Profile

Biography

Richard Cookson is a Reader at the Centre for Health Economics.   

Richard has research interests in equity in health and health care, the measurement of health and wellbeing, public health, competition, and pay for performance.  Most of his research involves applied econometric analysis of large datasets, but he also draws upon methods from cost-effectiveness analysis, behavioural economics and economics and philosophy.

Richard is currently serving as a member of the economics sub-group on the World Health Organisation European Region’s review of social determinants and the health divide across Europe, led by Sir Michael Marmot.  He went on secondment to the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit in the Treasury in early 2010, serving as principal analyst for health, employment and social exclusion.  He has served on two standing advisory committees of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE): the Technology Appraisal Committee (2002-7) and the Public Health Interventions Advisory Committee (2007-9).  He helped to set up the UK Health Equity Network in 1999, with support from the Nuffield Trust, Kings Fund and ESRC.  In 2010 he organised a Health Strategy Forum to help senior health executives improve quality and productivity by making better use of management data and research evidence.

Richard holds a BA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics and a DPhil in Economics from the University of York, and an MPhil in Economics from the University of Oxford.  After completing his doctorate, he worked at the Centre for Health Economics (1997-8), the London School of Economics LSE Health and Social Care (1998-00), the University of East Anglia School of Medicine, Health Policy and Practice (2000-6) and the University of York Department of Social Policy and Social Work (2006-10).

Research

Overview

• equity in health and health care, the measurement of health and wellbeing, public health, competition, pay for performance

Research group(s)

• Economic evaluation of health technologies
• Health Policy Team

Grants

Current grants

• A project mapping hospital utilisation and outcomes in six European Union countries (“ECHO” – European Collaboration for Healthcare Optimization), funded by the EU for 4 years from January 2011.  The overall project is led by Enrique Bernal-Delgado, Institute for Health Sciences in Aragon, Spain, and the UK component is led by Dr Karen Bloor, University of York Department of Health Sciences, with advisory and project management input from Richard Cookson.
• Identifying appropriate methods to incorporate concerns about health inequalities into economic evaluations of health care, funded by the Department of Health Public Health Research Consortium for 2 years from April 2012.  This project is led by Professor Mark Sculpher, Centre for Health Economics, with advisory and project management input from Susan Griffin and Richard Cookson.

Recent grants

• Richard recently completed a major project on the effects of the Blair/Brown NHS reforms on health care equity, funded by the NIHR SDO programme from 2007-10.  This developed methods for measuring year-on-year change in health care equity using small area administrative data, and for identifying the equity effects of hospital competition and other geographically varying policy variables. Further information about this project can be found here.

Supervision

PhD students currently supervised by Richard Cookson:

• Yeunsook Rho, “Healthcare marketization and equity in Korea”, 2009-
• Ricardo Rodrigues, “User choice in markets for long-term care” (jointly supervised with Caroline Glendinning from the Social Policy Research Unit)
• Estela Capelas Barbosa, “Health equity and the Brazilian national health system”, 2011- (funded by DERS Departmental Teaching Fellowship)
• Laetitia Schmitt, “Cost effectiveness analysis and distributional analysis of the Indian government’s actions to tackle sewage pollution in rivers” (funded by ESRC DTC Studentship from DERS)

Publications

Full publications list

Forthcoming

• Cookson R, Dawson D. Hospital competition and patient choice in publicly funded health care. In: Jones AM, editor. The Elgar Companion to Health Economics (2 ^nd Edition) Cheltenham: Edward Elgar; forthcoming.
• Cookson R, Nord E. Incorporating concern for fairness into economic evaluation of health programs: overview. In: Elsevier On-line Encyclopaedia of Health Economics; forthcoming.
• Laudicella M, Siciliani L, Cookson R. Waiting times and socioeconomic status: evidence from England. Social Science and Medicine.;In Press.

