Health Economics Connect
Welcome to Health Economics Connect, a new newsletter published by the Australian Health Economics Society (AHES) that aims to highlight policy-relevant research by the health economics community in Australia. Economics has a fundamental and essential role in ensuring an efficient and equitable health system and in understanding the decisions people make that impact on their health. Health economists designed Medicare, Activity-Based Funding of hospitals, and play a strong role in government decisions to fund pharmaceuticals and medical services. Many of us also work closely with clinical colleagues supporting research that directly impacts on patient care and clinical innovation. Others seek to understand how our economic and social circumstances influence our health behaviours. Health economics is relevant to a very wide range of issues in improving population health and the health care system. We know the allocation of scarce resources across the health system and improving our understanding of individual’s behaviour impacting their own health, are very complex and difficult endeavours. Health economists, in collaboration with the many other parts of the system, aim to improve the quality and relevance of the evidence available to help health professionals and policy makers make better decisions.
Below are summaries of exciting research projects that are currently in progress. Click on each project to find out more.
