Overview
This 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 course 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.
This course is taken directly from the Health Economics and Health Policy Postgraduate Degree Programme.
Content
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.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the importance of discounting issues and the controversy surrounding the appropriate discount rate to use for costs and benefits within an economic evaluation.
- 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.
Attendance required
1 block week of teaching.
Coordinators
Prerequisites
- 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.
- For enquiries about applying for this course please contact mdscpdenquiries@contacts.bham.ac.uk