This text aims to provide non-economists with an introduction to economics in public health. It covers key economics principles, such as supply and demand, health care markets, healthcare finance and economic evaluation.
Economics of Health and Medical Care is an introduction to population-based health economics as well as the traditional, market-oriented approach to health care economics. The book examines economics through the lens of descriptive, explanatory, and evaluative economics. The Seventh Edition is an extensive revision that reflects the vast changes that have been occurring in the health care industry and in the economy, most notably in the areas for payment systems and quality improvement. Additionally, the text offers expanded discussion of the impact of the Affordable Care Act on the demand for healthcare services and health insurance, particularly regarding Medicare and Medicaid programs. Evolving issues in healthcare as well as discussion of the implication for efficiency in the production and consumption of healthcare services are covered throughout the text.
Comprehensive in coverage this textbook, written by academics from leading institutions, discusses current developments and debates in modern health economics from an international perspective. Economic models are presented in detail, complemented by real-life explanations and analysis, and discussions of the influence of such theories on policymaking. Offering sound pedagogy and economic rigor, Health Economics focuses on building intuition alongside appropriate mathematical formality, translating technical language into accessible economic narrative. Rather than shying away from intellectual building blocks, students are introduced to technical and theoretical foundations and encouraged to apply these to inform empirical studies and wider policymaking. Health Economics provides: - A broad scope, featuring comparative health policy and empirical examples from around the world to help students relate the principles of health economics to everyday life - Coverage of topical issues such as the obesity epidemic, economic epidemiology, socioeconomic health disparities, and behavioural economics - A rich learning resource, complete with hundreds of exercises to help solidify and extend understanding. This book is designed for advanced undergraduate courses in health economics and policy but may also interest postgraduate students in economics, medicine and health policy. Accompanying online resources for this title can be found at bloomsburyonlineresources.com/health-economics. These resources are designed to support teaching and learning when using this textbook and are available at no extra cost.
Highly Commended in the BMA Medical Book Awards 2018! Here’s what the judges said: "This is one of the few textbooks I would suggest every clinician reads.” Healthcare Economics Made Easy 2e is a clear and concise text written for healthcare professionals and students who need to understand the basics of the subject but who do not want to wade through a specialist health economics text. This new edition builds on the success of the first edition by adding new chapters which provide a comparison across several western economies, as well as a consideration of the US healthcare system. Healthcare Economics Made Easy 2e will equip the reader with the necessary skills to make valid decisions based on the economic data and with the background knowledge to understand the health economics literature. This book provides insight into the economic methods that are used to promote public health policies, the techniques used for grading and valuing evidence and the statistics relied upon, without trying to re-train the reader as a health economist. If you are left bemused by terms such as QALY, health utility analysis and cost minimisation analysis, then this is the book for you! From reviews of the first edition: “This is a clearly written and accessible introduction to health economics... This book should prove useful to all those responsible for planning and delivering health service. It is a quick read but also a useful reference for the desk.... I would commend this book as a means by which people .... can better understand both the impact of their own practice on our health economy and also appreciate the methods that are being adopted to determine clinical practice at a regional and super-regional level.” Ulster Medical Journal, 2014
This is the most complete text available on the economics of health behavior and health care delivery. Appropriate both for advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students of economics, this text provides the key analytical tools required to understand current research. Issues discussed include the "cost explosion" in health care, the power of medical associations, the search for remuneration systems with favorable incentives, and technological change in medicine. Rather than simplifying the issues facing today’s healthcare systems, the book models existing complexities as they are, adapting economics to reflect the views of the average person.
The new edition of a textbook that combines economic concepts with empirical evidence, updated with material on the Affordable Care Act and other developments. This book introduces students to the growing research field of health economics. Rather than offer details about health systems without providing a theoretical context, Health Economics combines economic concepts with empirical evidence to enhance readers' economic understanding of how health care institutions and markets function. The theoretical and empirical approaches draw heavily on the general field of applied microeconomics, but the text moves from the individual and firm level to the market level to a macroeconomic view of the role of health and health care within the economy as a whole. The book takes a global perspective, with description and analysis of institutional features of health sectors in countries around the world. This second edition has been updated to include material on the U.S. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, material on the expansion of health insurance in Massachusetts, and an evaluation of Oregon's Medicaid expansion via lottery. The discussion of health care and health insurance in China has been substantially revised to reflect widespread changes there. Tables and figures have been updated with newly available data. Also new to this edition is a discussion of the health economics literature published between 2010 and 2015. The text includes readings, extensive references, review and discussion questions, and exercises. A student solutions manual offers solutions to selected exercises. Downloadable supplementary material is available for instructors.
In this book, Phelps and Parente explore the US health care system and set out the case for its reform. They trace the foundations of today’s system, and show how distortions in the incentives facing participants in the health care market could be corrected in order to achieve lower costs, a higher quality of care, a higher level of patient safety, and a more efficient allocation of health care resources. Phelps and Parente propose novel yet economically robust changes to US tax law affecting health insurance coverage and related issues. They also discuss a series of specific improvements to Medicare and Medicaid, and assess potential innovations that affect all of health care, including chronic disease management, fraud and abuse detection, information technology, and other key issues. The Economics of US Health Care Policy will be illuminating reading for anyone with an interest in health policy, and will be a valuable supplementary text for courses in health economics and health policy, including for students without advanced training in economics.
Provides an international, unifying perspective, based on the 'public choice' tradition, to explain how patient-citizens interact with their country's political institutions to determine health policies and outcomes. This volume will appeal to undergraduate and graduate students studying health economics, health policy and public policy.
Annotation Explains basic economic concepts that can simplify and improve management decisions that healthcare managers need to make. Shows how economics relates to numerous healthcare concerns, offering specific examples and cases that illustrate how economics provides a framework for understanding costs, market demand, competition, and profitability. Other topics include elasticities, supply and demand analysis, and strategic behavior. Includes a glossary. Assumes no background in economics. Lee is affiliated with the department of health policy and management at the School of Medicine of the University of Kansas. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).
In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.