EUHEM prepares students to staff and executive positions in organizations, institutions and companies involved in health care provision. A key to the fulfillment of steady job in this sector is awareness of the societal relevance of health care and the implied constraints imposed by social rules, regulations and the law. The programme therefore aims to develop competences and expertise in the field of health economics and policy, health care management, health law and regulation.
The prospective candidate will develop:
- Ability to use disciplines and concepts required in formulating, implementing and evaluating strategic choices in health care
- Knowledge of key options in the policy, planning and financing of health care services
- Understanding of the diversity of international health policies
- International and comparative views on solutions and best practices
- Practical experience in managerial issues;
- Long-run orientation in problem analysis and solving
- Basic quantitative skills and the ability to apply them in a problem-solving context;
- Communication and co-operation skills
- Knowledge of the objectives of health care systems and how the choice of objective may carry over to priority setting
Learning outcomes for the four specializations
In the 2nd and 3rd semester you must choose one of six specializations. The learning outcomes for each specilization is outlined below.
- Health Economics & Policy
- Economic Evaluation in Healthcare
- Management of Healthcare Institutions
- Population Health Management
Management of Healthcare Institutions
Healthcare institutions are complex and dynamic. The nature of organizations requires that managers provide leadership, as well as the supervision and coordination of employees. Often managers must consider external and internal domains in carrying out tasks and making decisions. The external domain refers to the influences, resources, and activities that exist outside the boundary of the organization but that significantly affect the organization. These factors include community needs, population characteristics, reimbursement issues as well as government plans. The internal domain refers to those areas of focus that managers need to address on a daily basis, such as ensuring the appropriate number and types of staff, financial performance and quality of care. Keeping the dual perspective requires significant balance on the part of management of health care institutions.
After completing the specialization students will
- Understand the management tools and techniques used to design and manage successful organizations
- Develop a good understanding of core financial accounting and control principles.
- Gain competence in reading and understanding financial statements and develop a robust understanding of the work of management accounting, incorporating budget preparation, budget appraisal, costing, and financial appraisal techniques.
- Take a practical approach to funding negotiation and negotiation in general.
- Be able to describe leadership domains and competencies and compare leadership styles
- Be able to differentiate between the functions, roles and responsibilities of healthcare managers
- Be able to define and apply key quality concepts
- Demonstrate personal and professional ethical responsibility in all managerial and organizational decision making.
- Gain a deeper understanding of evaluating and creating dynamic and flexible strategies for healthcare delivery
- Have explored ways to effectively and efficiently foster innovation within the care setting
- Understand the features of marketing management in healthcare organizations, and the steps through which marketing helps an organization identify the needs of and focus on its customers
- Be able to design public campaigns in preventive medicine and apply social marketing techniques, both addressing public will and individual behaviors
Economic Evaluation in Healthcare
Economic evaluation is increasingly used for medical decision making and priority settings within health care. This requires that many more professionals than today can perform and interpret these evaluations. This specialization is focusing on the most commonly used health economic evaluation methods and provides the participants the skills to critically assess these evaluations.
After completing the specialization students will
- have a profound understanding of economic theories and models of program evaluations;
- know basic theories of decision making under uncertainty
- be able to develop decision tree models and Markov models for economic evaluation and evaluate uncertainty in such models
- be able to develop and perform simple HTA-studies.
- be experienced in different methods to estimate the effects of a treatment or a policy intervention
- be able to understand, apply and analyze EU pharmaceutical legislation related to relevant cases/topics.
- be able to distinguish different decision-making frameworks, like Informed decision making, situated judgment, political decision making
- understand key concepts of pharmaceuticals pricing and market access
Health Economics and Policy (research track)
Health care systems worldwide confront the challenge of meeting seemingly unlimited patient needs and demands with constrained and limited resources. Economics and Policy is playing an increasing role, providing analysis to inform health care decision making and policy formation. This specialization prepares students for undertaking, promoting and facilitating high quality health economics research.
The learning outcomes for students in this specialization include the development of a thorough knowledge of the theory and methods used in health economics research and their potential applications in decision-making. The overall goal is to provide students with current tools to undertake health economics research and practice.
After completing the specialization students will
- gain an understanding of the key analytical reasoning and tools of health economics and their normative foundations and ethical implications
- have competence to apply economic concepts and models to the fields of demand for health, demand for health services, demand for health insurance, provision of health insurance and provision of health care.
- have an enhanced understanding of the health-related behavioral determinants and an overview of some recent policies aimed at improving the population's lifestyle
- have knowledge of basic economic theories and models of regulation applied to provision of health care. acquire extensive knowledge of the nature and sources of socio-economic datahave knowledge of relevant econometrics models for the analysis of the economic agents’ behavior in the field based on cross sectional and longitudinal data.
- have developed skills supporting evidence-based decision making, and have adequate knowledge of the evaluation approaches and their applications to the different health promotion programs.
- be able to interpret the decentralization process in the health care sector in many countries.
- be able to describe, analyze and critically address economic aspects of global health issues
Population Health Managment
Population health managment is a policy field addressing health problems and issues that transcend national boundaries. The underlying assumption is that the world’s health problems are shared and best tackled by cooperative action and the sharing of innovative solutions. The increase in international aid to support health programs in developing countries, along with a general rise in interest in global health issues coming from governments, multilateral organizations, ONGs, civil society, and the private sector, make this field a prominent one for a prospective scholar looking for steady jobs in these international institutions.
After completing the specialization students will
- have acquired a better understanding of the global distribution of health and disease and of the underlying determinants and trends
- have an overview over mechanisms relating population health and economic development
- have a greater understanding of the complexities of health economics and policy in low and middle income countries
- understand the governance of global health through national, multilateral and private institutions including the role of WTO in trade‐related aspects of intellectual property agreement (TRIPS) on access to medicines
- have a profound knowledge of and skills in comparative policy analysis of health system reform
- command on frameworks for prevention and control of global health crises such as influenza pandemics, food scares or bioterrorism
- have a profound understanding of theories and models for the economic evaluation of health programmes like vaccination, drugs provision, disease eradication, healthy behavior promotion
- have an enhanced understanding of the health-related behavioral determinants and an overview of recent policies aimed at improving the population's lifestyles in different populations?