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.
D
- DOAC EconomicsDirect Oral Anticoagulant Economics, NOAC Economics
- The application of health economic evaluation to direct oral anticoagulants, comparing higher acquisition cost against reduced monitoring versus older agents such as warfarin.
- Dominance AnalysisDominance Screening, Dominated-Option Check
- Dominance analysis identifies interventions that are inferior to another feasible option or to the efficient combination of options on cost and health outcome, leaving a frontier for fully incremental comparison.
- Dominated AlternativeDominated Option, Inferior Alternative
- An intervention that is both more costly and less effective than another option, or a combination of options, and so should not be selected.
- Drug SubstitutionMedicine Substitution, Product Interchange
- The replacement of one medicine with another regarded as equivalent, such as a generic or biosimilar for an originator product, commonly to lower cost.
E
- Economic ChoiceChoice Under Scarcity, Economic Decision
- A decision made among competing alternatives under scarcity, guided by the relative costs and benefits of each option.
- Economic Modelling HTAHTA Modelling, Decision-Analytic Modelling in HTA
- The application of decision-analytic modelling techniques within the assessment process, used to estimate a technology's cost-effectiveness.
- Economic PrincipleEconomic Foundation, Foundational Economic Proposition
- In health economics, a foundational proposition about how scarce resources are allocated, such as scarcity, opportunity cost and efficiency, underpinning the economic evaluation of health interventions.
- Electrophysiology EconomicsEP Economics, Cardiac Rhythm Care Economics
- The application of health economic evaluation to cardiac electrical system disorders, comparing invasive ablation procedure cost against ongoing medication management.
- Employee ContributionEmployee Premium Share, Worker Contribution
- The portion of health insurance premium costs an employee pays directly, distinct from the portion covered by their employer.
- Employer ContributionEmployer Premium Share, Employer-Paid Portion
- The portion of health insurance premium costs an employer pays on behalf of an employee within an employer-sponsored arrangement.
- ENBS CalculationENBS Computation, Net Sampling Benefit
- The process of computing the expected net benefit of sampling, the expected value of sample information from a study minus its expected cost.
- End-of-Life CriteriaEnd-of-Life Modifier, Terminal-Illness Criteria
- Special decision criteria applied by some health technology assessment bodies allowing a higher cost-effectiveness threshold for treatments of conditions with short life expectancy.
- EQ-5DEuroQol 5D, EQ5D
- A generic instrument measuring health-related quality of life across five dimensions, including mobility, self-care, and pain, widely used to generate cost-utility values.
- EVICInformation Value Measure, VoI Decision Criterion
- A value of information measure expressing the expected value of collecting further evidence before a technology decision, weighed against its cost.
- Evidence AdaptationEvidence Transfer, Cross-Jurisdiction Transfer
- The process of modifying evidence or an economic evaluation from one country or setting to reflect a different setting's practice and costs.
- Evidence of CoverageEOC, Coverage Document
- A formal document given to a plan enrollee detailing the specific benefits, cost-sharing, and terms of their coverage.
- Ex-Post EvaluationAfter-Implementation Evaluation, Outcome-Based Evaluation
- An economic evaluation conducted after an intervention has been implemented, using observed data on its actual costs and outcomes.
- Exchange RateFX Rate, Currency Conversion Rate
- The price of one currency expressed in terms of another, used to convert costs or prices between countries.
- Exclusion ListNon-Covered Drug List, Drug Exclusion Roster
- A list of medications explicitly not covered under a health plan's formulary, typically due to available clinically equivalent, lower-cost alternatives.
- Expected LossExpected Opportunity Loss, Probability-Weighted Loss
- The probability-weighted average cost of making an incorrect decision under uncertainty, calculated across all possible states and their probabilities.
- Expected Net BenefitAverage Net Benefit, ENB
- Expected net benefit is the average net benefit of an alternative across the uncertainty represented in an economic evaluation, calculated at a stated cost-effectiveness threshold.
