health economics phd programs canada

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Health Economics

Who we are:.

The University of Calgary Health Economics Group includes a dedicated group of faculty who are committed to teaching in Health Economics and conduct a broad range of research within Health Economics. We seek to build capacity among faculty and trainees; foster links to policy-makers; enhance opportunities for training in Health Economics; and act as a catalyst for high quality research in Health Economics. This will increase the impact of health economics research at the University of Calgary and increase the national and international profile of Calgary-based applied health economics research.

To raise the profile and expand the reach of Health Economics at the University of Calgary.

Training the next generation of Health Economics Researchers and improving linkages between Health Economics and policy makers.

The University of Calgary Health Economics Group trains graduate students in Health Economics in the Department of Community Health Sciences, and the Faculty of Economics. Training occurs at the Masters, PhD and Postdoctoral levels. A list of courses, graduate student competencies and requirements for the Department of Community Health Sciences Health Economics Training Program are below.

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Research Reports

Faculty have conducted a braod range of research studies, including reports done in conjunction with Government, or other Health Care Decision-Makers. Several are highlighted below.

Impact of Drug Insurance on Clinical and Economic Outcomes in Patients

Assessing the Impact of Drug Insurance on Clinical and Economic Outcomes in Patients with Chronic Diseases

Appropriate access to pharmaceuticals, along with adherence to pharmacologic regimens, is important in the management of patients with a variety of medical conditions. Although Canadians have universal access to medically necessary care, which includes hospital and physician care, not all Canadians have coverage for medications. This results in direct payments by patients for drugs, which can occur among both those with or without drug insurance that place a financial burden on both patients and their families.

Canadian Publicly Funded Prescription Drug Plans, Expenditures

An Overview of Patient Impacts

In Canada, prescription medications are generally financed through a combination of public funding (provincial/territorial and federal government) and non-government sources (third party private insurance or out-of-pocket). Publicly funded coverage varies across Canada. In this report, we compare publicly funded drug programs across Canada and determine where Alberta fits in comparison to the other provinces/territories with respect to its current publicly funded drug plans, drug access, expenditures, and patient-borne out-of-pocket costs.

All provinces offer publicly funded drug insurance plans with no premiums to those on social assistance. For seniors and the general population, all provinces offer plans although several include premiums (Quebec and Nova Scotia for seniors and Alberta, Quebec and New Brunswick for the general population under age 65). For seniors, there are a variety of cost-sharing mechanisms employed across the provinces including fixed co-payments, co-insurance, deductibles, and maximum out of pocket limits. The plans for the general population under age 65 vary greatly across the provinces. Many use deductibles, generally a percentage of annual net income (range: 0-20%), and income-based maximum out of pocket limits. Two unique differences are worth noting. First, Quebec has mandated that all persons have drug insurance (either public or private), forcing complete population coverage. Second, both Manitoba and British Columbia intend there to be no differential plan for seniors; the plan will become entirely income based. Manitoba has already adopted a solely income-based plan, whereas British Columbia has frozen the year of birth of seniors to 1939, intending to move exclusively to an income-based plan as the population ages. Generic payment rules and least cost alternative policies have been adopted by nearly all the provinces and territories. Reference pricing is used as a cost saving measure by British Columbia and New Brunswick. The use of government first payer policies (as used in Alberta) varies across the country; approximately half of the provinces and territories have a government-first payer policy. Compared to the other provinces, Alberta spends a comparable percentage of their total provincial health expenditure on prescription drugs but the Alberta government covers a higher 2 share of total prescription drug expenditures (43.6% vs 36.5% for Canada overall). It is projected that for 2015, Alberta will spend 6.5% ($1334M) of its total provincial health expenditure on prescription drugs, compared to $387 M in 2000. While the percent of total provincial health expenditure on prescription drugs has remained relatively constant over time, the absolute expenditure on drugs has quadrupled. Of all the provinces and territories, Alberta has seen the largest growth in absolute expenditures since 2000, only in part due to population growth. Total prescription drug expenditure per capita is comparable to the other prairie provinces but much lower than Ontario, Quebec and Maritime provinces. However, Alberta has the second highest per capita provincial government prescription drug expenditure ($318) of all the provinces (second only to Ontario). Alternatively, BC has the lowest total drug expenditures and public expenditures on drugs per capita. Out of pocket costs vary widely across the country. In general, Alberta has modest out of pocket costs comparable with the other provinces, though this varies for individuals under age 65 (where costs borne by Albertans are similar or higher), and seniors (where out of pocket costs are similar for lower income Albertan seniors or lower for higher income Albertan seniors). For people with chronic diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease, who are high users of prescription medications, Albertans were less likely to have publicly funded drug insurance, possibly because of the requirement to pay a premium to access drug insurance for those under age 65, and more likely to have private insurance than individuals from the other western provinces. Albertan seniors with chronic diseases faced lower out-of-pocket costs ($513) compared with British Columbia ($689), despite a similar likelihood of having private insurance across this age group. Statin use, a marker of appropriate drug use in these individuals with chronic diseases at high cardiovascular risk, was similar between Alberta, where 55% used statins, and BC, where 50% used statins. There was a trend towards more people stopping their preventive medications in BC (12.4%) compared with Alberta (7.5%).

