HEALTH ECONOMICS AND POLICIES
- Overview
- Assessment methods
- Learning objectives
- Contents
- Full programme
- Delivery method
- Teaching methods
- Contacts/Info
No formal prerequisites are required, however, a basic knowledge of the main topics taught in a Public Economics course is encouraged.
The evaluation of learning will be carried out through an oral exam regarding the contents discussed during the course.
The first part of the exam will focus on the discussion of a proposal - which the student can explore in depth at will and independently - for improving the financing scheme and/or introducing providers of additional healthcare services. The exam grade will be expressed in thirtieths.
The main objective of the course is to provide adequate tools for understanding, analyzing and evaluating public health policies, with particular reference to the effect in terms of health on the population, the cost of the policies themselves and the economic ratio underlying the legislation.
At the end of the course, the student will therefore be able to:
- understand the main elements of a health policy;
- select best practices of providers offering healthcare services;
- evaluate the effectiveness, economic efficiency and distributional equity of health policies;
- propose improvements and corrective measures for the regulation of the market of healthcare services or the articulation of regulation.
The course will be divided into three parts, equivalent in terms of hours/number of lessons:
- in the first part some constitutive foundations of health economics will be addressed and proposed, such as externalities in public health, the difference between health and healthcare provision, the different ways of considering health and healthcare services from an economic point of view, the relationship between demand and supply of services and some situations of economic imbalance, such as unmet healthcare needs, waiting times and inequalities in access to healthcare services.
- in the second part the different possible methods of financing the Healthcare System will be discussed, such as out-of-pocket expenses, the health insurance market and social insurance, financing through general public spending;
- in the third part of the course some of the main players in the healthcare system will be described, such as hospitals, emergency rooms, prevention and territorial facilities
Part I (Economic Fundamentals):
- theory of externalities in public health;
- health as stock, health services as input to the production process;
- health as an indispensable good, lexicographic preferences;
- healthcare services as a mixed good;
- demand induced by supply;
- application for public and/or private services;
- unmet healthcare need;
- waiting times;
- inequalities in access to health services;
Part II (Financing): out-of-pocket expenses, the health insurance market and social insurance, the financing of the national health system
Part III (Offer of services): Hospitals, beds and hospitalization; Emergency room; Prevention and Territory; GPs and PLS; Pharmacies and Pharmaceuticals
Teaching is offered through frontal lessons conducted by the teacher using support materials. In addition, optional supplementary readings will be offered for each lesson, such as book chapters, scientific articles, and institutional reports.
The material presented in class will be made available in advance on the e-learning page reserved for teaching.
Students will be asked to systematically study the references indicated and actively participate in the proposed discussions.
For each lesson/topic of parts II and III of the program, there is a short speech by a professional in the sector.
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