Course Description

The study of health economics sits at the junction of the broader disciplines of the health sciences, economics, and business studies. Health economics studies how scarce healthcare resources are allocated among competing interventions and groups in society. How we distribute and fund healthcare plays a significant role in determining the overall state of the population's health and is also an essential factor in the overall health of the economy. Health economics shapes health policy at the national, state and local levels. This comprehensive online course introduces fundamental economics and health economics concepts that are relevant at all levels of governance and for both the public and private health sectors. It explains the economic rationale behind various health policies and operating processes in the Australian healthcare system. It also demonstrates practical applications of economic approaches to problem-solving.

Learning Outcomes

• Describe the fundamental concepts of economics.
• Relate economic principles to the healthcare industry.
• Explain the economic rationale behind various health policies.
• Understand economic principles such as demand and supply, elasticity, market failure and regulation.
• Understand the fundamentals of health economic evaluation, particularly cost-effectiveness analysis.

Learning Experience

Health economics is designed as a structured twelve-module learning journey that progressively builds students’ capability to understand, analyse, and apply economic thinking within real healthcare contexts. Early modules establish foundational concepts, including scarcity, choice, opportunity cost, and the trade-offs between equity and efficiency, before extending these ideas into healthcare-specific contexts such as economic health outcomes, healthcare as a market, market failure, government intervention, and the organisation and financing of healthcare systems. Together, these modules provide students with a coherent mental model of how the healthcare industry operates and how economics shapes decision-making within it.

Conceptual learning is reinforced through regular multiple-choice and short-answer quizzes from week two to week ten, enabling students to test their understanding incrementally and consolidate key ideas before progressing. Weekly one-hour interactive sessions further support learning by providing opportunities for discussion, clarification, and peer exchange, helping students connect theory to practice and build confidence in applying economic concepts.

In the second half of the course, the focus shifts from understanding systems to applying economic tools. Students explore labour markets in health, economic evaluation, and the construction and interpretation of cost-effectiveness analyses, including incremental cost-effectiveness ratios and the translation of evidence into economic decisions. Assessments are aligned to this shift, with students developing a discussion paper in week eight and critically reviewing a published economic evaluation in week twelve. These tasks require students to synthesise concepts, interpret evidence, and justify recommendations using clear, defensible economic reasoning.

By the end of the course, students are equipped to engage critically with health economic arguments and apply evidence-based thinking to real-world resource allocation challenges, a core capability for health service managers and policy-informed decision-makers.

MiroBoards:

• Description: "Ideation of Mr A's Health Care journey " Link: "https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVP-hjV5M=/"