Module Catalogue 2024/25

Pre Requisite Comment

N/A

Co Requisite Comment

N/A

Aims

The aims of this module are:

To introduce students to economic principles and applied tools in healthcare evaluation with a focus on oncology and palliative care.

Outline Of Syllabus

This module consists of ten topics. It will start with an introduction to economic principles and define key terms such as scarcity, opportunity cost, and priority setting. Then, topics related to the economics of health care markets such as demand and supply of medicines, market failure, and equity will be covered. The middle of the module will focus on economic evaluation within a Health Technology Assessment (HTA) framework. This will include epidemiology and evidence synthesis techniques. The main focus will be on economic evaluation including emphasis on data requirements and practically aspects of conducting cost-effective analysis, cost-utility analysis and cost-benefit analysis Following on from this we will look at Market Access including a focus on how the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in England evaluate oncology drugs and their patient access schemes. We aim to cover the contemporary issues related to NICE's approach to evaluation. The literature for the economic case for palliative care will also be outlined. Finally, the modules finishes with a discussion of affordability, budget impact, and what next for cancer medicines in the midst/aftermath of COVID-19 pandemic.

Intended Knowledge Outcomes

By the end of the module the student should be able to:

•Explain how economic principles are applied in healthcare decision making with a particular focus on oncology and palliative care.
•Critically appraise economic problems in cancer care using the health economist’s toolkit
•Use economic based arguments in assessing particular cancer care reforms
•Critically appraise cancer policy initiatives from an economic perspective.
•Apply economic approaches to analysis of determinants of health/health inequalities.
•Critically examine the interface between the pharmaceutical industry, HTA bodies and healthcare systems
•Apply the knowledge to real world models for introducing cancer products:
•Awareness of the barriers and challenges associated with introducing new services, devices and pharmaceuticals.

Intended Skill Outcomes

By the end of the module the student should be able to:
•Apply economic tools to real life problems faced by healthcare professionals and policy makers in the oncology and palliative care field.
Awareness of how health systems evaluate, approve and implement cancer care services.

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

Each week of the module will cover a different topic area (ten in total). Each topic area will have one or two key study documents to read, interactive lecture notes and activities. Student's responses to the activities will be posted on the discussion board on Canvas (used for online discussion) to foster dialogue between students and the instructors. The instructors will monitor and comment on all student responses to the activities to help with the consolidation of knowledge and understanding of the learning outcomes.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The assessment is intended to cover the breadth of the course and takes the form of a written exercise of a short essay that is a maximum of 2000 in length which will cover the basics of health economics. The rationale for this form of assessment is to evaluate the understanding of key economic concepts such as opportunity cost, scarcity and equity. Furthermore, the practical methodological approaches to economic evaluation and market access will be covered as applied to a real-world issue related to the delivery of oncology and palliative care. The second assessment will be an oral presentation covering the economic angle to a cancer care issue. The presentation allows assessment of student’s ability to develop on the issue, critically analyse the pertinent literature and present a focused critiqued piece of work.

There will be two formative assessment exercises:

One will be written on the economics of the health care market. The first formative assessment will be a short essay (~500 words). Responses to the formative assessment exercise should be posted on each individual student’s journal and all students will receive personalised feedback on their answers to help them prepare for the assignment of the short essay.

The second formative assessment will be related to market access and will be a five-minute presentation with a maximum of three slides to familiarize the students with the presentation software (Pantopto/Zoom/Powerpoint) and presenting online. Students will also receive personalized feedback for this assessment,

Should a student fail the assessment they will have to complete a resit assessment.

General Notes

N/A