Health Economics: Optimising Health Within Our Economic and Ethical Frameworks

This course is an introduction to health economics. It is designed mainly for health practitioners who work with and make decisions about, public health issues. The overall purpose of the course is to build knowledge about how theories, methods, and findings from the field of health economics can be used to achieve the goals of public health in an environment of limited resources. We will ask: what is public health, and how should it be measured? In particular, we will discuss the health economist's definition of health and its measurement. Which resources are used, and how should they be valued? We will learn the health economist's valuation of resources, given that resources are scarce and always have an alternative use. And finally, how efficiently are the resources used? The course consists of three parts. In one part of the course, you learn the theoretical basis for health-economic evaluations. You thereafter practice this skill to conduct your own health-economic evaluation in supervised seminars. In another part, you apply your skill in critical appraisal of health-economic evaluations. You read three articles and summarise and present your weaknesses and strengths in collaboration with your coursemates. In the last part, you learn how health-economic evaluations influence the often complex decisions about healthcare prioritisation in Sweden. You discuss different cases in class and summarise your discussion in supervised seminars. In this last part, you also have the opportunity to meet persons who use health-economic evaluations in order to prioritize which healthcare to recommend, reimburse, or use on a national, regional, or even local level. Outline for distance course: The teaching is done completely digitally. Lecturers and students interact via Zoom and email. The course begins with a compulsory lecture via Zoom. This is followed by six voluntary, theoretical Zoom lectures (90 minutes each). The content is then practised in seven compulsory seminars (180 minutes each). The course ends with meetings with companies and authorities. The meetings take place through Zoom or are pre-recorded. The examination takes place through written assignments, written or oral examination, and compulsory seminars. The course requires that you have a computer with an internet connection and Excel.