The prospects for health economists are good at the moment. This is partly due to the fact that there is such a wide range of opportunities in the field and there is not always a plentiful supply of qualified applicants. There are potentially positions available at any given time in hospitals, research posts, universities, health insurance corporations, pharmaceutical companies, governmental bodies and even international organisations. So, whatever your particular skills and expertise there could be several routes forward for boosting your career, including moving into a slightly different field within health economics.
Private Sector
Opportunities here include roles in private health insurance companies and biotechnology suppliers, among many others. The commercial sector is always keen to find skilled health economists to maximise their profits by increasing their business efficiency and optimising their marketing strategies. The business sector tends to provide some of the highest salaries, sometimes surpassing those of doctors.
Public Sector
This can also provide many opportunities, even in times of recession, as the NHS needs to increase efficiencies even more than ever. Roles can include investigating and assessing health care policies or monitoring the quality and cost effectiveness of procedures and regulations. There are also jobs involving the evaluation of medical benefits and applications for specific services and products.
Research Sector
There are many important research fields that health economists are involved in, helping to understand exactly how health care services are applied and used at different levels of healthcare. This could be anything from analysing data for clinical trials relating to costs and health care infrastructure to investigating physician and patient relationships in terms of patient care and costs.
Consulting
You might decide that the broader scope of consultancy is more up your street. This job is more analytical, involving modelling and forecasting to improve existing structures. There may be an international dimension to a consulting role, which could involve examining and analysing macroeconomic regulations and how they affect different countries.
Finding the right role
With such a range of positions in a variety of fields within health economics it can be difficult to know which is the right direction to go to boost your career. For a specific professional field such as this you should ideally search for the roles offered by specialist recruitment sites on the internet, for example Health Economics Jobs from Proclinical. These sites can help you work out the most
suitable roles to apply for and where your skills would work best.
Training
If you choose to stay in your own specific field of healthcare economics, there are still routes forward. For instance, you could choose to undergo training in order to obtain further qualifications; this would enable you to go for higher-level positions. There are several forms of training available, from placements lasting a few months to 2-year study programmes such as Masters or Fellowships.