This course is most suitable for master level students in economics and for continuing or post-graduate studies in health economics or other related subjects. By the end of the course, participants should:

• have some insight into the analytical perspective and principles underlying the application of economic evaluation to health care, such as utility, equity, efficiency and decision analytic modelling
• be familiar with many of the methods used in different types of economic appraisal
• be better able to assess research which includes estimates of cost, health status measures, Markov modelling, etc. and which can be used to inform macro-medical decision making

The course will cover a range of approaches which can be described as ’cost-benefit analysis’ and which can be used to help set out advantages and disadvantages of health care interventions.

It will provide examples of methods which can be used to measure many of the various outcomes which result from the use of health-care technologies. It will then show how such building blocks can be combined to form health-economic evaluations in accordance with cost-benefit thinking.

Starting with an overview of some of the theory underlying economic evaluation as well as some of the ways in which it is practiced (Rissanen), the course will continue with largely non-welfarist approaches to the practical application of economic evaluation to health care (Booth). The latter part of the course will deal, amongst other things, with assessing the value of medical tests, estimating transition probabilities and Markov modelling (Josselin).

You should register for the course on or before the 2nd of December, but registration may still be possible after this date. Please complete (and click ‘Save’ on) the form linked below

Course participants should read one of the following four articles prior to the course (copies of any of these articles will be provided to any participants that need them):

1. Brodtkorb T-H, Henriksson M, Johannesen-Munk K, Thidell F: Cost-Effectiveness of C-Leg Compared With Non-Microprocessor-Controlled Knees: A Modeling Approach. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 2008, 89(1):24-30.
2. Gage H, Kaye J, Owen C, Trend P, Wade D: Evaluating rehabilitation using cost-consequences analysis: an example in Parkinson's disease. Clinical Rehabilitation 2006, 20(3):232-238.
3. Giorgi-Rossi P, Merito M, Borgia P: Cost-effectiveness of introducing the conjugated pneumococcal vaccine to routine free immunizations for infants in Lazio, Italy. Health policy (Amsterdam, Netherlands) 2008.
4. Neyt M, Huybrechts M, Hulstaert F, Vrijens F, Ramaekers D: Trastuzumab in early stage breast cancer: a cost-effectiveness analysis for Belgium. Health policy (Amsterdam, Netherlands) 2008, 87(2):146-159.

Optional reading:
1. Brazier, J.; Ratcliffe, J.; Salomon, J.  & Tsuchiya, A. (2007): Measuring and valuing health benefits for economic evaluation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
2. Drummond, M. & McGuire, A. (2001) (eds.): Economic evaluation in health care: merging theory with practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
3. Gray, A. M.; Clarke, P. M.; Wolstenholme, J. L. & Wordsworth, S. (2011): Applied Methods of Cost-effectiveness Analysis in Healthcare. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

http://www.uta.fi/jkk/kat/opintosuunnat/tal/CBA2013.pdf