This course will be closed on Oct. 29th, with a waitlist activated. Students who add themselves to the waitlist and who have not previously received credit for PA 393L will be added to the course at 8:00 am on Oct. 30th, after which time the course will be open to all students. If all seats are filled before we open the course, the waitlist will be opened as well.
Course Description
This course surveys the most common methods used in the economic evaluation of health care programs: cost analysis, cost-consequence analysis, cost-minimization analysis, cost-effectiveness analysis, cost-utility analysis, and cost-benefit analysis. These methods are used to inform medical decision making, the allocation of health care budgets, and the design of public policy.
Learning Objectives
By the end of the semester, 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.
Pre-requisites
Successful completion of an introductory microeconomics course.
Familiarity with Excel.
Grading
Grades will be based on class participation (50%) and a final group project (50%).
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.
MS-Excel spreadsheet software.
The text and software will be supplemented as needed by a variety of materials available on Canvas.