Course syllabus for Health economics

The course syllabus contains changes
See changes

Course syllabus adopted 2024-02-15 by Head of Programme (or corresponding).

Overview

  • Swedish nameHälsoekonomi
  • CodeEEN235
  • Credits7.5 Credits
  • OwnerMPMED
  • Education cycleSecond-cycle
  • Main field of studyBiomedical engineering
  • DepartmentMEDICIN (GU)
  • GradingTH - Pass with distinction (5), Pass with credit (4), Pass (3), Fail

Course round 1

  • Teaching language English
  • Application code 41114
  • Maximum participants80
  • Block schedule
  • Open for exchange studentsNo
  • Only students with the course round in the programme overview.

Credit distribution

0123 Laboratory 4 c
Grading: UG		4 c
0223 Oral examination 1.5 c
Grading: UG		1.5 c
0323 Examination 2 c
Grading: TH		2 c
  • 29 Okt 2024 am J
  • 09 Jan 2025 pm J
  • 27 Aug 2025 pm J

In programmes

Examiner

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Eligibility

General entry requirements for Master's level (second cycle)
Applicants enrolled in a programme at Chalmers where the course is included in the study programme are exempted from fulfilling the requirements above.

Specific entry requirements

English 6 (or by other approved means with the equivalent proficiency level)
Applicants enrolled in a programme at Chalmers where the course is included in the study programme are exempted from fulfilling the requirements above.

Course specific prerequisites

Admission requirements for the master’s degree program in Biomedical Engineering are applied.

Aim

The aim of this course is to give students a foundational understanding of the role of economic aspects in the health care system. With the acquired knowledge and skills, the students can discuss   how to improve health care services with scarce resources under different situations and assess health interventions from multiple perspectives.

Learning outcomes (after completion of the course the student should be able to)

1) To understand microeconomic theories and its applications in health and healthcare
2) To describe concepts and designs of economic evaluation of health care interventions
3) To discuss how economic evaluation can be applied to the health care sector and healthcare companies to inform decisions
4) To discuss the concepts and measurements of equity in health and healthcare
5) To perform basic calculations of key components in economic evaluation of health care interventions and equity measurements
6) To understand how equity in health care and health financing are affected by different health systems

Content

The course will focus on two specific areas, e.g., firstly microeconomics and its applications in health and healthcare analysis and secondly, economic evaluation of healthcare interventions. In the former area, demand, supply, equilibrium in market and economic efficiency in general as well as in health sector will be covered. In the later area, the measurement of health, costs of health interventions, designs and methods of economic evaluation of health interventions, as well as decision rules and the reporting of cost-effectiveness results will be taught. Further, applications of economic evaluation in real-life context (health sector) and equity in health and healthcare utilization will be covered during seminars and exercises in the course.    

Organisation

Lectures about theories and methods as well as applications of economic analysis in health sector will be provided with interactive discussions using power-point presentations.  Lab sessions will be organized for data analyses to understand the process of conducting economic evaluations and measuring equity in health and healthcare. A seminar will be organized about assessing the quality of scientific articles reporting economic evaluation of healthcare interventions. Self-instructed numerical exercises on economic evaluation are supplied via the Student Portal.

Literature

Pindyck, Robert S., and Daniel L. Rubinfeld. Microeconomics. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2009 (or any later edition): 8th Edition, The Pearson Series in Economics.

Wagstaff A. The demand for health: theory and applications Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 1986, 40, 1-11.

Economic Evaluation in Clinical Trials by Glick A, Doshi JA, Sonnad SS, Polsky D. Oxford University Press; 2014 (ISBN 9780199685028).

Additional material, e.g. scientific articles, will be supplied via the Student Portal.

Examination including compulsory elements

The students are supposed to complete all three modules below for passing with different grades in the course:

Module 1: Laboratory, 4 credits
Module 2: Oral examination, 1,5 credit
Module 3: Examination, 2 credits


In module 1: For ‘pass’ grade, the students must complete the economic evaluation model successfully through laboratory assignments. Only pass grade is given.

In module 2: For ‘pass’ grade, the students must successfully present and respond to the questions in the seminar. Only pass grade is given.

In module 3: the students must obtain 50% of the total marks for ‘pass’ grade, 70% for ‘pass with credit’ grade and 90% for ‘pass with distinction’.

The grade in the entire course will be determined by the grade in module 3, while the students must get ‘pass’ grade in module 1 and module 2.

The course examiner may assess individual students in other ways than what is stated above if there are special reasons for doing so, for example if a student has a decision from Chalmers on educational support due to disability.

The course syllabus contains changes

  • Changes to course rounds:
    • 2024-03-15: Block Block B added by Jahangir Khan Examinator
      [Course round 1]
    • 2024-03-15: Block Block changed from B to C by Jahangir Khan Examinator
      [Course round 1]