2012

• Cookson R, Laudicella M, Li Donni P, Dusheiko M. Effects of the Blair/Brown health reforms on socioeconomic equity in health care. Journal of Health Services Research and Policy 2012;17(Suppl1):55-63.
• Fleetcroft R, Steel N, Cookson R, Walker S, Howe A. Incentive payments are not related to expected health gain in the pay for performance scheme for UK primary care: cross-sectional analysis. BMC Health Services Research 2012;12(94). Download from biomedcentral

2011

• Cookson R. The tough test for the NHS isn’t cost but care. Parliamentary Brief  2011;13(6). 
• Cookson R, Laudicella M. Effects of Health Reform on Health Care Inequalities - Final Report. NIHR SDO Programme - London. Download from NIHR
• Cookson R, Laudicella M. Do the poor cost substantially more? The relationship between small area income deprivation and length of stay for elective hip replacement in the English NHS from 2001/2 to 2007/8. Social Science and Medicine 2011;72:173-84. Download from sciencedirect
• Cookson R, Laudicella M, Li Donni P. Does hospital competition harm equity? evidence from the English National Health Service. Centre for Health Economics, University of York; CHE Research Paper 66 (PDF , 459kb) 2011.
• Cookson R, Laudicella M, Li Donni P. Measuring change in health care equity using small area administrative data - evidence from the English NHS 2001-8. Centre for Health Economics, University of York; CHE Research Paper 67 (PDF , 378kb) 2011.
• Fleetcroft R, Cookson R, Steel N, Howe A. Correlation between prescribing quality and pharmaceutical costs in English primary care: national cross-sectional analysis. British Journal of General Practice 2011;61:554-55.
• Shah K, Cookson R, Culyer AJ, Littlejohns P. Nice's social value judgements about equity in health and health care. Centre for Health Economics, University of York; CHE Research Paper 70 (PDF , 419kb) 2011.

2010

• Cookson, R. What is Mr Lansley up to? Parliamentary Brief, 28 October 2010.
• Cookson R, Culyer AJ. Measuring overall population health – the use and abuse of QALYs (PDF , 461kb) . In: Killoran A, Kelly M, editors. Evidence based public health: effectiveness and efficiency. Oxford. Oxford University Press;2010.p.148-68.
• Cookson R, Dusheiko M, Hardman G, Martin S. Competition and inequality: evidence from the English national health service 1991-2001. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 2010;20 i181-i205. Download from Oxford Journals
• Cookson R, Laudicella M, Li Donni P. Trends in socio-economic inequality in health care in the English NHS: analysis of national administrative data at small area level. 2009. Paper presented to the Health Economists Study Group Meeting, London, January 2010.
• Cookson R, Laudicella M, Li Donni P. Did increased competition undermine socio-economic equity in hospital care in the English National Health Service from 2003 to 2008?  Panel analysis of small area administrative data.  Paper presented to the Health Economists Study Group Meeting, York, January 2011.
• Fleetcroft R, Parekh- Bhurke S, Howe A, Cookson R, Swift L, Steel N.  The UK pay-for-performance programme in primary care: estimation of population mortality reduction in England.  British Journal of General Practice 2010;60(578):e345-52. Download from ingentaconnect
• Laudicella M, Siciliani L, Cookson R. Waiting times and socioeconomic status: evidence from England. University of York: HEDG working paper 10/05; 2010. 
• Oliver A, Cookson R. Analysing risk attitudes to time. Health Economics 2010;19:644–655. Download from Wiley
• Walker S, Mason A, Claxton K, Cookson R, Fenwick E, Fleetcroft R, Sculpher M. Value for money and the quality and outcomes framework in primary care in the NHS. British Journal of General Practice 2010;60(574):213-20. Download from ingentaconnect

2009

• Cookson R. Book review: Reforming medicare: options, tradeoffs and opportunities - by Aaron HJ and Lambrew JM.  International Journal of Social Welfare 2009;18(2):118. Download from Wiley
• Cookson R. Relative income and income inequality effects on health and happiness. 2009. Paper presented to the DH-LSE health inequalities forum on 17 December 2009.
• Cookson R, Drummond M, Weatherly H. Explicit incorporation of equity considerations into economic evaluation of public health interventions. Health Economics Policy and Law 2009;4:231-45. Download from Cambridge journals
• Cookson R, Drummond M, Weatherly H. Explicit incorporation of equity considerations into economic evaluation of public health interventions. Reply to Richardson and Shiell. Health Economics Policy and Law 2009;4(2):261-63. Download from Cambridge journals
• Laudicella M, Cookson R, Jones AM, Rice N. Health care deprivation profiles in the measurement of inequality and inequity: an application to GP fundholding in the English NHS. Journal of Health Economics 2009;28(6):1048-61. Download from Sciencedirect
• Weatherly H, Drummond M, Claxton K, Cookson R, Ferguson B, Godfrey C, Rice N, Sculpher M, Sowden A. Methods for assessing the cost-effectiveness of public health interventions: key challenges and recommendations. Health Policy 2009;93:85-92. Download from elsevierhealth

