Introduction to Economic Evaluation

This 3-day course will be online and will comprise mostly live lecture material with some pre-recorded lectures, interspersed with practical sessions that provide a hands-on introduction to economic evaluation in healthcare. There will be opportunities for participants to appraise published economic evaluations and to consider how these approaches could contribute to their own research topics. Attendees should allow approximately 6 hours for each of the three days of the course.

By the end of the course participants should be able to:

1. understand the rationale for measuring cost-effectiveness within the health and care sectors;
2. distinguish between different forms of economic evaluation and, in a given context, give an explanation as to which approach should be used;
3. explain the techniques used to measure and value costs and benefits (including QALYs and capability measures) in an economic evaluation;
4. understand the basic methods of model-based economic evaluation;
5. interpret the results of an economic evaluation;
6. critically appraise published economic evaluations; and
7. understand how economic evaluation influences local and national decision making in England.

The course is intended for public health, NHS and social care professionals and medical researchers who would like to gain a critical insight into the evaluation of cost-effectiveness in health and care. The course will also be useful for professionals who would like a better understanding of the quality of published economic evaluations and how they feed into local and national decision making.

This course will cover:

1. why we need economic evaluation of health care interventions;
2. key concepts in using health and care resources efficiently;
3. identification, measurement and valuation of resource use to create costs;
4. identification, measurement and valuation of health benefits and benefits beyond health, including the use of quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and capability measures;
5. presenting and interpreting the results of economic evaluations;
6. applying decision analysis and Markov models in economic evaluation;
7. critically appraising the quality of published economic evaluations; and
8. translating economic evidence into health policy.

The course organisers are Dr Petra Baji and Dr Carlos Sillero Rejon. Dr Baji is a health economist with expertise in choice experiments, outcome measures, economic evaluations and costing studies. Her research mostly focuses on musculoskeletal conditions. Dr Sillero Rejon is a health economist with expertise in applied research, and conducting economic evaluation in real-world settings and implementation science.  

Teaching staff with expertise in clinical trials, economic evaluation, health policy, modelling, qualitative research and outcomes will be drawn from the Health Economics and Health Policy at Bristol (HEHP@Bristol) team, with some guest lecturers.

To make sure the course is suitable for you and you will benefit from attending, please ensure you meet the following prerequisites before booking:

Before booking this course, please make sure you read the information provided above about the target audience and prerequisites. It is important that you have access to the relevant IT resources needed for the course and meet the knowledge prerequisites to ensure you can get the most from the course.

Bookings are taken via our online booking system, for which you must register an account. To check if you are eligible for free or discounted courses please see our fees and voucher packs page. All bookings are subject to our terms and conditions, which can be read in full here.

For help and support with booking a course refer to our booking information page, FAQs or feel free to contact us directly. For available payment options please see: How to pay your short course fees.

Participants are granted access to our virtual learning platform (Blackboard Ultra) 1 to 2 weeks in advance of the course. This allows time for any pre-course work to be completed and to familiarise with the platform.

To gain the most from the course, we recommend that you attend in full and participate in all interactive components. We endeavour to record all live lecture sessions and upload these to the online learning environment within 24 hours. This allows course participants to review these sessions at leisure and revisit them multiple times. Please note that we do not record breakout sessions.

All course participants retain access to the online learning materials and recordings for 5 months after the course. 

University of Bristol staff and postgraduate students who do not wish to attend the full course may instead register for access to the 'Materials and Recordings' version of this course: Further information and bookings.

94% of attendees recommend this course*.
*Attendee feedback from 2026.

Here is a sample of feedback from the last run of the course:

“Course built up from fundamentals to practical application well. I was almost surprised at how much I understood by Day 3. Trainers were good. Friendly and approachable style, and very knowledgeable." - Course feedback, July 2026

“Easy to follow the structure of the course. Nothing was too confusing but all of it was interesting and engaging. I liked the Menti quiz sessions." - Course feedback, July 2026

“Good recap on the basics of economic evaluation, learning more about decision making, and understanding what the bigger picture is when working in health economics and what to keep in mind throughout the entirety of a study." - Course feedback, July 2026

“Highly valuable if you are starting health economics or are not too familiar with it but want to understand it more or incorporate it into your work. Even as someone who is an early career researcher (~6-7 months in health economics), the course provided some valuable insights and lessons but also good recaps of basics." - Course feedback, July 2026

“Pacing was perfect, lecturers were very knowledgeable and answered questions well." - Course feedback, July 2026

“The course provided a good balance between theoretical concepts and practical application. I particularly appreciated the use of real examples of economic evaluations, which helped reinforce the concepts and made the learning relevant and engaging." - Course feedback, July 2026

“The group sessions were excellent. It was great to have a facilitator in each group to help direct the discussion. The modelling section was also really good and has given me a very clear idea of decision trees and Markov models. The quizzes were good for reinforcing learning." - Course feedback, July 2026

“Useful introduction, feel like I have a good grasp of the basics now. The menti quizzes and interactive sessions were particularly helpful, as was the session from NICE." - Course feedback, July 2026

“Very clear presentations and helpful instructors willing to answer questions. I liked the engagement: quizzes, breakout rooms and exercises." - Course feedback, July 2026