Dictionary

E

Early Access SchemeTermEAMS, Pre-Approval Access Scheme, Early Access Programme

A regulatory programme letting patients with a life-threatening condition access a promising unlicensed medicine before full marketing authorisation, based on preliminary evidence.

Early AdopterTermEarly User, Lead Adopter

An individual or organisation beginning to use a new innovation relatively early in its diffusion, often serving as an influential opinion leader.

Early AwarenessTermEarly Signal Detection, Emerging Technology Awareness

The initial identification of a new or emerging technology with significant future implications, before it reaches regulatory approval or wide use.

Early Awareness SystemTermEAAS, Early Warning System

A structured, ongoing process systematically identifying and tracking new technologies before market entry, giving health systems advance notice of implications.

Early DetectionTermEarly Diagnosis, Timely Detection

The identification of a disease, most commonly cancer, at an earlier stage than would otherwise occur, typically through screening or symptom awareness.

Early Health Technology AssessmentConceptEarly HTA, Early Modelling

The assessment of a health technology during development to inform design, evidence generation, pricing and market-access strategy.

Early InterventionTermEarly Treatment, First-Episode Intervention

A mental health care approach emphasising identifying and treating conditions at their earliest stages, often targeting first signs of serious illness.

Early Pharmacy PracticeTermHistorical Pharmacy Practice, Apothecary Practice

The initial, pre-professionalised stage of pharmacy practice, in which apothecaries prepared and dispensed medications without standardised education or oversight.

Earmarked TaxationTermHypothecated Tax, Dedicated Health Tax

A tax whose revenue is legally designated for a specific purpose, such as healthcare, rather than a government's general revenue fund.

Eating Disorder EconomicsTermEating Disorder Cost-Effectiveness, Anorexia and Bulimia Economics

The application of health economic evaluation to eating disorders, covering psychotherapy, medical monitoring, and severe-case specialist inpatient treatment.

Ecological BiasTermEcological Fallacy, Cross-Level Bias, Aggregation Bias

A distortion arising when group-level associations are wrongly assumed to apply to individuals within those groups, potentially reversing the true relationship.

Ecological DesignTermEcological Study, Group-Level Study

An observational design analysing data at group or population level, such as regions, examining group-level exposure against group-level outcome rates.

Economic BurdenTermCost Burden, Societal Cost Burden

The total cost imposed on a health system, individuals, or society by a specific disease, injury, or risk factor.

Economic ChoiceTermChoice Under Scarcity, Economic Decision

A decision made among competing alternatives under scarcity, guided by the relative costs and benefits of each option.

Economic Data HealthTermHealth Economic Data, Cost and Resource Data

Data specifically capturing the costs, resource use, and financial aspects of healthcare delivery, distinct from clinical outcome data.

Economic EvaluationConceptHealth Economic Appraisal, Cost-Outcome Analysis

Economic evaluation, often called health economic evaluation, compares the costs and outcomes of healthcare options to judge which offers the best value.

Economic EvidenceTermCost-Effectiveness Evidence, Value Evidence

Data and analysis addressing the costs, resource use, and cost-effectiveness of health interventions, distinct from clinical evidence on safety and efficacy alone.

Economic Evidence RequirementsTermEconomic Submission Requirements, Cost-Evidence Standards

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

Economic GoodTermEconomic Commodity, Priced Good

In health economics, any scarce good or service that commands a price and is subject to allocation choices, classified by rivalry, excludability and how consumers come to know its quality.

Economic IncentiveTermFinancial Inducement, Behavioural Incentive

A financial or non-financial inducement designed to encourage a particular decision or behaviour.

Economic Life YearsTermHuman-Capital Life Years, Years of Economic Productivity

A measure of the years an individual is expected to contribute economically productive activity, used in human capital approaches to valuing lost life.

Economic Model SubmissionTermModel Submission, Cost-Effectiveness Model Dossier

A formal submission of a health economic decision-analytic model, with supporting documentation, provided as part of a coverage application.

Economic Model TypeTermModel Category, Decision-Analytic Structure

The general category of decision-analytic structure, such as a decision tree, Markov model, or transmission model, chosen for a given evaluation.

Economic Modelling HTATermHTA Modelling, Decision-Analytic Modelling in HTA

The application of decision-analytic modelling techniques within the assessment process, used to estimate a technology's cost-effectiveness.

Economic PolicyTermEconomic Governance, Fiscal and Allocation Policy

A set of governmental choices affecting resource allocation, incentives, financing and economic activity.

Economic PrincipleTermEconomic Foundation, Foundational Economic Proposition

In health economics, a foundational proposition about how scarce resources are allocated, such as scarcity, opportunity cost and efficiency, underpinning the economic evaluation of health interventions.

