AØKK08210U Health Economic Evaluations

Volume 2017/2018
Content

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

  • Foundations for economic evaluation
  • Critical assessment of clinical trials
  • Cost measurement
  • Budget impact and cost-of-illness
  • Cost-benefit, cost-effectiveness and cost-utility
  • Outcome and preference measurement
  • Trial-based economic evaluations and decision-analytic modeling
  • How to present results and how to handle uncertainty
  • Value of information analysis
  • Systematic reviews and meta-analyses
  • Introduction to modeling methods in MS Excel
  • Prioritization in the Danish health care sector

 

Learning Outcome

After completing the course, the student should be able to…:

Knowledge:

  • Explain the difference between welfarist and extra-welfarist approaches to health economic evaluations
  • Explain differences between cost-benefit, cost-effectiveness and cost-utility analyses
  • Understand and identify biases in clinical trial design and reporting
  • Explain the methods and value of meta-analyses
  • Describe the differences between alternative decision-analytic models including decision trees and Markov models and the difference between trial-based evaluations and decision-analytic models
  • Explain the concepts of deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analysis and their ability to assess robustness of results
  • Explain concepts related to preference measurement (including time trade-off and standard gamble) as well as common instruments (including EQ-5D)
  • Explain the concepts of budget impact analysis and value of information analysis and their usefulness in healthcare decision-making

 

Skills:

  • Critically assess health economic evaluations as published in the scientific literature
  • Assess the documented efficacy of a healthcare intervention

 

Competencies:

  • Using the published literature, determine if a particular healthcare intervention can be said to be cost effective or not
  • Analyze cost-effectiveness analyses to determine the drivers of conclusions and assess their validity 
  • Identify proper methods for analyzing cost-effectiveness of a new healthcare intervention and structure the analysis

 

The course is built around the book:

Drummond, M. F., Methods for the economic evaluation of health care programmes, 4th edition, Oxford University Press, 2015, ISBN 9780199665877 ( link),

And include chapters from the book: Briggs, A., Decision Modelling for Health Economic Evaluation, Oxford University Press, 2006, ISBN 9780198526629 ( link).

Supplemented by a number of scientific articles.

Understanding of economic concepts including opportunity costs and statistical methods.
Schedule:
3 hours lectures a week from week 6 to 21 (except holidays).

The overall schema for the Master can be seen at
https:/​/​intranet.ku.dk/​ECONOMICS_MA/​COURSES/​COURSECATALOGUE-F18/​Pages/​default.aspx

Timetable and venue:
To see the time and location of lectures please press the link/links under "Se skema" (See schedule) at the right side of this page (E means Autumn, F means Spring).

You can find the similar information partly in English at
https:/​/​skema.ku.dk/​ku1718/​uk/​module.htm
-Select Department: “2200-Økonomisk Institut” (and wait for respond)
-Select Module:: “2200-F18; [Name of course]”
-Select Report Type: “List – Weekdays”
-Select Period: “Forår/Spring – Week 5-30”
Press: “ View Timetable”
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Exam
  • 82
  • Lectures
  • 42
  • Preparation
  • 82
  • Total
  • 206
Credit
7,5 ECTS
Type of assessment
Written assignment, 3 weeks
The exam is a project paper that can be written individually or in groups of up to 3 students. The plagiarism rules must be complied and please be aware of the rules for co-writing assignemnts. The project paper must be written in English.

The project 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.
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Exam registration requirements

None

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Aid
All aids allowed
Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
No external censorship
The course can be selected for external assessment.
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Exam period

The project paper must be uploded to DE not later than June 8 2018 at 10 a.m.

 

For enrolled students more information about examination, rules, exam schedule etc. is available at the intranet for master students (UK) and master students (DK).

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Re-exam

A new project paper must be uploded to DE not later than August 24, 2018 at 10 a.m.

The paper can be based on the same material than the non-passed paper.

 

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

 

For enrolled students more information about reexamination, rules, schedule etc. is available at the intranet for master students (UK) and master students (DK).

 

Criteria for exam assesment

Students are assessed on the extent to which they master the learning outcome for the course.

To receive the top grade, the student must with no or only a few minor weaknesses be able to demonstrate an excellent performance displaying a high level of command of all aspects of the relevant material and can make use of the knowledge, skills and competencies listed in the learning outcomes.