About the Centre for Health Economics

As health systems grapple with financial pressures, compounded by a pandemic and its aftermath, research carried out in CHE looks set to remain central to decisions about where and how increasingly limited budgets are spent. CHE’s research relates to health systems in high-income settings like the UK, as well as those in low- and middle-income countries.

"Our job is not to make decisions but, rather, to provide the evidence and a way of thinking that helps policy-makers do a better job in allocating resources. Economics is not just about estimating the costs and benefits of a new drug, service or policy. In a world of defined budgets, it is also about quantifying the benefits other patients do not experience if limited resources are allocated elsewhere (opportunity costs). With an increased policy focus on equity, we can help policy makers understand the distribution of the benefits and opportunity costs. And as social scientists, we also seek to understand why resources are allocated as they are, and how incentives change behaviour in the health and care sector."

Professor Mark Sculpher, Head of Department for the Centre of Health Economics

Over nearly four decades, CHE has examined the economic case for drugs, technologies and treatments that have been made available for some of our most enduring health conditions including cancer, asthma and heart disease. 

We have studied the effectiveness of public health campaigns targeting smoking and alcohol, and examined waiting times, hospital efficiency, health system productivity, and the costs and benefits of many surgical techniques and interventions. These sorts of decisions have been made throughout the history of organised health systems, but it is better that they are made based on objective evidence and research, and that’s what CHE provides.  

Work carried out has included the development of the formula used for more than 20 years to allocate health resources equitably across the English NHS, a model which influenced the approach taken in countries such as Brazil and Finland.

CHE also contributed to the development of the quality adjusted life year (QALY), the gold standard measure of the quantity and quality of life, a concept which underpins assessments by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and other organisations internationally. The World Health Organisation (WHO) uses variations of the QALY measurement for planning health services around the globe.

The work of CHE was recognised in 2007 with the Queen’s Anniversary Prize. In 2018 CHE was named as one of the UK's 100 best breakthroughs for its significant impact on people's everyday lives by making healthcare systems fairer and more effective.

In 2019 CHE was granted an Athena SWAN Silver Award (PDF , 3,373kb), which recognises our commitment to good practice in recruiting and retaining female staff, and supporting the careers of women. CHE is a stimulating, collegiate and supportive place to work and study.

CHE has a team of over 70 economists who are in constant demand at events and conferences around the world and who regularly advise governments and policy makers both in the UK and abroad. A programme of short courses attracts people from all over the world to be trained in the methods developed by CHE researchers. 

In addition to health economists in CHE there are other health services researchers located elsewhere in the University of York, including the Department of Economics and Related Studies, the Department of Health Sciences, the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, the York Health Economics Consortium and the Hull York Medical School.