MPH8008 : Health Economics

• Offered for Year: 2025/26

• Module Leader(s): Dr Gurdeep Sagoo
• Lecturer: Dr Josephine Wildman, Dr Ashleigh Kernohan, Mr Stephen Rice, Dr Cristina Fernandez-Garcia, Miss Tara Homer, Dr Sedighe Hosseinijebeli, Dr Nawaraj Bhattarai, Dr Najmeh Moradi, Professor Laura Ternent

• Owning School: Population Health Sciences
• Teaching Location: Newcastle City Campus

Semesters

Your programme is made up of credits, the total differs on programme to programme.

Aims

The overall aim of this module is to introduce students to economic concepts in the context of health and healthcare and how decisions are made given limited resources. This will include how health is measured, how health technologies are evaluated and how cost and cost-effectiveness is part of the decision making process.

Outline Of Syllabus

This module will provide an introduction to some fundamental concepts of economics that are relevant for health policy decision making and analysis. Health economic studies are widely used in the UK to inform treatment guidelines and the organisation of health services to maximise the health of the population and to improve equity.

The teaching sessions will cover the following topics:

•How markets work and why they fail in healthcare.
•An introduction to health economics and economic evaluation. This includes the three main types of economic evaluation (cost-effectiveness analysis, cost-utility analysis and cost-benefit analysis), how and when they should be applied, and their pros and cons will be discussed.
•The definitions of costs and how costs can be identified, measured, and valued in an economic evaluation.
•Different methods for measuring benefits in economic evaluation, including QALYs, and methods to value benefits monetarily.
•Preference elicitation methods, including contingent valuation and discrete choice experiments.
•Equity considerations.
•An introduction to economic modelling, explaining what an economic model is, when modelling may be needed within an economic evaluation and the advantages and disadvantages of different modelling approaches and indeed their relevance and importance in public health.
•Tools and frameworks used to aid priority setting in healthcare decision making.
•How to interpret and critically appraise an economic evaluation.

Teaching Methods

Teaching Activities

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

The teaching and learning methods used, with the emphasis on practical activities in small groups and general interaction, were felt the most appropriate methods. Many students have significant experience of working in the health service whilst some have none. The interactive nature of the learning methods enables students with greater experience to draw on it and discuss these experiences and to relate that to the concepts and ideas being taught, thus aiding their knowledge and building a deeper understanding of the subject area. This aids both their own learning but also the peer to peer learning between students which is further facilitated by the teaching staff.

Assessment Methods

The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners

Other Assessment

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The assessment is a 2000 word written exercise split evenly between two questions. The two questions will cover the critical appraisal of a recently published economic evaluation (one which the students are likely to encounter in their day-to-day work), providing students with the opportunity to apply their understanding of economic theory and economic evaluation in practice. Question one will focus on the use of the Drummond checklist in appraising economic evaluations. Question two will focus on three provided areas of interest within the paper where further explanation and discussion are required. This type of assignment allows students to use their analytical reasoning skills and knowledge of theory.

Reading Lists

• MPH8008's Reading List

Timetable

• Timetable Website: www.ncl.ac.uk/timetable/
• MPH8008's Timetable