Upon successful completion of the course, students are expected to be able to:

• Describe the basic concepts and principles of health economics

• Argue about whether health is a public or private entity
• Explain how health costs are measured, how they are financed, and how health deficits are created
• To know the structure of the Greek health system
• Know consumer theories of health service demand and health service production
• Define the concept of induced demand for health services and discuss the reasons for the existence of the phenomenon
• Present the hospital as a financial unit and describe the financial goals of its operation
• To understand the current data in the health workforce labor market
  

• Adaptation to new situations
• Application of knowledge in practice
• Decision making
• Demonstration of social, professional and ethical responsibility
• Efficient search, analysis, and synthesis of data and information using the essential technologies
• Exercise criticism and self-criticism
• Independent Assignment
• Promotion of free, creative and inductive thinking
• Respect for diversity and multiculturalism

The course refers to health economics, a branch of economic science that analyzes health-related issues with tools from microeconomic theory and public finance, an area of capital importance for the individual and society. The right to equal access to health services concerns individuals and policymakers. Expenditure on health absorbs an increasing share of national income and is the second highest expenditure (after expenditure on pensions). Both the way of financing the expenses and the widening deficits in the health sector, with data such as the aging of the population and the pollution of the environment, are of great concern to health policymakers. In summary, the course discusses how the health system works, how it affects and is affected by the economic system, the philosophy of the health system and health policy in general, and finally, how the prices of health services are determined.

The course is developed in 13 lessons. 

• General economic science

• Definition of the concept of health economics

• Methodology of health economics

• Definition of the concepts "health" and "health system"

• The role of the state in the field of health services

• Health expenditure, health financing, and budget deficits

• The organization of the Greek health system

• Health policy and inequalities

• Demand and supply of health services

• The balance in the health services market

• The theory of production in the field of health services

• The hospital as an economic unit

• Review

Final written exam at the end of the semester (100% of the final grade) that will include short answers and/or closed-ended (e.g., multiple-choice) questions.

Books

• Rice, T. (2006). Τα οικονομικά της υγείας σε επανεξέταση. Αθήνα: Κριτική, Code in Eudoxus [11795]
• Santerre, R., & Neun, S. (2013). Οικονομικά της υγείας: Θεωρία, προοπτική και συστηματική μελέτη. Λευκωσία: Broken Hill publishers, Code in Eudoxus [13256975]
• Υφαντόπουλος, Γ.N. (2006). Τα οικονομικά της υγείας: Θεωρία και πολιτική. Αθήνα: Δάρδανος, Code in Eudoxus [32050]
• Χλέτσος. Μ. (2011). Οικονομικά της υγείας. Αθήνα: Πατάκης, Code in Eudoxus [12718416]