Board Review Course - Study Materials (Study Questions, Slides and Reference Materials)-Health Services Management (Health Economics & Outcomes Research) Study Materials

Health Services Management (Health Economics & Outcomes Research) Study Materials

Pdf Summary

The "Health Services Management (Health Economics & Outcomes Research)" course aims to introduce students to the essentials of health economics and outcomes research. The course objectives are to explain the necessity of health economics and describe four central concepts pivotal to any health economics study. These concepts include the study's perspective, types of costs (direct, indirect, and intangible), opportunity costs, and discounting of future costs, benefits, and outcomes. Additionally, the course will cover the three main methods for analyzing prevention effectiveness data: Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA), Cost-Effectiveness Analysis (CEA), and Cost-Utility Analysis (CUA). Students will also learn about the outcome units used in CUA, specifically Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs), and understand the importance of conducting sensitivity analyses in economic burden and intervention studies.<br /><br />The document also includes questions and detailed explanations designed to test the understanding of key concepts in health economics. For example, it discusses the appropriateness of adopting a societal perspective when conducting health economic studies funded by Medicare, highlighting the exclusion risks of important costs and benefits if alternatives like the payer's perspective are used.<br /><br />The classification of costs, such as categorizing time lost from work as indirect costs, highlights the differentiation between direct medical costs, indirect medical costs, and intangible costs. The importance of opportunity costs in healthcare contexts is also emphasized, given the market inefficiencies in healthcare pricing mechanisms.<br /><br />The document stresses the need to discount future costs and benefits to current values, primarily for direct comparison regardless of timing, rather than inflation concerns. It clarifies that in a societal perspective, all costs and benefits, even those not readily valued monetarily, should be discounted.<br /><br />Lastly, the document specifies that the main methods of conducting health economics studies include CEA, CBA, and CUA—distinguishing these methodologies by their unique aspects, such as the use of natural units for outcome measures in CEAs and clarifying situations where each methodology is most appropriately applied. The material comprehensively covers essential learnings and provides critical insights for students and practitioners in health economics and outcomes research.

Keywords

Health Economics

Outcomes Research

Cost-Benefit Analysis

Cost-Effectiveness Analysis

Cost-Utility Analysis

Quality Adjusted Life Years

Opportunity Costs

Discounting

Indirect Costs

Sensitivity Analyses