Decision Analysis for Public Health

Catalog description

Decision analysis is a tool that uses an explicit, quantitative structure to describe and analyze complex health care decisions. This course analyzes the principles and practice of decision analysis in the context of public health. Students in this course will learn to evaluate decision analyses in different settings, construct simple decision trees, understand the basic mechanics of tree evaluation and sensitivity analysis, and acquire skill in the interpretation and evaluation of a published decision analysis. Extension of basic techniques, such as screening, cost-effectiveness analysis, and the assessment of patient preferences will be covered. We will also cover advanced sensitivity analysis, including probabilistic sensitivity analysis, cost-effectiveness acceptability, and Markov models for chronic diseases.