Health Economics for Hospital Administration

Objectives

At the end of the curricular unit, students should be able to:
1. Integrate the required theoretical and technical skills to prepare, analyse and evaluate health policies, programs and strategies, through an economic perspective.
2. Present examples of economic concepts used in the health care such as: opportunity cost; scarcity and priority; demand, supply and price; funding, payment and provision; efficiency and equity; economic evaluation.
3. State the main economic concepts and topics, and describe the scope and limits of its application.
4. Provide a perspective of health economics on its different research topics and its contribution for the study of health care, with a particular focus on the management of specialized healthcare units.

General characterization

Code

9648

Credits

4

Responsible teacher

Francisco Ventura Ramos

Hours

Weekly - Available soon

Total - 118

Teaching language

Available soon

Prerequisites

Available soon

Bibliography

Available soon

Teaching method

Teaching methods include a written test and classroom participation. In theoretical sessions lecturers will exposure the contents of the course, and active participation will be required, through the discussion of topics. In the seminars, students, who were previously assigned to groups, will present their work; the discussion will be promoted by the lecturer.
The evaluation is based on three components: continuous evaluation (20%), by observing student participation, presentations and discussion of topics and exercises; written test (40%), where students answer multiple choice and open questions and writen essay on literature review (40%).

Evaluation method

Available soon

Subject matter

1. Introduction to health Economics; empirical applications of economics in health care; scarcity, choice and priorities.
2. Economics, market and health; market failures in health care; asymmetric information and agency; externalities.
3. Demand for health and healthcare, health insurance and provider-induced demand.
4. Health care supply and providers; payment to individual providers; funding models: hospitals, primary care, etc; incentives.
5. Financing sources; health expenditures and outcomes; macroeconomics and health; expenditure control; economic development, health and health care.
6. Equity and disparities in health; measuring inequity in health; equity in the provision and funding of health care.
7. Economic evaluation in health; cost-effectiveness analysis; cost-utility analysis; cost-benefit analysis; critical analysis of health economics studies; case studies.

Programs

Programs where the course is taught: