Dictionary

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Antiviral EconomicsTermEconomics of Antivirals, Anti-Viral Economics

The application of health economic evaluation to viral infection medications, spanning influenza through chronic viral hepatitis and HIV.

Anxiety Disorder CostTermCost of Anxiety, Anxiety Burden

The total economic burden of anxiety disorders, covering direct treatment costs, lost workplace productivity, and broader impacts on quality of life.

Anxiety EconomicsTermEconomics of Anxiety

The application of health economic evaluation to anxiety disorders, comparing psychotherapy, pharmacological treatment, and combination treatment approaches.

Anxiety SymptomsTermAnxiety Scale, Anxiety Symptom Measure

A clinical outcome measure capturing the presence and severity of anxiety-related symptoms, commonly assessed using standardised, validated patient questionnaires.

Aortic Aneurysm EconomicsTermAAA Economics, Aneurysm Repair Economics

The application of health economic evaluation to screening, monitoring, and repair of aortic aneurysms, often comparing open surgical against endovascular treatment.

Appeal ProcessTermAppeals Process, Appeal Mechanism

A formal mechanism allowing a stakeholder to challenge an assessment body's decision, typically on grounds such as procedural error.

Appeals DesignTermAppeals System Design, Appeal Structure

The specific structure and procedures established for handling insurance coverage appeals, including timelines and availability of independent review.

Appendicitis EconomicsTermAppendectomy Economics, Economics of Appendicitis

The application of health economic evaluation to appendicitis, comparing surgical removal against, in select cases, non-operative antibiotic management.

Applicability AssessmentTermApplicability Evaluation, Model-Relevance Check

An evaluation of whether a model's structure, population, and assumptions are appropriate for the specific decision question it is meant to address.

Applicability CriterionTermApplicability Standard, Generalisability Criterion

A standard assessing whether evidence supporting an assessment is sufficiently relevant and generalisable to the population and setting intended.

AppraisalTerm

The formal process by which an assessment body evaluates clinical and economic evidence for a technology and reaches a funding decision.

Appraisal CommitteeConceptAppraisal Panel, HTA Appraisal Panel

An appointed group that deliberates on clinical, economic and other relevant evidence to make a health technology recommendation within an institution’s decision framework.

Appraisal MeetingTermCommittee Meeting, Appraisal Hearing

A formal session at which an appraisal committee reviews submitted evidence, discusses key issues, and deliberates toward a decision.

Appraisal ProcessTermAppraisal Workflow, HTA Decision Pathway

The complete sequence of steps an assessment body follows, from evidence submission through committee deliberation to a final recommendation.

Appropriate CareTermAppropriate Treatment, Evidence-Concordant Care

Healthcare consistent with current evidence and guidelines, delivered to patients likely to benefit, at the correct intensity for their circumstances.

AppropriatenessTermClinical Suitability, Care Justifiability

A judgement of whether a procedure's expected health benefit exceeds its expected negative consequences by a sufficiently wide margin to justify performing it.

Appropriateness CriteriaTermAppropriate Use Criteria, Appropriateness Standards

A structured set of standards, developed by expert consensus, used to judge whether a specific procedure is clinically appropriate for a patient.

Appropriateness ReviewTermNecessity Review, Appropriateness Assessment

An assessment of whether a healthcare service was medically necessary and consistent with accepted clinical guidelines, conducted within utilisation management.

AQoLTermAssessment of Quality of Life

A multi-attribute utility instrument, the Assessment of Quality of Life, converting responses across several dimensions into a single score anchored between death and full health.

Area Under CurveConceptAUC, AUROC, C-Statistic

Area under the curve (AUC), or C-statistic, is the probability a test or risk model scores a random case above a random non-case (0.5 chance, 1 perfect).

Area Under Curve ApproachTermAUC Method, Restricted Mean Survival Approach

A survival extrapolation method fitting a parametric distribution to observed data and calculating the area under the resulting curve to estimate mean survival.

Arrhythmia EconomicsTermEconomics of Arrhythmia, Heart-Rhythm Economics

The application of health economic evaluation to diagnosing and treating abnormal heart rhythms, covering medication, devices, and ablation procedures.

Arrival ProcessConceptInput Process, Entity Arrivals

Arrival process is the pattern in time, random or scheduled, by which patients or other entities enter a queueing model or simulation of a health service.

Arthritis EconomicsTermEconomics of Arthritis, Rheumatology Economics

The application of health economic evaluation to arthritis, covering both osteoarthritis and inflammatory forms such as rheumatoid arthritis and their treatments.

Artificial Intelligence in HealthTermAI in Healthcare, Health AI

The application of computational systems capable of tasks typically requiring human intelligence, such as pattern recognition, to diagnosis and treatment planning.

