HP4G3E      Half Unit
Economic Evaluation in Health Care

This information is for the 2020/21 session.

Teacher responsible

Mr Alexander Carter COW 2.10

Availability

This course is compulsory on the Executive MSc in Evaluation of Health Care Interventions and Outcomes, in collaboration with NICE. This course is not available as an outside option.

Course content

Health care decision makers are often faced with the challenges of resource allocation. Economic evaluation is used to formalize the process of decision-making on the basis of costs and benefits associated with multiple alternative scenarios or interventions. Decision makers use evidence from economic evaluation analyses to make specific recommendations for coverage, reimbursement, and pricing decisions for a variety of health care interventions, as well as define best practices. This course will enable students to understand and apply analytic methods in the economic evaluation of health interventions and provide a strong foundation in the several advanced concepts in economic evaluation, and in particular cost-effectiveness of interventions used in long-term chronic illnesses. The course will provide an overview of the principles and practices of measuring and analyzing costs; and estimating effectiveness in terms of quality-adjusted life years and disability-adjusted life years. Practical topics will include the design and implementation of economic evaluation models and the role of clinical data inputs to inform economic evaluation analyses.

Teaching

10 hours of lectures, 10 hours of seminars and 5 hours of computer workshops in the MT.

Formative coursework

Students will be expected to produce 1 piece of coursework in the MT.

Indicative reading

Drummond M et al. Methods for the Economic Evaluation of Health Care Programmes. Oxford, OUP, 2005

Drummond M et al. Economic Evaluation in Health Care: Merging Theory with Practice, Oxford, OUP, 2002.

Gray A. Applied Methods of Cost-effectiveness Analysis in Healthcare (Handbooks in Health Economic Evaluation), Oxford, OUP, 2011.

Weinstein MC et al. Foundations of cost-effectiveness analysis for health and medical practices. N Eng J Med. 1977; 296 (13):716–21.

Russell LB et al. The role of cost-effectiveness analysis in health and medicine. JAMA. 1996; 276 (14): 1172–77.

Assessment

Research project (100%) in the MT.

Important information in response to COVID-19

Please note that during 2020/21 academic year some variation to teaching and learning activities may be required to respond to changes in public health advice and/or to account for the situation of students in attendance on campus and those studying online during the early part of the academic year. For assessment, this may involve changes to mode of delivery and/or the format or weighting of assessments. Changes will only be made if required and students will be notified about any changes to teaching or assessment plans at the earliest opportunity.

Key facts

Department: Health Policy

Total students 2019/20: Unavailable

Average class size 2019/20: Unavailable

Controlled access 2019/20: No

Value: Half Unit

Guidelines for interpreting course guide information

Personal development skills

  • Leadership
  • Self-management
  • Team working
  • Problem solving
  • Application of information skills
  • Communication
  • Application of numeracy skills
  • Commercial awareness
  • Specialist skills