2008

• Ali S, Cookson R, Ensor T, Iftekher-Hossain M. Measuring the impact of voluntary health insurance on equity in the distribution of out of pocket health care expenditure – a case study of Vietnam. 2008. Paper presented to the European Health Economics Association Conference, July 2008.
• Cookson R. (Head to Head). Should disadvantaged people be paid to take care of their health? Yes.  British Medical Journal 2008;337:589. Download from BMJ
• Cookson R, Dorman P. Lessons from the literature on valuing reductions in physical risk (PDF , 378kb) . Institute for Work & Health Working Paper #342, 2008. Toronto: Institute for Work & Health.
• Cookson R, Dorman P. Lessons from the literature on valuing safety. in Tompa E, Culyer A, Dolinschi R (eds) Economic evaluation of interventions for occupational health and safety - developing good practice. 2008. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
• Cookson R, Tsuchiya A, McCabe C. Public resource allocation and the rule of rescue. Journal of Medical Ethics 2008;34(7):540-544. Download from BMJ journals
• Fleetcroft R, Steele N, Cookson R, Howe A. Mind the gap! evaluation of the performance gap attributable to exception reporting and target thresholds in the new GMS contract: national database analysis. BMC Health Services Research 2008;8:131.

2007

•  Ali S, Cookson R, Ensor T, Iftekher-Hossain M. Measuring the impact of voluntary health insurance with simultaneous correction for care-seeking and insurance self-selection – a case study of Vietnam. 2007. Paper presented to the Health Economists Study Group Meeting, January 2008.
• Cookson R, Dusheiko M, Hardman G. Socio-economic inequality in small area use of elective total hip replacement in the English NHS in 1991 and 2001. Journal of Health Services Research and Policy 2007;12 suppl:10-17. Download from rsmjournals
• Cookson R, McCabe C, Tsuchiya A. Public health care resource allocation and the rule of rescue.  Health Economics and Decision Science Discussion Paper Series No.07/04, University of Sheffield, 2007.
• Laudicella M, Cookson R, Jones A, Rice N. Health care deprivation profiles in the measurement of inequality and inequity: an application to GP fundholding in the English NHS.  HEDG Working Paper 07/28, University of York, 2007. 

2006

• Cookson R, Dawson D. Hospital competition and patient choice in publicly funded health care (PDF , 122kb) . In: Jones AM, editor. The Elgar companion to health economics. Part IV, Chapter 20. Cheltenham:Edward Elgar;2006.
• Cookson R, Dusheiko M, Hardman G. Socio-economic inequality in small area use of elective total hip replacement in the English NHS in 1991 and 2001. Centre for Health Economics, University of York; CHE Research Paper 15 (PDF , 619kb) 2006.
• Fleetcroft R, Cookson R. Do incentive payments in the new NHS contract for primary care reflect likely population health gains? Journal of Health Services Research and Policy 2006;11:27-31. Download from rsmjournals
• Fleetcroft R, Cookson R. The relationship between prescribing expenditure and quality in primary care: an observational study. British Journal of General Practice 2006;56(529):613-619. Download from ingentaconnect
• Williams A, Cookson R. Equity-efficiency trade-offs in health technology assessment. International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care 2006;22(1):1-9. Download from cambridgejournals

2005

• Cookson R. Evidence based policy making in health care: what it is and what is isn't. Journal of Health Services Research and Policy 2005;10:118-21. Download from rsmjournals
• Cookson R. QALYs and the capability approach. Health Economics 2005;14:817-29. Download from Wiley
• Cookson R. QALYs and capabilities: response to Anand. Health Economics 2005;14(12):1287-1289. Download from Wiley
• Cookson R. Book review: Public health, ethics and equity by Sudhir Anand, Fabienne Peter and Amartya Sen Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2004. Health Economics 2005;14:1085-1086.
• Cookson R, Flood C, Koo B, Mahon D, Rhodes M. Short term cost-effectiveness and long term cost analysis comparing laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication versus proton-pump inhibitor maintenance for gastro-oesophageal reflux disease. British Journal of Surgery 2005;92:700-06. Download from bjs
• Cookson R, Goddard M, Gravelle H. Regulating health care markets. In: Smith PC, Ginnelly L, Sculpher M, editors. Health policy and economics: opportunities and challenges. Maidenhead:Open University Press;2005.p.121-47.
• Fleetcroft R, Cookson R. Do the incentive payments in the new NHS contract for primary care reflect likely populaiton health gains? Centre for Health Economics, University of York; CHE Research Paper 3 (PDF , 108kb) , 2005.