Healthcare costs in the United States are higher than most developed countries when considered as a percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).  These costs continue to rise and consume a larger share of GDP.  Rising healthcare expenditures are recognized as a serious problem in the United States.  These factors contribute to the role of health economics research in US medical schools.

Because of these rising healthcare costs, healthcare funding organizations are often faced with difficult decisions on how to or whether to pay for an intervention or program.  Organizations in the US are now interested in information on the value of an intervention or program in addition to its effectiveness.  Therefore there has been an increased growth in health economics research in an effort to both capture the scope of the problem through analysis of the cost or burden of disease as well as understanding the cost-effectiveness of interventions.

Because this information is of interest to healthcare financiers, like CMS, the demand for health economics research is expected to continue to grow.  Thus grant funding agencies, such as the NIH, AHRQ and private foundations, continue to fund research that contains an economic component and will likely continue to do so as agencies like CMS demand the information and use it as a decision-making tool.  Therefore, as academic researchers continue to realize that examining costs and cost-effectiveness in their research may increase the strength of their application, the need for internal or local support for facilitating these studies is important.  Because this support is not always readily identifiable, we have developed a Health Economic Center at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine to provide a centralized and recognizable resource to support health economic research within the medical school community. 

The Health Economics Center (HEC) in the Institute for Healthcare Studies was established in August of 2007 and is comprised of a group of health economists at Northwestern University.  The HEC provides a centralized and recognizable resource to support health economic research within the medical school community.

Investigators in the HEC are available to serve as collaborators on research projects and provide support for health economic analyses.  The types of services that can be provided range from pre-funding to post-funding activities.  Services can be provided on a collaborative basis where the effort required for health economic support is included in a grant submission or on a consultative basis with an hourly fee.  Initial consultations to learn more about the HEC or to discuss the role of a health economist for a research project are free of charge.

Todd Lee, PharmD, PhD
Director, Health Economics Center
Research Assistant Professor
Institute for Healthcare Studies
Division of General Internal Medicine
Feinberg School of Medicine
Northwestern University

Neil Jordan, PhD
Research Assistant Professor
Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Feinberg School of Medicine
Northwestern University

Larry Manheim, PhD
Research Professor
Institute for Healthcare Studies
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Feinberg School of Medicine
Northwestern University

Kevin Stroupe, PhD
Research Assistant Professor
Institute for Healthcare Studies
Division of General Internal Medicine
Feinberg School of Medicine
Northwestern University

Investigators within the health economic center are available to provide consultative services and to serve as collaborators on research projects.  When the effort of the health economist is provided on a grant application the services are provided free of charge.  However, the services of the HEC are also available on a consultative basis with an hourly charge.

In the pre-funding stages of a project the health economist could be involved in the following:

1. Hypothesis development;
2. Study design;
3. Identifying relevant methods or instruments for the measurement of the health economic-related outcomes;
4. Provide expertise on health economic data and other datasets that may be available to the investigator; and
5. Grant writing, including preparation of the health economics section, identifying relevant literature, and incorporating health economic theory.

Post-funding, the health economist could collaborate with the investigator on:

1. Development of data collection forms for the health economic data;
2. Training study staff on the administration of health economic instruments;
3. Participate in quality assurance work on data collected during the study;
4. Conduct the health economic analyses;
5. Assist with reporting the health economic analysis via posters, presentations and publications.

For more information about the HEC or to request an initial consultation please contact us via e-mail. 

Alternatively, you can contact Todd Lee at the following location:

Institute for Healthcare Studies
750 North Lakeshore Drive
10th Floor Suite 10-128
Phone:  312-503-5584