Prof. Stefan Boes, PhD
Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine
Professor of Health Economics
Director Center for Health, Policy and Economics (CHPE)
T +41 41 229 59 49 • Alpenquai 4, Room 10 • stefan.boes @ unilu.ch
CV
Stefan Boes is a Professor of Health Economics at the University of Lucerne and Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine. He leads the development of the undergraduate and graduate programs in health sciences at the University of Lucerne and is the Director of the Center for Health, Policy, and Economics (CHPE). Before coming to Lucerne, he was an Assistant Professor of Econometrics at the University of Bern and a Lecturer in Statistics and Econometrics at the University of Zurich. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Zurich and an M.Sc. in Economics from the University of Konstanz. During two post-doc fellowships, he visited the IQSS at Harvard University and the economics departments at Princeton University and MIT, and he was a visiting researcher at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the University of Münster.
Research
Prof. Boes' research focuses on topics in applied health economics, econometrics, and policy evaluation. He is particularly interested in studying health-related behaviors and decisions, including health insurance choices, optimal system design, inequalities in health and related outcomes, the interaction between education and health, and the health and social impacts of health interventions in developing countries. More recently, he also started working on topics related to evidence-informed policy-making, including information infrastructures for learning health systems and the potential of human-centered artificial intelligence for value-based health care. His research applies modern quantitative methods, including machine learning techniques in design-based approaches for causal inference, and he is developing new econometric models for health and related outcomes. He has published his research in international peer-reviewed journals in economics and public health and has acquired substantial research funding from national and international funding agencies.
Projects
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Extending Health Equity Principles in Learning Health System Research Training
2023– -
Institutionalizing Knowledge Translation for Evidence-Informed Health Policy Making: A Systematic Review
2023– -
Integrating Knowledge Translation: A Swiss Learning Health System Approach to Bridging Research and Health System Improvement
2023– -
Understanding the Role of Knowledge Translation in Evidence-Informed Health Policy Making
2023–
Publications
- Gutierrez, A. C. Q., & Boes, S. (2024). Bridging the gap: Experimental evidence on information provision and health insurance choices. Health Economics. https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.4820
- Do individuals with better health insurance system knowledge make better decisions about their health plans? (2024). Applied Economics, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10470759
- Less is More: Consumers’ Preferences for Value-Based Insurance Design – Evidence from a Discrete Choice Experiment. (2024). Health Economics.
- Opioid prescriptions after knee replacement: a retrospective study of pathways and prognostic factors in the Swiss healthcare setting. (2023). BMJ Open, 13 (3). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10471209
- Initial prescriptions and medication switches of biological products: an analysis of prescription pathways and determinants in the Swiss healthcare setting. (2023). BMJ Open, 13 (11). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10471211
- Are Consumers’ Preferences for Value-Based Insurance Design Susceptible to Framing? Evidence from an Information Experiment. (2023). Value in Health.
- Wehrli, D., Gilljam, H., Koh, D. M., Boes, S., Hartmann, M., Roser, K., … Gutzeit, A. (2023). Smoking trends and health equity in Switzerland between 1992 and 2017: dependence of smoking prevalence on educational level and social determinants. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 14, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10365581
- Havranek, M. M., Ondrej, J., Widmer, P. K., Bollmann, S., Spika, S., & Boes, S. (2023). Using exogenous organizational and regional hospital attributes to explain differences in case-mix adjusted hospital costs. Health Economics, 8, 1733–1748. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10471152
- Wettstein, D. J., & Boes, S. (2022). How value-based policy interventions influence price negotiations for new medicines: An experimental approach and initial evidence. Health Policy, 2, 112–121. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthpol.2021.12.007
- Havranek, M. M., Ondrej, J., Bollmann, S., Widmer, P. K., Spika, S., & Boes, S. (2022). Identification and assessment of a comprehensive set of structural factors associated with hospital costs in Switzerland. PLOS ONE, 2. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0264212
- Liu, Y., & Boes, S. (2022). On the Relative Importance of Different Factors Explaining Health Plan Choices: Evidence From Mandatory Health Insurance in Switzerland. Frontiers in Health Services. Retrieved from https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frhs.2022.847486
- Assessing social preferences in reimbursement negotiations for new Pharmaceuticals in Oncology: an experimental design to analyse willingness to pay and willingness to accept. (2021). BMC health services research, 21 (1), 234 ff. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-021-06231-8
- Potentially inappropriate medications and medication combinations before, during and after hospitalizations: an analysis of pathways and determinants in the Swiss healthcare setting. (2021). BMC health services research, 21 (1), 522 ff. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-021-06550-w
- Tzogiou, C., Boes, S., & Brunner, B. (2021). What explains the inequalities in health care utilization between immigrants and non-migrants in Switzerland? BMC Public Health, 21 (1), 530 ff. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-10393-9
- Boes, S., & Napierala, C. (2021). Assessment of the introduction of DRG-based reimbursement in Switzerland: Evidence on the short-term effects on length of stay compliance in university hospitals. Health Policy, 6, 739–750. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthpol.2021.01.010
- Hwang, A. B., Schuepfer, G., Pietrini, M., & Boes, S. (2021). External validation of EPIC’s Risk of Unplanned Readmission model, the LACE+ index and SQLape as predictors of unplanned hospital readmissions: A monocentric, retrospective, diagnostic cohort study in Switzerland. PLOS ONE, 11. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258338
- Boes, S., Sabariego, C., Bickenbach, J., & Stucki, G. (2021). How to capture the individual and societal impacts of syndemics: the lived experience of COVID-19. BMJ Global Health.
