Graduate Certificate Health Economics and Outcomes Research

Graduate Certificate in Health Economics & Outcomes Research is designed to train scientists to engage in modern economic research related to questions pertinent to health policy, health behaviors, and health care services. The unique analytic skill set delivered in this certificate is sought out health care agencies, state agencies, and consulting firms in the Denver area that are looking for employees who know how to use health data to answer research questions. Upon earning this certificate, students will:

1. Have sufficient knowledge of econometric theory and techniques to make them an effective consumer and producer of empirical research in health economics.
2. Understand the challenges in identifying causal relationships using health data.
3. Understand the fundamentals of the potential outcomes framework, randomized experiments, natural experiments, panel data models, matching, instrumental variables and regression discontinuity designs.
4. Understand the economic approach to studying the healthcare sector, health behaviors, and health outcomes.
5. Understand how different markets function in the health care sector, such as the market for health care, health insurance, health labor (such as physicians and nursing), and pharmaceuticals.