Cost-benefit analysis in healthcare

This course is mandatory for those students taking the Health economics stream in the Master’s degree program in Public Health. The course can also be taken as a singular course.

This course builds on HEL-3046 Health Economics and Policy. It provides students with important knowledge on the methodologies used when doing a health economic evaluation of new medical technologies/treatment programmes/interventions. These methodologies are commonly referred to as Health Technology Assessment (HTA), focusing on measuring costs and outcomes—such as health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs)—as well as applying decision trees, Markov models, and methods to handle uncertainty.

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

Knowledge and understanding

• Explain the key differences between a cost-benefit analysis (CBA) and a cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA).
• Explain and discuss how to measure health outcomes in generic units; by use of willingness to pay in a CBA, and QALYs in a CEA.
• Explain and critically discuss the most widely applied generic HRQoL instruments, such as the EQ-5D.
• Explain and discuss which key cost items to include in a CBA/CEA.
• Discuss how equity can be accounted for by use of equity-weights.
• Explain the principles of decision analytic modelling, specifically the differences between decision trees and Markov models.
• Explain methods for characterizing and handling uncertainty, including Probabilistic Sensitivity Analysis (PSA).

Skills and competences

• Compute and interpret results of a health economic evaluation, presented in an Incremental Cost-Effectiveness Ratio (ICER).
• Describe and value health gains expressed in generic units.
• Critically evaluate and interpret differences between a healthcare perspective vs a societal perspective in a CEA.
• Structure and analyze simple health economic models using decision trees and Markov models.
• Apply sensitivity analysis methods, such as PSA, to assess the robustness of results.

General competences

• Present research findings from a HTA or CEA in a clear and scientifically rigorous manner.
• Critically appraise published health economic evaluations and models, to assess their validity and potential biases
• Understand methodological challenges involved when measuring health outcomes in monetary terms.
• Compute QALYs, based on life-expectancy data and HRQoL.

Anbefalte forkunnskaper

HEL-3046 Health Economics and Policy

Language of instruction and examination

Re-sit examination