Dictionary

D

Digital HealthTermDigital Healthcare, Health Digitalisation

The use of digital technologies, such as mobile apps, wearables, and telemedicine, to support and improve health and healthcare delivery.

Digital Health EconomicsTermDigital Health HTA, DHE

The application of health economic evaluation to digital health technologies, including mobile apps, remote monitoring, and software-based clinical decision support.

Digital ImplementationTermDigital Health Implementation, Digital Rollout

The process of introducing and integrating a digital health technology into routine clinical practice or patient use.

Digital InteroperabilityTermHealth Data Interoperability, System Interoperability

The ability of different digital health systems and technologies to exchange, interpret, and use data seamlessly with one another.

Digital LiteracyTermDigital Health Literacy, Technology Literacy

An individual's ability to effectively find, evaluate, and use information through digital technologies, a specific dimension of overall health literacy.

Digital OutcomeTermDigital Health Outcome, Digital Endpoint

A health or economic outcome measure specifically relevant to assessing a digital health technology's impact, including engagement or retention rates.

Digital PrivacyTermHealth Data Privacy, Digital Data Privacy

The protection of an individual's personal information from unauthorised access or disclosure within digital health systems and applications.

Digital RegulationTermDigital Health Regulation, SaMD Regulation

The body of rules governing the development, approval, and use of digital health technologies, including software-based devices and decision support tools.

Digital ReimbursementTermDigital Health Reimbursement, DTx Reimbursement

The policies governing whether and how digital health technologies, such as mobile apps or remote monitoring platforms, are covered and paid for.

Digital SafetyTermDigital Health Safety, Safety of Digital Tools

The degree to which a digital health technology avoids causing unintended harm, covering both clinical safety and data security or algorithmic bias.

Digital SecurityTermDigital Health Security, Cybersecurity Health

The technical and administrative measures protecting digital health systems and their data from unauthorised access, use, or disclosure.

Digital StandardsTermDigital Health Standards, Health Data Standards

The technical specifications governing how digital health data should be structured, coded, and exchanged between systems, promoting interoperability.

Digital TherapeuticTermDTx, Digital Therapeutics

A digital health product delivering a medical intervention directly to patients using evidence-based, clinically evaluated software, to prevent, manage, or treat disease.

Digital TransformationTermDigital Reshaping, Organisational Digitisation

The broad process by which digital technologies fundamentally reshape how organisations operate, extending beyond single technology adoption to workflow and culture change.

Digital Value AssessmentTermDigital Health Value Assessment, Digital HTA Value

An evaluation of a digital health technology's overall value, incorporating clinical effectiveness, cost, and user engagement, adapted for software-based interventions.

Dimension-Specific QoLTermSingle-Dimension QoL, Domain-Specific QoL

A quality of life measure focused on a single dimension, such as physical functioning, rather than combining several into an overall score.

Diminishing ReturnsTermDecreasing Returns, Marginal Product Decline

A principle that, holding other inputs constant, each extra unit of a given input eventually yields a smaller increase in output than the last.

Diphtheria EconomicsTermDiphtheria Cost-Effectiveness, Diphtheria Vaccine Economics

The application of health economic evaluation to diphtheria, a serious bacterial infection largely controlled through routine childhood vaccination.

Direct BenefitTermParticipant Benefit, Personal Trial Benefit

A potential positive outcome a research participant may personally experience from their participation, such as access to an investigational treatment.

Direct ContractingTermDirect Provider Contracting, Direct-to-Provider Contracting

An arrangement where a payer contracts directly with providers or an accountable care organisation, bypassing traditional insurance intermediaries.

Direct CostTermDirect Costs, Directly-Attributable Cost

A cost that can be directly attributed to producing a specific good or delivering a specific service, such as medication given to a patient.

Direct ElicitationConceptDirect Valuation, First-Hand State Valuation, Direct Utility Assessment

A health state valuation approach in which respondents value a state directly, using techniques such as the standard gamble or time trade-off.

Direct EvidenceTermWithin-Trial Comparative Evidence, Direct Trial Evidence

Within network meta-analysis, evidence comparing two treatments from trials in which those treatments were directly compared, unlike indirect evidence.

Direct Graduate Medical EducationTermDGME, Direct GME Funding

A US Medicare funding stream reimbursing teaching hospitals for direct costs of training resident physicians, such as salaries and supervision.

Direct Medical CostTermDirect Healthcare Cost, Medical Service Cost

A direct cost incurred specifically for the provision of medical care, such as physician fees, hospital charges, or medication.

