Course description
Economic issues involved in health care are recognised in all countries to be of great importance. The continuing growth of both public and private health care sectors means that there is a large and growing demand for health economics expertise. Moreover, understanding the resource issues and the ways in which economics can help to analyse them is increasingly necessary for health professionals, whether clinical, in health services management or in healthcare related industries.
This programme is designed to meet a demand for economic evaluation skills in the health care sector. In keeping with the University's aims to provide high quality, professionally relevant education, the course offers a programme of training both in the conceptual bases for economic evaluation and in advanced quantitative methods relevant to health care decision making.
Previous students have come from the pharmaceutical industry, from health services (including consultants, general practitioners, pharmacists, nurses and managers), from government agencies and straight from undergraduate study. Students have come from across the globe; some have commuted weekly from mainland Europe to attend the course.
Modules: MSc Economic Evaluation in Health Care
Students take a total of eight modules and also submit a dissertation.
Academic Period 1
ECM203 Economic Evaluation
ECM207 Statistical Methods for Economic Evaluation Research
ECM208 Epidemiology
Academic Period 2
ECM202 Advanced Economic Evaluation in Health Care
ECM204 Economic Evaluation Workshops
ECM205 Welfare Economics
ECM206 Economics of Health Care
ECM010 The Dissertation
Module Outlines
ECM202 Advanced Economic Evaluation in Health Care (20 credits)
This module introduces students to statistical considerations in the analysis of cost and effectiveness data and to the fundamentals of measuring and analysing survival time.
ECM203 Economic Evaluation (20 credits)
The aim of this module is to provide you with a basic knowledge and understanding of the techniques of economic appraisal and to introduce you to methodological issues encountered in economic evaluation. The module provides the foundation for the more detailed treatment of methods and advanced topics covered in later modules.
ECM204 Economic Evaluation Workshops (20 credits)
This module introduces students to the use of spreadsheets, specifically Excel, for analysing economic evaluation data.
ECM205 Welfare Economics (20 credits)
The aim of this module is to introduce you to the subject of welfare economics. Welfare economics concerns the means by which the desirability of different policy options can be judged, and provides the theoretical foundations for the economic evaluation techniques to which you have been introduced in the
Economic Evaluation module.
ECM206 Economics of Health Care (20 credits)
The aim of this module is to introduce you to the way in which microeconomics principles and concepts can be applied to the analysis of decisions by consumers, firms and governments regarding health and health care. The module aims to provide you with an understanding of the economic context within which economic evaluation takes place and to familiarise you with key economic issues confronting health systems.
ECM207 Statistical Methods for Economic Evaluation Research (20 credits)
This module provides students with an understanding and practical knowledge of statistical techniques used in economic evaluation research. It covers basic and advanced statistical methods, both descriptive and analytical, emphasising applications in economic evaluation.
ECM208 Epidemiology (20 credits)
This module introduces students to the interpretation of epidemiological data and the design of epidemiological studies.
ECM010 The Dissertation (40 credits)
The aim of the dissertation is to undertake and report research into a specific topic within the economics of health, using the skills and knowledge developed during the programme. The research will either involve an original and critical exposition of existing knowledge within the student's specialist field or an empirical research project. Before submitting the dissertation, students must have successfully completed all of the 8 module assessments.
Teaching and learning
Students undertake eight taught modules; part-time students undertake three modules in each year. Each module is delivered in one term, either Autumn or Spring. Teaching is through lectures, seminars and workshops.
In addition, students undertaking the MSc complete a dissertation on an appropriate subject. A Diploma option is available for those who do not undertake a dissertation.
A series of lectures is organised in the third term in which economic evaluation experts from outside of City present current research on both methodological and applied topics.
Assessment
Overall assessment is based on performance in taught modules and a dissertation. Most modules are assessed by both examination and coursework. The dissertation mark accounts for 40 out of 180 credits of the overall assessment.
Dissertation
All MSc students complete a dissertation up to 10,000 words, either an original and critical exposition of existing knowledge within the student's specialist field or an empirical research project. Many students undertake this dissertation within their own working environment or on placement; others choose their own topic supported by teaching staff at City.
Previous dissertations have included topics such as cost-effectiveness studies in diverse areas, including screening for diabetic patients, carotid endarterectomy, diagnosis of deep-vein thrombosis, drug therapies for Alzheimer's disease and cognitive therapy; conjoint analysis of preferences for drug treatments; cost of depression due to obesity; deriving utility weights for quality of life measures; and modelling the budgetary impact of new treatments for irritable bowel syndrome.
