HP4G3E      Half Unit
Economic Evaluation in Health Care

This information is for the 2021/22 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

The course will be delivered in no less than 25 hours and consist of lectures, seminar and computer-based workshops.

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.

Course selection videos

Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.

Important information in response to COVID-19

Please note that during 2021/22 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 differing needs of students in attendance on campus and those who might be studying online. For example, this may involve changes to the mode of teaching 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 2020/21: Unavailable

Average class size 2020/21: Unavailable

Controlled access 2020/21: 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