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Continuing Professional Development: MSc Programme Modules (London-based)

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS FOR HEALTH POLICY (1504)

ORGANISER: Fern Terris-Prestholt

DATES: 9 January 2012 to 8 February 2012 (9:00am Monday to 12:30pm Wednesday)


AIM
Economic Analysis for Health Policy builds on the economic theories and concepts introduced in Term 1, and applies them to analyse current issues and problems in health policy in developed and developing countries.


OBJECTIVES
By the end of this module, students should be able to:

  1. describe and alternative ways of financing and organising health systems, and analyse them using the economic concepts of information, agency and incentives;
  2. identify different market structures used in the delivery of health services and key health service inputs such as human resources, discuss their associated strengths and weaknesses (market and policy failures) and potential ways of mitigating these effects.  These will include the role and functioning of regulation and contracting for health services;
  3. explain the need for rationing in the health sector, and analyse different rationing mechanisms in terms of their implications for equity and efficiency;
  4. apply the tools of equity analysis (benefit incidence analysis and measurement of equity) to analyse the distribution of resources in the health sector.


CONSTITUENCY
The Term 1 linear module, Introduction to Health Economics (1103), is a pre-requisite for this module.


CONCEPTUAL OUTLINE
Introduction and overview; agency, incentives and information; models of health system financing and organisation and international comparisons; markets and competition in health; international trade in human resources; rationing; insurance; contracting; tools for equity analysis; economics of governance and corruption.


TEACHING STRATEGY
Students participate in a combination of lectures and workshops.  Lectures introduce concepts and ideas and clarify theories. Workshops use problem-based exercises and group discussions with the aim of supporting students' comfort with economic principles and models, and enable them to apply these principles to specific issues of health system organisation and financing.  This course has a challenging reading list consisting of peer reviewed journal articles and policy reports targeting a range of audience from the applied policy maker to those with greater interests in the underlying economic theories. Students are encouraged to take an active role in their learning by selecting among the advanced readings and seeking out supporting materials where appropriate, in particular when researching their policy report.


LEARNING TIME
The module is made up of 150 Notional Learning Hours – 33 hours contact time, 45 hours directed self-study, 5 hours self-directed learning, and 67 hours assessment, review and revision.


ASSESSMENT
The assessment will be in the form of an applied policy report.  Students will apply the concepts and theories they have been exposed to in this course by writing an essay on a particular health policy topic.

 

FEE
£1,600 including access to LSHTM library and learning resources, study materials and assessment.

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