Course 2022-2023 a.y.

The course covers the following topics by adopting a national and international perspective:

• Definition of technological innovation in healthcare and key features of different technologies (e.g. drugs, devices).
• Comparative economic instruments to support the health-related decision-making process in health and healthcare.
• Health Technology Assessment.
• The industries of health technologies (e.g. pharma, medical devices, and digital health).
• Regulation systems of health technologies.
• Funding, reimbursement, and pricing policies of health technologies.
• Market Access.
• Principles of economic evaluation analysis of health technologies.

• Understand the innovation process in the pharmaceutical/medical device industry.
• Understand the impact of medical technologies on healthcare systems and organizations, patients' health, and society at large.
• Understand how the relevant markets are regulated and how companies work to successfully market their products.
• Understand how the governments decide whether or not to fund technological innovations and how this impacts the levels of innovation of the health technology industry, and on the competitiveness between jurisdictions.

• Use the theoretical and empirical insights presented during the course to assess technological innovations in the healthcare sector.
• Interpret the behaviour and the decision-making process of governments in different jurisdictions and in the real world through the lenses of the key objectives these governments have to achieve.
• Develop value-based market access strategies to market innovative products.

• Face-to-face lectures
• Guest speaker's talks (in class or in distance)
• Exercises (exercises, database, software etc.)
• Case studies /Incidents (traditional, online)
• Group assignments

Guest speakers' talks: some lectures are held by professors or practicioners who are leading experts on the topic treated in the lecture. This allows students to learn additional insights from experts who have actively contributed either to the scientific literature on a certain topic or to the development of real-world practice in certain areas.

• Exercises: some lectures aim at providing students with technical skills. The use of exercises in class aims at faciliting the learning process and give to the students an immediate feedback of their level of understanding.
• Case studies/Incidents: some lectures start through the presentation of a real-world incident aimed at suscitating a debate among the students and the instructors. Similarly, case-studies are often used by instructors to enlighten the real-world impacts and implications of what learnt in class.
• Group assignments: students are asked to run a group work which aims at testing the students' capacity to use their technical skills for strategic purposes. The assignment is explained in the first part of the course and the students, split into small groups, delivers it at the very end of the course. 

With the purpose of measuring the acquisition of the above-mentioned learning outcomes, the students’ assessment is based on three main components:

• Mid-term exam (35% of the final grade) consisting of closed- and/or open-ended questions aimed to assess students’ ability to describe and critically discuss the analytical tools illustrated during the first part of the course. The exam may also includes short statements to discuss, aimed to assess students’ ability to articulate economic reasoning and to evaluate the potential effects of health policies on the healthcare sectors and industries.
• Group assignment (30% of the final grade) aimed to test:
  • Students' ability to use technical concepts learnt in class for strategic purposes.
  • Students' capacity to work in team and to allocate tasks and time efficiently and effectively.
• Final exam (35% of the final grade), consisting of closed- and/or open-ended questions aimed to assess students’ ability to describe and critically discuss the analytical tools illustrated during the second part of the course. The exam may also includes short statements to discuss, aimed to assess students’ ability to articulate economic reasoning and to evaluate the potential effects of health policies on the healthcare sectors and industries.

With the purpose of measuring the acquisition of the above-mentioned learning outcomes, the students’ assessment is based on a written, closed-ended and/or open-ended questions exam.

The teaching materials for the course include different sources: selected articles, assigned chapters from the textbook and slides circulated by instructors. The textbook is:

Drummond MF, Sculpher MJ, Claxton K, Stoddart GL, Torrance GW. “Methods for The Economic Evaluation of Health Care Programmes”. Fourth edition. Oxford Medical Publication, 2015.