Graduate Embedded Certificate in Health Economic Evaluation
Health economics is concerned with the allocation of limited health resources under conditions of scarcity. Resource allocation often involves difficult choices and trade-offs. Spending limited resources on a new public health program or health-care intervention can result in fewer resources remaining available to spend on other beneficial programs or interventions, with important implications for population health and health inequities.
Health economic evaluation is a growing and evolving field that has developed rigorous, transparent methods for informing resource allocation decisions. These methods are now routinely used by health technology assessment agencies and decision-makers across Canada and internationally. Guidelines and best practices for conducting health economic evaluations have been adopted in numerous jurisdictions, with important differences in the methods used in developed versus developing countries, and in the methods used for evaluating public health programs compared to drugs and other health-care interventions.
Internationally, there is increasing interest in methods for incorporating equity considerations into health economic evaluations. Understanding and adopting these methods have the potential to benefit equity-seeking groups, including Indigenous Canadians, when informing decisions around the allocation of scarce health resources.
There is also a growing recognition of the value provided by public health programs when compared to alternative uses of health dollars. Public health requires multi-level interventions across complex systems beyond the “health” sector. Methods for health economic evaluation can be used to evaluate a wide range of different programs and interventions that influence health and well-being.
Graduates of the Graduate Embedded Certificate (GEC) in Health Economic Evaluation will have the knowledge and competencies needed to conduct research and contribute to complex policy decisions involving allocations of health resources at the provincial, national and international levels. The growing use of health economic evaluation in Canada has exposed a shortage of relevant health economics expertise, and the need to build workforce capacity in economic evaluation across Canada is increasingly recognised. This GEC responds directly to this need.
Requirements
The GEC in Health Economic Evaluation comprises 12 units.
Open to all graduate students at the University of Alberta. No prior economics courses or experience are required.
Required courses (9 units total)
Students must complete all three of the required courses below.
- SPH 570 Introduction to Health Economics (3 units)
- SPH 671 Introduction to Health Economic Evaluation (3 units)
- SPH 672 Advanced Health Economic Evaluation (3 units)
Approved Elective Course(s) (3 units total)
Students must also complete three units of approved elective course(s).
Many of the other courses offered by the School of Public Health are of relevance to students of health economic evaluation and have been pre-approved as elective courses for this GEC. Pre-approved elective courses offered by the School include:
- SPH 550 Introduction to Health Care Finance (3 units)
- SPH 600 Health Policy Development (3 units)
- SPH 673 Technology Assessment for Health Care (3 units)
- SPH 685 Methods for the Assessment of Health-Related Quality of Life (3 units)
- SPH 561 Topics in Public Health: Critical Appraisal of Random Controlled Trials or equivalent (1 unit)
Furthermore, the GEC coordinator may approve any other three-unit course, or combination of courses totalling three units, provided the course(s) are considered relevant for health economic evaluation.
Application process and deadline
If you are interested in applying to the GEC in Health Economic Evaluation program, please complete the application form no later than September 30 of your second year. If you are studying part-time, your application must be submitted at the completion of (*12) of study.
Contact Educational Programs
P: 780-492-8211F: 780-492-0364
E: sph.programs@ualberta.ca