London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

Through a series of lectures and workshops, this module draws on a number of economic concepts including information, agency and incentives to analyse different ways of financing and organising health systems across high- and low- income settings. Through lectures students will be exposed to policy relevant examples and topics drawing on previously learned economic concepts. The workshops are applied and practice based. Students will meet experienced health economists and health systems experts throughout the course who will describe the technical aspects of drawing on economic arguments for health policy making.

The overall module aim is to build on the economic theories and concepts introduced in Term 1, and apply them to analyse current issues and problems in health policy in developed and developing countries.

Intended learning outcomes

Upon successful completion of the module students should be able to:

1. Describe different ways of financing and organising health systems, and analyse them using the economic concepts of information, agency and incentives;
2. Identify different market structures used in the delivery of health services and key health service inputs such as human resources, discuss their associated strengths and weaknesses (market and policy failures) and potential ways of mitigating these effects. These will include the role and functioning of regulation and contracting for health services;
3. Explain the need for rationing in the health sector, and analyse different rationing mechanisms in terms of their implications for equity and efficiency;
4. Apply the tools of equity analysis (benefit incidence analysis and measurement of equity) to analyse the distribution of resources in the health sector;
5. Consider departures from the rationality assumption, through exposure to basic behavioural economics theories.

Mode of delivery

This module is delivered predominantly face-to-face. Where specific teaching methods (lectures, seminars, discussion groups) are noted in this module specification these will be delivered by predominantly face-to-face sessions. There will be a combination of live and interactive activities (synchronous learning) as well as self-directed study (asynchronous learning).

Assessment

The assessment for this module has been designed to measure student learning against the module intended learning outcomes (ILOs) as listed above. The grade for summative assessment(s) only will go towards the overall award GPA.

The assessment will be in the form of an applied policy analysis. Students will apply the concepts and theories they have been exposed to in this module by writing a policy brief on a health policy reform they propose in a country of their choice. They will be first asked to describe an inefficiency or inequity in the health system and then analyse the impact of the chosen health policy reform to address it.

Credits

• CATS: 15
• ECTS: 7.5

Module specification

For full information regarding this module please see the module specification.