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LSE: Health Economics and Policy

Gain key insights into the economic principles governing global healthcare, and explore how effective policy can be used to address contemporary challenges.

Gain key insights into the economic principles governing global healthcare, and explore how effective policy can be used to address contemporary challenges.

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This course is offered by , an edX partner
6 weeks
6–9 hours per week
Starts May 15, 2024
Enroll by May 21, 2024
Instructor-paced
Instructor-led on a course schedule
6 weeks
6–9 hours per week
Starts May 15, 2024
Enroll by May 21, 2024
Instructor-paced
Instructor-led on a course schedule

About this Course

Global healthcare is in transition. Since 2015, when the United Nations’ member states officially adopted the Sustainable Development Goals, global spending on healthcare has grown significantly. However, low-income countries spent $41 per capita on health, compared to $2,937 in high-income countries.1 At the same time, advancement in technology has introduced new financial pressures, and healthcare labor markets are increasingly under threat.

The Health Economics and Policy online certificate course from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) investigates the challenges facing healthcare and the economic principles that underpin the sector, while exploring policy proposals that could reduce inequality in the system. It’s been designed by faculty from the Department of Health Policy at LSE, which aims to influence and improve how health policy is designed, implemented, and evaluated through multidisciplinary research and teaching. Experts from the Department have made substantive contributions to health planning and delivery on the global stage.

On the course, you’ll gain insight into healthcare financing and universal health coverage, and the complexities of the healthcare labor market. Ultimately, you’ll develop a balanced view of health and social justice, allowing you to assess healthcare’s inequalities and social determinants.

1 World Health Organization (2019).

This course is designed to provide you with the tools to understand the economics of the healthcare sector, and the policy solutions that can be used to address inequality. Professionals engaged in analysis, advocacy, and policy formulation will gain a contemporary understanding of healthcare economics, and its impact on topics including health funding and workforce dynamics. For those in the healthcare sector, this course will provide a global context on the state of the industry. The skills it teaches will prove beneficial to social scientists, public health specialists, and medical staff, whether working in health agencies, governments, or NGOs.

For finance and economics professionals, this course offers insight into the economic challenges facing the healthcare sector. Learners will gain new perspectives on the economics of health insurance financing systems and the healthcare workforce, and how these can impact outcomes across contexts.

Course curriculum

Skip Course curriculum

Develop an understanding of key economic principles in healthcare as you work through the weekly modules of this online certificate course.

Orientation module: Welcome to your Online Campus

Module 1: Economic principles applied to healthcare

Module 2: Health financing systems

Module 3: The healthcare labour market

Module 4: Paying healthcare providers

Module 5: The market for pharmaceuticals

Module 6: Health and social justice

About the certificate

Gain knowledge in healthcare economics and policy, and earn an official certificate of competence from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Assessment is continuous and based on a series of practical assignments completed online. In order to be issued with a digital certificate, you’ll need to meet the requirements outlined in the course handbook. The handbook will be made available to you as soon as you begin the course.

Your certificate will be issued in your legal name and sent to you digitally upon successful completion of the program, as per the stipulated requirements.

Some facts about the subject

1 billion

The amount of people who will spend at least 10% of their household budgets on healthcare in 2020.

United Nations (2020).

3.9%

The annual growth of global health spending between 2000 and 2017, compared to economic growth of 3%.

_World Health Organization (2019).___

Why choose GetSmarter?

GetSmarter, an edX partner, delivers career-relevant, fully supported, and expert-led online courses from the world's leading universities and institutions. As an online learning expert with over 15 years' experience, GetSmarter leverages long-standing expertise in market research, data analysis, and business insights to ensure that you gain the skills critical to career growth.