Course Syllabus

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Health Economics and Health Policy in Europe

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Semester & Location:

Spring 2020 - DIS Copenhagen
Type & Credits:

Elective Course - 3 credits
Major Disciplines:

Public Health, Public Policy
Faculty Members:

Holger Sandte
Program Director:

Susana Dietrich
Time & Place:

Tuesdays and Fridays, 8:30 - 9:50, V10-D14

Faculty

Holger

Holger Sandte

Studied Economics and languages in Germany and France. M. Sc. (Economics, University of Hanover) 1993, PhD (Dr. rer. pol., University of Trier) 1998. Has since worked as an economist for German and Nordic banks, in asset management and lately for the Danish Ministry of Finance, before becoming a full-time DIS faculty in 2019. Main professional interests: Macroeconomics, economic policy, European integration. 

holger.sandte@dis.dk, Tel. + 45 6058 5430

 

Course Description

This course provides you with an in-depth look at important concepts and theories in health economics and health policy analysis, that will allow you to critically analyze all levels of a healthcare system. Health economics is a great way to introduce students to the power of economic thinking. You will apply concepts and theories to actual cases from Europe in which health economics rationales clash with health politics. Basic economic appraisals of healthcare interventions and decision analysis of health policy processes are used to analyze current issues in Northern European healthcare systems. The course also provides insight into the practical workings of the public health care system in Denmark. Last but not least we will try to find out whether Europe can learn something from the US health care system and vice versa. 

 

Expected Learning Outcomes

After successfully completing this course, you will be able to:

  • Demonstrate a solid knowledge of basic health policy and health economic concepts
  • Explain current issues of financing and decision making in health care in the European healthcare systems
  • Critically analyze financing and provision of healthcare
  • Carry out basic health economic appraisals of health care interventions and decision analysis of policy processes 

It is our ambition that the skills acquired in this course will be highly relevant for anyone wishing to pursue further studies and/or a career (political, administrative, or medical) in the health care field.

Pre-requisites 

The course is aimed at everyone with an interest in health care provision and policy and it is especially relevant for students with a focus on public health, human health and disease, economics, and public/social policy. It serves as a good supplement to the Health Delivery and Prioritization course in the Public Health Program and is also relevant for other programs such as the Medical Practice and Policy and European Politics courses. For Econ majors, some of the microeconomic concepts might be nothing new, but they could still enjoy the refresher and the practical application on health care markets. 

 

Teaching Methods

The course will be based on some lecturing plus a lot of interactive teaching methods.  The learning experience will be enhanced through field studies, guest lectures, real-world case studies, debates, small student assignments etc.  

 

Evaluation and Grading

To be eligible for a passing grade in this class, all of the assigned work must be completed. The factors influencing the final grade and the proportional importance of each factor is shown below:

Component Weight
Participation 20%
Midterm Test 20%
Paper 30%
Final Test 30%

 

Participation

This is intended to be an interactive class,  primarily because it provides for a better learning experience, but also because it makes classes more fun. In order to participate, students are required to attend all classes, read and prepare before each class, and to participate actively in class. If you are ill, you have to let your teacher know before the class starts. 

Please note that the texts reflect the disciplines that the course embraces: some texts are mainly written for students of political science and others for students of health economics.

Research paper

In groups of 2-4, you will hand in a research paper, 12 pages if you are a group of two, 15 pages if you are a group of three and 18 pages in a group of four (excluding front page and reference page) dealing with one of the themes covered in class (outlined in the schedule). The paper must include a research question and is required to have an analytical aspect. The paper must build on concepts from class and empirical data/real life cases. Purely descriptive papers do not fulfill the academic standard at DIS and will not be accepted. You can use a variety of sources for your paper including texts from the syllabus, articles from journals, interviews with experts in the area of your topic, and data extracted from various databases. There will be a session explaining how to write a research paper. 

A grading rubric, provided beforehand, is used when papers are graded. Before writing the paper, you will hand in a short paper outline to help you in the process of writing the paper. This will not be graded, but you will receive feedback on the outline. There will be a session where you present a draft of your paper and will get feedback from fellow students and your teacher. The grade for the research paper refers to the final version, but will also reflect how you incorporate the feedback you got. 

It is very important that the paper fulfills the formal requirements described in “Writing Papers at DIS”, found on Canvas. Papers exceeding your group’s maximum page limit will be penalized by three percentage points per page and late papers by six percentage points per day. 

Midterm test

You will complete a graded midterm test to give you an idea of your academic level. Further details will be announced.

Final test

The final test consists of a mix of short answer questions and essay questions. You will have the opportunity to choose from a sample of questions and should only answer a specific amount of these. The duration of the final exam is two hours. Please note that the final test covers the entire course.

Class room etiquette

A good learning environment requires that everyone is present (physically and mentally), prepared, and participating. Out of respect for both faculty and fellow students, we expect you to be on time and to participate in the full duration of the class.

