Economic evaluation of Medical Innovation Research unit (EMIR)

The Economic evaluation of Medical Innovation Research unit (EMIR) is an interfaculty unit, resulted from collaboration between HEC-School of Management of the University of Liège (department of economics) and the Faculty of Medicine (department of epidemiology, public health and health economics). Created in 2009, the unit is an integral part of the "Economic Analysis and Public Governance" centre of excellence of HEC-ULg. 

The research unit aims to evaluate the economic value of innovative medical technologies in order to help public and private decision makers to efficiently allocate scarce health resources. The multidisciplinary team provides services, analyses and expertise for several academic, public and private partners, from Belgium and abroad

Economic evaluation has become increasingly important to inform decision makers about how to allocate scarce resources, especially with the increasing health care expenditures, the rapid introduction of new medical technologies, and the extending role of economic evaluations in health care decision making. Medical innovations are nowadays introduced and diffused in a controlled manner, and have to respond to economic criteria.

The activities of EMIR attempt to respond to the increasing need of expertise in economic evaluation of health care. The Unit's research activities aims to help public and private decision makers to efficiently allocate scarce health resources, by estimating the relative efficiency of therapeutic and diagnostic interventions (e.g. cost-effectiveness analyses) and by using more innovative methods (e.g. discrete choices experiments, risk-sharing models). The unit also contributes to the advancement, promotion and understanding of health economic evaluation by methodological researches in the field, by publishing and disseminating research results, by University courses, by participating and conducting seminars or conferences, or by accompanying Master and PhD students’ research.