Examining the economic and regulatory challenges of developing, implementing and sustaining innovations
Health care systems around the world are facing the challenge of improving the health of the population they serve by providing safe, high quality, effective and innovative health technologies under significant resource constraint. Expectations of access to health care innovations are typically high. However, societies and health systems may find it difficult to balance investment and disinvestment of innovation. Stakeholders in various part of the system may perceive values from different and sometimes conflicting perspectives.
In this module, we will introduce economic principles and tools, regulatory frameworks and pathways, and apply them to the process of appraising innovative health care technologies. Global case studies will include the value flower for Health Technology Assessment, Multicriteria Decision Making, Accountability for Reasonableness, Cost Effective Analysis, budget impact analysis, and facilitative regulatory pathways. Students will consider issues such as the benefits and disadvantages of an innovation across a system, how investment and disinvestment decisions are informed at the service level, and the use of tools to assess whether and when an innovation is likely to generate value.
The last date for receipt of complete applications is 5pm Thursday, 18th December 2025. Regrettably, late applications cannot be accepted.
Course Aims
On completion of this module, we expect our students to be able to:
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Discuss the different ways that ‘value’ might be defined and measured throughout the innovation pipeline – including return on investment, meaningful benefits for patients and improved system efficiency
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Consider the strengths and limitations of different ways of measuring the benefits and drawbacks of an innovation
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Differentiate the roles of regulators, health technology assessment bodies, providers and payers in the route(s) to market and post-market access, and how their roles complement the critical roles of patients and health care professionals
Research methods and techniques taught in this module:
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Tools for measuring the value of innovations to patients (e.g. patient-relevant outcome measures)
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Economic tools for health technology assessment (e.g. cost-effectiveness analysis using quality-adjusted life years, budget impact analysis)
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Economic tools for local investment decisions (e.g. activity-based costing, capital budgeting, discounting, net present values vs payback, project analysis techniques)
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Regulatory tools intended to accelerate the translation of innovations into practice (e.g. value proposition, early access schemes and adaptive pathways)
Examples of case studies to be discussed in this module:
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Near-patient testing in primary health care
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Scaling up HIV treatments in sub-Saharan Africa
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New treatments for single-gene disorders (e.g. Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy)
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Gene therapies - clinical and commercial perspectives