ASMR RatingTermASMR, Amelioration du Service Medical Rendu

A French health technology assessment classification rating a medicine's improvement in actual clinical benefit relative to existing treatments, informing pricing.

Aspergillosis EconomicsTermEconomics of Aspergillosis, Aspergillosis Care Economics

The application of health economic evaluation to Aspergillus fungal infections, ranging from mild allergic reactions to severe invasive disease in immunocompromised patients.

AssentTermChild Agreement, Minor Agreement

The affirmative agreement of a child or individual not legally authorised to give full consent, sought alongside a guardian's consent.

AssessmentTermTechnical Evaluation, Evidence Evaluation

Within a health technology assessment process, the technical evaluation of clinical and economic evidence, typically conducted before a final appraisal decision.

Assessment ElementTermAssessment Domain, Assessment Component

A specific, defined component of an assessment framework, such as clinical effectiveness or budget impact, evaluated separately before synthesis.

Asset EfficiencyTermAsset Utilisation, Capital Efficiency

A measure of how effectively an organisation uses its physical and financial assets, such as equipment, to generate patient care activity.

Asset SaleTermDistress Sale, Property Sale

The sale of household property to cover healthcare costs, a coping strategy used when other financial resources are insufficient.

Assignment of BenefitsTermAOB, Benefits Assignment

An arrangement in which a patient authorises their insurer to pay a provider directly for covered services, rather than reimbursing the patient.

Assisted Dying EconomicsTermEconomics of Assisted Dying, Medical Aid in Dying Economics

The application of health economic evaluation to policies and services around medically assisted dying, an area with distinct ethical considerations alongside standard analysis.

Assisted Living EconomicsTermEconomics of Assisted Living, Residential Care Economics

The application of health economic evaluation to facilities offering housing with personal care support, compared against home-based and nursing home care.

Assistive Technology CoverageTermAT Coverage, Assistive Device Access

A measure of the extent to which a health system provides access to assistive devices, such as wheelchairs, for those with impairments.

Assumption StructureTermStructural Assumptions, Modelling Assumptions

The complete set of simplifying assumptions embedded within a decision-analytic model's design, such as choices about disease history and extrapolation methods.

Astana DeclarationTermDeclaration of Astana, Astana 2018

A 2018 international declaration reaffirming and updating the Alma-Ata Declaration's primary healthcare principles for achieving universal health coverage.

Asthma EconomicsTermEconomics of Asthma, Asthma Cost-Effectiveness

The application of health economic evaluation to asthma, comparing inhaled medication regimens and, for severe cases, newer biologic therapies.

Asymptotic NormalityConceptLarge-Sample Normality, Asymptotic Gaussianity

Asymptotic normality means an estimator's sampling distribution is approximately normal in large samples, the basis of Wald confidence intervals.

Atkinson IndexConceptAtkinson Inequality Index, Atkinson Measure

The Atkinson index measures inequality in health or income using a social welfare function with an explicit inequality aversion parameter, epsilon.

Atopic Dermatitis EconomicsTermEconomics of Atopic Dermatitis, Eczema Economics

The application of health economic evaluation to atopic dermatitis, a chronic itchy inflammatory skin condition, comparing topical, phototherapy, and biologic treatments.

Atrial FibrillationTermAF, AFib

A common cardiac arrhythmia with rapid, irregular beating of the heart's upper chambers, carrying a substantially elevated stroke risk if untreated.

Atrial Fibrillation EconomicsTermAF Economics, Economics of Atrial Fibrillation

The application of health economic evaluation to atrial fibrillation, commonly comparing anticoagulation strategies, rate versus rhythm control, and catheter ablation.

Attachment PointConceptRetention Level, Stop-Loss Threshold

An attachment point is the claims level at which stop-loss insurance or health reinsurance starts to pay, per person (specific) or per group (aggregate).

Attack RateConceptIncidence Proportion, Outbreak Incidence

Attack rate is the proportion of an at-risk population that develops the disease during an outbreak or other defined period: a risk, not a true rate.

Attack Rate RatioTermAttack Rate Comparison, Relative Attack Rate

A measure comparing the attack rate of a disease between two groups within an outbreak, such as those exposed and unexposed to a source.

AttestationTermFormal Confirmation, Provider Declaration

A formal statement from a provider confirming specific conditions have been met, such as compliance with a quality reporting requirement.

Attributable Cost EstimationTermAttributable Costing, Disease-Attributable Cost

The process of isolating the portion of total healthcare cost specifically attributable to a given condition or intervention, separate from unrelated costs.

Attributable FractionConceptAttributable Proportion, Aetiologic Fraction

The proportion of disease cases within a population that would not have occurred without a specific exposure, showing its public health impact.