Course Learning Objectives:

Upon completion of this course students will be able to:

Explain how economic theory predicts the supply, demand and consumption of health care.
Compare and contrast free market economy and command economies.

Explain theories of market justice and social justice and how they apply to health care.

Describe the current and historical distribution of National Health Expenditures and the various
sources of health care financing.

Describe how concepts of efficiency and value are applied to health expenditures and the
relationship between expenditures and health outcomes.

Recognize types of health care rationing and explain where and how they are utilized. Explain
how the individual insurance market works, how insurance premiums are determined and
common reasons why insurance markets fail.

Describe relationship between provision of insurance, government regulation of insurance and

health care expenditures.

Describe the role of government in the delivery of health insurance and services including
Medicare and Medicaid.

Compare and contrast various methods of cost constraint such as managed care, restricted
networks, capitation and price controls.

Compare and contrast arguments that predict future physician/nursing oversupply versus
physician shortages.

Describe the barriers to entry and exit for physicians and nurses and their economic impact on
the workforce and health expenditures.

Explain the relationship between patents, profits, price discrimination and innovation in the
pharmaceutical industry.

Explain how individuals, interest groups and legislative members interact to establish
government health policy and regulation.

Compare and contrast the cost, quality and access of health care in various industrialized and
non-industrialized nations.

Compare and contrast the structure, delivery and financing of health care in the US and other
industrialized nations.
Required Texts/Readings:

(1) Feldstein, Paul J. Health Policy Issues: An Economic Perspective (4 th edition, hardback).
Chicago: Health Administration Press, 2007.

(2) Additional required readings are available at the course web-site http://d2l.arizona.edu/.

The world health report.n 2006,p Working together for health

Geneva : World Health Organization, cop. 2006 - xxvi, [1], 209 s.ISBN:92-4-156317-
6 LIBRIS-ID:10135563 URL: http://www.who.int/whr/2006/en/index.htmlLibrary
search
Etienne, Carissa; Asamoa-Baah, Anarfi; Evans, David BThe World health report
Health systems financing : health systems financing: the path to universal
coverage

[Geneva] : World Health Organization, 2010 - xxii, 96 p.ISBN:978-92-4-156402-1

LIBRIS-ID:12105679 URL: view this resource [PDF, 3.71 MB]Library search

Henderson, James W. 2014. Health Economics and Policy, 6th Edition. Cengage Learning.
Purchase requested for reserve at Hagerty.

2. Course Learning Objectives and Core Competencies

2.1. Course Learning Objectives Understand the features of an economic
approach to analyzing social issues in general, and to analyzing health,
health care, and health insurance issues in particular Know historical trends
in health care expenditures and identify underlying forces driving these
trends Know the factors driving the demand for medical care Understand
the concept of health insurance and the factors driving demand for health
insurance Apply economic principles to derive the implications of
components of the Affordable Care Act Understand two common
problems, adverse selection and moral hazard, that can arise in insurance
market
2.2. Core Competencies Identify the main components and issues of the
organization, financing, and delivery of health services and public health
systems in the US Discuss the policy process for improving the health status
of populations Apply "systems thinking" for resolving organizational
problems Apply evidence-based principles and the scientific knowledge
base to critical evaluation and decision-making in public health Identify
unintended consequences produced by changes made to a public health
system Analyze the effects of political, social and economic policies on
public health systems at the local, state, national and international levels

Objectives
After completion of the course, the student should be able to:
- Describe the health policy making process and the factors influencing it.
- Know the different theories explaining how decisions are made in the policy making
process.

- Understand the organization of health systems across the globe.

- Apply health system thinking to understand the interactions between the different
health systems blocks across the globe.

- Identify the current challenges that the different health system blocks face and
propose solutions to tackle these challenges.

- Apply some basic concepts and tools in health economics.

- Describe basic health care financing models and use them analytically.

- Describe global institutions and other transnational actors in health

Content
- Power and the policy making process.
- Global institutions and transnational actors in health.
- The state, the private sector and health policy.
- Introduction to stakeholder analysis.
- Health systems and health system thinking.
- Health system resilience and shocks to the system.
- Health systems and governance.
-Current challenges faced by the health systems blocks.
- Essential models for health care financing
- Basic concepts in health economics (DALY, QALYs, cost-benefit, cost-
effectiveness analysis).

Course Outline

The course will consist of three general topics, ordered so as to “follow” an individual through
the health care delivery process. The course is intended to adopt the vantage point of an
individual faced with certain health care decisions (e.g., which insurance plan to choose, where
to receive some treatment, and how to pay your bills).
1. Insurance choice in the employer-sponsored market, the individual insurance market
(exchanges), Medicaid, and Medicare. Our discussion of insurance choice will highlight several
important economic concepts, including issues related to information and behavioral
economics, risk aversion, adverse selection, and moral hazard.

2. Choice of physicians and hospitals. Our discussion of provider choice will highlight the
prevalence of asymmetric information in health care deliver and its implications for price and
quantity of care received. We will also discuss the role of the physician/hospital relationship
(e.g., physicians as employees of the hospital or as private practices), the role of hospital
ownership type (e.g., for-profit, not-for-profit, or physician-owned), and the relationship
between competition in the health care delivery markets and quality, prices, and costs.

3. Paying the bill. We will discuss the differences between costs, charges, and reimbursement, as
well as how prices for health care are determined. Our discussion will briefly touch on the role
of negotiations between insurers and providers and the existing policies governing Medicare
and Medicaid reimbursements. Finally, we will discuss the impact of large medical bills on
personal finances and the increasing prevalence of medical bankruptcy.

Specific Course Objectives:

The course objective is to have students develop a basic understanding of the key aspects of the
economics of the U.S. Health Care System. The course will examine health care expenditures,
health insurance status and the consequences of being uninsured, medical liability, federal and
state regulation, the supply of services and demand for care, public and private health insurance
plans, financing population-based health care, and managed care delivery system models. A
secondary objective will be the exploration of the management techniques used by non-profit
and for profit health care delivery systems (e.g. hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, physicians’
offices) to survive economically and create sufficient margins within the macroeconomic
conditions of the health care sector

Course Outcomes:

By the end of this course, you should be able to:

HA415-1:Explain policymaking and legal process that underpin the individual

healthcare and public health systems.

HA415-2:Demonstrate an understanding of the relevance of economic

conceptswithin the healthcare sector.

HA415-3:Explain health care financing and economic principles as they apply

tohealthcare policymaking.

HA415-4:Distinguishing the role of the local, state and national policy makers.

HA415-5:Examine policy issues that surround public and private healthcare.

Output of the Healthcare Sector

Economic Dimensions of the Healthcare System Demand for Medical Care

Healthcare Production and Cost Behavior of Supply

The Labor Market

Economic Evaluation of Health Services

Reform in the Healthcare Market