Laptops and phones in class: You may use your laptop for note‐taking or fact‐checking. Usage of laptops or phones not related to the class is unacceptable, and will reduce your participation grade significantly.

Make-up classes: There are a few open slots for make-up classes in the syllabus. Please note that there may be organized mandatory classes during these time slots.

 

Academic Regulations

Please make sure to read the Academic Regulations on the DIS website. There you will find regulations on:

DIS Contacts

Kathrine Whitman, Program Assistant,  kwh@dis.dk
Louise Bagger Iversen , Assistant Program Director, lbi@dis.dk 
Susana Dietrich, Science & Health Program Director
Science & Health Office: Vestergade 7-37

 

Required Readings

Textbooks

  • Guinness L & Wiseman V (2011). Introduction to Health Economics. 2nd Berkshire: Open University Press:
  • Donaldson C & Gerard K (2005). Economics of Health Care Financing - The Visible Hand. 2nd New York: Palgrave Macmillan

On Canvas

  • Arrow KJ (1963). Uncertainty and the welfare economics of medical care. American Economic Review, 53 (5):941-973).
  • Charlesworth A, Davies A, Dixon J (2012). Reforming payment for health care in Europe to achieve better value.
  • Darvas, Z., Moës, N., Myachenkova, Y., Pichler, D., The macroeconomic implications of healthcare, Bruegel Policy Contribution, issue no. 11, August 2018
  • Drummond M, Sorensen C (2009): Nasty or Nice? A Perspective on the Use of Health Technology Assessment in the United Kingdom, Value in Health, 12(suppl. 2): s8-s13.
  • Freeman R (2000): The health care state in Europe, 1880-1980 (p. 14-31)
  • Green-Pedersen C, Wilkerson J (2006). “How agenda-setting attributes shape politics: basic dilemmas, problem attention and health politics developments in Denmark and the US”, Journal of European Public Policy, 13(7):1039–1052.
  • Helsø, Pierri, Wang: The Economic Impact of Healthcare Quality , IMF working paper WP/19/173, August 2019. The Economic Impact of Healthcare Quality-IMF 2019.pdf
  • Henry D, Lexchin J (2002). The pharmaceutical industry as a medicines provider. The Lancet, 360:1590-1595.
  • Krasnik A, Groenwegen PP, Pedersen PA et al. (1990). Practice Observed: Changing Remuneration Systems: Effects on Activity in General Practice. BMJ, 300:1698-1701
  • Kristensen FB et al. (2008): What is health technology assessment? In: Garrido MV, Kristensen FB, Nielsen CM, Busse R (eds.) (2008). Health Technology Assessment and Health Policy-Making in Europe. Current status, challenges and potential. Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe. 31-51
  • Manning WG, Newhouse JP, Duan N, Keeler EB, Leibowitz A. (1987). Health insurance and the demand for health care - Evidence from a randomized experiment.American Economic Review, 77(3):251-277.
  • Ministry of Health  (2017). Ministry of Health (2017). Healthcare in Denmark: An overview.
  • Oberlander, J.: Long Time Coming: Why Health Reform Finally Passed, in Health Affairs,  June 2010 vol. 29 no. 6; 1112-1116.
  • OECD/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies (2017) Denmark: Country Health Profile 2017 Health-Profile-Denmark_2017.pdf
  • Olejaz M, Juul Nielsen A, Rudkjøbing A, Okkels Birk H, Krasnik A, Hernández-Quevedo C (2012): Denmark - Health system review. Health Systems in Transition. Read the “Executive summary”, page: XVII-XXII.
  • Paul SM et al (2010). How to improve R&D productivity: the pharmaceutical industry’s grand challenge. Nature Reviews: Drug discovery, 9:203-214.
  • Pedersen, K.M., Andersen, J.S., Søndergaard, J. (2012): General Practice and Primary Health Care in Denmark, The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine · March 2012
  • Porter ME & Lee HE (2013). The strategy that will fix health care. Harvard Business Review, 1-19 
  • Rice et al. (2013): United States of America - Health system review. Read: Executive summary, page: XXI-XXIX.
  • Scharpf FW (1997). Games Real Actors Play, Actor-Centered Institutionalism in Policy Research. Boulder: Westview Press: 1-15 and 36-50.
  • The Economist, Special Report Universal Health Care, April 2018: America is a health-care outlier in the developed world
  • Vallgårda S & Krasnik A (2010). Health services and health policy. Chapter 1: Health Systems Central Concepts and Definitions
  • Vallgårda S & Krasnik A (2010). Health services and health policy. Chapter 2: Health Policy
  • Walt G (2005). Making Health Policy. Open University Press. Chapter 4: Agenda setting, page 63-79. 
  • Various texts from The Economist (details to follow)

 Web Resources

 

  DIS - Study Abroad in Scandinavia - www.DISabroad.org

Course Summary:

Date Details Due