A health economics roundtable was held on September 11 to discuss what the major issues health economics and data analytics should be addressing in WA, how to promote and encourage an effective system-wide collaboration – including the better transfer of people and knowledge between sectors, and how can state and federal governments, along with other stakeholders, be involved in utilising digital technology, health economics and data analytics.
The roundtable was hosted by WAs leading health economists – Prof Suzanne Robinson and Prof Elizabeth Geelhoed – from our Western Australian Translation and Collaboration in Health Economics and was attended by some of Western Australia’s top health and medical people, along with university and industry representatives.
Across WA and nationally, there’s considerable need for health economics and data analytics expertise, both in government and industry. The roundtable was seeking comment on developing capability in uniting the toolkit of economics with the more nuanced picture which can be derived from large complex data. Western Australia is in a great position to do this; its long history of broad data linkage means there’s the potential to unpack what drives health expenditure and where there are opportunities for innovation and commercialisation of solutions. Currently, the pathways for bringing highly skilled individuals and commercially successful organisations into the area are limited, constraining capacity building in WA. The round table was also seeking comment on how to entice, and retain both organisations and specialists in health economics.
Health economics is a toolkit aimed to help answer WA’s health system challenges. It uses skills from medicine, statistics, economics, mathematics, psychology, public health, policy and ethics to give health professionals, managers, and policy makers the information they need. The combination of health economics and data analytics brings opportunities for industry partnerships between sectors in predictive analytics and real time data to drive sustainable health care. The combination of health economics and data analytics is an area of emerging strength in WA, but we are not yet in a position where we can realise the potential of the digital health revolution in health care, but the outlook is positive with the future capacity of the state.
If you’d like to find out more about Health Economics in Western Australia, visit WATCHE