- Vaidya, S., & Boes, S. (2021). Strategies to mitigate inequity within mandatory health insurance systems: A systematic review. World Medical & Health Policy, 2, 272–292. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/wmh3.446
- The European multistakeholder PanCareFollowUp project: novel, person-centred survivorship care to improve care quality, effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and accessibility for cancer survivors and caregivers. (2021). European journal of cancer (Oxford, England : 1990), 153. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5081795
- Müller, T., & Boes, S. (2020). Disability insurance benefits and labor supply decisions: evidence from a discontinuity in benefit awards. Empirical Economics, 58 (5), 2513–2544. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00181-018-1587-4
- Wettstein, D. J., & Boes, S. (2019). Effectiveness of National Pricing Policies for Patent-Protected Pharmaceuticals in the OECD: A Systematic Literature Review. Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, 17 (2), 143–162. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40258-018-0437-z
- Hwang, A. B., Boes, S., Nyffeler, T., & Schuepfer, G. (2019). Validity of screening instruments for the detection of dementia and mild cognitive impairment in hospital inpatients: A systematic review of diagnostic accuracy studies. PLOS ONE, 7 (14). Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0219569
- Meier, C., Boes, S., Gemperli, A., Gmünder, H. P., Koligi, K., Metzger, S., … Scheel-Sailer, A. (2019). Treatment and cost of pressure injury stages III or IV in four patients with spinal cord injury – the Basel Decubitus Concept. Spinal Cord Series and Cases.
- Vaidya, S., & Boes, S. (2018). Measuring quality of life in children with spinal muscular atrophy: a systematic literature review. Quality of Life Research, 27 (12), 3087–3094. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-018-1945-x
- Kaufmann, C., Müller, T., Hefti, A., & Boes, S. (2018). Does personalized information improve health plan choices when individuals are distracted? Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 197–214. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2018.03.013
- Almer, C., Boes, S., & Nüesch, S. (2017). Adjustments in the housing market after an environmental shock: Evidence from a large-scale change in aircraft noise exposure. Oxford Economic Papers, 69 (4), 918 ff. https://doi.org/10.1093/oep/gpw071
- Challenges and potential improvements in the admission process of patients with spinal cord injury in a specialized rehabilitation clinic - an interview based qualitative study of an interdisciplinary team. (2017). BMC Health Services Research, (17 (1)), 443.
- Vaidya, S., Hibbert, C. L., Kinter, E., & Boes, S. (2017). Identification of Key Cost Generating Events for Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis: A Systematic Review. Lung, 195 (1), 1 ff. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00408-016-9960-6
- Vaidya, S., Hibbert, C. L., Kinter, E., & Boes, S. (2017). Identification of Key Cost Generating Events for Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis: A Systematic Review. Lung, 195 (1), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00408-016-9960-6
- Napierala, C., & Boes, S. (2017). Is the timing of radiological intervention and treatment day associated with economic outcomes in DRG-financed health care systems: a case study. BMC health services research, 17 (1), 168 ff. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-017-2055-0
- Boes, S., & Napierala, C. (2017). Fehlanreize bei den Ärzten beseitigen. Die Volkswirtschaft, 3.
- Kaufmann, C., Schmid, C., & Boes, S. (2017). Health insurance subsidies and deductible choice: Evidence from regional variation in subsidy schemes. Journal of Health Economics, 55, 262–273. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhealeco.2017.08.002
- Boes, S., Brach, M., Kaufmann, C., Mantwill, S., Rubinelli, S., & Stucki, G. (2017). Swiss Learning Health System – Eine nationale Infrastruktur für ein lernendes Gesundheitssystem. Schweizerischen Ärztezeitung, 1264 ff.
- Boes, S., & Gerfin, M. (2016). Does Full Insurance Increase the Demand for Health Care? Health Economics (United Kingdom), 25 (11), 1483–1496. https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.3266
- Thurneysen, N., Plank, T., & Boes, S. (2016). Analysis of costs and benefits of a re-accreditation of a Swiss acute care hospital. Safety in Health, 1, 2 ff. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40886-016-0013-x
- Marti, A., Boes, S., Lay, V., Reuben Escorpizo, P. T., & Trezzini, B. (2016). The association between chronological age, age at injury and employment: Is there a mediating effect of secondary health conditions. Spinal Cord, 3, 239–244. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/sc.2015.159
- Boes, S., & Kaufmann, C. (2016). Ungleichheiten im Gesundheitsverhalten der Schweizer Bevölkerung. SuchtMagazin, 39–43.
Achievements
- Swiss Learning Health System (SLHS): A National Initiative to Support Evidence Uptake in Policy and Practice. (Panel) contribution, HMS SQIL Leadership Program, Harvard University, Cambridge, 2023
- The Impact of Premium Subsidies on Health Plan Choices and Health Care Demand: Evidence from a System Change in Switzerland. Poster, New Heights in Health Economics, iHEA, Basel, 2019
- A test of different behavioral theories in determining health plan choices. Lecture, iHEA World Congress, iHEA, Basel, 2019
- Premium subsidies and health insurance choice. Lecture, iHEA World Congress, iHEA, Basel, 2019
- What explains the inequalities in healthcare use between immigrants and natives in Switzerland? Lecture, iHEA World Congress, International Health Economics Association (iHEA), Basel, 2019
- Establishing a Swiss Learning Health System – A Project Protocol. Poster, Swiss Public Health Conference 2017, Public Health Schweiz, Basel, 2017
- Health Policy, 2024
- BMC Health Services Research, 2021
- Health Economics, 2021
- Inquiry, 2021
- Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 2021
- Journal of Health Economics, 2021
- Swiss Journal of Health Economics, 2021
- Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 2021
- Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, 2021
- American Journal of Health Economics, 2021
- European Journal of Health Economics, 2021
- Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, 2021
- Health Services Research, 2019
- American Journal of Health Economics, 2019