Objectives:

We provide an overview of populations covered and publicly funded drug plan rules and regulations across Canadian provinces. We describe total drug expenditures across Canada, including the proportion of expenditures that are government-funded vs private. Finally, we describe markers reflecting the quality and comprehensiveness of coverage of Canada’s publicly funded formularies (with a focus on the western provinces) in the following areas: equity, access, patient-borne costs, and appropriate medication use.

We used a variety of data sources, including data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (to compare drug expenditures), information from publicly available government websites (comparison of drug plans, and patient-borne costs), and the results of a recent survey of 1849 Western Canadians with chronic disease that explored issues around financial barriers, and appropriate drug access.

Key messages:

All Albertans have access to drug insurance albeit those under 65 and not on social assistance must pay a premium, whereas most other provinces have premium-free coverage for the entire population and employ other cost-sharing tools (deductibles, co-insurance). Seniors in Alberta (particularly those with average or higher income) have significantly lower out of pocket costs for medications in comparison to similar provinces, including BC. Alberta has the second highest per capita public expenditure on drugs, and the Alberta government covers the largest share, relative to all other provinces/territories of total prescription drug expenditure per capita. Since total per capita drug expenditures in Alberta appear similar to other provinces we speculate that public per capita drug expenditures are higher in Alberta compared with other provinces because of differences in three key policy areas: government as the first payer, the use of income tested cost-sharing in other provinces, and differences in copayment structures. The impact of any changes within these policies on plan effectiveness, costs, and equity requires further consideration.

Global Data Access for Solving Rare Disease A Health Economics Value Framework

Executive Summary: Rare diseases have been an increasing area of focus as three waves have converged in recent years: the continuing innovation stemming from the genomic revolution, the regulatory financial incentives put in place by the US government for rare-disease therapies, and the increasingly mobilized, coordinated and sophisticated patient community. However, the very nature of rare diseases calls for scientific and societal collaboration on an unprecedented scale. Federated data systems are one such example of this scale. A federated data system is a type of meta-database made up of constituent databases that are transparently interconnected, but not merged – an important point for security and privacy concerns. The result is a robust and well-annotated dataset that in the case of rare diseases can be contributed to and queried by different countries to enable global and country-specific solutions to diagnosis, treatment, patient trial recruitment, and management. The development and maintenance of federated data systems is one of the many investments countries could make in the name of scientific collaboration – but is it the right one? This paper reviews the “known knowns and known unknowns” of a federated data system solution to the unmet needs of people living with rare diseases. Ultimately, investment will be required to confirm and test the value propositions put forth in this paper. Our aim is to enumerate these value propositions along the lines of diagnostic benefit, clinical benefit, clinical trial benefit and personal benefit to individuals living with a rare disease. This will help collaborating nations to understand whether federated data systems are a best-fit solution to the global challenges inherent in rare-disease diagnosis and treatment plans.

