The Research Center

Our healthcare system is subject to constant change – characterized by demographic developments and the continuous improvement of medical services. To meet the challenges of healthcare provision, over 90 scientists are now researching solutions to current and future issues at the Hamburg Center for Health Economics (HCHE). Our goal is to develop a complex and comprehensive picture of important topics of health economics and health care management.

As a joint center of the University of Hamburg and the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), the HCHE integrates economic and social science, competencies as well as comprehensive medical expertise. A unique feature of the center is its highly interdisciplinary set-up, a result of the integration of physicians and economists. Founded in 2011, the HCHE has already become one of the largest institutions for health economics research in Europe. From 2012 to 2021 the center received funding by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) for its further expansion. Since 2023, the HCHE's own DFG Research Training Group "Managerial and economic dimensions of health care quality" has been researching cause-effect relationships in order to improve the management of quality in the healthcare system.