Health Economics

Professor Louisa Collins

Group Leader

Health economics is concerned with issues of efficiency, effectiveness, value, health behaviours and the functioning of healthcare systems. We need a health system which provides the best services not because those who can shout the loudest insist on them but because they are high-value, fair, equitable, transparent and evidence-based. Australia has no shortage of pressing public health problems and we need to get spending right on healthcare if we are to meet future population needs.

Our Health Economics team is led by Professor Louisa Collins. Our research is focused on economic evaluations and decision-modelling of healthcare interventions that span a range of health conditions and populations but has a key theme around cancer control strategies, from prevention through to survivorship care.

Economic evaluations in health care assess the costs and patient benefits of new services and technologies to determine their value for money. This usually involves both short-term ‘within-trial’ analyses and long-term decision-analytic modelling. Ultimately, this work assists in the translation of interventional research into clinical practice so that effective services also demonstrate good economic value. The team also undertakes work that highlights areas of inefficiency where healthcare resources are misused or could be more efficiently delivered. Finally we recognise that initiatives which promote the prevention of disease is paramount to preserving a sustainable health system, and view economics around this work as a priority.

CURRENT RESEARCH

Roadmap Options for Melanoma Screening in Australia (Melanoma-ROSA)
Health economic research for melanoma and keratinocyte skin cancers (QSKIN)
Economic modelling of the harms and benefits of sun exposure (SUNEX)
The IC3 Trial: Identifying Cirrhosis and Liver Cancer in Primary Care
Ovarian cancer: investigating Variation in care and survival, Aetiology and Risk factors to Improve outcomes in Australia via National data linkage. The OVARIAN study
Evaluation of a decision support intervention for men with early stage prostate cancer
Economic evaluation of a telehealth delivered psychosocial support for patients with brain tumours
Economics of organ transplantation and skin cancers
Economic impacts of regulation to limit indoor tanning behaviours and prevent skin cancers

Blood cancers
Brain cancer
Breast cancer
Colorectal cancer
Lung cancer
Melanoma
Non-melanoma skin cancers Keratinocytic skin cancers
Ovarian cancer
Pancreatic cancer
Prostate cancer
Neuroendocrine
Liver

Staff

Thomas Elliott, Health Economist
Daniel Lindsay, Senior Research Officer
Doreen Nabulaku, Research assistant / PhD Student
Jason Zischke, PhD Student
Ming Ho, PhD Student / Surgeon

Internal Collaborators

Professor David Whiteman, Cancer Control.
Professor Adele Green, Cancer and Population Studies Group.
Professor Rachel Neale, Cancer Aetiology
Professor Penny Webb, Cancer Epidemiology
Dr Nic Waddell, Medical Genomics
Associate Professor Vanessa Beesley, Supportive Care in Cancer

External Collaborators

Dr Gary Jeffrey, The University of Western Australia, Gastroenterologist/Hepatologist
Dr Leon Adam, The University of Western Australia, Gastroenterologist/Hepatologist
Dr Martin Eden, The University of Manchester, England
Craig Sinclair, Cancer Council Victoria
Professor Jon Karnon, Flinders University, Adelaide
Professor Ian Reid, The University of Auckland, Auckland NZ
Professor Ann Webb, The University of Manchester, England
Associate Professor Penelope Schofield, University of Swinburne, Melbourne.
Dr Katharina Merollini, University of Sunshine Coast, Sunshine Coast.
Professor Raymond Chan, Flinders University, Adelaide
Professor Monika Janda, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane.
Professor Sandi Hayes, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane.