Program Overview
This economic evaluation course delves beyond foundational principles, focusing on advanced techniques and applications. It covers cost data analysis, outcome data evaluation, and health state valuation. Students critically appraise alternative methods and gain hands-on experience through modeling approaches and published evaluation critiques.
Program Outline
Degree Overview:
This short course is designed to go beyond the first principles of economic evaluation. Its focus is the development, extension and application of the main issues and techniques for economic evaluation. The material covered by the course includes an in-depth coverage of the components of economic evaluation, such as cost data collection and analysis, outcome data analysis, health state valuation in general, economic evaluation alongside clinical trials and discounting issues. Alternative methods for economic evaluation and the relevant frameworks will be discussed with case studies and policy applications. The module includes a half day's inter-active practical session in which 'hands-on' application and analysis of alternative modelling approaches used in economic evaluation will be demonstrated with full discussion of the advantages and appropriateness of the alternative techniques. All concepts are consolidated in the group exercise on critical appraisal where each group appraises a published economic evaluation and presents the findings to their fellow students.
Objectives:
On completion you should be able to:
- Demonstrate an understanding of the relevant issues associated with the appropriate collection and analysis of cost and outcome data.
- Critically appraise a number of alternative frameworks and modelling approaches that are used in economic evaluation and understand the appropriate presentation of results.
- Critically review alternative methods to outcome evaluation and their relevance to alternative evaluation approaches.
- Critically appraise published economic evaluations.
- Recognise the policy implications that may result from economic evaluations.
Outline:
- Monday: Key concepts; evaluative spaces; economic evaluation alongside clinical trials.
- Tuesday: Cost data collection and analysis; discounting; introduction to bootstrapping; analysis of survival and quality of life data.
- Wednesday: Practical modelling session: probabilistic sensitivity analysis and cost-effectiveness acceptability curves; valuing the broader benefits of health care.
- Thursday: Systematic review of economic evaluations; missing data analysis; informal care and economic evaluation; critical appraisal of economic evaluation papers (group preparation).
- Friday: Critical appraisal of economic evaluation papers (group presentations); economic evaluation, decision making and health policy.
Assessment:
- Examination - unseen examination (2hrs) - 50%.
Other:
- Attendance required: 1 block week of teaching.
- Prerequisites: Economic Evaluation in Health Care can be taken as a stand alone course, which if taken will not be assessed and no credits will be awarded.
- Introduction to Health Economics/previous knowledge equivalent to that obtained in the Introduction to Health Economics module.
- All applicants will be required to discuss eligibility with the Course Director at the time of applying.
- Registration closes 31 October 2023
