Health Care Innovation

In this course, you’ll learn the foundational economic theories behind health care innovation and how to optimize your own health care practice or organization. Designed to help you gain a practical understanding of the theoretical frameworks of behavioral economics and operations management in the health care setting, this course will help you apply these frameworks to assess health care practices and apply innovation while managing risk. You’ll also explore the best practices for evaluating one’s innovative practices, using real-life examples of success to see the concepts in action. By the end of this course, you’ll have honed your skills in optimizing health care operations, and be able to develop the right set of evaluations and questions to achieve best innovative practices within your organization.

None

Syllabus

Syllabus - What you will learn from this course
Week 1
Module 1
This module was designed to give you a foundational knowledge of health care operations and methods of optimization. You’ll examine the provider-patient relationship and learn how a provider can improve performance measures for the patient by analyzing the different types of performance metrics such as patient-centric, operations, and financial measures. Through discussing the different types of inefficiencies such as waste, variability, and inflexibility, you’ll be able to optimize performance and service. You’ll also learn how to gauge patient flow by flow rate, flow time, and inventory, and be able to map processes using a flow diagram and a Gantt chart. By the end of this module, you’ll be better able to calculate the financial viability of a health care provider using Key Performance Indicators (KPI) and create a framework to assess and optimize performance.
Week 2
Module 2
In this module, you’ll see how techniques in innovation that originally developed outside of health care can be deployed successfully in health care systems and organizations. Using your understanding of optimizing health care operations, you’ll be able to apply innovative techniques to a more traditional ecosystem of health care. You’ll learn how innovative researchers and clinicians changed some of the more grounded approaches to health care. Through analyzing the scientific method, you’ll be able to craft a hypothesis statement of your innovative idea and identify key assumptions in your statement to test first. By the end of this module, you’ll be able to successfully assess the value and plausibility of the hypothesis of your innovation, and effectively utilize successful instances of innovation to your health care practice.
Week 3
Module 3
In this module, you’ll examine the practice of evaluation and how it is applied to health policy and programs. You’ll gain a better understanding of the need for evaluations in an ever-changing health care environment, and the importance of control groups to combat selection bias that may skew the findings of an evaluation. You’ll explore different methods to conducting an evaluation, the types of questions an evaluation aims to answer, and the difference between effectiveness and efficacy. By the end of this module, you’ll understand the theoretical framework behind an evaluation and be able to employ an evaluation to better analyze the effectiveness of your health care organization.
Week 4
Module 4
This module was designed to highlight the importance of behavioral economics in health care practice and how to utilize behavioral economic theory to optimize the operations of your health care organization. You’ll explore Expected Utility Theory and the different types of Prospect theory such as Reference Dependence, Diminished Sensitivity, and Loss Aversion in the context of health care. By studying real-life examples of Default Bias and Increased Cost Sharing case studies, you’ll establish a framework for health care interventions that will be effective and successful after implementation. By the end of this module, you’ll be better able to determine the theoretical basis for certain health care practices such as nudge units and whether such practices would benefit your organization.

FAQ

When will I have access to the lectures and assignments?

Access to lectures and assignments depends on your type of enrollment. If you take a course in audit mode, you will be able to see most course materials for free. To access graded assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience, during or after your audit. If you don't see the audit option:

What will I get if I subscribe to this Specialization?

When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Specialization, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. Your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile. If you only want to read and view the course content, you can audit the course for free.

Is financial aid available?

Yes. In select learning programs, you can apply for financial aid or a scholarship if you can’t afford the enrollment fee. If fin aid or scholarship is available for your learning program selection, you’ll find a link to apply on the description page.

Reviews

as a physician it helped a lot to understand human behaviors with health choices . it was a great course

Great frameworks and solid content. A good course as part of a broader foundation.

this was a great course which consisted of both economics as well as health which made it more interesting

Very good examples of innovative solutions to health care and highlighting behavioral economics in the last part gives us an overview of possible solutions to policy making.