Recruitment and Retention of Rural and Remote Physicians

Executive Summary Health disparities between urban and rural-dwelling Canadians are well documented, and highlight the importance of recruiting and retaining physicians to rural areas. In this study, our objectives were to identify factors important in the recruitment/retention of rural physicians, and to understand the role payment models may play in supporting these efforts.

Existing literature has identified factors that influence recruitment and retention across four main themes: personal (e.g., rural background), community (e.g., social and recreational activities), education (e.g., rural placement during training), and policy (e.g., payment models, incentives). Within the literature, there were three overarching conclusions: 1) studies consistently note that payment models are not the most important contributing factor, but rather are considered amongst other non-monetary factors; 2) a combination of monetary and non-monetary incentives are most strongly associated with rural recruitment/retention; and, 3) there is consistency in the most important trade-offs physicians are willing to make in order to work in rural settings (e.g., income, locum relief, and desirable on-call arrangements). Noticeably missing from this literature is attention to Indigenous rural and remote communities, and how preference for payment models might differ by physician demographics (e.g., physician sex, country of medical training, age). To further understand the role of payment models in retention and recruitment in Alberta, we conducted interviews with 13 Alberta rural physicians. Findings highlighted the importance of professional factors (e.g., variation and scope of practice, attractiveness of rural living). Physicians emphasized the challenges associated with rural practice, which may impact retention (e.g., poor locum support and heavy on-call burden; challenges of a complex patient panel). Our findings indicate that payment models play a limited role on their own in addressing these challenges, but that they might attract additional physicians to rural areas. This could reduce workload and on-call burden, and facilitate a collaborative “team-based” care model, optimizing where and how physicians spend their time. Physicians stressed that distrust in government might impede their considerations for alternate payment models, but that this could be mitigated involving physicians in the development of contracts. Based on the findings of our work, we present five key considerations:

• Focus attention on non-financial barriers through professional support to reduce on-call hours, and improve locum coverage and community integration;
• Include rural physicians in the development and implementation of alternate payment models to ensure they are perceived to be flexible, fair, and tailored to the specific needs of the community;
• Avoid perverse incentives of all payment models by ensuring accountability mechanisms are in place for all physician payment models;
• Advertising alternate payment options by highlighting transparency and trust, flexibility based on community needs, income security, and team-based care;
• Target physicians most likely to remain in rural settings (e.g., those with rural backgrounds), rather than incentivizing recruitment for physicians unlikely to remain long-term (e.g., internationally trained physicians).

Physicians as Stewards of Health Care Resources: A Brief Report

Executive Summary Physicians play a crucial role in the health care system. With accountability to both patients and health care payer (e.g., taxpayer), physicians may feel tension when asked to balance the needs of the individual with their role as stewards of health care resources. With the pressure to provide optimal care, and finite resources, it is vital that physicians are empowered, enabled, and engaged to act as stewards of health care resources. Through a partnership between the Physicians as Stewards Working Group and the HTA Unit at the University of Calgary, and funding provided by the SPOR Evidence Alliance and Alberta’s Strategic Clinical NetworksTM, a proposal was developed with the aims to: i) identify what approaches exist for enabling and supporting physicians to be stewards of health care resources; ii) determine the impact of each approach; and, iii) identify which is most likely to support physicians to use high value appropriate care within the Alberta context.  

An initial search of the literature identified ten overarching strategies that could be categorized into four different levels of implementation: patient-level (e.g., shared decision making), clinician-level (e.g., education, mentorship, audit and feedback), organization-level (e.g., leadership endorsement, decision support tools and electronic prompts), and system-level (e.g., Encourage/enforce use of evidence-based data, regulations, compensation reform, restrict access based on patient criteria). Further investigation documented several implementation tactics within each strategy resulting in 18 tactics in total. In an initial exploratory phase of this work, to understand their potential effectiveness, we searched for systematic reviews of each of the 18 identified tactics. Of these 18, five tactics did not have a systematic review identified, four had inconclusive evidence, and nine tactics had systematic reviews which suggested effectiveness of the tactic including education, audit and feedback, electronic prompts, care pathways, and compensation reform.

