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Introduction

Program Director: Andrea Velasquez, Ph.D., Department of Economics
Program Co-Director: Richard Lindrooth, Ph.D., Health Systems, Management & Policy

The Ph.D. in Health Economics is designed to train scientists to engage in modern economic research related to questions pertinent to the health care sector and to personal and public health. Students take courses both from the Economics Department, which is housed in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and from the Health Systems, Management & Policy (HSMP) Department, which is housed in the Colorado School of Public Health. The ECON coursework grounds students in rigorous economic theory and modern statistical methods, whereas the HSMP coursework connects students to institutional details of the health care sector, administrative data methods, grant writing, and the development of interdisciplinary health care research.

These degree requirements are subject to periodic revision by the academic department, and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences reserves the right to make exceptions and substitutions as judged necessary in individual cases. Therefore, the College strongly urges students to consult regularly with their Health Economics faculty advisor to confirm the best plans of study before finalizing them.

Graduate Education Policies and Procedures apply to this program.

Program Requirements

1. Students must complete a minimum of 76 credit hours, including 36 hours of core requirements, and a minimum of 30 dissertation credit hours. Each student's plan will be worked out in conjunction with the graduate advisor. Students are expected to meet all course prerequisites.
2. Students must complete a minimum of 30 graduate (5000 and above) level credit hours.
3. Students must earn a minimum grade of B- (2.7) in all courses that apply to the degree and must achieve a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0. Courses taken using P+/P/F or S/U grading cannot apply to program requirements. No course may be taken more than twice and only one attempt will retain the credit.
4. Students must complete all credits for the degree with CU Denver/ CU Anschutz faculty.

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
Complete the following required courses:		37
ECON 5073	Microeconomic Theory
ECON 5803	Mathematical Economics
ECON 5813	Econometrics I
ECON 5823	Econometrics II
ECON 7073	Advanced Microeconomic Theory II
ECON 7661	Health Economics I
ECON 7662	Health Economics II
HSMP 6602	Health Equity
HSMP 6605	Health Policy
HSMP 6609	Cost Benefit and Effectiveness in Health
HSMP 7010	Foundations in Health Services Research 1
HSMP 7601	Research Design and Proposal Preparation
HSMP 7609	Methods in Health Services Research II
Complete nine elective credit hours. Any course numbered 6000 or higher with an ECON or HSMP subject code. Courses numbered 6611 or higher with a BIOS subject code may be taken with the graduate advisor’s approval.		9
Complete a minimum of 30 dissertation credits.		30
ECON 8990	Doctoral Dissertation
Preliminary Exam, Dissertation Proposal, and Dissertation
Students must successfully pass a preliminary examination covering topics in microeconomic theory, econometrics, and health economics by the start of their fourth semester coursework to ensure that they are qualified for doctoral study.
Ph.D. students must defend their dissertation proposal after completing or registering for all non-dissertation coursework and concurrent with applying for admission to candidacy. Students are advanced to candidacy for the Ph.D. once they have completed all required coursework and examinations, and have successfully presented their dissertation proposal to their dissertation committee.
After students are advanced to candidacy, they must complete a total of 30 hours of dissertation credits to complete the PhD. Each fall and spring semester, students are expected to register for a minimum of 5 semester hours of dissertation research; if unable to register for at least 5 semester hours, students must request a leave of absence from the PhD program until able to complete the minimum dissertation requirement. Students may take up to two semesters' leave of absence before they are unenrolled from the program. Students then would need to reapply to the program.
Each student must write and defend a dissertation containing original contributions and evidence of significant scholarship that the student's primary advisor and dissertation committee deem satisfactory.
Total Hours		76

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Students must complete two credit hours of HSMP 7010 Foundations in Health Services Research.

To learn more about the Student Learning Outcomes for this program, please visit our website.