ePost Graduate Program in Health Economics, Health Care Financing and Policy

The course would be open to:

• Applicants with graduate/post-graduate qualification in medical and allied fields with relevant work experience in public health with health related organizations /NGOs.
• Applicants currently engaged in public health related activities such as health professionals working with directorates of health services, central and state governments, officials engaged in health services at national, state and district level government institutions.
• Applicants engaged in health services with National Health Programmes like National Rural Health Mission, Integrated Disease Surveillance Project, National Vector Borne Disease Control Program, etc.

PHFI has successfully conducted a nine-month duration on-campus Post Graduate Diploma in Health Economics, Health care Financing and Health Policy (PGDHEP) program for seven years in the past. The program was modified to eLearning program in year 2016 to expand the outreach and provide learning opportunities to working professionals. This eLearning program is particularly suited for health care professionals already working with health system and engaged in delivery of health services but have limited access to higher education because of personal or professional reasons. The course is the first of its kind in India premised on the belief that enhanced understanding and knowledge of health economics and its approaches and techniques, health systems research and health policy analysis is pivotal for efficient and effective utilization of resources.

Course Objectives:

The overall goal of this course is to increase appreciation of role of health economics, health care financing and policy in public health. It will provide a fundamental understanding of key issues in health economics, health care financing, pharmaceutical economics, and economic evaluation for public health practice for informed decision making and implementation.

Course Design and Duration:
The course is designed as a one year Post Graduate Diploma computer-based eLearning program, largely self-taught, complemented with online lectures and comprehensive online study materials.Assignments and examinations at pre-determined intervals will serve to assess and provide feedback to the students. English would be the language of instruction.

Course Outline:

The course content includes modules introducing public health and policy, basic research methods in health, epidemiology, statistics, microeconomic theory, health economics, and in-depth modules on concepts and applications of economic evaluation, health care financing, health policy, health system and pharmaceutical economics.

Teaching and training methodology

The course utilizes online teaching/learning technique. The basic course structure includes a combination of online virtual lectures, interactive discussion board, assessments, and recommended readings from journal articles and textbooks.