Alberta has some unique assets within its health ecosystem that make some of the above-noted strategies more feasible than others. The goal of this report is to seek input from health system leaders about which strategies might be deemed feasible for further evidence synthesis, or may be considered for use as we enter a time of change within AHS and the broader health system to support government and AHS priorities.  By narrowing the list of tactics that might be considered for large-scale use in Alberta, a more comprehensive assessment and analysis could be completed to inform implementation in Alberta.

Costing Resources

Health economics annual reports.

The 2020 report is coming soon

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Graduate Programs

Masters programs.

Masters of Arts in Economics – Health Economics Concentration The masters program in economics provides a thorough grounding in modern economic analysis. The program blends theory and quantitative methods. Canadian students are expected to have an honours BA in economics, including the advanced microeconomics and macroeconomics courses (that is, one course in each beyond the full-year intermediate courses) and some econometrics. The university requires students to have maintained a B+ average in the final two years of their undergraduate programs, but it practice, students with less than an A- average are seldom admitted. Students from foreign universities are expected to have equivalent backgrounds. Although equivalency is difficult to determine, here are some guidelines for a few countries: India: First class standing in the bachelors degree and upper second class standing in the masters degree. Bangladesh and Pakistan: First class standing in both the bachelors and masters degrees. China: A four-year degree with an average of at least 85%. The subject area should be economics, not business. Strong skills in both mathematics and statistics/econometrics are expected. Students concentrating in health economics are required to take two graduate courses in health economics For more detailed information regarding general program requirements and features, please see: http://www.mcmaster.ca/economics/grad/admission_requirements.cfm This program is appropriate for individuals who are seriously contemplating continuing on for doctoral studies in economics.        Master of Arts in Economic Policy – Health Economics Concentration The program is designed to develop economists with a solid knowledge of economics, skill in using economic ideas and methods, and a strong policy orientation.  The objective is to provide students with graduate-level economics training that has clear policy application. The program differs from a typical masters in economics program in that it provides more experience applying analytical tools to policy problems, greater emphasis on the institutional features and policies of relevant sectors of the Canadian economy, an understanding of the strengths and weakness of alternative policy evaluation methods, more interaction with policy-makers, and more emphasis on writing and presenting policy analyses.   The program will differ from public policy programs by emphasizing relevant graduate-level economics training.    Applicants will normally be required to have an honours bachelors degree in economics or its equivalent. However, the program will also be open to students who do not have an economics major but who have sufficient training in economics and statistics (for example, students with a minor in economics). Students concentrating in health economics are required to take two graduate courses in health economics and undertake the required policy project in the area of health economics.   For more detailed information regarding general program requirements and features, please see: http://www.mcmaster.ca/economics/grad/ma_econ_pol.cfm This program is appropriate for those who seek a terminal masters degree that prepares them for work in the public service, industry or other relevant research and policy organizations. Master of Science in Health Research Methodology – Health Technology Assessment or  Health Services Research Fields    The M.Sc. Program in Health Research Methodology is designed to provide the opportunity for advanced education and research in research methodology used to understand and improve the effectiveness of health care and its delivery, the health of the population and health professions education. The program is divided into two admissions streams: Health Professionals (Stream I), and Background in Health, Social, or Biological Sciences (Stream II). Stream II students often come from backgrounds in health, social or biological sciences. The training received by these students is intended to provide the skills necessary for them to function as researchers in the health care system. Applicants must have completed a four-year honours university degree with a B+ average (75-79% equivalent to a McMaster 8.5 grade point average) in the final year. Meeting the minimum requirement does not guarantee admission. Prior training in mathematics, statistics or the biological sciences is not a prerequisite. Students with background in health studies, kinesiology, health economics and other social sciences are encouraged to apply. Applicants with previous experience in health-related research settings tend to have an advantage over other applicants. Students specializing in the field of health technology assessment are required to take . . .  Students specializing in the field of health services research are required to take . .   For more details regarding the program please see:  http://www.fhs.mcmaster.ca/grad/hrm/msc/admiss.htm This program is appropriate for those who seek interdisciplinary training in health research with an opportunity to concentrate in health technology assessment or health services research. Masters in Business Administration – Health Services Management Stream The Health Services Management (HSM) Specialization at McMaster is the only MBA program of its type in Canada.  It combines expertise found in McMaster University's renowned Faculty of Health Sciences and the Michael G. DeGroote School of Business with hands-on training gained through work experience in health care organizations. The competent professional health services manager is a critical element in the framework of effective and efficient delivery of health services. Such individuals need solid management grounding in the fundamentals of planning, operations, and evaluation as well as a broad orientation to the realities and inherent growth potentials of our health system.    This program produces graduates who have the specific capabilities which the health industry is seeking and who have developed their networking skills to take advantage of the new opportunities being generated in this challenging and rapidly changing field. The underlying assumption of this stream is that it will produce a unique graduate with accelerated capabilities in the health services field. This solid MBA training includes selected graduate courses from the health sciences and is coupled with a range of work term experiences in the health sector designed with specific educational objectives. Students in the HSM specialization are required to take at least one course each in health economics and health policy analysis, and depending on their interests and background, can expand this aspect of their training. For more information regarding the HSM stream within the MBA program, see: www.degroote.mcmaster.ca/prospect/mba/academ/streams/hsm.aspx

