Overview
The primary purpose of ECON 321 is to introduce you to the field of health care economics. Like other economics courses, Health Care Economics is primarily concerned with how scarce resources are allocated. Much of the material presented in this course is similar to that found in an introductory economics course, but the emphasis here is on how concepts such as supply and demand, cost, and utility are applied to the health care sector. In this course students examine how the economic behaviours of health care consumers and suppliers, particularly in Canada, affect the manner in which resources are allocated.
Outline
ECON 321 comprises the following nine units:
- Unit 1: Introduction to Health Care Economics
- Unit 2: Outputs and Outcomes—The Products of the Health Care System
- Unit 3: Economic Dimensions of the Canadian Health Care System
- Unit 4: The Demand for Health Care
- Unit 5: Cost
- Unit 6: Supply of Health Care Services
- Unit 7: Demand and Supply
- Unit 8: Specific Market Models used in Health Care
- Unit 9: The Labour Market
Objectives
Each unit specifies learning objectives that students are encouraged to achieve in order to successfully complete the course. The course, as a whole, has been designed to provide you with the knowledge and skills that you will need to achieve the following:
- describe and discuss the concepts of health status and health care utilization, and the relationship between the two.
- describe the organization of the health care system in Canada, in terms of specific economic dimensions.
- use economic analysis to predict patterns of health care utilization.
Evaluation
To receive credit for ECON 321, you must achieve a course composite grade of at least D (50 percent) and a grade of at least 50 percent on the Final Examination. The weighting of the composite grade is as follows:
| Activity | Weight |
| Assignment 1 | 25% |
| Assignment 2 | 25% |
| Final Exam | 50% |
| Total | 100% |
The final examination for this course must be requested in advance and written under the supervision of an AU-approved exam invigilator. Invigilators include either ProctorU or an approved in-person invigilation centre that can accommodate online exams. Students are responsible for payment of any invigilation fees. Information on exam request deadlines, invigilators, and other exam-related questions, can be found at the Exams and grades section of the Calendar.
To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University’s online Calendar.
Materials
Digital course materials
Links to the following course materials will be made available in the course:
Hicks, Lanis, L. (2014). Economics of health and medical care (6th ed). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Other materials
Most of the course materials for ECON 321 are available online through the myAU portal.
Challenge for credit
Overview
The challenge for credit process allows you to demonstrate that you have acquired a command of the general subject matter, knowledge, intellectual and/or other skills that would normally be found in a university-level course.
Full information about challenge for credit can be found in the Undergraduate Calendar.
Evaluation
To receive credit for the ECON 321 challenge registration, you must achieve a grade of at least C- (60 percent) on the examination.
Paper Exam
Challenge for credit course registration form