Dictionary

C

Clean ClaimTermComplete Claim, Error-Free Claim

A claim submitted with all required information correctly completed, allowing it to be processed and paid without needing further documentation.

Clinical AlertConceptClinical Warning, CDS Alert

A computerised notification within a health information system warning a clinician of a potential safety concern at the point of care.

Clinical AlgorithmTermClinical Decision Algorithm, Care Algorithm

A structured, step-by-step clinical decision pathway outlining recommended diagnostic or treatment steps for a condition, increasingly built into decision support systems.

Clinical Algorithm DevelopmentConceptCare-Pathway Authoring, Structured Pathway Creation

Clinical algorithm development is building a step-by-step diagnosis or treatment pathway from evidence review, consensus and often economic evaluation.

Clinical AnalyticsTermHealthcare Analytics, Clinical Data Analytics

The application of data analysis to clinical data, such as electronic health records, generating insights for decision-making or research.

Clinical AreaTermClinical Field, Medical Speciality Area

A defined category of medical practice or disease type, such as oncology, used to organise assessment activities and guideline development.

Clinical AuditTermPractice Audit, Care Audit

A systematic process reviewing actual clinical practice against established evidence-based standards, used to identify gaps and drive quality improvement.

Clinical BenefitTermTherapeutic Benefit, Patient Benefit

A favourable effect of an intervention on how a patient feels, functions or survives relative to an appropriate comparator.

Clinical Benefit CriterionTermClinical Benefit Standard, Benefit Threshold Criterion

A standard judging whether a treatment provides sufficient clinical benefit, absolute or relative, to warrant a positive funding recommendation.

Clinical Benefit RateConceptCBR

Clinical benefit rate (CBR) is the share of cancer trial patients with a complete or partial response, or stable disease lasting a set minimum time.

Clinical Decision AnalysisTermCDA, Clinical Decision Modelling

A decision analysis applied to a specific clinical choice, such as whether to treat, test, or observe a patient, making explicit the underlying probabilities and value judgements.

Clinical Decision SupportTermCDS, CDSS

A computerised system providing providers with patient-specific information and clinical knowledge, filtered and presented at appropriate times, to aid decisions.

Clinical Development PlanTermCDP, Development Programme

The strategic roadmap outlining the sequence of trials a company intends to run to support regulatory approval and subsequent health technology assessment.

Clinical Effectiveness ReviewTermClinical Evidence Review, Efficacy Review

A systematic evaluation of available clinical evidence regarding a technology's efficacy and safety, foundational to a broader assessment.

Clinical EfficiencyTermCare Efficiency, Clinical Resource Efficiency

A measure of how effectively clinical resources, such as physician time and testing, are used to achieve desired patient outcomes.

Clinical EndpointTermClinical Outcome Endpoint, Trial Endpoint

A specific, predefined outcome measure used to assess treatment effect in a trial, ranging from survival to a surrogate biomarker.

Clinical EpidemiologyTermClinical Epi, Patient-Oriented Epidemiology

A field applying epidemiological methods to clinical questions, such as diagnostic test accuracy, disease natural history, and treatment effectiveness in real-world populations.

Clinical EvidenceTermClinical Research Evidence, Medical Evidence

Data derived from clinical research, including trials and observational studies, used to establish an intervention's safety and efficacy or effectiveness.

Clinical Evidence RequirementsTermClinical Evidence Standards, Evidence Submission Requirements

The specific standards an assessment body sets regarding the type, quality, and completeness of clinical evidence a manufacturer must submit.

Clinical ExpertTermClinical Specialist, Subject Clinician

A practicing clinician with specialised experience treating a condition, invited to contribute professional perspective to an assessment process.

Clinical Expert ReviewTermClinical Validation Review, Clinician Review

A model validation stage in which practising clinicians examine a model's structure and assumptions to check they reflect real clinical practice.

Clinical Expert StatementTermClinical Expert Submission, Expert Clinical Testimony

A formal submission from a practising clinician on a technology under assessment, addressing its place in current practice and likely impact.

Clinical GuidelineConceptClinical Practice Guideline, Treatment Guideline

A systematically developed set of recommendations that uses reviewed evidence and explicit judgments to guide care for a defined population and setting.

Clinical Guideline HTATermGuideline Role in HTA, Guideline HTA Context

The specific role of clinical guidelines within the assessment process, providing context on standard of care and comparator selection.

Clinical IntegrationTermClinical Service Integration, Integrated Clinical Delivery

The degree to which providers coordinate clinical activities and share information for seamless care, distinct from financial or organisational integration alone.

