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.
M
- Mortality MeasureTermMortality Metric, Mortality Outcome Indicator
- A quality indicator assessing patient death rate associated with a condition, procedure, or hospitalisation, typically risk-adjusted for patient severity.
- Mortality RateConceptCrude Death Rate, Age-Specific Mortality
- A mortality rate measures deaths in a defined population over a specified period relative to the corresponding population or person-time at risk, with its scale and denominator stated explicitly.
- Moving Target ProblemConceptMoving Target
- The moving target problem arises when a device, software or procedure changes during HTA, so evidence on it may be out of date by the time of the decision.
- MRSA RateTermMRSA Infection Rate, MRSA Incidence
- A measure of the frequency of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections within a facility, an infection prevention and resistance indicator.
- Multi-Attribute UtilityConceptMAUT, Multiattribute Value Theory
- A utility value derived by combining preference weights across several distinct attributes of an outcome into a single overall measure.
- Multi-Criteria Decision AnalysisConceptMCDA, Multi-Criteria Appraisal, Multi-Criteria Analysis HTA
- Multi-criteria decision analysis is a family of structured methods that compares alternatives across multiple explicit criteria and incorporates judgments about the trade-offs among them.
- Multi-Objective OptimisationConceptMOO, Pareto Optimisation
- An optimisation approach used when a decision involves competing objectives, such as maximising benefit while minimising cost, producing a set of trade-off solutions.
- Multi-Payer SystemTermPlural-Payer System, Competing Payers Model, Multi-Payer, Plural Payer System, Competing-Payer Model
- A financing model involving multiple distinct insurance payers, public or private, competing or coexisting to finance healthcare for different population segments.
- Multi-Sectoral AnalysisTermCross-Sectoral Analysis, Intersectoral Evaluation
- An economic evaluation considering costs and benefits arising across more than one sector, such as health, education, and social care.
- Multi-State Life TableConceptMultistate Life Table, Increment-Decrement Life Table, Increment-Decrement Table
- A life-table framework that uses transitions among multiple living states and death to estimate how long a specified population or starting group is expected to spend in each state.
- Multi-Way Sensitivity AnalysisTermMultiway SA, Simultaneous Parameter Variation, Multi-Way Sensitivity
- An analysis systematically varying two or more input parameters together across a defined range of combinations, examining their combined effect on results.
- Multi-Way Threshold AnalysisTermMultiway Threshold, Joint Threshold Analysis
- A sensitivity analysis identifying the combinations of two or more parameter values at which a model's conclusion, such as cost-effectiveness, would change.
- MulticollinearityConceptCollinearity, Predictor Correlation
- A condition in which predictors in a model are linearly dependent or nearly so, making their separate coefficients difficult or impossible to estimate precisely.
- Multidisciplinary CareTermMDT Care, Multidisciplinary Team Care
- A delivery model in which providers from multiple disciplines each contribute specific expertise, typically working somewhat independently within their own specialisation.
- Multidisciplinary RoundTermMDT Round, Interdisciplinary Ward Round
- A structured process in which clinicians from different specialties collaboratively review a patient's case together, typically for complex hospitalised patients.
- MultimorbidityTermMultiple Morbidity, Co-occurring Conditions
- The co-occurrence of two or more chronic conditions in the same individual, without designating any single condition as the primary focus.
- Multinomial Logit ModelConceptMNL, MNL Model
- Multinomial logit model (MNL) is a random utility choice model used to estimate preference weights from DCE data, assuming IID extreme value errors.
- Multiple ComparisonTermMulti-Way Comparison, Many-Option Ranking
- A situation involving more than two mutually exclusive interventions, requiring a systematic method, such as fully incremental analysis, to rank and compare them correctly.
- Multiple ComparisonsTermMultiplicity Problem, Multiple Testing
- The statistical concern that conducting several hypothesis tests at once raises the overall chance of a false positive result purely by chance.
- Multiple ImputationConceptMI, Rubin's Rules
- Multiple imputation is a missing-data method that creates several plausible completed datasets, analyses each for the same target, and pools the estimates and their uncertainty to reflect uncertainty about unobserved values.
- Multiple RegressionConceptMultivariable Regression
- Multiple regression models one outcome, such as patient cost or QALYs, on two or more explanatory variables, adjusting each coefficient for the others.
- Multiple Technology AssessmentTermMTA, Multi-Technology Appraisal
- An assessment process evaluating several related technologies for the same condition together within a single, coordinated review.
- Multiplicative ScaleTermRelative-Effect Scale, Log Scale
- A framework assessing whether two exposures interact by examining whether their combined effect on relative risk differs from the product of each.
- Multivariate Meta-AnalysisConceptMVMA, Joint Meta-Analysis
- A meta-analysis method jointly analysing two or more related outcomes simultaneously, accounting for the correlation between them.
- Multivariate SamplingTermMulti-Parameter Draw, Joint Parameter Sampling
- The simultaneous drawing of random values for multiple correlated input parameters from their joint probability distribution, rather than sampling each independently.
- Musculoskeletal EconomicsTermMSK Economics, Bone and Joint Economics
- The broad application of health economic evaluation to bone, joint, muscle, and connective tissue conditions, spanning arthritis, osteoporosis, and injury.
