted research on privacy preserving record linkage (PPRL). With the software he has developed he conducts linkages of AmeriSpeak data to vendor data bases to provide enhanced characteristics to the survey records. He conducted iterative proportional fitting (using software he developed) to provide representative weighting for patient health claims sample files for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Prior to coming to NORC, Dean worked in the U.S. Census Bureau’s administrative record area. Here he developed software that is still being used to run the Person Identification Validation System (PVS) that conducts linkages of survey and administrative record data involving hundreds of millions of records. He also performed imputation modeling of personal characteristics and evaluated survey quality (particularly related to public program participation) by record check analyses. He also worked in the health policy area of the Urban Institute applying data science methods to health policy analysis.

Education

MSE

University of Pennsylvania

AB

Franklin & Marshall College

Appointments & Affiliations

Member

American Statistical Association

Founder and First Chairman

Record Linkage Interest Group

Project Contributions

National Hospital Care Survey Data Linkages

Linking NHCS data to National Death Index and CMS Master Beneficiary Records

Client:

National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS)

Linking Occupational Injury and Illness Databases

Matching information in linked databases to improve federal efficiency on worker injuries

Client:

Bureau of Labor Statistics

Linking National Hospital Care Survey and CMS Data

Evaluating privacy-preserving linkage techniques and other support

Client:

National Center for Health Statistics

Using Existing Data for Representative Hospital Use Estimates

Combining survey and commercial data to create the first-ever NHCS inpatient stay and emergency visit estimates

Client:

National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS)

Linking Parent & Statistical Agency Data

Linking NCSES SED and NSF PI data to inform future linkages between a statistical agency and its parent agency

Client:

National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics

America’s DataHub Consortium

Demonstrating replicable processes for acquiring and providing secure access to linked data sources

Client:

National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics

Publications