MST-32806 Management and Economics of Health Care and Public Health

Course

Credits 6.00

Language of instruction:

English

Contents:

During the course different economic, organizational and managerial aspects of health care and public health will be examined such as the way the sector is structured and organized as well as the role different players like government, ngo's, health care professionals and public and private firms play. The managerial as well as administrative issues of the recent health care reforms will be studied as well the role of leadership in initiating and anchoring change and innovation in the public health sector. The course also discusses the dilemmas managers face as well as the strategies which the different key-players develop and deploy in this dynamic and complex environment. The health care reform in the Netherlands will be discussed and the way health care organisations transform themselves in response to the system changes.
Various economic approaches are applied and examples from various countries in the field of public health and health care will be presented. Attention is paid to the variation in and performance of public health systems. In doing so, cost benefit analysis (CBA) and methods to establish cost-effectiveness will be discussed. Trends in public health and reforms in health care are critically analysed.
In the discussion on strategic and organisational issues in the public health and care sector, the intertwined relationship between primary and secondary health care on the one hand and prevention on the other (chain-approach) come to the fore. Special attention will be given to the need for co-operation between health care and prevention.

Learning outcomes:

At the end of the course unit, the student is expected to be able to:
- understand the main managerial and economic characteristics of the public health sector;
- understand the role and behaviour of the various players in the sector;
- analyse the issues and problems in the public health sector by applying concepts and models from the domain of strategy and business administration and;
- apply cost effectiveness and cost benefit analysis in analysing issues and problems in public health;
- discuss the various economic approaches to analyse issues in the public health sector;
- analyse global variations in the field of public health care systems of provision;
- understand the role of public administration;
- be able to come up with scenarios of future developments in the public health sector.

Activities:

A variety of teaching strategies will be used, such as lectures and case studies in the field of the public health care sector. Every week students work together on a case. The solution will be presented to the group. In addition there are presentations by key note speakers from the sector.

Examination:

Examination will consist of a mix the individual assignments, as a scientific paper based upon a literature review and a written or oral examination.

Literature:

Study guide.
Book: S. Morris, V. Devlin and D. Parkin (2007). Economic Analysis in Health Care. wiley, ISBN 978-0-470-01685-5.