Health Economics lies at the interface of economics and medicine. True or False?
Explanation
Health Economics lies at the interface of economics and medicine and applies the discipline of economics to the topic of health.
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The benefits associated with the best alternative use of resources is called:
A. Health economics B. Health resources C. Opportunity cost D. Alternative activities
Explanation
Let's look at what opportunity cost is. The aim of economics is to ensure that the chosen activities have benefits which outweigh their opportunity costs OR the most beneficial activities are chosen within the resources available.
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Health economic decision-making concerns:
A. Effectiveness B. Efficiency C. Equity D. All of the above
Explanation
Economics is concerned with Efficiency. Equity, or the fair distribution of resources and benefits, also needs to be considered in healthcare decision-making. Effectiveness, especially cost-effectiveness (discussed in Module 4), is also a part of health economics.
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The following is a list of disciplines, some of which relate to health economics. Which discipline does not belong in this list?
A. Health Education B. Anthropology C. Health Services Research D. Statistical Methods E. Public Health / Epidemiology F. Psychology
Explanation
Health Economics incorporates the thinking of additional disciplines both within the health field and beyond.
If we look beyond health, we must incorporate pure economics, finance and insurance, industrial organization, labor economics, public policy (and finance), sociology, and statistical methods into our thinking.
Within the health arena, the disciplines of health services research, medicine, medical ethics, psychology and public health / epidemiology must be considered when considering health economics.
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Evaluate the following statement and determine if is is correct or incorrect: Unfortunately, there are few sources of information relating to health economics for the interested health economics researcher. Correct | Incorrect
Explanation
Fortunately there are many sources of information relating to health economics for the interested health economics researcher. These sources of information will be considered under the following categories: journals, bibliographic databases, value-added information, grey literature, research/work in progress, statistical data, and WWW resources.
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Select the specialist health economics journal/s within the economics discipline.
A. BMJ B. Health Economics C. B and D D. Journal of Health Economics E. A and B
Explanation
Health Economics and Journal of Health Economics investigate all aspects of health economics such as the theory and methods of economic analyses and theory and methods of health policy.
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PsycINFO and F International do not contain health economics citations. True / False
Explanation
PsycINFO covers psychology and related disciplines including medicine, psychiatry and nursing. Use these and other search terms to retrieve health economics citations from this database: Budgets, Cost Containment, Costs and Cost Analysis, Economy, Health Care Costs, Money, and Resource Allocation. PAIS International covers public, social policy and the social sciences in general US focus.
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Value-added sources provide some additional information over and above bibliographic details. True | False
Explanation
Value-added sources provide some additional information over and above bibliographic details. The nature and form of this information varies. Examples include: Evidence Based Healthcare and ACP Journal Club.
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The site with substantial content on cost-QALY ratios is called
A. The CEA Registry B. The Health Economic Evaluations Database (HEED) C. Evidence Based Health Care D. The NHS Economic Evaluation Database (NHS EED)
Explanation
The CEA Registry (formerly known as the Harvard CUA Database) features a Reference list of studies that have used costs per QALY to measure health benefits 1976 - 1997. It contains a Comprehensive League table of Cost-QALY Ratios, a League table of cost-QALY ratios which adhere to the Washington Panel and a catalogue of Preference Scores used for QALYs as well as a checklist used to appraise CUA studies.
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Which of the following statements is true?
A. Evidence-based Healthcare is a database of structured reviews B. HEED uses a structured format providing bibliographic details, study definitions, analysis and results, and keywords C. HEED provides the user with controlled vocabulary indexing D. Harvard Center for Risk Analysis produces Evidence-based Healthcare
Explanation
The Health Economic Evaluations Database (HEED) is reviewed by health economists. The format is highly structured providing bibliographic details, study definitions, analysis and results and keywords. The records do not contain either a full critical appraisal or controlled vocabulary indexing. Evidence-based Healthcare reviews articles from 70+ journals from the field of the financing, organization and management of health care and is not produced by the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis.
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Which of the following statements is untrue and does not belong in this list? Grey literature is characterized as material:
A. Not published through regular book-publishing channels B. Not subject to formal bibliographic control C. That can be difficult to identify and obtain D. That is generally available only in print (not electronic format) E. That can be country-specific
Explanation
Grey literature is characterized as material that is not published through regular book-publishing channels, is not subject to formal bibliographic control (indexing for large bibliographic databases such as Medline), and can be difficult to identify and obtain; and lastly, it is often country-specific. The grey literature is available in print and digital formats.
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The HMIC - Health Management Information Consortium (UK) Database is the combined catalogues of the UK Department of Health, the King's Fund and the Nuffield Institute for Health. True | False
Explanation
The HMIC - Health Management Information Consortium (UK) Database is the combined catalogues of the UK Department of Health, the King's Fund and the Nuffield Institute for Health. It is intended to provide valuable information for health managers and administrators in the areas of health policy, health economics, social policy and care and public health and primary care. The database contains about 300,000 citations.
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The following is a list of the types of statistical data most often required in health economics. Which letter listed below does not belong in the list?
A. financing health care B. epidemiological C. cost of care D. demographic E. nutrition data F. socioeconomic G. comparative
Explanation
Nutrition data, while important, is generally not relevant to health economics as described in this module.
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International initiatives such as OECD and WHO are not large providers of health data. True | False
Explanation
International initiatives such as OECD and WHO (listed below) are large providers of health data.
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The Internet is a rich source of health economics information. Information is available from government sites as well as other sites including _______ and _____.
A. educational sites and membership associations only B. commercial sites and educational sites only C. personal membership associations and educational sites D. personal and educational sites only
Explanation
It should come as no surprise that the Internet is a rich source of health economics content.
Information is available from government sites such as NICHSR, commercial sites such as HealthEconomics.com, educational institutions such as the University of York's Health Economics Resource Centre (HERC) and personal membership associations such as the International Health Economics Association (iHEA). Lastly, information is aggregated by individuals such as Ansgar Hebborn who organizes the Health Economics - Places to Go site.
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