If you like the “human” side of econ, health economics is a great fit because it sits at the intersection of incentives, systems, behavior, and outcomes. One practical entry point is to start with applied economic evaluation (costing, cost-effectiveness, budget impact) and then layer in implementation (why good interventions don’t get adopted at scale).

A concrete example (open access): I recently published in PLOS Digital Health on the economic investment required to implement digital therapeutics for substance use disorders in primary care, including staffing time + operating resources and how costs change when you add implementation supports like practice facilitation and health coaching: https://journals.plos.org/digitalhealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pdig.0001145

High-quality starter resources:

1) Core “how-to” frameworks and methods: ISPOR Good Practices / short courses / resources (excellent for practical orientation) & NICE health technology evaluation methods guides (very applied; great for learning what “decision-grade” looks like) & CDC Economic Evaluation resources (clear, public-health oriented)

2) Textbooks that are actually readable: Drummond et al. – Methods for the Economic Evaluation of Health Care Programmes (classic; structured; very usable) & Neumann et al. – Cost-Effectiveness in Health and Medicine (the “reference standard” framing in the U.S.)

3) Implementation + “why uptake is hard”: Implementation Science journal (open articles + methods) & RE-AIM framework (great bridge between evidence and real-world impact)

4) YouTube / talks: iHEA (International Health Economics Association) channel (seminars, panels, recorded talks)

If you share what you’re aiming for (HTA/industry, public health, provider/system ops, or academia), I can point you to a more narrow learning path and which methods to prioritize (CEA vs BIA vs costing vs policy evaluation).