Proposal for a formal organization of NHESG
Background
The NHESG was formed in 1979 by an initiative by Bengt Jönsson, then director of IHE in Lund, Sweden, who invited one representative from each of the four other Nordic countries to discuss and decide on having a yearly meeting among researchers who were interested in the economics of health care. The name and format of meetings decided upon was inspired by the UK‐based Health Economics Study Group which was formed mostly like a more or less closed private club of researchers with interest in health economics. The process was supported by, in particular, professor Allan Williams, University of York.
Since its first meeting in Frostavallen, Sweden, in 1980, the group has survived as a loose organization. The group meets once a year, and place and date for the following year’s meeting is decided upon during the business meeting of a given year, normally two days in around the 15th ‐ 20th of August. Until now, a fixed schedule of host countries has been used: Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Iceland (with Estonia substituting Finland at one occasion). A mailing list has usually been handed over for one year’s host to the next, although sometimes with missing information, or not at all due to legal rules, and the list has probably not been fully updated at any time. At some occasions the organizer has asked colleagues in other countries to contribute to updating the mailing list.
The group has adopted the procedural rules form the UK based sister organization HESG. Otherwise it has been up to the local organizers to make the arrangement, sometimes with a key note speaker, and sometimes with an extra day with a workshop for PhD students, or a health econometrics workshop. At few occasions, the group has had its meeting in collaboration with others (HESG or the European association, ECHE).
Each meeting is self‐financing through a conference fee. Most often, the organizer handles the administration of the conference.
Problems with the existing organization
To some extent, this has worked well. With increasing interest and with increasing number of participants, there are also some problems associated with this loose organization.
A mailing list cannot legally be kept and handed over from year to year, or – if handed over ‐ there is a risk of the list not being up‐dated.
Interested health economists have no direct information on how to get access to the meetings as the organization has no official web site.
The new Nordic Journal for Health Economics needs a support from a formal group, for instance when applying for funding
The group needs a formal representation in the European Group (ECHE) or iHEA (International Health Economics Association) when these associations ask local organizations for their opinion or advice.
There is no means of communication within the group, for example about PhD courses and new jobs.
Proposal
To address these problems, we propose that the group takes steps to make a formal organization with a formal membership, a formal spokesperson, and a website. In addition we need to state our purpose.
NHESG
In general, NHESG is an academic organization oriented toward the health economic branch of economics. The purpose is to serve as a forum for bringing together different individuals who are working in the area, to further the continuous development of health economics as a sub‐discipline of economics, and to set standards for excellent research.
The spokesperson
The spokesperson is elected each year at the business meeting and serves one year. A spokesperson can be reelected. The spokesperson should take initiatives to secure the further development of NHESG. The spokesperson should be NHESG’s respresentative the outer world, such as ECHE, iHEA and public authorities.
Membership
Membership should be offered to all interested in academia, administration or industry who are working on some aspects of health economics. The spokeperson is responsible for keeping an updated membership list which will also serve as a mailing list for upcoming meetings and information about, e.g. Ph.D. courses and new jobs. Membership is free. Costs of running the membership list and website is expected to be kept at a low level and covered by the host institution.
Web site
The spokesperson is responsible for establishing and running a home page with information about NHESG and upcoming events.
List of health economics societies (from iHEA)
American Society of Health Economists (ASHEcon)
Asociacion de Economia de la Salud Latinoamerica y Caribe (AES LAC)
Australian Health Economics Society (AHES)
China Health Economics Association (CHEA)
Collège des Economistes de la Santé (CES)
Colombian Health Economics Association (ACOES)
Croatian Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Health Economics (CSPHE)
Finnish Society for Health Economics (TTTS)
German Association of Health Economics (DGGOE)
Health Economics Study Group (HESG)
Indian Health Economics and Policy Association (IHEPA)
Italian Association of Health Economics (AIES)
Japan Health Economics Association (JHEA)
Nepal Health Economics Association (NHEA)
Portuguese Health Economics Association (APES)
Spanish Health Economics Association (AES)
Swedish Health Economics Association (SHEA)
Swiss Association for Health Economics (SAG)
Taiwan Society of Health Economics (TaiSHE)
Turkish Health Economics and Policy Association (THEPA)
Vietnam Health Economics Association (VHEA)