AØKK08210U Health Economic Evaluations

Volume 2015/2016
Education

Elective at MSc in Economics

Content

The course will give students an introduction to the principles of economic evaluations in health care. Topics include:

  • Foundations for economic evaluation

  • Cost measurement

  • Budget impact and cost-of-illness

  • Cost-benefit, cost-effectiveness and cost-utility

  • Outcome and preference measurement

  • Decision modeling

  • How to present results and how to handle uncertainty

  • Value of information analysis

  • Systematic reviews and meta-analyses

  • Prioritization in the Danish health care sector

Learning Outcome

Economic evaluations are increasingly used in decisions on how to allocate scarce resources between competing health care programs, e.g. in decisions to fund pharmaceutical treatments, screening programs or hardware such as MR scanners. In April 2015, the Danish Regions decided to move ahead with including the prices of medicines in decisions regarding usage and prioritization was an important theme of the 2015 general election in Denmark. The course will give students knowledge of the methods used in such evaluations, enabling them to give critical appraisal to already published evaluations and the foundation required to perform their own.

Successful completion of the course requires the student to use the acquired skills to evaluate and identify cost-effective treatments of a particular disease by appraising the published literature. These skills will be valuable in a number of different employment situations, including the private health care industry as well as public health care providers and government bodies that regulate and govern this sector.

The course is built around the book Drummond, M. F., Methods for the economic evaluation of health care programmes, Oxford University Press, 2005, supplemented by a number of scientific articles.

Understanding of economic concepts including opportunity costs and statistical methods.
3 hours of lectures per week for 11 weeks. after which students have time to write the exam project.

Timetable and classroom:
For time and classroom please press the link under "Se skema"(See schedule) at the right side of this page (15E means Autumn 2015, 16F means Spring 2016).
Nomally the exercise classes begin in the second week of the semester

You can find the similar information partly in English at this link:
https:/​/​skema.ku.dk/​ku1516/​uk/​module.htm
Select Department: “2200-Økonomisk Institut” (and wait for respond)
Select Module:: “2200-F16; Health Economic Evaluations”
Select Period: “Forår/Spring – Weeks 4-29”
Press: “ View Timetable”
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Exam
  • 82
  • Lectures
  • 42
  • Preparation
  • 82
  • Total
  • 206
Credit
7,5 ECTS
Type of assessment
Written assignment
Project assignment.
For the exam, the student will have to write a paper that evaluates published cost-effectiveness research and identifies cost-effective treatments for a disease of the student’s choice. The student should demonstrate the ability to critically appraise cost-effectiveness research.
The teacher will inform criterias and deadlines at the beginning of the semester.
Aid
All aids allowed
Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
External censorship
100 % censorship
Exam period

The project has to be handed in no later than May 27 31 2016 at 12.00

For enrolled students more information about examination, exam/re-sit, rules etc. is available at the student intranet for Examination (English) and student intranet for Examination (KA-Danish).

 

Re-exam

The project has to be handed in no later than August 26 2016 at 12.00

If only a few students have registered for the re-exam, the exam might change to an oral exam including the date for the exam, which will be informed  by the Examination Office.

 

Criteria for exam assesment

The student must in a satisfactory way demonstrate that he/she has mastered the learning outcome of the course.