Health economics provides essential tools for evidence-based decision making in public health, but formal training in these methods is rarely available to practitioners working in local health departments, managed care plans, and community health organizations. Economic concepts like cost-effectiveness analysis, return on investment, burden of disease estimation, and behavioral economics applications can strengthen grant proposals, justify program budgets, inform strategic planning, and demonstrate value to stakeholders—yet most public health professionals have limited exposure to these approaches during their academic training or professional development.
These training programs make health economics accessible and immediately applicable to California's public health practice. Developed and delivered by a former UC Merced Professor of Health Economics with 13 years of academic teaching experience and deep roots in California's public health community, the courses combine rigorous economic theory with practical, hands-on application. Over 600 California public health professionals have completed these trainings, consistently rating them as highly relevant to their work and immediately useful in their daily practice.
This comprehensive introduction to health economics for public health practitioners covers economic evaluation methods (cost-effectiveness analysis, cost-benefit analysis, budget impact analysis), burden of disease estimation, resource allocation frameworks, and practical applications to community health assessments, program planning, and grant writing. Through a combination of didactic presentations, real-world California case studies, hands-on exercises with the Chronic Disease Cost Calculator and ROI tools, and interactive discussions, participants learn to apply economic thinking to priority-setting, program justification, and policy analysis. The course requires no prior economics training and is designed specifically for busy practitioners who need practical skills they can implement immediately—with all materials, tools, and templates provided for continued use after training.
Learn how behavioral economics insights can strengthen public health program design and implementation in this practical course exploring choice architecture, social norms, framing effects, loss aversion, and other behavioral principles proven to influence health behaviors. Drawing from extensive analysis of California Department of Public Health programs and international best practices, the training demonstrates how to apply behavioral economics to increase vaccination uptake, improve nutrition program participation, strengthen tobacco control efforts, enhance screening rates, and boost medication adherence—with specific attention to ethical considerations and cultural appropriateness for California's diverse communities. Participants leave with actionable strategies, assessment tools to identify behavioral barriers in their own programs, and a framework for pilot-testing behavioral interventions in resource-constrained public health settings.
Customized training is available on specialized topics including CalAIM program evaluation and ROI analysis, PHAB accreditation support (demonstrating accountability and performance management), grant writing with economic justification, resource-based costing for program budgeting, systematic priority-setting processes, qualitative research methods for public health, and data analysis using SAS or other statistical software. Training can be delivered as half-day or full-day workshops, multi-session courses, webinar series, or ongoing technical assistance tailored to your agency's specific needs, timeline, and learning objectives. Contact us to discuss how we can design training that addresses your team's particular challenges and builds lasting capacity for economic analysis in your organization.
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