Official School of Record Valuing Medicines: Drug Pricing & Healthcare Decisions
An interdisciplinary field-based course examining how health systems determine the value of medicines through health economic evaluation, pharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement, and healthcare decision-making, drawing on real-world examples and field experiences in Greece.
Health Economics · Public Health Policy · Healthcare Decision Science
Offered by the Hellenic Center for Interdisciplinary Studies and Research (HCISR)
School of Record: Arcadia Abroad
Why This Course and Why Now?
Drug pricing and pharmaceutical reimbursement have become one of the defining public health challenges of our time. As health systems across Europe and beyond face mounting pressure to allocate limited resources, the question of how to measure the value of a medicine — and who decides — has never been more urgent.
Greece offers a uniquely compelling case study: a country that navigated a severe healthcare austerity crisis, restructured its pharmaceutical reimbursement system, and continues to grapple with the tensions between innovation, access, and sustainability. This course places students inside that story.
Learning Outcomes
Guided by expert faculty in health economics and pharmaceutical policy, students develop analytical and applied skills through seminars, data workshops, case studies, guest lectures, and field-based learning.
Analyze Pharmaceutical Value
Examine the economic frameworks used to assess whether a new medicine provides sufficient value to justify its cost in a public health system.
Understand Cost-Effectiveness
Apply cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) frameworks to evaluate pharmaceutical interventions against clinical outcomes and treatment costs.
Interpret Health Data
Read and analyze epidemiological and healthcare expenditure datasets to understand how quantitative evidence informs resource allocation decisions.
Understand QALYs
Master the concept of Quality-Adjusted Life Years (QALYs) and their role in health economic evaluation and cost-effectiveness analysis.
Evaluate Reimbursement Decisions
Assess the trade-offs involved in healthcare resource allocation using both quantitative evidence and policy considerations.
Prepare Policy Briefs
Construct a concise, evidence-based policy brief recommending whether a health system should reimburse a new pharmaceutical intervention.
Who Is This Course For?
No formal prerequisites are required. The course is open to undergraduate students from a range of academic backgrounds. Basic familiarity with statistics, economics, or public health concepts may be helpful but is not required.
Public Health
Students seeking hands-on exposure to pharmaceutical policy, health system financing, and evidence-based resource allocation in a real-world European context.
Health Economics
Students interested in applying economic frameworks — CEA, QALYs, budget impact analysis — to real pharmaceutical and healthcare decision-making scenarios.
Pharmacy
Future pharmacists seeking to understand how drug pricing, reimbursement systems, and health technology assessment shape access to medicines.
Pre-Med & Medicine
Medical students who want to understand the economic and policy dimensions of clinical decision-making and pharmaceutical innovation.
Healthcare Management
Students preparing for careers in hospital administration, health insurance, or healthcare consulting — where resource allocation decisions are central.
Public Policy & Political Science
Students interested in how governments regulate pharmaceutical markets, negotiate drug prices, and balance innovation with public health equity.
Global Health & International Affairs
Students exploring how international health systems compare in their approaches to pharmaceutical access, pricing, and sustainability.
Curriculum: 3 Modules, 12 Sessions
The course moves from the foundations of health economic evaluation, through pharmaceutical pricing and cost-effectiveness analysis, to applied healthcare policy and decision-making — culminating in a Final Policy Brief.
Health Economics Foundations
Introduction to health economic evaluation, healthcare resource allocation & decision-making, cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA), QALYs and measuring health outcomes.
Drug Pricing & Economic Evaluation
Epidemiological data & healthcare expenditure, guest lecture on prevention & public health, pharmaceutical pricing models, budget impact analysis, evaluating a pharmaceutical intervention.
Healthcare Policy & Decision Making
Health policy and reimbursement decisions, policy brief development workshop, healthcare trade-offs & resource allocation — culminating in Final Policy Brief presentations.