Clinical MeaningfulnessTermClinical Importance, Clinical Significance

The degree to which a change in an outcome measure represents a genuinely important difference to patients, unlike a merely statistically detectable one.

Clinical OutcomeTermTreatment Outcome, Clinical Result

A measurement of how a patient feels, functions, or survives following an intervention, ranging from biomarker changes to overall survival.

Clinical Outcome AssessmentConceptCOA, Outcome Assessment

A general term for any measure of how a patient feels, functions, or survives, including patient, clinician, and observer-reported outcomes.

Clinical PathwayTermClinical Care Pathway, Care Map

A structured, multidisciplinary care plan detailing the anticipated sequence and timing of interventions for patients with a specific condition.

Clinical PlausibilityTermClinical Credibility, Clinical Realism

The degree to which a model's assumptions, structure, and results align with established clinical knowledge and expert judgement about the disease studied.

Clinical PracticeTermClinical Care, Medical Practice

In health economics, the delivery of care to patients by health professionals, the real-world setting whose effectiveness, costs and variation health economic evaluation seeks to inform.

Clinical Practice VariationTermPractice Variation, Care Variation

Differences in clinical decision-making and treatment intensity across physicians, hospitals, or regions treating clinically similar patients, unexplained by need or preference.

Clinical ResponseTermResponder Status, Response to Treatment

A measure of whether a patient has experienced a predefined, clinically meaningful improvement following treatment, often expressed as a responder proportion.

Clinical ReviewTermClinical Practice Review, Clinical Appraisal

An evaluation of the clinical evidence and practice patterns relevant to a technology or condition, typically part of a broader assessment.

Clinical StandardsTermClinical Care Standards, Care Quality Benchmark

The specific benchmarks established for evaluating the quality and appropriateness of clinical care delivered within a healthcare organisation.

Clinical TrialConceptClinical Study, Interventional Trial

A prospective research study in which participants receive one or more interventions to evaluate their effects on health-related outcomes.

Clinical Trial CostTermTrial Conduct Cost, Study Execution Cost

The total expense of designing, conducting, and analysing a clinical trial, a substantial component of the overall cost of bringing a treatment to market.

Clinical Trial DataTermTrial Data, RCT Data

Data collected within a clinical trial's structured framework, including detailed outcome, adverse event, and often resource use measurements, under controlled conditions.

Clinical Trial DesignTermRCT Design, Protocol Design

The structural and methodological plan for a trial, covering randomisation, comparator choice, and endpoint definition, shaping the evidence's suitability for economic modelling.

Clinical Trial Economics OncologyTermOncology Trial Economics, Cancer Trial Cost Analysis

The application of clinical trial cost analysis to oncology research, characterised by complex trial designs using biomarker-based selection and extended follow-up.

Clinical UtilityTermClinical Usefulness, Practical Utility

The degree to which using a test, biomarker, or intervention meaningfully improves patient outcomes in actual practice, beyond mere analytical accuracy.

Clinical Value MessageTermValue Message, Clinical Value Statement

A concise, evidence-based statement summarising a technology's key clinical benefits, developed to communicate value to clinicians and stakeholders.

Clinical WasteTermClinical Care Waste, Wasteful Clinical Spending

Healthcare resources expended on services providing little or no clinical benefit, distinct from administrative waste.

Clinician-Reported OutcomeTermClinRO, Observer Clinical Outcome

A clinical outcome based on a trained professional's observation or interpretation of a patient's signs or condition, unlike a patient-reported outcome.

Closed Loop SystemTermArtificial Pancreas, Automated Insulin Delivery

An automated diabetes technology that continuously monitors blood glucose and automatically adjusts insulin delivery through a connected pump without manual dosing.

Closed PanelTermClosed Network, Exclusive Provider Panel

A managed care network in which enrollees must receive care from a specific, limited group of employed or exclusively contracted providers.

Closed-Form Analytical MethodConceptClosed-Form Method, Analytic Solution

A closed-form analytical method solves a health economic model with a formula, such as a matrix inverse, instead of by simulation or random sampling.

Clostridium EconomicsTermC. difficile Economics, CDI Economics

The application of health economic evaluation to Clostridium infections, notably Clostridioides difficile, a common and costly healthcare-associated diarrhoeal illness.

Club GoodsTermClub Good, Congestible Good

Goods that are excludable but non-rivalrous up to a point of congestion, so access can be restricted while shared use does not immediately reduce availability.

Cluster AnalysisConceptClustering

Cluster analysis is an unsupervised method that sorts patients, providers or countries into groups whose members are more alike than those in other groups.