MASTER OF SCIENCE EVIDENCE BASED PRACTICE AMC-UvA

2nd year: Module Title: Number of Credits: Module leader:

Module 7 Health Economics 6 EC B.C. Opmeer, PhD

Overall aim The course aims at introducing economic evaluation of new and existing medical technologies to scientifically oriented health care workers. Overall synopsis The demand for research into the efficiency of new or existing health care interventions is increasing. This holds for treatment alternatives, diagnostic strategies, and even organizational changes. Medical technology assessment is the general term for such research; at least it includes the measurement and valuation of health status changes and the use of health care resources and, subsequently, focuses on synthesizing the data on effectiveness and costs of the intervention to provide useful information to health care policy makers. Medical technology assessment thus supports decisions whether or not to finance new interventions, which patient populations should and should not receive the studied interventions, and the like. Learning objectives The participant knows about the role and phasing of medical technology assessment to support the health care decision in our society. The participant is able to differentiate between various types of economic evaluation (lecture 1). The participant knows how health status, health service use, and the related health care costs data can be measured, gathered, valued and analyzed. The participant is familiar with the concepts of health utility and quality adjusted life-year (lectures 2 & 3). The participant knows how to proceed with incremental cost-effectiveness analysis, different types of uncertainty analysis and subgroup analysis (lecture 4). The participant is able to critically appraise published health economic papers (lecture 5). The participant applies his/her knowledge during the exercises provided during the course. The participant is able to prepare a poster presentation. Teaching and learning strategies Lectures, working group exercises with alternating numbers of participants dealing with theory (critical appraisal), practice (study design) and putting theory into practice (decision modeling, reporting). Assessment strategies Progress of participants is assessed by questionnaire, report, and individual exam. The individual exam consists of open-end and multiple-choice questions.

Spring 2011