Dictionary
The Dictionary provides concise definitions of health economics terms, arranged alphabetically for quick reference. Use it to understand unfamiliar terminology or confirm the meaning of a specific term.
B
- BioethicsTermHealth Care Ethics, Medical Ethics
- In health economics, the study of ethical issues in health care, research and resource allocation, providing the normative grounding for priority setting and rationing.
C
- Cost-Effectiveness League TableTermCE League Table, ICER League Table
- A ranked list comparing incremental cost-effectiveness ratios across many separate studies, intended to help prioritise resource allocation across a health system.
E
- Economic PolicyConceptEconomic Governance, Fiscal and Allocation Policy
- A set of governmental choices affecting resource allocation, incentives, financing and economic activity.
H
- Health GovernanceTermHealth Sector Governance, Health Stewardship
- The processes and structures through which decisions about health policy, resource allocation, and service delivery are made and held accountable.
I
- Integer Programming HealthConceptInteger Optimisation, Discrete Optimisation
- An optimisation technique for resource allocation problems where decision variables must take whole-number values, such as the number of clinics to open.
L
- League Table ConstructionTermICER Ranking, League Table Assembly
- The process of assembling and ranking incremental cost-effectiveness ratios from multiple separate studies into a single comparative table to guide resource allocation.
- Linear Programming HealthConceptHealth LP, Health Resource Optimisation
- An optimisation technique identifying the resource allocation that maximises or minimises a linear objective subject to linear constraints, such as a fixed budget.
M
- Marginal AnalysisConceptAnalysis at the Margin, Incremental Reasoning
- An approach to resource allocation examining the additional cost and benefit of small changes in an activity's level, rather than its total cost and benefit.
O
- OptimisationTermOptimization, Objective Maximisation
- In health economics, the selection of the resource allocation or treatment decision that maximises health outcomes or net benefit subject to budget and capacity constraints, applied in decision-analytic modelling and priority setting.
P
- Pareto ImprovementConceptPareto-Improving Change, Welfare-Increasing Move
- A change in resource allocation that makes at least one individual better off without making any other individual worse off.
- Policy HTA UnitTermGovernment HTA Unit, Ministry-Level HTA Unit
- A function translating individual technology assessment findings into broader health policy, such as national treatment guidelines or resource allocation frameworks.
- Priority RankingTermPrioritisation Ranking, Ranked Priority List
- The process of ordering competing programmes or technologies by relative value or urgency, guiding resource allocation within a fixed budget.
R
- RationingTermCare Limitation, Scarce-Resource Allocation
- The deliberate limiting of access to healthcare due to resource scarcity, occurring in some form within every health system.
- Resource AllocationTermResource Distribution, Resource Apportionment
- The process of distributing limited health system resources across competing uses to maximise health outcomes or other policy objectives.