A three day intensive computer based course in health economic evaluation

7th- 9th April 2014 The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

More information: health-economics@unimelb.edu.au or http://peu.unimelb.edu.au/

Workshop size

Strictly limited to 35 places

Location & Time

7th- 9th April 2014 at Graduate House, University of Melbourne, 220 Leicester Street Carlton Vic 3053 AUSTRALIA

Cancellation policy

A 80% refund is available if notification is made in writing two weeks before the course date and no refund will be available after this. Substitutions are permitted but please notify the health economics group in writing, health-economics@unimelb.edu.au

Application procedure

Applications for the course can be filled out online via eCart, see http://peu.unimelb.edu.au and registration closes 2 weeks prior to the course date. Note early booking is advised as past courses have booked out prior to the early bird registration deadline.

Payment is via the University’s eCart

Melbourne University staff and students should contact us via the email to arrange payment.

Course Fees

Early bird – by the 31 Jan 2014:

• Private $2750 (GST inclusive)

• University/Public sector $1650 (GST inclusive)

After the 31 Jan 2014:

• Private $3000 (GST inclusive)

• University/Public sector $1900 (GST inclusive)

Lunch, morning and afternoon tea and a conference dinner on the 8th of April will be provided.

Extensive course notes will be distributed as well as a copy of the widely used Oxford University Press book Applied Methods of Cost-effectiveness Analysis in Healthcare.

Future courses

This course is also likely to be run again in November 2014 at the Menzies Institute in Hobart Tasmania.

Further Enquiries:

E: health-economics@unimelb.edu.au Ph: +61 3 8344 9111

PRACTICAL METHODS FOR HEALTH

ECONOMIC EVALUATION

Need more information?Contact us:

Centre for Health Policy, Programs and Economics Melbourne School of Population and Global Health

Level 4, 207 Bouverie Street The University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010 Australia

T: 03 8344 9111 E: health-economics@unimelb.edu.au

Overview

Economic evaluation is widely used to assess many new health care interventions and technologies and is routinely used to allocate scarce health care resources. The purpose of this course is to familiarise participants with the methods and techniques that are currently routinely used in evaluations with an emphasis on cost-effectiveness analysis. The course will cover the common steps in an evaluation, from methods for collecting cost and outcome data to analysing, reporting and interpreting the final results.

Background

Health economics is increasingly being used in the evaluation of health care technologies both overseas and in Australia including by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC), the Medical Services Advisory Committee (MSAC), evaluation of hospital interventions as well as by health economists working in academia. Over recent years there has been an expanding wealth of cost and outcome data that can inform evaluations including:

• Protocols for linkage to administrative data for quantifying costs and outcomes;

• Availability of surveys assessing quality of life and health care costs of patients;

• Methods for synthesizing published data such as meta-analysis;

• Development of equations for predicting long-term health economic outcomes

The aim of the course is provide a general introduction to the practical methods for undertaking such health economic evaluation with a particular emphasis on cost-effectiveness analysis, including the use of economic modelling. An important feature of the course is that each stage will involve computer based exercises that will enable participants to learn by doing

Who is this course designed for?

This course is designed for those who are or will be engaged in undertaking cost-effectiveness analysis, or for those who need

Professor Philip Clarke

Dr Kim Dalziel

Dr Dennis Petrie

Professor Andrew Palmer

a more detailed understanding of the current methods of health economic evaluation to assist in using the evidence from economic evaluations to inform resource allocation decisions. This will include researchers, consultants and those assessing economic evaluations from public, commercial and academic organisations.

Course faculty

The course leaders, Professors Philip Clarke and Andrew Palmer have taught short courses on health economic evaluation for more than a dozen years and bring considerable expertise in undertaking health economic evaluations both in Australia and internationally. They have drawn on this experience and tailored the course to the issues facing health economists in this region. Other faculty include Dr Dennis Petrie, an economist with a strong background in econometrics and Dr Kim Dalziel who has extensive experience in health economic evaluation.

Prerequisites

There are no formal prerequisites, but participants should have an appreciation of the concepts of health economic evaluation and should be familiar with introductory statistics and Microsoft Excel. The one-day course, ‘Introduction to cost effectiveness analysis in health’ is recommended prior to undertaking this course for those who require an overview or refresher on the basics of health economic evaluation. The course will be ‘hands-on’ and participants will be expected to bring a laptop computer (and mouse) with Microsoft Excel for use throughout the course. All other software will be supplied as part of the course materials. If you wish to discuss your suitability for this course, or make special arrangements to hire a laptop, please contact health-economics@unimelb.edu.au.

Computer based exercises

Teaching will be re-enforced by exercises in Excel and the specialist modelling software TreeAge. We will demonstrate aspects of the course using the statistical software STATA.

Course overview

The course will involve a series of modules that build on each other to provide an overview of all the steps required for health economic evaluation.

Day 1 – 7th April

Study Design Principles (morning)

• Overview of cost-effectiveness analysis

• What health economic data need to be collected?

• Summary of key data sources including: clinical trials; linked administrative data; synthesis of the literature.

Techniques for Analysing Outcomes (afternoon)

• Quantifying outcomes using life tables and an overview of survival analysis techniques including Kaplan Meier, as well as parametric survival functions.

• Capturing and analysing preference based measures of quality of life;

Day 2 - 8th April

Techniques for Analysing Costs (morning)

• Features of cost data

• Regression methods for analysing health care cost data

Introduction to decision models (afternoon)

• Building a decision tree

• Introduction to TreeAge including defining transitions and rewards in terms of costs and utilities

Day 3 – 9th April

Markov modeling and Applications (Morning; Afternoon until 3pm)

• Conducting cost-effectiveness analysis including modelling Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs) and costs

• Capturing uncertainty and sensitivity analysis

• Presenting and interpreting results for decision makers

Course Faculty

Centre for Health Policy, Programs & Economics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne.

Department of Health Economics, Menzies Research Institute Tasmania, University of Tasmania.