Health economics typically analyses and evaluates the functioning and performance of healthcare systems and welfare from an economic perspective, often usefully using the skills and knowledge from other disciplines.
Health-economic research can have major implications for the organisation of healthcare, including its financing and the efficient and equitable allocation of resources and services. Health-economic research in the Health Sciences unit (HES) is concentrated around effectiveness and efficient allocation, in an attempt to maximise health and distribute it equitably. It does this by linking basic elements of health-economic research: costs, effectiveness and efficiency, to the evidence needs of decision-making or prioritisation processes.
Examples of ongoing research include Economic evaluations alongside two large, RCTs of screening for prostate cancer in Finland (as part of the FinRSPC and ProScreen trials).