PhD Programs

PhD in Economics – Health Economics Field The PhD in economics with a specialization in health economics provides advanced training in economics designed to produce economists capable of original, innovative contributions to the field health economics.  A student in the doctoral program must successfully complete three sets of requirements: coursework, comprehensive exams, and thesis. These stages should be completed in 4-5 years. A doctoral candidate must complete the micro- and macro-economic theory sequence, econometrics requirements, and eight one-term electives. The electives must be chosen so that the student satisfies the coursework requirements for the health economics field:   A doctoral candidate must also pass comprehensive exams in microeconomic theory, macroeconomic theory and two fields. In addition to health economics, the available fields are:  Econometrics, Economic planning and development, Growth and Monetary Economics, International economics, Labour economics, Population economics, Public economics The theory comprehensives are normally written after the first year of coursework; the field exams are normally written at the end of the second year of coursework.   The comprehensive exams must all be completed within two years of a student’s admission to the program. Students are given wide latitude in their choice of thesis topic, but each topic must be approved by a supervisory committee consisting of three faculty members. Students who have reached the thesis stage of their program must attend the graduate students’ workshop and give several presentations on their research. Once a thesis has been submitted, the student must defend his work at an oral examination. For additional information, see:  http://www.mcmaster.ca/economics/grad/phd_ma_econ.cfm PhD in Health Research Methodology – Health Technology Assessment Field The main objective of the HRM doctoral level program is to provide students with a broad perspective and advanced skills for in-depth exploration in focused areas of research methodology, and to prepare students with a capacity for independent scholarly work in health care research or population health. Specific objectives include: to undertake scholarly enquiry of the theoretical bases for the design of studies, measurement of health care and health status, and analysis and interpretation of the data derived from such studies to make original contributions to knowledge in the development of new methods or techniques of design, measurement or analysis which can be used in the evaluation of health and health care at the level of the individual, group, program, community, and population to advance existing methods or techniques applied to health care research or health care problems in a unique way to prepare students to contribute to the solution of problems in the Canadian health care system Those specializing in Health Technology Assessment (HTA) focus their training on the evaluation of the clinical effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, and broader impact of drugs, medical technologies, and health systems, both on patient health and the health care system. The goal of the HTA field specialization is to train individuals who, upon graduation, will have acquired sufficient skills to be actively involved in independent and collaborative research in the field of HTA. Graduates will be expected to: • acquire a strong foundation in the basic principles of HTA • develop skills in advanced decision analysis • apply research methods derived from health economics • understand and use basic and advanced biostatistics • utilize health services research and health policy analysis concepts and methods. HTA students will be expected to collaborate with one of the many research groups conducting HTA at McMaster University. PhD in Health Policy – Health Economics Field The PhD in Health Policy is a new interdisciplinary, inter-departmental, inter-faculty Ph.D. at McMaster University that offers health economics as one of its areas of specialization.  Health policy is an interdisciplinary field that investigates how health policy is made, what it is, what it might become, and its impacts.  Graduates of this program will have advanced understanding and analytic skills for understanding and making leading contributions to health policy, both as academic scholars and as professionals engaged by governments and other health sector organizations. The curriculum includes both interdisciplinary breadth and field-specific depth. All students must enroll for the first 3 terms in a doctoral seminar dedicated to the advanced study of health policy problems, ideas, and analytic approaches.  In parallel, all students will receive core training their chosen area of specialization.   All students develop competence in quantitative methods, including multivariate statistics and research design, as well as basic qualitative methods. These breadth competencies create a basis for interdisciplinary collaboration, critical appraisal and use of diverse research information, and new skill acquisition as necessary throughout the career.  Students may further specialize in either quantitative or qualitative methods, establishing the foundation for leading an independent empirical research program. Admission requirements include graduate training in a relevant field; a Master’s degree is strongly preferred.An A- or higher grade average in past graduate coursework is required, as is at least one graduate-level statistics half-course.

