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University of Melbourne

  • 37% international / 63% domestic

Short course: Practical Methods for Health Economic Evaluation

  • Non-Award

This course provides a comprehensive introduction to health economic evaluation, focusing on cost-effectiveness and cost-utility analyses. Participants will learn computer-based methods and techniques essential for evaluating healthcare interventions and technologies.

Key details

Degree Type
Non-Award
Duration
3 - 3 years full-time
Study Mode
In person
Intake Months
Oct

About this course

Practical Methods for Health Economic Evaluation

This is a 3-day course run by Melbourne Health Economics within the Centre for Health Policy at the University of Melbourne. It aims to familiarise participants with the fundamental theories as well as computer-based methods and techniques that are routinely used in economic evaluation with an emphasis on cost-effectiveness and cost-utility analyses. Economic evaluation has been widely used to assess new health care interventions and technologies and inform decisions about which interventions should be subsidized from available funds. In Australia, for a drug or a medical device to be listed on the PBS or MBS, economic evaluation is required to determine whether it represents value for money.

This computer-based course will cover the analytic steps in an economic evaluation, from methods for analysing cost and outcome data, developing decision analytic and Markov models, conducting sensitivity analyses and reporting and interpreting the results.

Entry requirements

Pre-requisites

Participants should have a prior working knowledge of STATA software and an appreciation of the concepts of health economic evaluation. It is recommended that participants be familiar with common commands in STATA, introductory statistics and Microsoft Excel. The course will be computer-based, 'hands-on', and participants will be expected to bring a laptop computer (and mouse) with STATA and TreeAge Pro installed for use throughout the course. Licenses for STATA and TreeAge Pro will be supplied as part of the course materials. Exercises for cost and health outcomes analyses are moderately technical with the use of numerous STATA commands; therefore, participants are expected to review STATA commands and familiarize themselves with the exercises before the lectures. If you wish to discuss your suitability for this course, or make special arrangements to hire a laptop, please contact: health-economics@unimelb.edu.au

What you will learn

What you will learn

This is a 3-day course run by Melbourne Health Economics within the Centre for Health Policy at the University of Melbourne. It aims to familiarise participants with the fundamental theories as well as computer-based methods and techniques that are routinely used in economic evaluation with an emphasis on cost-effectiveness and cost-utility analyses. Economic evaluation has been widely used to assess new health care interventions and technologies and inform decisions about which interventions should be subsidized from available funds. In Australia, for a drug or a medical device to be listed on the PBS or MBS, economic evaluation is required to determine whether it represents value for money.

This computer-based course will cover the analytic steps in an economic evaluation, from methods for analysing cost and outcome data, developing decision analytic and Markov models, conducting sensitivity analyses and reporting and interpreting the results.

Course structure

Course outline

The course will involve a series of modules that build on each other to provide an overview of all the steps required for health economic evaluation.

Day 1

Study Design Principles (morning)

  • Overview of cost-effectiveness analysis?
  • What health economic data need to be collected?
  • Summary of key data sources including: clinical trials; linked administrative data; synthesis of the literature

Techniques for Analysing Costs (afternoon)

  • Features of cost data
  • Regression methods for analysing health care cost data
Day 2

Techniques for Analysing Outcomes (morning)

  • Quantifying outcomes using life tables and an overview of survival analysis techniques including Kaplan Meier, as well as parametric survival functions
  • Capturing and analysing preference based measures of quality of life

Introduction to decision models (afternoon)

  • Building a decision tree
  • Introduction to TreeAge including defining transitions and rewards in terms of costs and utilities
Day 3

Markov modelling and Applications

  • Conducting cost-effectiveness analysis including modelling Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs) and costs
  • Capturing uncertainty and sensitivity analysis
  • Presenting and interpreting results for decision makers

Each module will be re-enforced by exercises in Excel and the specialist modelling software TreeAge and we will demonstrate aspects of the course using the statistical software STATA.

How to apply

Applications close three days prior to course commencement.