Health Economics: Fundamentals and Flow of Funds - Hardcover

Getzen, Thomas E.

9780471432036: Health Economics: Fundamentals and Flow of Funds

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0471432032 ISBN 13: 9780471432036

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, 2003

A practical primer to the dynamic field of health economics. Written by Thomas Getzen, a leading academic and practitioner, and currently Director of the International Health Economics Association, this complete, accessible text introduces students to the economic analysis of medical markets and the production of health.
Updated and revised with new cases and the latest developments in the field, the new Second Edition traces the economic rationale and development of the medical care organization. It thoroughly introduces students to the principles and concepts of health economics without requiring prolonged preparatory work or extensive mathematical manipulation.
∗ Cases illustrate practical uses of economic theory in each chapter.
∗ More streamlined presentation of macro and historical materials.
∗ Covers the relationship of marketing to marginal cost.

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From the Back Cover:

A PRACTICAL PRIMER TO THE DYNAMIC FIELD OF HEALTH ECONOMICS!

What is the value of life? What does it mean to trust a surgeon who profits in crises? Why does health care cost so much? Is insurance the solution to the high cost of health care, or is it part of the problem? Questions like these make health care economics one of the most fascinating field of study.

You don’t need a background in economics or a degree in mathematics to explore issues associated with allocating resources to medical care. With Thomas Getzen’s clearly written, down–to–earth approach to health economics, you can develop a thorough and practical understanding of the principles and concepts of how funds flow through the health care system.
Getzen, a leader in the field of health economics and current director if the International Health Economics Association, traces the economic rationale and development of medical care organizations, as well as the economic and political factors that have influenced them.

Highlights of the Second Edition:

New cases in each chapter illustrate the practical uses of economic theory.
New introductory material presents the principles of economics applied to health.
Features updated statistics, new problem sets, and Web links.
Covers the relationship of marketing to marginal cost.
Addresses triple tier pricing for pharmaceuticals.
Begins with a “flow of funds” approach to describing the incentives and organizational structure of the health care system.
Clear coverage of demand explains why value and price often are not proportionate.
Examines transactions among patients, physicians, and third parties to show how profits are made, costs are covered, contracts are written (or implied), and regulations are formed.
Outlines the continuing evolution of managed care in the United States.
Explores the dynamics of change within the health care system from a macroeconomics perspective.

About the Author:

Thomas E. Getzen is Professor of Risk, Insurance and Health Management at Temple University and the founder and Executive Director of iHEA, the International Health Economics Association. After receiving an undergraduate degree from Yale University, he worked for the U.S.P.H.S. Centers for Disease Control Venereal Disease program in New York and Los Angeles, and then obtained an MHA degree in Medical Care Organization and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Washington. Dr. Getzen’s main research contributions have been in the areas of contracting, price indexes and forecasting of health care spending. His consulting work has included employee benefit negotiations, laboratory diagnostics, risk assessment, and capital financing for managed care. Dr. Getzen has been a visiting professor at the University of York (U.K.), the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and the Center for Health and Wellbeing of the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University. He has served on the boards of Covenant House, a local community health center in Northwest Philadelphia, MSI, a venture–capital financed managed behavioral health care corporations, CHE, a large provider system with over 60 hosp itals and nursing homes. Dr. Getzen is a member of the editorial boards of Health Economics and the Journal of Health Administration Education.

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