Overview

Welcome to the Health Economics course. The objective of this course is to

develop a set of conceptual and analytical tools that can be used to gain
insights of the health care sector. Economics is concerned with the issues of
choice related to production, investment and consumption. Healthcare sector
is different from normal good and service markets. Some of the topics
discussed include the need for the study of health economics, market for
health care sector, various cost evaluations methods and role of the
government in healthcare.

We strongly advise you to refresh your previous learning about micro and
macro economics at level three.

Module Learning Outcome

Learning outcomes are statements that tell you what knowledge and skills you will have when
you have successfully completed all the sessions.

When you have worked through this module you should be able to;

1. outline key economic concepts related to the healthcare industry

2. explain the framework of health economics
3. identify numerous healthcare systems
4. identify link between micro economic principles and functions of the healthcare sector
5. explain the issues related to supply of and demand for healthcare products and services
6. identify unique character of healthcare in terms of the customers’ point of view
7. identify tools which can be used by the decision makers of the health industry
8. Examine the roles of the government in health matters and medical market
9. explain the healthcare financing and health insurance
10. explain the status of health care industry in Sri Lanka

Level, Credit rating, Pre-requisites

This is one of the Level 4: semester 2 courses offered by the Department of Social Studies for the
Bachelor of Arts in Social Sciences programme. It is a 3 credit course. On average you are
expected to spend at least 150 study hours on this course. The knowledge you have acquired in
SSU1231 and SSU1232 will be helpful for you as you progress through the course.

Printed Course Material

This course comprises of 10 sessions which are available online. However there is no printed
module available for this course.The session titles are,

1.The need for the study of health economics

2.Health care systems

3.Demand for Health Care

4.Demand for Health Care Services

5.Market for Physician Services

6.Economic Evaluation of health care: Cost minimization analysis & social impact

7.Economic Evaluation of health care: Cost effectiveness and cost benefit analysis

8. Economic Evaluation of health care: Cost utility analysis

9.Financing Health Care

10.Role of Government in Health Care

Online Component

Some of you may have already studied certain courses of the BA degree in Social Sciences using
the Interactive Multi- Media (IMM) mode in the previous semester. There is a Moodle Online
learning platform created for this course which contains additional resources, activities and other
vital information pertaining to this course. Every student who selected this course must
complete the IMM component to successfully complete this course. This can be done by
logging in to the course frequently and attempting the activities given by the teacher/s. Clear
instructions have been given to students in order to navigate through this IMM platform. If you
have any log in related issues please contact Ms. Geetha Kulasekara on dgkul@ou.ac.lk. Please
remember that 10% will be allocated for your online participation which will be added to
your final CA grade.

We have really enjoyed putting these materials together for you, and we're looking forward to
hearing from you in the discussion forums. So please make use of the IMM platform to share
knowledge with your teacher and friends and pose your valuable comments about the course. It
will further encourage us to serve you better.

Pre-course activity

One of the special features of the IMM component is the pre-course activity section. This has
been specially designed to refresh your memory in relation to some of the salient concepts that
you learnt under micro and macro at level 3. Those concepts become very useful in order to
gauge the crux of health economics. Therefore we highly recommend you to view the pre-course
videos and powerpoint presentations already uploaded and complete the activities given. Please
consider this as part of the course which is mandatory to be completed by all learners following
SSU2132. Also the content of the pre-course section will be taken into consideration when
preparing the CA and final exam papers.
Learning journals
This course has several learning journals to be submitted as online assignments.
Please read the learning journal section for necessary instructions. Remember that it
is compulsory for all students to complete this activity to successfully complete
the course. For many this might be a new exercise. But it is sure to be fun and useful
in your learning journey.

Day Schools

There will be three day schools to discuss matters relating to the course content. Please refer the
Activity Schedule for further details. You may also get an extra face-to-face session which will
be informed later.

Teaching

There are 3 teachers involved in this course who will mainly be looking after the course and
student progress. However there are 2 other teachers from the regional centers who will be
involved in the course. They too will be providing feedback and assisting us in order to run the
course smoothly. Please refer the contact information section for their details.

Mode of evaluation :Continuous Assessments (CA)

The continuous assessment of this course consists of one Closed Book Test (CBT) and one
Multiple Choice Questionnaire (MCQ). You will also get 10% added to your CA grade for
completing the assignments and other activities of the online component. Further details on CAs
are provided in your Student Guidelines. Please refer them.

Mode of evaluation :Final examination (FE)

The final exam of this course will consist of a 3 hour written paper which is primarily essay type
based. Final exam will take place in the month of March, 2017.

Eligibility Criteria

The best mark out of the two CA components will be considered for eligibility calculation. This
has to be at least 40%. To this 10% will be added based on your online participation via moodle.
If you obtain at least 40% marks for your CAs and for some reason you are unable to sit for the
Final Examination as scheduled, you will be allowed to carry forward your CA marks to the next
academic year. If not, you will have to re-register for the full course in a subsequent year.

Overall Mark
Final grade (Z) = 50% Continuous Assessment Mark + 50% Final Exam Mark

All the Best ..............