HS645-7-SP-CO:
Health Economics
2024/25
Health and Social Care (School of)
Colchester Campus
Spring
Postgraduate: Level 7
Current
Monday 13 January 2025
Friday 21 March 2025
15
06 June 2024
Requisites for this module
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
MRESB99012 Health Research,
MRESB99024 Health Research
This module focuses on the technique of economic evaluation. As resources are scarce choices need to be made about how to best allocate those scarce resources. Given resources are finite provision of one option means there is less resource that can be spent elsewhere and as such another option will likely have to be sacrificed (i.e., there is generally an opportunity cost associated with the provision of a particular health care intervention as it means another intervention will not be provided). Economic evaluation typically compares the costs and benefits of different health care interventions with a view to establish which intervention is more cost-effective i.e., which intervention offers value for money and should therefore be provided (at the expense of another intervention which would not be provided).
The module will outline the different types of economic evaluation, and explain the steps of identification, measurement and valuation of both costs and outcomes. It will include applied work where students would be able to use hypothetical data to estimate costs based on different levels of resource use e.g., the number of visits to different types of health professionals, and outcomes based on reported quality of life data. Exercises would be developed in e.g., Microsoft Excel / STATA. The analysis performed on such estimated cost and outcome data in order estimate levels of cost-effectiveness/value for money will also be covered. The use of critical appraisal to assess the quality of the economic evidence and use of recommended reporting checklists/standards will also be outlined.
The aims of this module are:
- To introduce students to basic health economic principles.
- To provide students with an understanding of what an economic evaluation is and how it might be conducted.
- To enable students to critically appraise an economic evaluation / understand associated reporting standards.
By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:
- Critically explain why there is a need for health economics.
- Provide a critical explanation of what an economic evaluation is and why it would generally be conducted.
- Explain what data might be used to estimate the cost and outcome data required for an economic evaluation.
- Demonstrate an advanced understanding of analyses that can be undertaken in order to assess whether an intervention is cost-effective.
- Demonstrate a knowledge of how to critically appraise an economic evaluation / associated reporting standards.
Indicative syllabus information
INTRODUCTION
Need for health economics. What is an economic evaluation? Economic concepts: choice, scarcity, opportunity cost, allocative and technical efficiency; types of economic evaluation (design / economic question). National Institute of Clinical and Care Excellence (NICE) Methods guide / Reference case.
COST
Identification, valuation and measurement; non-market items; cost vs charges; average and marginal cost distinction; opportunity cost; indirect costs and approaches to measurement; overheads; perspective; data collection.
OUTCOMES: MONETARY
History of Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA); willingness to pay; willingness to accept; elicitation; discrete choice models.
OUTCOMES: SUBJECTIVE
Defining utility; measurement; standard gamble, time tradeoff, rating scale; Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs); questionnaire elicitation, EuroQol- 5 Dimensions (EQ-5D); who’s value and perspective; equity and QALYs.
OUTCOMES: CLINICAL
Outcome measurement; clinical measures; Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL); disease specific; Short Form 36 (SF36); incremental approach; psychometrics (acceptability, validity, etc); mapping.
ANALYSIS
Incremental Cost Effectiveness Ratio (ICERs); cost effectiveness planes; uncertainty, bootstrapping, cost effectiveness acceptability curves; sensitivity analysis, boundaries, confidence intervals; time, discounting, costs/outcomes.
SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS & MODELLING
Alternatives to Randomised Controlled Trial (RCTs); Systematic reviews, what they are and why, their role in economic evaluation; Modelling, what is it, why, types e.g. decision trees / Markov modelling.
CRITICAL APRAISAL
How is economic evidence used in decisions? How can the quality of economic evidence be assured? What are the obstacles to appropriate use of evidence?
Critical appraisal of real economic evaluation studies / reporting standards.
This module will be delivered via:
- Nine weeks x 3 hour sessions. These would include lectures and student-led workshops, some of which will based in an IT laboratory.
This module does not appear to have a published bibliography for this year.
Assessment items, weightings and deadlines
Coursework / exam |
Description |
Deadline |
Coursework weighting |
Exam format definitions
- Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
- In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary,
for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.
Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.
Overall assessment
Reassessment
Module supervisor and teaching staff
No
Yes
Yes
No external examiner information available for this module.
Available via Moodle
No lecture recording information available for this module.
* Please note: due to differing publication schedules, items marked with an asterisk (*) base their information upon the previous academic year.
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