Master in Health Economics and Pharmacoeconomics. Online (Spanish Edition)

This program has received verification as an Official Master's Degree within the European Union for the 2012-2014 Academic Year.

The Master in Health Economics and Pharmacoeconomics. Online version (MUESOL) provides specialised training in the economics and management of health services and pharmaceutical products. The master is aimed at professionals and graduates related to the health and pharmaceutical sector.

The materials for the distance modules are prepared by lecturers from the Departments of Economics and Business and of Health Sciences of Pompeu Fabra University, and by other collaborators with widespread research and professional experience. They are all linked to the Research Centre on Economics and Health (CRES) and have proven academic and professional experience.

The main objective of this training programme is to provide specialised training in the economics and management of health services and pharmaceutical products (Pharmacoeconomics). Management in the health and pharmaceutical sector is understood in the broadest sense and includes the management of the healthcare provision of the administrations and other public organisations, centres and services belonging to healthcare institutions at any level of care, pharmaceutical service providers, agencies for the evaluation of drugs and medical technologies, together with the pharmaceutical industry and distributors, insurance companies and consultancy firms from this sector.

On completing the course the participants have acquired the knowledge and skills necessary, among other aspects, to be able to:

• Know and apply the basic and fundamental aspects of the techniques and instruments used in the economic evaluation of pharmaceuticals and medical technologies through cost-effectiveness, cost-utility and cost-benefit analysis.

• Know the use of statistical and econometric techniques in economic analysis in spheres as different as the relationship between expenditure and income, the behaviour of drug prescribers, the preparation of pharmacy budgets and studying the determinants of a treatment's efficacy.

• Analyse the justification for and effectiveness of the main policies for the regulation and funding of pharmaceuticals in a health system.

• Know and apply the instruments of rational drug use in order to guarantee the best possible use from the point of view of the effectiveness and the efficiency of pharmacological interventions

• Analyse and know the economic analysis of the functioning of the health sector and the economic behaviour of the agents involved in it, with special reference to the application of economic concepts and instruments to the management of health services.

• Know and use modelling techniques in a practical manner in the framework of studies on the economic evaluation of pharmaceuticals and medical technologies.

• Know the basic concepts and principles which characterise economic analysis and use economic language fluently.

The Master in Health Economics and Pharmacoeconomics online (MUESOL) is based on three fundamental characteristics:

1. Rigorous and academic course content approached from the standpoint of economics and management.
2. The use of an approach based on e-learning procedures to promote knowledge transfer, the acquisition of skills and learning through the right combination of individual and group work through virtual media.
3. Rigour in concepts, cases and activities, the working method and continuous assessment of the knowledge acquired.

The Master in Health Economics and Pharmacoeconomics (MUESOL) is aimed at professionals in the health and pharmaceutical sectors who cannot afford the time to attend an on-site course, or who prefer to work primarily through virtual communication. This online programme in Health Economics and Pharmacoeconomics meets the needs and requirements both of experienced professionals and of recent graduates who wish to increase their knowledge of these areas. The programme does not require participants to have prior knowledge of economics. To follow module 2 participants must already have, or acquire before it begins, basic knowledge of descriptive and inferential statistics.

The programme is geared towards professionals who, wherever they live, wish to follow a distance course with the characteristics mentioned.

In particular, the programme is designed to complement the training of professionals with management responsibilities and graduates interested in acquiring the skills necessary for the management of:

• hospitals, clinical laboratories and public and private health centres,

• public bodies responsible for managing and/or funding pharmaceuticals and health services,

• private insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, pharmaceutical and health service management training centres, etc.