Direct Non-Medical CostTermNon-Medical Direct Cost, Carer Travel Cost

A direct cost borne by a patient or carer that is not itself a medical expense, such as transport to appointments.

Dirichlet DistributionConceptDirichlet Prior, Multivariate Proportion Distribution

The Dirichlet distribution is a multivariate distribution for proportions that sum to one, used for uncertain transition probabilities from a model state.

DisabilityTermReduced Functioning, Impairment-Based Limitation

A limitation in an individual's ability to perform activities or participate in life, arising from the interaction between a health condition and personal or environmental factors.

Disability WeightConceptDW, Severity Weighting Value

A disability weight is a value from 0 (full health) to 1 (equivalent to death) rating health loss in a non-fatal state, used to calculate YLDs and DALYs.

Disability-Adjusted Life YearConceptDALY, Disability Adjusted Life-Year

A disability-adjusted life year, or DALY, measures health loss by combining years of life lost because of premature death with years lived with disability.

Disability-Free ExpectancyTermDFLE, Disability-Free Life Expectancy

A summary population health measure expressing the average years an individual is expected to live without a disabling condition.

Disaggregate ModelTermSubgroup-Resolved Model, Patient-Level Model

A model that represents individual patients or small subgroups separately, rather than summarising the population using aggregate averages.

Discharge DispositionTermDischarge Destination, Discharge Setting

The specific destination a patient transitions to upon leaving hospital, such as home, a nursing facility, or hospice care.

Discharge InstructionsTermDischarge Advice, Patient Discharge Guidance

Written or verbal guidance given to a patient leaving a facility, detailing follow-up care, medication instructions, and warning signs to watch for.

Discharge ManagementTermDischarge Coordination, Hospital Exit Management

The processes an organisation uses to prepare and coordinate a patient's transition out of a hospital or facility.

Discharge PlanningTermDischarge Preparation, Care Transition Planning

The process of preparing a patient for transition out of a facility, assessing ongoing care needs and arranging follow-up services.

Discharge Planning ReviewTermDischarge Readiness Review, Exit-Planning Audit

An evaluation of the process and adequacy of planning to prepare a patient for transition out of hospital, assessing follow-up arrangements.

Discharge ProcessTermHospital Discharge, Discharge Workflow

The formal sequence of steps transitioning a patient out of hospital, covering final assessment, medication reconciliation, and follow-up arrangements.

DischargesTermInpatient Releases, Release Count

The total number of patients formally released from inpatient care within a facility over a defined period, a throughput measure.

DisclosureTermFormal Reporting, Interest Declaration

The formal reporting of information, such as a potential compliance violation or financial conflict of interest, to an appropriate authority.

Disclosure InterventionTermInformation Disclosure, Transparency Intervention

A policy requiring or encouraging the provision of information, such as nutrition labelling or price transparency, to influence decisions.

Disconnected NetworkTermUnconnected Evidence Network, Split Evidence Clusters

A situation where available trials do not link every treatment of interest through any chain of direct comparisons, leaving separate evidence clusters.

DiscountTermPurchaser Price Cut, Manufacturer Reduction

A reduction from a treatment's list price, negotiated between a manufacturer and a purchaser such as a payer or wholesaler.

Discount RateConceptAnnual Discount Percentage, Time-Value Rate, Discounting Rate

The discount rate is the annual rate, such as NICE's 3.5%, used in economic evaluation to convert future costs and health outcomes into present values.

Discount Rate SelectionTermChoosing the Discount Rate, Rate Justification

The methodological decision on which discount rate to apply in an economic evaluation, informed by the social opportunity cost of capital and relevant guidance.

Discounting CostsTermCost Discounting, Present-Valuing Costs

The application of a discount rate to future costs within an economic evaluation, converting them into a common present-day value.

Discounting HealthTermHealth Outcome Discounting, Present-Valuing Benefits

The application of a discount rate to future health outcomes within an economic evaluation, converting them into a common present-day value.

Discrete Choice ExperimentConceptDCE, Discrete-Choice Experiment

A discrete choice experiment, or DCE, presents respondents with repeated sets of hypothetical alternatives described by attributes and asks them to select a preferred option.

Discrete Event SimulationConceptDES, Event-Driven Simulation, Discrete Event Model

Discrete event simulation (DES) is a modelling method that follows each patient from event to event over time, tracking their history and use of resources.

Discrete ModelConceptDiscrete-Time Model, Fixed-Step Model

A discrete model represents at least one aspect of a system through distinct states, events, or time steps, allowing changes to be analysed as transitions among those elements rather than solely as continuously varying quantities.