Dictionary

C

Communication PlanTermComms Plan, Evidence Dissemination Plan

A strategic document outlining how health economic evaluation results and clinical evidence will be communicated to payers, clinicians, and patients.

Community BenefitTermCharitable Community Activity, Non-Profit Community Contribution

The activities a non-profit hospital provides to improve community health, such as charity care and health education, typically required for tax-exempt status.

Community CareTermCommunity-Based Care, Care in the Community

Healthcare and support services delivered within a patient's local community setting rather than a hospital or institutional facility.

Community ContributionTermCommunity Health Fund, Community Pooling

A health financing mechanism in which local community members pool resources, often through small regular payments, to cover collective healthcare costs.

Community Health CentreTermCHC, Federally Qualified Health Centre

A federally supported facility providing comprehensive primary care to underserved populations regardless of ability to pay, often on a sliding fee scale.

Community Health Needs AssessmentTermCHNA, Community Needs Assessment

A systematic evaluation, typically by a non-profit hospital, identifying the significant health needs of the community it serves, often for tax-exempt status.

Community HospitalTermDistrict Hospital, Local General Hospital

A general, typically non-teaching hospital providing a broad range of medical and surgical services to its local population.

Community Mental HealthTermCommunity Psychiatry, Community-Based Mental Health

A mental health service delivery model providing care within a patient's local community rather than a centralised psychiatric institution.

Community Mental Health EconomicsTermCommunity Psychiatry Economics, CMH Economics

The application of health economic evaluation to community-based mental health service delivery, comparing cost and outcomes against institutional psychiatric care.

Community RatingConceptCommunity-Rated Premium, Uniform Premium Setting

Community rating is a health insurance pricing rule that stops premiums varying with health or claims, allowing at most limited variation by age or area.

Community-Based InsuranceTermCommunity-Based Health Insurance, Mutual Health Insurance

A model in which members of a local community voluntarily pool resources to collectively finance healthcare costs, common where formal insurance is undeveloped.

Community-Based ResearchTermCBPR, Community-Engaged Research

A research approach actively involving community members as partners throughout the process, from study design through interpretation of findings.

ComorbidityTermCo-Morbidity, Coexisting Condition

The presence of one or more additional health conditions co-occurring alongside a primary condition of interest in the same patient.

Companion DiagnosticTermCDx, Companion Test

A diagnostic test developed to identify patients likely to benefit from, or be harmed by, a corresponding therapeutic product, typically approved alongside it.

Companion Diagnostic DevelopmentTermCDx Development, Diagnostic Co-Development

The process of developing a diagnostic test identifying patients likely to benefit from, or be harmed by, a specific corresponding therapeutic product.

Companion Diagnostic EconomicsTermCompanion Diagnostic Cost-Effectiveness, CDx Economics

The application of health economic evaluation to diagnostic tests developed alongside a specific targeted cancer therapy, identifying patients likely to benefit.

Comparability StudyTermComparability Exercise, Biosimilarity Study

A study demonstrating that a biosimilar is highly similar to its reference biologic, with no clinically meaningful differences in safety, purity, and potency.

Comparative Billing ReportTermCBR, Billing Benchmark Report

A report comparing a provider's billing patterns against peer benchmarks, identifying potential outliers warranting review for appropriateness or compliance.

Comparative Effectiveness EvidenceTermCE Evidence, Head-to-Head Evidence

Evidence directly comparing the relative benefits and harms of alternative interventions, typically from head-to-head trials or observational studies.

Comparative Effectiveness ResearchTermCER, Comparative Effectiveness

Research directly comparing the benefits and harms of alternative methods for preventing, diagnosing, treating, or monitoring a condition, typically using real-world data.

Comparative Effectiveness StudyTermCE Study, Head-to-Head Study

A research study directly comparing the real-world benefits and harms of two or more alternative interventions for a clinical condition.

Comparative EvidenceTermRelative-Effect Evidence, Comparative Effect Data

Data comparing the relative effects of two or more interventions, whether from a direct head-to-head trial or indirect network meta-analysis.

ComparatorConceptControl Intervention, Reference Arm

A comparator is the alternative, such as current practice or another treatment, against which a new health intervention is compared in economic evaluation.

Comparator SelectionTermComparator Choice, Choice of Comparator

The process of identifying the appropriate existing treatment against which a new technology will be evaluated within an economic evaluation.

