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Courses, Degrees and Units

The Centre for Health Economics is home to Australia's most extensive teaching program in Health Economics.  Courses are offered at undergraduate, honours and postgraduate levels, to both economists and non-economists, and delivered on-campus or off-campus.

The Centre can also provide a range of short courses tailored to the individual needs of practitioners and policy makers alike. 

 

On-campus course for economists

This course was introduced to meet the need for trained professional health economists and evaluators in hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, government departments and health research organisations. It is designed to provide students who already possess a basic degree in economics with the skills necessary to pursue a future career as academic or policy orientated economists, as administrators in the health sector, or as health care evaluators. It introduces economists to the basic concepts of epidemiology, bioethics and decision analysis, and trains participants in research methods by having them undertake a project during their placement at an approved institution.  The postgraduate diploma is normally completed in two semesters of full-time study or four semesters of part-time study.

On-campus units for undergraduates and honours students

ECC2700 - Economics issues in health and health care

ECC4870 - Health Economics

ECC4990 - Economic evaluation of health services

 

Off Campus courses (distance education)

This course provides a basic all-round introduction to health economics. Topics covered include the economic characteristics of health care, financing health services, funding hospitals and clinicians, incentives, equity and economic evaluation.

This course provides an understanding of the economics of pharmaceuticals in health care systems. It provides the skills necessary to apply economic analysis to the broad issues of industry development as well as the specific skills needed to: prepare a cost effectiveness analysis of a drug; apply economic modelling to support the inclusion or exclusion of a drug on a national or hospitalformulary; design a clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy and cost of effectiveness of drugs; and apply methods of evaluating health and non-health outcomes of drug use.

This course is designed for health professionals and health policy makers wishing to further their knowledge and/or extend their formal qualifications in health economics. The course objectives are:  to provide a rigorous and theoretical grounding in the disciplines of economics, health economics and health policy and to be able to apply these to the analysis of health care policyand institutions;  to develop analytical skills in economics and an appreciation of the role of incentives in the achievement of health care objectives;  to develop technical skills in economic evaluation to promote an efficient and equitable health care system;  to provide a course of direct relevance to government, business and non-government organisations which have extensive relationshipswith the health sector and require more rigorous training in economics, health economics, and policy analysis and development.

Off Campus units

ECX9700 -Introduction to health economics
This unit provides an understanding of the microeconomic approach to resource allocation, both in general and specifically in relation to the health sector. It introduces students to the use of economic tools in the analysis of the ‘market’ for health care, in terms of efficiency and equity.  It also provides an analytical framework for assessment of the Australian health care system and health policy from an economic perspective.

ECX9710 - Pharmaceutical economics
This unit provides an economic analysis of the pharmaceutical industry and pharmaceutical products. It considers the structure of the industry and the inter relationship between the nature of the product, the market structure and government regulation. It considers different regulatory regimes from an economic perspective and the role of economic evaluation in promoting the efficient use of drugs. The use of clinical trials to evaluate the efficacy of drugs of safety is considered alongside the need to collect economic data to evaluate efficiency. The unit includes issues in the economic analysis of drugs alongside trials including techniques of health outcome measurement

ECX9730 - Economic evaluation in health care
This unit introduces students to techniques of microeconomic appraisal in the evaluation of health care programs. It considers conceptual and methodological issues, as well as the practical conduct, and review, of such studies and their use in priority setting within the health care sector. The application of decision rules for economic efficiency in health program evaluation and their influence on policy decisions are introduced.

ECX9741 - Applied health economics and health policy
This unit synthesises contemporary issues in health policy, building on the fundamental economic concepts, including economic efficiency and equity, learned in the first level introductory unit. The unit is organised around three themes: the role of government in the health care system; incentives for equity and efficiency; and the use of economic principles to analyse and develop policy options in health care. Sectors of the health system are analysed with respect to efficiency and equity, including hospitals, medical, pharmaceutical and health care technologies.

ECX9750 - Principles of health economics for developing countries
This unit develops basic health economics concepts that can be used critically to analyse olicy options from an economic perspective, at the program level or health sector level, in developing countries. The focus is on the development of conceptual and analytic tools for understanding and evaluating health sector reform, commencing with an analysis of the determinants of health at the national level. Case studies are used to demonstrate practical issues and to encourage an understanding of the general principles that should underpin sustainable health care financing. Students will also develop their appreciation of methods for health program evaluation.

ECX9120 - Introduction to microeconomic theory (offered by the Department of Economics)
This unit provides students with a rigorous, theoretical and practical grounding in microeconomic principles. It covers the theory of consumer choice and its relationship to demand, production, costs and supply; pricing and output decisions of firms in various market structures, including perfect competition, monopoly, monopolistic competition and oligopoly; and issues of efficiency with respect to externalities, public goods and imperfect information.

ECG9102 - Introduction to macroeconomic theory and policy (offered by the Department of Economics)
This unit provides students with a theoretical and practical grounding in macroeconomic principles. It covers principles of  macroeconomic analysis of product, capital, money and labour markets. It also deals with the concepts of national accounts, government expenditure, growth, inflation, unemployment, interest rates and balance of payments. Contemporary macroeconomic policy issues from both a small open economy and a regional perspective are especially emphasised.

How to apply?

On Campus course – Postgraduate Diploma in Health Economics and Evaluation

Application Form  

Post your applications to:
Graduate Applications Monash
Graduate School of Business
PO Box 197
Caulfield East VIC 3145
Australia

Off Campus courses - All students

Application Form

Post your applications to:
Graduate Applications Monash
Graduate School of Business
PO Box 197
Caulfield East VIC 3145
Australia

For help and information on applying, please contact the Graduate School of Business.
PH: +613 9903 1400
Email: gsb@buseco.monash.edu.au

Requirements for all Students

For further information please contact: