Monash University Handbook 2011 Undergraduate - Unit

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

Synopsis

The nature of the commodity health care and the production of health; traditional alternative theories of demand; economics of insurance and information; behaviour of health care providers including physicians and hospitals; regulation to meet social objectives including equity and justice; hospital payment systems; the role of regulation, licensure and the professions; international comparison of health system design; the technique of using economic evaluation in health care to set priorities.

Objectives

The learning goals associated with this unit are to:

1. gain an understanding of the nature of health as a produced commodity and the implications for resource allocation in health care
2. identify the sources of market failure in health and health insurance and the issues involved in health system design
3. apply the concepts of agency and incomplete contracts for the analysis of problems in the demand and supply of health care and the organisation of health care funding
4. apply the concepts of efficiency and equity in health and to design and negotiate ways in which the funding of health care can impact on these objectives
5. use the concept of net benefits to evaluate a health care intervention and present the results in both oral and written form.

Assessment

Within semester assessment: 35%
Examination (2 hours): 65%

Chief examiner(s)

Jennifer Watts

Contact hours

3 hours per week

Prerequisites

ECC1000