Assignments
Assessment is designed to build progressively — from active seminar engagement and analytical exercises to applied case study work and a final policy brief.
Class Participation & Seminar Discussion
Students are expected to actively participate in seminar discussions based on assigned readings and case materials. Participation includes contributing to guided discussions on pharmaceutical pricing, healthcare resource allocation, and policy trade-offs in drug reimbursement decisions.
Data Interpretation Exercises
Short analytical exercises interpreting epidemiological and healthcare expenditure datasets. Focused on developing skills in reading quantitative evidence used in health economic evaluation and understanding how such evidence informs resource allocation and reimbursement decisions.
Economic Evaluation Case Study
Analysis of a structured case involving the economic evaluation of a pharmaceutical intervention. Using simplified cost-effectiveness frameworks, students interpret clinical outcomes, treatment costs, and estimated health benefits to assess the value of a medical technology.
Final Policy Brief
A short policy brief recommending whether a healthcare system should reimburse a new pharmaceutical intervention. Students synthesize clinical evidence, economic evaluation results, and policy considerations to defend a resource allocation recommendation.
Program Experience
A multi-format learning environment combining academic seminars, applied data workshops, guest lectures from health policy professionals, and structured field-based activities across Athens and Greece.
Faculty-Led Seminars
4 weeks of structured academic sessions covering health economic evaluation, pharmaceutical pricing, cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA), QALYs, and healthcare policy decision-making.
Applied Data Workshops
Hands-on interpretation of epidemiological and healthcare expenditure datasets — developing skills in reading quantitative evidence used in health economic evaluation and reimbursement decisions.
Guest Lecture: Prevention & Public Health
Expert guest lecture connecting public health concepts with pharmaceutical pricing and health system decision-making.
Day Excursion to Aegina — Mediterranean Diet Workshop
Academic day excursion to Aegina including a Mediterranean diet workshop, connecting lifestyle, prevention, and health economics within the broader academic experience in Greece.
Three-Day Academic Excursion
Three-day academic excursion examining health and medicine — visiting sites such as Nafplio, Epidaurus, or Delphi.
Site Visit: Pharmaceutical or Health Policy Organization
Students take part in a structured policy debate on healthcare resource allocation, examining the challenges involved in allocating limited healthcare resources. The course also includes a supervised site visit to a pharmaceutical or health policy organization, giving students the opportunity to engage with a real-world institutional setting.
Policy Brief Presentations
Final presentations of student Policy Briefs — recommending whether a healthcare system should reimburse a new pharmaceutical intervention, synthesizing clinical evidence, economic evaluation, and policy considerations.
Meet the Faculty
Learn from an expert practitioner in data analytics and health economics, embedded in the Greek academic and research landscape.
Theoktisti Ntoumani, MSc
Data Analyst & Health Economics Faculty — HCISR
Theoktisti Ntoumani is a data analytics professional with over a decade of experience in European, international, and national projects across both the private and nonprofit sectors. She specializes in advanced data-driven methodologies, predictive modeling, and computational approaches. MSc in Data Analytics; extensive experience in EU, ESA, EDIDP, IOM, UNHCR, and UNICEF-funded projects.
Course Details
- Course Code: HCISR_ECONPUBH 340_01012026
- Course Title: Valuing Medicines: Drug Pricing and Healthcare Decisions
- Subject: Health Economics, Public Health Policy, Healthcare Decision Science
- Credits: 3 undergraduate credits
- Contact Hours: 40
- Term: Summer 2027
- Dates: May 24 – June 19, 2027
- Location: Athens, Greece (with field excursions to Aegina, Nafplio, Epidaurus, or Delphi)
- Format: On-site, field-based
- School of Record: Arcadia Abroad (Arcadia University | The College of Global Studies)
- On-site Provider: HCISR
Contact & Apply
This program is offered in partnership with Arcadia Abroad, the official School of Record, to support undergraduate students studying abroad in Athens.
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