Medical cost-effectiveness analysis is increasingly used internationally in decisions about the funding and development of medical technologies and public health interventions. This masters-level course provides students with an intensive introduction to the theoretical and empirical tools of cost-effectiveness analysis and its application to health. Topics to be covered will include quality of life and cost measurement, model development and parameter estimation, and cost-effectiveness methods, including sensitivity analysis. Advanced concepts such as value of research methods will be introduced. Students will have weekly problem sets and instruction in a computer lab that will provide them with hands on experience performing medical cost-effectiveness analyses. Students taking this course will be prepared to take Advanced Applications of Cost-Effectiveness Analysis, which provides doctoral-level training in this area, which will next be offered in Spring 2009.
