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.
L
- Lifetime Value
- A component of a technology's value reflecting its cumulative benefit over a patient's remaining lifetime, particularly relevant for curative treatments.
- Literature Search
- The systematic process of querying bibliographic databases and other sources to identify relevant studies, using a predefined, documented strategy.
- Living Review
- A systematic review continually updated as new relevant evidence becomes available, rather than conducted once and left static.
- Low Performer Identification
- The process of systematically identifying providers whose performance falls notably below relevant benchmarks, to prioritise targeted improvement support.
- Lupus Economics
- The application of health economic evaluation to systemic lupus erythematosus, a chronic autoimmune condition with unpredictable flares affecting multiple organs.
M
- Market Clearing
- A condition in which price has adjusted so that quantity supplied exactly equals quantity demanded, eliminating any surplus or shortage.
- Market Equilibrium
- A state in which the quantity of a good supplied equals the quantity demanded at the prevailing price, with no tendency to change.
- Markov Chain
- A mathematical sequence of states in which the probability of moving to any next state depends only on the current state.
- Matrix Algebra
- The branch of mathematics concerned with the representation and manipulation of matrices and the operations performed on them.
- Measurement Error
- Inaccuracy in a recorded value relative to its true value, either random, adding noise, or systematic, consistently over- or under-estimating in one direction.
- Mixture Cure Model
- A cure model treating the population as a mixture of a cured fraction facing only background mortality and an uncured fraction remaining at risk.
- Model Audit
- An independent, systematic review of a model's structure, code, and data by a party uninvolved in its original construction, to catch errors.
- Model Review
- A systematic examination of a model's structure, assumptions, and results by people other than its original developers, to catch errors or concerns.
- Model-Based Evaluation
- An economic evaluation built using a mathematical or simulation model that synthesises evidence from multiple sources rather than a single study.
- Molecular Response
- A response measure using highly sensitive laboratory techniques detecting very small quantities of disease-associated genetic material, more precise than hematologic or cytogenetic criteria.
- Multi-Way Sensitivity Analysis
- An analysis systematically varying two or more input parameters together across a defined range of combinations, examining their combined effect on results.
- Multiple Comparison
- A situation involving more than two mutually exclusive interventions, requiring a systematic method, such as fully incremental analysis, to rank and compare them correctly.
N
- Near Miss Reporting
- The systematic documentation of events with potential to cause harm that did not result in injury, revealing system vulnerabilities early.
- Neonatal Economics
- The application of health economic evaluation to newborn care, particularly infants requiring specialist care for prematurity or congenital conditions.
- Net Margin
- A financial ratio calculated as net income divided by total revenue, showing the proportion of revenue remaining as profit.
- Non-Parametric Estimation
- A statistical approach to estimating a survival function without assuming the data follow any specific mathematical distribution.
- Non-Response Error
- A survey error arising when selected participants fail to respond, and respondents differ systematically from non-respondents, potentially biasing the results.
- Numerical Method
- A computational technique for obtaining an approximate solution to a mathematical problem when an exact analytical solution is unavailable or impractical.
O
- Operating Margin
- A financial ratio calculated as operating income divided by revenue, showing the proportion remaining after operating expenses but before non-operating items.
- Opportunistic Screening
- A screening approach offering testing when an individual happens to present for an unrelated visit, rather than through systematic invitation.
- Orthogonal Rotation
- A factor analysis technique transforming a solution into a more interpretable structure while constraining the resulting factors to remain uncorrelated.
- Outbreak Investigation
- A systematic epidemiological process identifying an outbreak's source, mode of transmission, and scope, typically conducted under time pressure.
- Outer Loop
- The portion of a nested simulation sampling parameter values that remain fixed while a complete inner loop simulation runs beneath it.
P
- Pandemic Elasticity
- The responsiveness of healthcare demand, supply, or prices to changes in disease prevalence during a pandemic, measured using standard economic elasticity.
- Parametric Survival
- Survival estimates derived from a fitted mathematical distribution rather than directly from observed data alone, allowing extrapolation beyond the data.
- Passive Alert
- A clinical alert displaying information without requiring an active response before proceeding, unlike an interruptive alert demanding acknowledgment.
- Patent Life
- The total length of time a patent remains in force from filing to expiry, typically twenty years, though effective exclusivity is usually shorter.
- Period Effect
- In a crossover trial, a systematic difference in outcomes attributable to the specific time period a treatment was given rather than the treatment itself.
- Pharmacology Testing
- The systematic laboratory and clinical evaluation of a drug candidate's biological effects, covering mechanism of action, dose-response, and interactions.
- Physician Hospital Organization
- An arrangement joining physicians and a hospital to jointly contract with payers, while participating physicians remain in independent practice.
- Policy Option Assessment
- The systematic evaluation of alternative approaches to a health policy problem, comparing options across criteria such as cost and equity.
- Policy Recommendation
- A formal proposal advocating a specific course of action to address a defined policy problem, following systematic analysis of alternatives.
- Portability Design
- Features built into an insurance product or account letting coverage or accumulated funds remain with an individual across employer or plan changes.
- Potential Life Years
- A measure of premature mortality calculated as the years of life lost when death occurs before a specified reference age, such as seventy.
- Priority Setting
- The systematic process of deciding how to allocate limited health resources across competing needs, informed by cost-effectiveness and equity.
- Priority Setting Method
- A systematic approach to deciding how to allocate limited health system resources across competing programmes or services.
- Probability-to-Rate Conversion
- The mathematical transformation converting a probability of an event over a discrete time interval into its corresponding continuous-time hazard rate.
- Publication Bias
- A systematic distortion in published evidence arising because studies with significant or favourable results are more likely to be published.
- Publication Bias Assessment
- An evaluation of whether published evidence is systematically distorted because significant or favourable results are more likely to be published than null ones.
Q
- Quality Assessment
- The general process of systematically evaluating a study's methodological rigour and trustworthiness, covering design, risk of bias, and reporting completeness.
- Quality Assessment Model
- A structured tool or checklist systematically evaluating research methodological quality against predefined criteria, such as the Cochrane risk of bias tool.
- Quality Assurance
- The systematic procedures used throughout a model's development to prevent, detect, and correct errors, including double programming and independent review.
- Quality Control
- Systematic processes and testing throughout manufacturing to ensure each batch of a product consistently meets required standards for identity, purity, and potency.
- Quality Improvement
- A systematic, ongoing approach to enhancing healthcare processes and outcomes, using structured methods such as plan-do-study-act to test changes.
- Quality Measure
- A standardised metric quantifying a specific aspect of healthcare quality, enabling systematic comparison across providers, time periods, or populations.