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.
B
- Bias
- A systematic, rather than random, deviation of a study's results from the true underlying value, arising from flaws in design, collection, or analysis.
- Bias-Variance Tradeoff
- The tension in statistical modelling between a model's systematic error, or bias, and its sensitivity to the specific sample used to fit it, or variance.
- Brand Name
- The proprietary trademarked name under which a manufacturer markets a specific drug product, unlike its generic, non-proprietary chemical name.
- Budget Amendment
- A formal revision to an approved budget made after the budget cycle has begun, usually to reflect unexpected cost or demand changes.
- Budget Control
- The processes used to monitor and ensure actual spending remains within an approved budget, including reporting and variance analysis.
C
- Cancer Registry
- A systematic data collection system recording cancer diagnoses, treatments, and outcomes across a defined population, typically at regional or national level.
- Capacity Management
- The processes an organisation uses to plan for, monitor, and optimise available resources relative to anticipated patient demand.
- Capacity Planning
- The process of forecasting future healthcare demand and ensuring sufficient staff, facilities, and equipment are available to meet it.
- Cause and Effect Diagram
- A visual quality improvement tool, also called a fishbone diagram, systematically identifying potential root causes of a specific problem.
- Check Sheet
- A simple structured form used to systematically collect and organise data during a quality improvement effort, tallying event frequency.
- Clinical Audit
- A systematic process reviewing actual clinical practice against established evidence-based standards, used to identify gaps and drive quality improvement.
- Clinical Effectiveness Review
- A systematic evaluation of available clinical evidence regarding a technology's efficacy and safety, foundational to a broader assessment.
- Cochrane
- An international organisation producing systematic reviews of healthcare interventions to a standardised, rigorous methodology, widely regarded as a leading evidence source.
- Cognitive Bias Concept
- A systematic deviation from rational judgement caused by the mental shortcuts people use to process information.
- Community Health 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.
- Complete Remission
- A cancer treatment outcome in which all detectable signs of disease have disappeared, though undetectable cells may still remain.
- Concurrent Review
- A utilisation management assessment conducted while a patient is actively receiving care, evaluating whether continued treatment remains medically necessary.
- Condition Index
- A diagnostic detecting problematic collinearity among predictor variables, calculated from the eigenvalues of the predictor matrix, larger values meaning worse collinearity.
- Conditioning
- The sensitivity of a mathematical problem to small changes in its input data or numerical calculations.
- Consolidation Therapy
- A treatment given after successful induction therapy has reduced disease burden, intended to eliminate remaining disease and reduce relapse risk.
- Constrained OptimisationConstrained Optimization
- A mathematical approach to finding the best outcome, such as maximum health benefit, subject to limiting conditions, such as a fixed budget.
- Continuous Model
- A mathematical model in which time or another key variable flows continuously rather than advancing in discrete steps.
- Contract Year
- The defined twelve-month period over which specific insurance plan terms, such as premiums and benefits, remain in effect before renewal.
- Cost Driver Analysis
- A systematic examination of the factors responsible for changes in total cost, used to break an overall increase into its component causes.
- Cost Function
- A mathematical representation of the relationship between the quantity of output produced and the total cost of producing it.
- Critical Appraisal
- The systematic process of carefully and objectively assessing a research study's trustworthiness, relevance, and results before using it to inform a decision.
- Cross Validity Assessment
- An evaluation of whether a model's predictions remain accurate when applied to a different but related dataset or population than the original.
- Cross-Price Elasticity
- A measure of how the quantity demanded of one good responds to a price change in a different good, such as a substitute or complement.
- Cure Fraction Model
- A survival model separating a population into a cured subgroup facing only background mortality and an uncured subgroup remaining at risk of the disease event.
- Cure Rate Model
- A statistical model estimating both the proportion of a population considered cured and the survival distribution governing the remaining uncured population.
- Curve Fitting
- The statistical process of identifying the mathematical function that best represents an observed pattern of data, such as observed survival times.
- Cytogenetic Response
- A response criterion in some leukaemias assessing reduction in cells carrying a disease-associated chromosomal abnormality, an intermediate depth between hematologic and molecular response.
D
- DALY Calculation Method
- The methodology used to compute disability-adjusted life years, combining years of life lost to premature death with years lived with disability, weighted by severity.
- Data Analytics
- The systematic computational analysis of data to discover patterns and support decision-making, applied across clinical, administrative, and real-world healthcare data.
- Data Extraction
- The systematic process of identifying and recording specific information from studies included in a systematic review, such as sample sizes.
- Decision Relevance Period
- The length of time a technology assessment decision is expected to remain applicable before newer evidence or treatments supersede it.
- Device Therapy
- A treatment approach using an implanted or external medical device rather than medication alone, such as a pacemaker or insulin pump.
- Disability-Adjusted Life YearDALY
- A measure of disease burden combining years of life lost to premature death and years lived with disability, expressed as healthy years lost.
- Disease Surveillance
- The ongoing, systematic collection and analysis of health data to monitor disease occurrence and spread within a population, detecting outbreaks.
- Dominance Analysis
- The systematic process of comparing interventions to identify which are dominated, strictly or through extended dominance, before calculating incremental cost-effectiveness ratios.
- DRG Creep
- A pattern where hospitals systematically assign patients to higher-paying diagnosis-related groups over time without a genuine increase in patient severity.
- Dropout
- The premature discontinuation of a study participant's involvement before planned completion, whether from withdrawn consent, adverse events, or lost contact.
- Drug Holiday
- A planned, temporary discontinuation of a medication, used to reduce cumulative toxicity, manage side effects, or assess if treatment remains needed.
E
- Early Awareness System
- A structured, ongoing process systematically identifying and tracking new technologies before market entry, giving health systems advance notice of implications.
- Eigenvalue
- A mathematical quantity indicating the amount of variance explained by its corresponding direction, used in factor analysis to decide how many factors to keep.
- Eigenvector
- A non-zero vector whose direction remains unchanged when transformed by a matrix, although its magnitude may be scaled.
- Emerging Sustainability Evaluation
- A sustainability evaluation applied to a newly implemented programme not yet tested against real-world funding and demand conditions.
- Equilibrium
- A state in an economic system where opposing forces, such as supply and demand, balance so there is no inherent tendency to change.
- Error Checking
- The systematic review of a model's formulas, code, and outputs to identify mistakes such as incorrect cell references or logical inconsistencies.
- Error Reporting
- The systematic documentation of mistakes or near misses within an organisation, intended to identify patterns and inform safety improvement.