The course fits into the overall program curriculum pursuing some of the defined general learning goals. In particular, the course contributes to the development of the following capabilities:

• Understand context, functions, processes in a business and industrial environment and the impact of those factors on business performance

• Identify trends, technologies and key methodologies in a specific domain (specialization streams)

• Interact in a professional, responsible, effective and constructive way in a working environment, also motivating group members

Students will be able to:

• Understand and describe the different measures of inputs, outputs and outcomes related to the activities of the healthcare sector, the purposes of each type of measure and how performance measurement can be a useful information tool for healthcare policies and managerial decisions
• Critically analyze and appraise the results of performance measurement for improving the outcome of policy and managerial decision-making, at the healthcare system level as well as at the healthcare providers level, understanding the key success factors and the challenges to its successful use

SETTING THE CONTEXT OF PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT: A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO THE FUNCTIONING OF HEALTHCARE SYSTEMS

• The architecture of healthcare systems
• Organization, financing, and delivery of healthcare services

ISSUES, METHODOLOGIES AND USE OF PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT IN HEALTHCARE

• A framework for the measurement of performance in healthcare
• The different dimensions of performance
  • Health
  • Clinical quality and appropriateness
  • Financial protection
  • Equity
  • Efficiency

To provide students with the necessary skills to operationalize the theoretical concepts related to performance measurement, their presentation in the lectures will be followed by a practice class discussion of applied work related to the different measures. Special attention will be devoted to the data to be used, to their sources and to their appropriate treatment for the application of the different methodologies.

A detailed schedule with the dates and the topics dealt with in the lectures and in the practice classes will be provided before the beginning of the course on the BeeP platform.

No pre-requisites

Students attending the classes will be assessed according to the following assignments:

Essay              65%

Oral exam      35%

Essay

Each student will be assigned a topic related to a specific area of performance measurement or to a specific measure, selected from the ones discussed during lectures, and will write an essay, based on published work, discussing, and commenting on the weaknesses and the strengths of the results of performance measurement, and their main implications for policy and managerial decisions. Guidelines for the structure of the essay will be provided beforehand. An effort will be made for the essays to be presented and discussed in class seminars. The essay is meant to test the students' ability in terms of the critical appraisal of the results of performance measurement.

Oral exam

It will cover the topics of performance measurement presented during lectures. It is meant to test the students’ understanding of the different measures and their relevance for decision making.

A detailed schedule for the dates of the different assignments will be provided before the start of classes, on the BeeP platform. It will also include the date for the assignment of the topic of the essay for each student. The assessment procedure (the delivery of the essay and the oral exam) will be terminated a couple of weeks after the end of classes and before the dates of the ordinary exam sessions.

Students who will not attend the classes will be assessed by a written examination (open-ended questions) during the ordinary exam sessions. Students will have a time allowance of 90 minutes. The instructor, however, may require students to complement the written text with an oral examination, whenever he believes the outcome of the written test does not provide conclusive evidence of the knowledge of the course’s main topics. The oral examination, when required, will be held within seven days after the written test.

Relevant chapters: 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10