Health Economics- An Essential Armamentarium to the Present Day Clinician
Hemanth Kowdley Subrahmanyam *
Department of ENT, Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, University Hospitals of Northamptonshire, Rothwell Road, Kettering NN16 8UZ, UK.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Given the present financial climate, increased spending on the healthcare by the system has become a challenge leaving it embroiled in a state of disarray. With this background, clinician’s decision-making ability comes with having the knowledge of the economic framework in order to provide the best care for our patients. Health economics (HE) thus has become an emerging discipline which is an essential armamentarium for today’s clinician. In this paper, we look at the essentials of the economics as well as the internal and external shocks that has influenced the services. We also discuss the economic evaluation parameters which is essential for planning the future of the services thus highlighting the importance of HE with a strong argument to be incorporated into the medical curriculum in future.
Keywords: Health economics, health insurance, healthcare, patient care