Applied Health Economics

The aim of education and study in the newly accredited two-year follow-up Master's studies programme “Applied Health Economics" is to acquire the theoretical knowledge and practical skills in the field of health economics and evaluation of health interventions needed to perform economic managerial functions in the system of health service providers, health protection and promotion and health policy formulation and analyses.

The goal is to educate and prepare students for practice and research to be competent to perform activities aimed at an assessment and appraisal of healthcare interventions and technologies, quality assessment and efficiency of healthcare services, especially in the following key areas of study:

- quality and efficiency assessment of healthcare services;

- sustainable value for money analyses;

- analysis of big data in healthcare;

- health policies and health plans analyses;

- health technology assessment and appraisal.

The content of the programme is thus focused on strengthening and empowerment of education acquired in previous Bc and/or MSc Programmes as well as acquisition of specific knowledge and skills in an area of applied health economics and technology assessment in healthcare, within the context of internationally acknowledged requirements, defined above all in EU project collaboration of EUnetHTA, internationally recognized institutions of INAHTA and HTAi.

New study programme will reflect the transformation of healthcare system towards internationally acknowledged endeavor for high quality care (changes in healthcare services delivery, management and quality assessment) and respond to the labor market demand and missing graduates with accountable professional qualification (applied health economics). Currently there is a possibility to acquire such a knowledge profile only partially by isolated certified or specialized courses, which does not guarantee their quality and homogeneity in terms of content and utilization of learning forms.

Requirements for quality improvements of healthcare services, their relevant reporting and data recording and financing, those are key components of properly functioning healthcare sector, based on modern principles and available scientific knowledge. Respecting the necessity for rationalization, efficiency and transparency of healthcare spending, demographics trends and an imperative to support preventive programmes, it is inevitable to educate professionals with competences in value for money in healthcare system.

Complex interdisciplinary approach, in addition to its practical and foreign experience utilization and legislative anchoring of applied health economics profession lead to the employment of the graduates in labor market as well as the basic and applied science and research in health economics.

After successfully completing his/her studies the graduate is able to:

• Understand, assess and develop an appraisal framework to allocate scarce resources in healthcare.
• Develop critical capabilities and competencies in health economics, pharmacoeconomics and health technology assessment, incl. appraisal skills, dissemination and communication for different stakeholders, incl. healthcare providers and general public.
• Acquire an ability to implement health economic models to analyse decisions made by consumers, investors, private companies, government agencies and payers in heatlhcare.
• Apply knowledge of micro- and macroeconomic models to analyse choices and strategies towards sustainable, evidence-based access to high-quality healthcare, including multi-criteria decision analysis and cross-sector analysis.
• Analyse and interpret macroeconomic data to formulate health economic policy and evaluate the impact of macroeconomic events on healthcare organizations and institutions at macro (national), meso (regional) and micro (individual provider) levels.
• Develop skills and practical knowledge in advanced statistical methods for big data analysis, (bio)statistics and econometrics.
• Interpret regulations and critically assess the legal and ethical environment in the field of disease prevention and health promotion.
• Develop soft skills such as communication, active listening, time management, teamwork and critical thinking crucial in problem solving in healthcare organizations, with care providers or in policy making.

The proposed study programme is designed for students interested in the expanding field of health economics and its application in business. The programme is based on a broad interdisciplinary bases of biomedical, economic, pharmacological and other disciplines, with great emphasis on practical aspects of graduates in management and managerial positions in the system of health care providers and health policy enforcement in the field of health protection and promotion with a focus on economic aspects.

The broad basis and the possibility of flexible choice of diploma theses will enable graduates to also focus on applied health economics and research in the field, as well as into health technology assessment and Evidence-Based Healthcare (systematic review and clinical practical guidelines).

After graduation, students should be to start their career as specialists in institutions dealing with the organization and financing of health services, as well as enterprises responsible for the production or distribution of health technologies.

Job titles include:

- Health Economics Advisor,

- Health Data Scientist,

- Health Economics Value Consultant,

- Clinical Outcomes Consultant,

- Health Outcomes Manager,

- Market Access Manager,

etc.

Practical training is an integral part of the education in the submitted program and will be provided for all students.

During praxis students will engage in multiple intense projects in which they will directly work hand-in-hand with our industry and institutions experts, completing their studies with a trainee program in the last semester. The opportunity of an internship within associated partners enables students to shadow executive managers who are dealing with health economics (HE), pharmacoeconomics (PE) and Health Technology Assessment (HTA) issues on a daily basis (approximately 2/3 of the internships). The other option for the internship will be participating in academic research, either at partner or associate partner universities (approximately 1/3 of the internships).

There is an ambition to establish a long-term, sustainable partnership with selected academic and applied health economics professional institutions towards further empowerment of academic research in the field of HE, PE and HTA as well as utilization of its capacities and capabilities within highly demanded areas of work at the level of individual health care stakeholders (e.g. health policy authorities, healthcare provides, health and social insurance payers, health technology products and services industry representatives, patient advocacy groups, partnering academic and training institutions, to name a few).

Topics and goals of the diploma theses are varied. Students often choose topics they have encountered during their studies, professional practice or occupational issues. It is assumed that by elaborating the final thesis, the student will demonstrate the ability to work with scientific literature, the ability to formulate research objectives and research questions, choose the right research methodology, and analyze the data appropriately (quantitative research uses absolute and relative frequency in descriptive analysis). In the discussion part, the student compares his findings with other professional sources, reflects on the results, suggests recommendations for practice.

Assessment of final theses by supervisor and opponent is realized in the form of templates - Supervisor's report and Opponent's diploma thesis assessment (individual areas of the thesis are evaluated - aim of the thesis and its fulfilment, content or formal requierements).

The structure of the thesis has strict rules and prescribed structures. Instructions for the elaboration of the final thesis follow the internal regulations of the Faculty of Economics and Administration of Masaryk University, as well as the reviewed publication Methodology for the elaboration of the final thesis for selected non-medical health care disciplines author's team of the Department of Nursing and Midwifery of the Faculty of Medicine MU), which provides specific criteria and recommendations for the final thesis.

The final version of the thesis is uploaded into the Information System of Masaryk University in the section - archive.

The study program is designed as a follow-up Master's program, so its possible direct continuation is, therefore, doctoral study only. Among the possible study programs of doctoral studies (and are already realized at the Faculty of Economics and Administration, Faculty of Medicine or Faculty of Pharmacy of MU) are the following: Public Econoomics, Economic Policy, Biomedical Sciences, Pharmacology or Safety and quality of drugs.

It is also creditable the completion of relevant subjects within other bachelor and master degree programs within Masaryk University (MU) and study the second-degree program (eg economics, law, social work and more at MU). Thus graduate gained even wider knowledge related to "value in money in health".

The programe also fits into the forthcoming doctoral program "Public Health Services", which would be directly related to the proposed programme "Applied Health Economics".