Statistical Methods in Economic Evaluation for HTA - Foundations

A 2-day foundations course for those wishing to develop an introductory understanding of the fundamental statistical concepts used in economic evaluation for Health Technology Assessment (HTA).

The course includes a mixture of taught modules & practical exercises, where participants will learn relevant statistical concepts & their estimation using the statistical software package Stata. Although Stata will be used to demonstrate statistical, no prior knowledge of Stata will be required.

By the end of the course, participants will be able to: 

• understand the key statistical concepts used in economic evaluation for HTA;
• appreciate how to use existing evidence to derive statistical parameters, relevant to economic evaluation;
• produce descriptive statistics, tabulation and correlations from patient-level data using Stata to (i) derive basic inputs for health economics models and (ii) report the results of trial-based cost-effectiveness analyses; 
• understand good practice in the reporting of cost-effectiveness results to decision makers and recognise the analytical issues involved when dealing with individual patient-level data;
• appreciate the potential for using a regression approach to derive parameter estimates to populate a cost-effectiveness model while controlling for patient characteristics. 

Although Stata will be used as a vehicle to demonstrate a variety of statistical concepts in HTA, no prior knowledge of Stata will be required.

The course includes a mixture of presentations from members of the faculty, together with computer-based exercises using Stata. The course will take place in a computer laboratory.