Learning Objectives
5 objectives- Understand fundamental concepts and principles of health economics and their application to healthcare systems.
- Analyze supply and demand dynamics and their effects on healthcare pricing, accessibility, and quality.
- Evaluate different health insurance models and healthcare financing mechanisms and their implications.
- Apply economic evaluation methods such as cost-benefit, cost-effectiveness, and cost-utility analyses to healthcare interventions.
- Examine healthcare market structures and the role of policy and regulation in shaping healthcare markets and promoting equity.
Content Outline
PreviewUnit 1462: Health Economics
1. Introduction to Health Economics
- Definition and scope of health economics
- Importance of economics in healthcare decision-making
- Economic factors affecting healthcare systems
- Key principles: scarcity, opportunity cost, efficiency, equity
2. Supply and Demand in Healthcare
- Concepts of supply and demand in healthcare markets
- Determinants of demand for healthcare services
- Determinants of supply: providers, technology, regulations
- Price elasticity of demand and supply in healthcare
- Impact of supply and demand on pricing, accessibility, and quality
- Market failures specific to healthcare
3. Health Insurance and Financing
- Overview of health insurance: purpose and types
- Models of health insurance: private, public, social insurance
- Role of insurance in risk pooling and financial protection
- Healthcare financing mechanisms: out-of-pocket, taxation, insurance premiums
- Implications of different financing on healthcare delivery and patient outcomes
4. Cost-Benefit Analysis in Health Economics
- Principles of cost-benefit analysis (CBA)
- Identifying and measuring costs and benefits
- Discounting and time preference in CBA
- Application of CBA to healthcare policies and interventions
- Limitations and ethical considerations in CBA
5. Economic Evaluation of Healthcare Interventions
- Overview of economic evaluation methods
- Cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA): concepts and metrics (e.g., cost per life-year gained)
- Cost-utility analysis (CUA): quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs)
- Comparing interventions using economic evaluation
- Case studies of economic evaluations in healthcare
6. Healthcare Market Structure
- Types of market structures: monopoly, oligopoly, monopolistic competition, perfect competition
- Characteristics of healthcare markets fitting these structures
- Implications of market structure on pricing, competition, and efficiency
- Role of healthcare providers, pharmaceutical companies, and insurers in market dynamics
7. Health Policy and Regulation
- Role of government in healthcare markets
- Policy tools: regulation, subsidies, taxation, public provision
- Addressing market failures through policy interventions
- Policies to promote access, quality, and cost containment
- Case examples of health policy frameworks
8. Healthcare Equity and Access
- Economic disparities in healthcare access and outcomes
- Determinants of health disparities: socioeconomic status, geography, ethnicity
- Measuring equity in healthcare
- Policy interventions to promote equity and reduce disparities
9. Pharmaceutical Economics
- Structure of pharmaceutical markets
- Drug pricing mechanisms and factors influencing prices
- Costs and challenges of pharmaceutical research and development
- Market competition and patent systems
- Policies to balance affordability and innovation
10. Global Health Economics
- Economic dimensions of global health challenges
- Healthcare financing in low- and middle-income countries
- Role of international organizations (WHO, World Bank, NGOs) in global health
- Economic approaches to infectious disease control and prevention
- Strategies to promote health equity worldwide
Unlock the full outline
Get the complete content outline, learning outcomes and assessment methods for Health Economics.
KSh 20 one-off, or included with a plan
Learning Outcomes
Unlock the outline above to see learning outcomes.
Assessment Methods
Unlock the outline above to see assessment methods.