HP4C5E      Half Unit
Using Health Economics to Analyse and Inform Policy and Practice

This information is for the 2023/24 session.

Teacher responsible

Prof Andrew Street COW 1.02

Availability

This course is compulsory on the Executive MSc in Health Economics, Outcomes and Management in Clinical Sciences. This course is not available as an outside option.

Course content

The health care sector is extremely complex, and this gives rise to concerns about how the health system should be organised, how incentives should be designed, and how performance should be evaluated. The objective of the course is to give students an introduction to how health systems are constructed, and how the various parts of the system interact; the role of regulation, resource allocation, payment arrangements, and performance measurement; the complexities of evaluating policy and performance; and the contribution that health economics can make to the evaluation and development of health policy. Participants are introduced to variety of econometric methods as the course progresses.

Teaching

This course will be delivered as a combination of lectures and seminars. The course will be delivered over a minimum total of 25 hours. 

Formative coursework

Formative assessment (up to 1000 words), is an outline of the summative assessment essay question. This will give students an opportunity to develop their thoughts ahead of the summative assessment, and will allow for feedback from course teachers that will guide students when they work on their longer summative essay

Indicative reading

Bridgewater B, Hickey GL, Cooper G, Deanfield J, Roxburgh J. Publishing cardiac surgery mortality rates: lessons for other specialties BMJ 2013; 346 :f1139.



Smith, P.C. and Street, A.D. (2013), On the Uses of Routine Patient‐Reported Health Outcome Data. Health Econ., 22: 119-131.



Busse, R, et al (2013), Diagnosis Related Groups in Europe: Moving Towards Transparency, Efficiency, and Quality in Hospitals? British Medical Journal, vol 346, f3197, pp. f3197. DOI: 10.1136/bmj.f3197.



Gaughan, J., Kobel, C. Coronary artery bypass grafts and diagnosis related groups: patient classification and hospital reimbursement in 10 European countries. Health Econ Rev 4, 4 (2014).



Collins R, Bowman L, Landray M, Peto R. The magic of randomization versus the myth of real-world evidence. N Engl J Med 2020;382:674-678.



Califf RM, Hernandez AF, Landray M. Weighing the Benefits and Risks of Proliferating Observational Treatment Assessments: Observational Cacophony, Randomized Harmony. JAMA. 2020;324(7):625–626. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.13319

Assessment

Essay (80%, 4500 words)

Multiple Choice Quizzes (20%, 4 quizzes at 5% each)

Student performance results

(2019/20 - 2021/22 combined)

Classification % of students
Distinction 55.7
Merit 21.3
Pass 21.3
Fail 1.6

Key facts

Department: Health Policy

Total students 2022/23: Unavailable

Average class size 2022/23: Unavailable

Controlled access 2022/23: No

Value: Half Unit

Guidelines for interpreting course guide information

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.

Personal development skills

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