Fall 2019 - 59475 - PA 393L - Advanced Policy Economics/Policy Research Project

Economic Evaluation of Local Health Care Programs

You will register for 393L Advanced Policy Economics in the fall and a three-credit PRP course in the spring. This two-course sequence may satisfy​ both your APE and your PRP requirement. 

This 2-semester integrated APE/PRP course provides (a) rigorous training in the various methods used to conduct economic evaluations of health care programs (i.e., cost analysis, cost-effectiveness analysis, cost-utility analysis, and cost-benefit analysis), and (b) opportunities to apply the methods in the real world with one or more local health care providers. 

The instructor will identify a range of projects from a variety of local health care providers.  Students will form teams (3-4 students per team) and choose one or more projects to work on during the two semesters of the integrated APE/PRP course.  Deliverables include a final presentation to the project sponsor, as well as a written report and accompanying spreadsheet model.

In recent years, students have designed economic evaluations of the following health care programs (sponsors in parentheses):

Screening for Colorectal Cancer Using FIT Kits (Dell Medical School)
Integrating Mental and Physical Health Care on School Campuses (Integral Care)
Opt-Out Policy for HIV Testing (Central Health)
Regulatory Changes to Texas’ Competency Restoration Process (Dell Medical School)
Providing Health Care to the Homeless (Dell Medical School)
Using registered nurses as patient navigators in emergency departments) (Central Health)

Students are expected to complete both semesters of the integrated APE/PRP course.  In so doing, students will satisfy both their APE and PRP requirements.  Students who do not complete both semesters of this integrated APE/PRP will not satisfy either their APE or PRP requirements.  Said differently, do not register for the APE portion of the integrated course unless you are fully committed to registering for the PRP portion in the spring.  If you have already completed a PRP, you may still take this integrated course.

The integrated course is open to both first-year and second-year master’s students, and there are no pre-requisites.  In particular, you may register for this course without having already completed Applied Micro for Policy Analysis (PA 393K).

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the year (2 semesters), students should be able to…

articulate the strengths and limitations of each method of economic evaluation, both in theory (conceptual) and in practice (technical);
critique economic evaluations conducted by others; and
plan an economic evaluation of their own.

Course Materials

Methods for the Economic Evaluation of Health Care Programmes (3rd ed.), Drummond, Sculpher, Torrance, O’Brien, and Stoddart, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, 2005. ISBN-13: 978-019-852945.  ISBN-10: 0198529457.  The text is required and is available from a variety of online booksellers.  Do not purchase the 4th edition. The 4th edition is a wonderful review if you already know the material, but it is too dense and moves too quickly if you are learning the material for the first time.  The 3rd edition (required for this course) is much better pedagogically for first-timers.   
The instructor will supplement the required textbook as needed (depending on the specific projects chosen by students) with a variety of materials.