Economic ReviewTermEconomic Evidence Review, Cost-Effectiveness Review

An evaluation of the economic evidence, including a submitted cost-effectiveness analysis, typically conducted by an independent technical reviewer.

Economies of ScaleTermScale Economies, Falling Average Cost

A situation in which average cost of production falls as output rises, typically because fixed costs are spread across greater volume.

Edge Case TestingTermCorner-Case Testing, Extreme-Input Testing

A verification technique deliberately running a model using extreme or boundary input values, such as a probability of exactly zero or one.

Effect EstimateTermEstimated Effect, Association Estimate

A calculated numerical value representing the estimated magnitude of association between an exposure or treatment and an outcome, drawn from a specific study.

Effect Measure ModificationTermMeasure-Dependent Effect, Non-Collapsibility

A situation where an exposure-outcome association's magnitude differs by which effect measure is used, such as relative risk versus risk difference.

Effect ModificationTermStatistical Interaction, Moderation

A situation where an exposure's effect on an outcome genuinely differs across levels of a third variable, unlike confounding, which is a bias.

Effect SizeConceptMagnitude of Effect, Standardised Effect

An effect size is a measure of the magnitude of an association or intervention effect for a specified outcome, comparator, population, and scale.

Effect Size EstimationConceptEstimating Effect Magnitude, Effect Quantification

The statistical process of calculating a quantitative measure of a treatment effect's magnitude, often standardised to allow comparison across differing measurement scales.

Effective CoverageTermOutcome-Weighted Coverage, Effective Reach

A measure of the proportion of a target population that both received an intervention and experienced the health gain it is intended to produce.

Effective Reproduction NumberConceptRt, Time-Varying Reproduction Number

The average number of secondary infections from one infected person in a population not entirely susceptible, accounting for existing immunity or control measures.

Effective Sample SizeConceptESS, Equivalent Random-Sample Size

The sample size a simple random sample would need to match the precision of an actual sample from a more complex design, such as clustered.

EffectivenessConceptReal-World Benefit, Routine-Practice Benefit

The benefits and harms an intervention produces under care conditions relevant to a specified population, comparator, outcome and time horizon.

Effectiveness EvaluationTermReal-World Performance Assessment, Effectiveness Appraisal

An assessment of how well a treatment performs under routine clinical practice conditions, typically using observational data or pragmatic trial designs.

Effectiveness EvidenceTermReal-World Performance Evidence, Practice-Based Evidence

Data demonstrating how well an intervention performs under real-world practice conditions, unlike efficacy evidence from controlled trial conditions.

Effectiveness OutcomeTermReal-World Outcome, Pragmatic Outcome

A clinical outcome measured under real-world, routine practice conditions, reflecting how a treatment performs across a diverse patient population.

Effectiveness ResearchTermEffectiveness Studies, Real-World Effectiveness Studies

Research evaluating how treatments perform in routine practice, distinguishing effectiveness observed under real-world conditions from efficacy demonstrated in controlled trials.

Effectiveness StudyTermReal-World Study, Broad-Eligibility Study

A research study assessing how well an intervention performs under real-world, routine clinical practice conditions, typically with broader eligibility and less monitoring.

EfficacyTermTrial Benefit, Ideal-Condition Benefit

The extent to which an intervention produces a beneficial result under the ideal, controlled conditions of a clinical trial.

Efficacy EvaluationTermEfficacy Assessment, Controlled-Condition Appraisal

An assessment of a treatment's effect under the controlled, idealised conditions of a clinical trial, estimating its maximum potential benefit.

Efficacy EvidenceTermControlled-Trial Evidence, Ideal-Condition Evidence

Data demonstrating an intervention's effect under the controlled, often idealised conditions of a clinical trial.

Efficacy OutcomeTermControlled-Condition Outcome, Ideal-Setting Outcome

A clinical outcome measured under the controlled, often idealised conditions of a trial, representing the maximum potential benefit achievable.

Efficacy-Effectiveness GapTermEfficacy-Effectiveness Difference, Trial-to-Practice Gap

The observed difference between a treatment's trial-demonstrated benefit and its actual benefit once used in routine clinical practice.

EfficiencyConceptProductive Resource Use, Value from Resources

Efficiency is getting the most health or other valued outcomes from scarce healthcare resources, avoiding waste and allocating them to their best uses.

Efficiency EvaluationTermEfficiency Assessment, Input-Output Appraisal

An assessment of how effectively a provider, programme, or system converts inputs into outputs, typically benchmarked against best-practice performance elsewhere.