The demographic aging of a society has far-reaching consequences for the providers of in- and outpatient health-care services. Research in this module covers three areas:

Health Service Research

In this research area we analyze the medical inpatient and outpatient infrastructure in Upper Austria in light of the expected increase in non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes, mental disorders, and diseases of the heart and circulatory system. Acute myocardial infarction is one example where intensive diagnostic and treatment procedures are available and healthcare providers seek to understand how to organize health-care of patients effectively.

Health Prevention

“Prevention is better than cure” is a popular saying to advertise programs on disease prevention and healthy behavior. Ideally, such policies create a win-win scenario: Better health for the individual and lower costs for the society or health-care providers. In this research area we are interested in the determinants of healthy behavior and explore potential effects on health and health-care costs.

Economic epidemiology

How do socio-economic and demographic characteristics influence health and the utilization of health-care services? While studying the effects of age or the labor market status on health is interesting from an individual perspective, an understanding of these interactions is even more important in the aggregate view in light of the ongoing demographic changes in the population and the labor force.