Course 2024-2025 a.y.

20574 - REGULATION AND ECONOMICS OF HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY

Department of Social and Political Sciences

Course taught in English

Student consultation hours
Go to class group/s: 31
CLMG (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/07) - M (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/07) - IM (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  12 credits SECS-P/07) - MM (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/07) - AFC (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/07) - CLELI (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/07) - ACME (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/07) - DES-ESS (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/07) - EMIT (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/07) - GIO (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/07) - DSBA (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/07) - PPA (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/07) - FIN (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/07) - AI (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/07)
Course Director:
ROSANNA TARRICONE

Classes: 31 (I sem.)
Instructors:
Class 31: ROSANNA TARRICONE


Mission & Content Summary

MISSION

Technological innovation is one of the key determinants of health and of the perfomance of healthcare systems in the world. The pace of technological innovation in healthcare is faster than economic growth and its economic sustainability is threatened. Healthcare systems need to adopt principles and instruments aimed at allocating scarce resources so to guarantee the best care to patients from one side and long-term economic sustainability from the other side. At the same time, however, governments are keen to preserve and possibly enhance the levels of competitiveness and innovativeness of health technology industries, among the most dynamic of the manufacturing industries. This course aims at developing knowledge and instruments to assess health technologies (pharmaceuticals, medical devices, digital health) in order to support the decision making and the priority setting processes by adopting the perspectives of public policy-makers, providers (e.g. hospitals, clinicians), manufacturers (e.g. pharmaceutical and medical technologies companies) and patients.

CONTENT SUMMARY

The course covers the following topics by adopting an international perspective:

  • Definition of technological innovation in healthcare and key features of different technologies (e.g. drugs, devices, digital technologies).
  • 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.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILO)

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

At the end of the course student will be able to...
  • 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.

APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

At the end of the course student will be able to...
  • 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.

Teaching methods

  • Lectures
  • Guest speaker's talks (in class or in distance)
  • Practical Exercises

DETAILS

  • 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.

Assessment methods

  Continuous assessment Partial exams General exam
  • Written individual exam (traditional/online)
   x x
  • Active class participation (virtual, attendance)
 x    

Teaching materials


ATTENDING AND NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS

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.

Last change 13/05/2024 19:32