Courses In: Health

This course explores ethical dilemmas in creating health policies and running health systems, though the ethical dilemmas have relevance beyond the health sector and non-health students are welcome as well. We begin with two policy-making sessions, taking up the question: under what conditions can one violate their personal values in an effort to get a policy deal that would benefit many done?

This course provides the core microeconomic theories and concepts needed to understand health and health care issues in both the developed and developing world. It describes how the markets for health and health services are different from other goods, with a particular emphasis on the role of government and market failure. In addition it discusses the theoretical and empirical aspects of key health economics issues, including the demand for health and health services, supply side concerns, health insurance, the provision of public goods, and related topics.

Building on HPAM-GP.4830, this course examines US domestic health policy issues from an economics perspective. Topics covered will be influenced by the current policy topics under discussion in the US. We will focus on the tradeoffs and contrasts between a market-based versus a government-based system, with topics potentially including: choice and behavioral economics, payment policies/pay-for-performance, health insurance, relevant sectors of the US health care system (hospitals, etc), public health and innovation.

The course incorporates topics of capital planning and other finance issues making as applied to health-care organizations. This course will cover three main topics:

-Public payer rate setting

-Understanding risk and the costs of capital in making financial decisions.

-Issues in working capital and investment management activities of healthcare organizations.