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Health Economics

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Health Economics Unit

Health economics is a form of economics-based research that analyzes efficiency, effectiveness, value, and behaviour in the production and consumption of health and health care.

Health Economic Services

The IHE provides a wide range of economic analyses to inform effective allocation of health resources, including:

• Economic analyses: cost-effectiveness, cost-utility, cost-benefit, and/or cost-minimization
• Economic evaluation and extrapolation within clinical trials
• Budget impact, cost and budget forecasting
• Health funding model development and evaluation

Sector Specific Supports

Please click the links below for more information on sector specific health economics related supports we provide.

• Public Sector Funding and Economics Capacity Development
• University Led Health Economics Research Partnerships
• Services for Industry Partners
• Physicians, Patient Groups, and Other Health System Stakeholders

The Institute of Health Economics is the proud secretariat of the Network of Alberta Health Economists – Bringing together the leading minds in health economists research and policy. For more information, visit www.NOAHE.ca .

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Health Economics

Health economics draws together the ideas and tools of various fields of economics including econometrics, public finance, labour market economics, and industrial organization to study the economics of health and health care systems. These are combined with sector-specific institutional knowledge both to study and to contribute policy advice regarding the health sector.

Topics are diverse including, for example, tax policy concerning health-related behaviours, payment models for the health workforce, insurance and financing schemes for health care, equity in health and health care, the dynamics of health, and determinants of physical and mental health outcomes.

Researchers

Paul conotoyannis learn more.

Head of the Health Research Unit (Athens Institute for Education and Research [ATINER]), Associate Professor

My research focuses on health economics and microeconometrics. Recent work has looked at the dynamics of depression in adolescence in the United States and the effects of the delisting of high strength opioids on the prescription of opioids in Ontario, and changes to the insurance coverage of under 25’s on the prescription of antidepressants in Ontario. Other work is focused on the effects of recent changes to the benefit system on opioid and antidepressant prescribing in the United Kingdom.

Michel Grignon Learn More

Associate Scientist of Institut de Recherche et Documentation en Èconomie de la Santé, Editor-in-chief of Health Reform Observer – Observatoire des Réformes de Santé, Graduate Chair of the Department of Health, Aging & Society, Professor

Jeremiah Hurley Learn More

Dean of Social Sciences, Director McMaster Decision Science Laboratory (McDSL), Professor

I am Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences; a professor and former Chair in the Department of Economics; a member of the Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis, and an associate member of the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact (HEI), all at McMaster University.

