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.
R
- Risk Prediction Model
- A statistical model estimating an individual's probability of a specific future health outcome based on current characteristics and risk factors.
S
- Sensitivity to Change
- The capacity of a health outcome measure to register a difference in health status when a real change has occurred in a patient's condition.
- Sensory Functioning
- A health outcome domain capturing sensory capabilities, such as vision and hearing, which can be affected by disease or as a side effect of treatment.
- Social Determinants of Health
- The conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age, such as income and education, that shape health outcomes.
- Social Return on InvestmentSROI
- A framework extending conventional return on investment analysis by monetising broader social, environmental, and health outcomes alongside financial returns.
- State Reward
- The cost or health outcome value assigned to a health state within a Markov model, accrued for each cycle a patient occupies it.
- System Effectiveness
- A measure of the degree to which a health system achieves its goal of improving population health outcomes.
T
- Theil Index Health
- An information theory based inequality measure applied to a health outcome's distribution, decomposable into inequality within and between population subgroups.
U
- Utility-Based Measure
- A health outcome measure whose scores derive from a formal preference elicitation process and can be used directly to weight time for QALYs.
V
- Vaccine Programme EvaluationVaccine Program Evaluation
- A comprehensive assessment of a vaccination programme's costs, health outcomes, and broader impact, including indirect population-level herd immunity effects.
- Value in Healthcare
- A concept defined as health outcomes achieved for patients relative to the cost of achieving them, the central principle of value-based reform.
- Value-Based Healthcare
- A framework organising delivery and payment around maximising health outcomes achieved for patients relative to cost, rather than service volume.
- Vulnerable Population
- A group at heightened risk of poor health outcomes or reduced access due to socioeconomic disadvantage, age, disability, or minority status.