Comparator StructureTermComparator Set, Model Comparator Arms

The specific set of alternative interventions included in a decision-analytic model against which the intervention of interest is evaluated.

Compartmental ModelConceptCompartment Model, SIR-Type Model

A compartmental model represents a population as quantities in mutually defined states and describes how people or other units flow between those states over time.

Compassionate UseTermInvestigational Access, Emergency Treatment Access

A regulatory pathway letting patients with a serious condition access an investigational treatment outside a trial when no comparable alternative exists.

Compensating VariationConceptCV, Compensating Surplus

Compensating variation (CV) is the sum that restores original utility after a health or policy change: willingness to pay for a gain or to accept a loss.

CompetenceTermLegal Decision Authority, Decisional Standing

A legal determination of whether an individual has the legal authority to make their own decisions, distinct from clinical capacity assessment.

Competing EventsTermCompeting Event, Simultaneous Events

A situation in a simulation model where several distinct events could occur next for an entity, requiring the model to determine which happens first.

Competing RisksConceptCompeting-Risk Events, Multiple-Event Risk

A situation where a person is at risk of more than one type of event, so one event's occurrence prevents another from ever happening.

Competition TheoryTermTheory of Competition, Competitive Markets Theory

A body of economic theory analysing how firms compete for customers and how market structure affects prices, quality, and innovation.

Competition-Based PricingTermCompetitive Pricing, Market-Based Pricing

A pricing strategy in which a firm sets price based primarily on competitors' prices for similar products, rather than its own costs alone.

Compiled CodeTermExecutable Code, Compiled Model

Model code translated by a compiler into a directly executable format, unlike source code that a human reviewer can read and modify.

ComplaintTermGrievance, Dissatisfaction Report

A formal expression of dissatisfaction submitted by an insured individual regarding their health plan, such as a disputed claim denial.

Complaint RateTermComplaint Frequency, Complaint Volume

A measure of how frequently patients or families formally express dissatisfaction with the care or service received within an organisation.

Complete Molecular ResponseTermCMR, Molecular Remission

A response criterion in some blood cancers indicating molecular testing can no longer detect any trace of the disease-associated genetic marker.

Complete RemissionTermFull Remission, Disease Clearance

A cancer treatment outcome in which all detectable signs of disease have disappeared, though undetectable cells may still remain.

Complete ResponseTermCR, Full Response

A standardised tumour response classification indicating the complete disappearance of all target and non-target tumour lesions following treatment.

Completer AnalysisTermCompleters-Only Analysis, Full-Completion Analysis

A missing data method including only participants who completed the entire study with no missing outcome data, excluding all others.

ComplianceTermConformance, Rule Adherence

A term historically used interchangeably with adherence, now viewed as less preferred given its connotation of passively following provider instructions.

Compliance CommitteeTermEthics and Compliance Board, Oversight Committee

A group within a healthcare organisation overseeing the development, implementation, and effectiveness of the organisation's compliance programme.

Compliance OfficerTermCorporate Integrity Lead, Compliance Lead

An individual designated with primary responsibility for overseeing an organisation's compliance programme, including monitoring and coordinating corrective action.

Compliance ProgrammeConceptCompliance Plan, Integrity Programme

An organisation-wide system of oversight, controls, reporting and corrective action intended to meet applicable healthcare duties and detect and address breaches.

Compliance StandardsTermCompliance Requirements, Conformance Standards

The specific requirements a healthcare organisation's compliance programme is designed to meet, covering billing accuracy and privacy protection.

Complication ManagementTermComplication Care, Adverse-Outcome Management

The clinical and administrative processes identifying, treating, and learning from complications arising during care, informing quality improvement efforts.

Complication MeasureTermComplication Indicator, Adverse Outcome Measure

A quality indicator tracking the frequency of specific adverse outcomes, such as surgical site infections, within a defined patient population.

Complication RateTermComplication Frequency, Adverse-Outcome Rate

A measure of how frequently a specific adverse outcome occurs within a defined patient population undergoing a particular procedure.

Composite EndpointTermCombined Endpoint, Composite Primary Endpoint

A trial outcome combining two or more individual events, such as death and hospitalisation, into a single measure, counted if any occurs.

Composite MeasureTermComposite Indicator, Summary Score Measure

A performance metric combining multiple individual indicators into a single summary score for a more comprehensive assessment.