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.
E
- Expert PanelTermAdvisory Panel, Specialist Panel
- A formally convened group with relevant specialised knowledge, assembled to provide input or a decision on an assessment question.
- Explanation of BenefitsTermEOB, Claim Statement
- A document an insurer sends after processing a claim, detailing services billed, the amount paid, and any remaining enrollee liability.
- Explanatory TrialConcept
- An explanatory trial is a randomised trial run under ideal, tightly controlled conditions to test whether a treatment can work, so it measures efficacy.
- Explicit RationingTermOpen Rationing, Transparent Rationing
- An approach in which decisions about what will and will not be funded are made openly, according to publicly disclosed criteria.
- Exploratory EndpointTermHypothesis-Generating Endpoint, Exploratory Outcome
- A trial outcome examined for hypothesis-generating purposes, without the rigorous statistical control applied to primary and secondary endpoints.
- Exploratory Factor AnalysisConceptEFA, Unsupervised Factor Extraction
- Exploratory factor analysis is a latent-variable method that examines whether correlations among observed variables can be represented by a smaller, initially unspecified set of common factors.
- Exponential DiscountingTermConstant-Rate Discounting, Time-Consistent Discounting
- A discounting model in which future costs and benefits are reduced at a constant proportional rate each period, producing time-consistent preferences.
- Exponential DistributionConceptConstant-Hazard Distribution, Memoryless Distribution
- A probability distribution characterised by a constant hazard rate over time, used to model event timing when risk is assumed not to change.
- Exponential ModelConceptExponential Survival Model, Constant-Hazard Model
- A survival model assuming time-to-event data follow an exponential distribution, implying a constant hazard rate throughout the modelled time horizon.
- ExposureTermStudy Factor, Risk Determinant
- A factor, such as a behaviour, treatment, or environmental agent, whose relationship to a health outcome is being studied.
- Express ConsentTermExplicit Consent, Direct Consent
- A form of consent in which a patient explicitly and directly agrees to treatment, verbally or in writing, unlike implied consent.
- Extended Cost-EffectivenessConceptECEA, Financial-Risk-Protection CEA
- A form of economic evaluation that extends standard cost-effectiveness analysis by incorporating financial risk protection and the distribution of costs and benefits by income.
- Extended DominanceConceptCombination Dominance, Non-Simple Dominance
- Extended dominance excludes an option in cost-effectiveness analysis when a blend of a less and a more effective option gives its health gain for less.
- External AuditTermIndependent Audit, Third-Party Audit
- A review of an organisation's compliance, financial, or operational practices conducted by an independent party outside the organisation.
- External ConsistencyTermCross-Model Consistency, Between-Study Agreement
- The degree to which a model's results align with findings from other independent studies or models addressing a similar question.
- External Control ArmTermRegistry Control Group, Synthetic Control Arm
- A comparator group built from data outside the trial itself, such as a historical cohort or registry, used when no concurrent control is feasible.
- External Reference PricingConceptERP, Cross-Country Reference Pricing
- A medicine-pricing policy that uses prices for the same or comparable product in other jurisdictions as benchmarks for a domestic price or reimbursement decision.
- External ValidityTermReal-World Applicability, Result Generalisation
- The extent to which a model's results accurately reflect real-world outcomes observed independently of the data used to build it.
- External Validity AssessmentTermExternal Validation, Independent-Data Validation
- The formal process of testing whether a model's predictions match independent, real-world data not used in its original construction.
- External Validity of ValuationTermValuation External Validity, Predictive Validity of Valuation
- The degree to which a value estimate from stated preference or experimental conditions accurately predicts behaviour or values in the real world.
- ExternalityConceptThird-Party Effect
- An externality is a cost or benefit, such as antimicrobial resistance or herd immunity, that falls on third parties and is ignored by the person deciding.
- Externality CorrectionTermExternality Internalisation, Corrective Intervention
- A policy intervention, such as a Pigouvian tax or subsidy, intended to align private incentives with the true social cost or benefit of an activity.
- ExtrapolationConceptBeyond-Trial Projection, Time-Horizon Projection
- Extrapolation projects outcomes beyond the range or follow-up directly observed in the available evidence.
- Extreme Value TestingTermImplausible-Value Testing, Boundary-Stress Testing, Edge Case Testing, Corner-Case Testing, Extreme-Input Testing, Stress Testing, Stress Test, Extreme-Scenario Testing
- A verification technique running a model with implausibly high or low input values to confirm it produces sensible, bounded results.