Høst 2022

HEL-3007 Health Economics and Policy - 10 stp

The course is administrated by

Institutt for samfunnsmedisin

Type of course

This course is mandatory for students at the Master's degree programme in Public Health. Course students may be admitted if total number of students do not exceed the regulated 30 number of students at the course.

Course overlap

HEL-3607 Health Management, Economics and Policy 5 stp

Course contents

The course gives an introduction to key issues in health economics and policy. The first part explores the concepts of efficiency and equity, and explains how the assumptions of a perfect market are violated in healthcare. By applying basic price theory, we discuss how taxes and subsidies can affect our health related behaviour.

The second part deals with healthcare finance, where we distinguish between the alternative sources of funding, and the different ways of paying providers. We analyze private health insurance, taxation, patient payments, with an emphasis on efficiency and equity aspects. We discuss alternative ways of paying general practitioners and hospitals, exploring the arguments for activity based financing and other incentive mechanisms.

The third part of the course explains methodologies of health economic evaluation, such as cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analyses. Various ways of measuring health outcomes is discussed with particular emphasis on quality adjusted life years (QALYs). Finally, we discuss some priority relevant issues beyond costs and health outcomes.

Application deadline

Applicants from Nordic countries: 1 June

Applicants from outside the Nordic countries: 15 April

Admission requirements

Admission criteria: The same as for the Master's programme in Public Health. See the programme page. Application Code: 9371 (Nordic applicants).

Objective of the course

Knowledge and understanding:

understand the concepts of efficiency and equity, and explain the key characteristics of the healthcare market
understand alternative sources of health care finance, and the various payment systems for hospitals and primary care physicians
understand the methodologies of economic evaluation in healthcare, including how to measure health outcomes in terms of quality adjusted life years (QALYs).

Skills and competences

Analyze how taxes and subsidies can affect the demand for (un)healthy goods.
Analyze incentive mechanisms in the payment systems used for healthcare providers
Compare costs vs outcomes, and communicate the logic of an economic evaluation

General Proficiency

Apply prize theory to analyze elasticities in demand for (un)healthy goods and healthcare services
Apply insights from theories of insurance and voluntary redistribution to explain why patients in many countries face free healthcare
Communicate how health economic models can be applied to assist decisions on healthcare priority setting

Language of instruction

English.

Teaching methods

The course will require presence on campus during three teaching periods of five days each. Consisting of lectures, seminars and group work. Attendance to the on-campus teaching is mandatory. All teaching will be given in English.

Date for examination

School exam 14.12.2022

The date for the exam can be changed. The final date will be announced at your faculty early in May and early in November.