Health Economics and Prioritisation in Public Health

The Health Economics and Prioritisation in Public Health programme consists of two elearning sessions. The course introduces the basic ideas behind health economics and shows how these ideas can support decisions in public health, including how resources are spent and where services may need to be changed or reduced. The materials were developed by the former Public Health England Health Economics team to help build knowledge and skills within Local Authorities.

Intended audience

This programme is for anyone involved in public health planning or commissioning. It is suitable for people working in Local Authorities, public health teams, and others who want to understand how economics supports decision making. No previous economics knowledge is required.

Key areas covered

• What health economics is and why it matters in public health
• Key ideas such as opportunity cost, value for money and prioritisation
• How economics can support choices about where to invest or disinvest
• What economic evaluation is and how it helps compare services or options
• How different assumptions in an evaluation can change the results
• How to understand and use the outputs of economic evaluations in real-world decisions

Learning objectives

• Describe the basic principles of health economics
• Explain how economic thinking can support decision making in health and care

• Interpret economic evaluation outputs to support commissioning decisions

• Define and explain the common types of health economic evaluation
• Understand how different assumptions influence evaluation results