My research on the economics of health and health care systems includes physician behaviour, funding models and resource association in health care, public and private roles in health care financing, financial incentives in health systems, equity in health systems, normative frameworks in health economics, and the application of experimental economic methods in health research. I have publications in leading health economic, health policy, and health services research journals and have acted as a consultant to regional, provincial, national and international agencies. I am the author of the Canadian health economics textbook, Health Economics.

Arthur Sweetman Learn More

Ontario Research Chair in Health Human Resources, Professor

The majority of my research in health economics is at the intersection with labour economics focusing on the health workforce (i.e., health human resources). This includes program evaluation style analysis examining the impacts of policy changes on practice patterns and patient outcomes. It also includes observational studies focused on understanding the “stylized facts” (empirical trends/relationships) that underpin policy decision-making. Additionally, I do some research looking at health insurance, health behaviours and other aspects of health economics.

Michael Veall Learn More

Academic Director Statistics Canada Research Data Centre, Professor

My past research in this area was with research teams studying public prescription drug insurance and food insecurity. More recently I have worked with other researchers on the nexus of health, pension receipt and retirement and more broadly on the relationship of income inequality and health.

Jonathan Zhang Learn More

Assistant Professor

My main research areas are in health economics and public finance. I study how supply-side factors, policies, and shocks impact individual wellbeing. Much of my research include a focus mental health topics ranging from understanding the determinants and consequences of mental health delivery and substance abuse to the impact of cash transfers for people with mental disabilities. I also collaborate closely with the US Department of Veterans Affairs to evaluate reforms and policies that improve immediate care delivery and long-term outcomes. I received my PhD from Stanford in 2020 and was a postdoctoral scholar at Princeton in 2020-21.

Akwugo Balogun

PhD Student

Sergei Filiasov

My research in Health Economics focuses on mechanisms through which health shocks to family members affect family financial stability, and family income and its components in general. In particular, I study the role of family structure (e.g., the role of marital status, presence of children and their endogeneity) in alleviating or propagating the effects of cancer on family income and its components. Another area of interest is the application of minimax-regret statistical treatment rules in clinical trial data with multiple treatment arms and with non-linear welfare functions.

Zichun Zhao

I am a PhD candidate in Economics at McMaster University. My research interests are in Health Economics and Public Economics. Currently, I am focusing on the impact of public policy on health care utilization, health behaviour and private health insurance availability in Canada, especially regarding public health programs and minimum wages.

About the Canadian Centre for Health Economics / A propos du Centre Canadien pour l’économie de la santé

About / a propos.

The Canadian Centre for Health Economics (CCHE) aims to be the leading institution in Canada for developing practical research based solutions to ongoing concerns in Canadian health and health economics research.

Le Centre canadien pour l’économie de la santé (CCES) a pour but d’être l’institution primordiale canadienne dans le développement de solutions pratiques fondées sur la recherche en économie de la santé.

The Canadian Centre for Health Economics (CCHE) strives to be the focal point for health economics research in Canada. The work of the Centre aims to provide solutions to issues in Canadian health research for those in the academic and policy realms. CCHE was founded to address the lack of a central organization in Canada that gathers analytical techniques and expertise from the field of economics that is focused on health research. The Centre also brings together amongst its student Fellows and Faculty Associates domestic and international researchers with a range of expertise in health economics and econometrics.

The Centre supports analytic work in economics and disseminates research findings through its working papers, educational training courses and speaker series which are designed to serve as standard resources for health policy makers and academic health economists in Canada and abroad.

The Canadian Centre for Health Economics (CCHE) aims to be the leading institution in Canada for developing practical research based solutions to ongoing concerns in Canadian health and health economics research. It will contribute to the body of knowledge in health economics and econometrics both nationally and internationally with applications that address important health policy issues in Canada and abroad.

