Overview

This is an "on demand" online course providing an introduction to the principles and practice of decision modelling for economic evaluation in health. The course is aimed at health economists and those health professionals with experience of health economics who wish to develop skills and knowledge in decision analysis for purposes of cost effectiveness analysis. It is designed for participants who are familiar with the basic principles of economic evaluation who wish to build, interpret and appraise decision models. It is envisaged that participants will currently be undertaking economic evaluation within the pharmaceutical and medical device industries, consultancy, academia or the health service.
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Teaching Methods

  • Four modules together with introductory, policy context and closing sections

  • ‘Bite-size’ video presentations from members of the Faculty for each module

  • Computer-based exercises using MS Excel

  • *NEW* Alternative ‘R’-based exercise track for those already familiar with R

  • Video ‘run-through’ of each exercise by members of the Faculty

  • Online discussion forums monitored by tutors

How It Works

The course comprises a combination of video lectures and exercises. Students are granted 2 months' access from enrolment and can work through the content at times that suit them. There is a discussion board available on the course platform, where you can leave messages regarding the course content. The Foundations course is expected to involve a student commitment totalling approximately 14 hours.

Objectives

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

  • Consider the role of decision modelling in economic evaluation to guide decision making

  • Use the basic building blocks of decision analysis such as joint and conditional probabilities and expected values

  • Implement the principles of conceptual modelling as a way of planning a model

  • Understand the strengths and weaknesses of the decision tree model and build such a model in Excel

  • Understand the strengths and weaknesses of the Markov model and build such a model in Excel

  • Build a model for a generic diagnostic test and understand how to assess the value of diagnostic information

  • Think critically about the structure of decision models in particular situations and apply these appropriately

  • Implement key generic analytic steps in decision analysis such as evidence identification and basic synthesis, sensitivity analysis and reporting results

Prerequisites

Participants would be expected to have attended a general course in economic evaluation such as York expert workshops offered by the University of York. A familiarity with Microsoft Excel is essential.

Faculty

Course Lead Andrew Briggs

Andrew is Professor of Health Economics at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. His main methodological focus of research has been health economic evaluation, particularly statistical methods for cost-effectiveness analysis. This includes statistical methods for estimation of parameters for cost-effectiveness models as well as statistical analysis of cost-effectiveness alongside clinical trials. He has a more general interest in epidemiological methods, in particular the use of prognostic scoring methods for predicting health outcomes and the relationship with heterogeneity in cost-effectiveness analysis.

Course Lead Mark Sculpher

Mark Sculpher, PhD, Professor and Director of the Team for Economic Evaluation and Health Technology Assessment, Centre for Health Economics, University of York. Mark has worked in the field of economic evaluation and health technology assessment for over 25 years. He has particular interest in decision analysis, pharmaceutical policy and uncertainty analysis.

Module Lead Stephen Palmer

Stephen Palmer is a Professor and Deputy Director of TEEHTA. He has worked in economic evaluation for over 15 years in areas including pharmaceuticals, cardiology, cancer, mental health, diagnostic and screening programmes and policy. He has extensive experience of health economic evaluation, regulatory and reimbursement processes. His principal areas of expertise relate to the methodology and application of decision-analytic modelling and Bayesian approaches to Health Technology Assessment.

Module Lead Elisabeth Fenwick

Elisabeth (Liz) Fenwick, PhD, is Chief Scientific Officer in OPEN Health’s HEOR & Market Access practice, based in Oxford in the UK. In this role, Liz provides scientific and strategic support across a number, and variety, of OPEN Health’s HEOR projects globally. Liz has extensive experience in economic evaluation and health economic modelling having worked in the field for over 25 years. Liz has a PhD and MSc in Health Economics as well as an MSc in Operations Research. Prior to her consultancy career, Liz spent over 15 years as an academic working at University of York, McMaster University and University of Glasgow. Liz is currently a member of the ISPOR Board of Directors (2024-27), is a member of the editorial board for Pharmacoeconomics and was previously the chair of the publications committee for SMDM. Liz has over 60 publications and 9500 citations (not all her own!)

R Tutor Lead Nichola Naylor

Nichola Naylor is an Honorary Research Fellow at LSHTM, working across the Centre for Health Economics in London and the Centre for the Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases. Her research interests for the past six years have included using economic methods to efficiently tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and using R to promote open science. She recently joined Public Health England to lead health economics work contributing to the UK AMR strategy. She holds a PhD in Clinical Medical Research from the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit on Healthcare Associated Infections and Antimicrobial Resistance at Imperial College London, and an MSc in International Health Policy (Health Economics) from the London School of Economics and Political Science (2013).

Prices

  • The Private/Commercial Rate for this course is £995 per student.

  • The Academic/Public Sector Rate for this course is £700 per student.

  • NOTE: An additional 25% discount on top of the public sector/academic price is available for persons working for academic institutions, public sector or non-governmental organisations in countries defined as low or middle income (LMIC) by the World Bank. Please email Nicola Bogle at [email protected] to request access to the dedicated registration form.

How To Register

The course fee is payable in advance. Payment is accepted by card or by bank transfer. To register, please complete the registration form at the link below. Upon completing the form, you will receive an automated confirmation email with invoice (and receipt if you paid by card) and further instructions.
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