In pursuit of this vision the Centre’s mission is:

• To conduct economic research using the latest and most appropriate theoretical and empirical techniques in order to provide innovative, practical and evidence-based real world solutions to health and health care related issues that have important policy implications for the Canadian population.
• To collaborate in health economic research with experts in the academic and policy fields to address current challenges in Canadian health and health care.
• To provide a forum for developing knowledge and sharing expertise from both the Canadian and international arenas to broaden the scope of solutions for modern health research in Canada.
• To undertake and facilitate the conduct of high quality independent and impartial health economics research on policy relevant issues in Canada.
• To publish research findings, to disseminate the latest advances in theoretical and empirical methodologies and contribute to the international literature on health economics and econometrics.
• To provide training in health economics and econometrics through the Institute for Health Policy and Management and Evaluation’s internationally recognized graduate program, through high quality short courses that are open and accessible to decision-makers and planners from all health care stakeholder groups, and by providing opportunities to students and trainees for real world hands on experience through participation in ongoing projects.

A propos du Centre Canadien pour l’économie de la santé

Le Centre canadien pour l’économie de la santé (CCES) s’efforce d’être le point central pour la recherche sur l’économie de la santé au Canada. Le Centre tente d’offrir des solutions aux problématiques confrontant la recherche canadienne de ceux oeuvrant dans les domaines académiques et politiques. Le CCES a été fondé pour combler une lacune quant au manque de structure centrale au Canada pour rassembler l’expertise ainsi que les techniques développées dans le cadre de l’économie de la santé. Le Centre noue des liens entre ces étudiants Fellows et les professeurs Associés, qu’ils soient basés au Canada ou à l’extérieur et couvrant un large éventail d’expertise dans les domaines de l’économie et l’économétrie de la santé. Le Centre offre un soutien analytique économique et dissémine les découvertes à travers ses travaux préliminaires, ses cours de formation et sa série de conférenciers qui, ensemble, envisagent d’offrir des ressources pour les preneurs de décisions et les économistes de la santé du milieu universitaire au Canada et à l’étranger.

Le Centre canadien pour l’économie de la santé (CCES) a comme objectif de devenir l’institution par excellence canadienne pour le développement de solutions pratiques basées sur la recherche offrant des solutions aux préoccupations principales du domaine de la recherche sur l’économie de la santé. Il contribuera au développement du savoir dans l’économie de la santé et l’économétrie de la santé au niveau national et international ayant un impact sur les principales problématiques canadiennes et internationales sur la politique de la santé.

Dans la poursuite de cette vision, la mission du Centre est de:

• Conduire de la recherche économique faisant outil des techniques théoriques et empiriques appropriées, pour offrir des solutions pratiques, innovatrices et fondées sur de la recherche des problématiques courantes dans le domaine de la santé ayant un impact important pour la population canadienne.
• Collaborer au sein de la recherche sur l’économie de la santé avec les experts des mondes politiques et académiques pour surmonter les défis des canadiens dans le domaine de la santé.
• Offrir un site propice au développement du savoir et pour partager l’expertise acquise dans les arènes canadiennes et internationales afin d’élargir l’éventail de solutions pour la recherché moderne dans le domaine de la santé au Canada.
• D’entreprendre et de faciliter la conduite de la recherche dans le domaine de l’économie de la santé sur les questions de politique sociale canadienne qui soit de haute qualité, indépendante et impartiale.
• De publier les résultats de la recherche pour diffuser les dernières avancées méthodologiques théoriques et empiriques et contribuer à la littérature scientifique internationale portant sur l’économie et l’économétrie de la santé.
• D’offrir une formation en sciences économiques de la santé et en économétrie par le biais de l’Institute for Health Policy Management and Evaluation et de son programme d’études supérieures de calibre international, à travers de conférences courtes de haute qualité ouvertes et accessibles aux preneurs de décisions dans tous les groupes appartenant au système de la santé, et en offrant des opportunités aux élèves d’acquérir une expérience pratique grâce à une participation à des projets en cours.

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