- Expected Net Benefit of SamplingENBS, Net Value of Sampling
- Expected net benefit of sampling is the expected population value of the decision improvement produced by a proposed sample, minus the financial and opportunity costs of obtaining that evidence.
- Exponential DiscountingConstant-Rate Discounting, Time-Consistent Discounting
- A discounting model in which future costs and benefits are reduced at a constant proportional rate each period, producing time-consistent preferences.
- ExternalitySpillover Effect, Third-Party Effect
- An externality is a cost or benefit arising from production or consumption that affects third parties and is not fully reflected in the decision-maker’s private costs or benefits.
- Externality CorrectionExternality Internalisation, Corrective Intervention
- A policy intervention, such as a Pigouvian tax or subsidy, intended to align private incentives with the true social cost or benefit of an activity.
F
- Fee FreezeFee Rate Freeze, Payment Freeze
- A regulatory or contractual action preventing fee schedule rates from increasing for a specified period, a cost-containment mechanism.
- Fee Schedule DevelopmentFee Schedule Setting, Rate Development
- The process of establishing or updating fee schedule payment amounts, informed by resource costs, market rates, and policy objectives.
- Financial Analytics HealthHealthcare Financial Analytics, Finance Analytics
- The application of data analysis to healthcare financial data, supporting budgeting, cost management, and revenue cycle optimisation.
- Financial FeasibilityFiscal Feasibility, Funding Feasibility
- An assessment of whether a proposed policy can be adequately funded given available resources, considering both implementation and long-term fiscal cost.
- Financial Hardship MeasureFinancial Burden Measure, Hardship Indicator
- A quantitative indicator assessing the degree of financial burden a household faces from healthcare costs, such as catastrophic expenditure.
- FormularyPreferred Drug List, Approved Medication List
- A list of medications approved for coverage by a health plan or system, often organised into tiers reflecting patient cost-sharing levels.
- Free ClinicCharitable Clinic, Volunteer Clinic
- A facility providing medical services at no direct cost, typically relying on volunteer clinicians and charitable funding for uninsured populations.
- Free GoodsFree Stock, Free-of-Charge Units
- Units of a treatment provided by a manufacturer at no cost, often used within a managed entry agreement to offset non-responder costs.
- Free Rider ProblemFree Riding, Collective Action Problem
- A situation in which individuals benefit from a shared resource or collective action without contributing to its cost, because exclusion is not feasible.
- Full AssessmentComprehensive HTA, Full HTA Review
- A comprehensive assessment process involving detailed evaluation of clinical and cost-effectiveness, unlike an abbreviated or rapid review process.
- Full CapitationGlobal Capitation, Comprehensive Capitation
- A capitation arrangement in which a provider assumes complete financial risk for essentially all a patient's healthcare costs, unlike partial capitation.
- Full Economic EvaluationComplete Economic Evaluation, Comparative Economic Evaluation
- An economic evaluation comparing two or more alternatives in terms of both costs and consequences, unlike a partial evaluation examining costs or outcomes alone.
- Full Societal PerspectiveComplete Societal Perspective, Broad Societal Perspective
- An analytic viewpoint including all costs and consequences regardless of who bears them, spanning healthcare, patient and carer time, and productivity losses.
- Fully Incremental AnalysisFull Incremental Analysis, Sequential ICER Analysis
- Fully incremental analysis compares all mutually exclusive strategies in an ordered sequence to identify the cost-effectiveness frontier.
G
- GainsharingGain Sharing, Savings-Sharing Arrangement, Gainsharing Arrangement
- An arrangement in which a hospital shares cost savings from improved efficiency with the physicians whose practice changes helped generate them.
- Gene Therapy AnnuityAnnuity Payment Model, Instalment Reimbursement
- A proposed payment model spreading reimbursement for a high-cost gene therapy over annual instalments tied to its demonstrated durability, rather than one upfront lump sum.
- Generic InstrumentGeneric PROM, Generic Health Measure, Generic HRQoL, Generic Measure
- A health status questionnaire applicable across a broad range of diseases, allowing comparison across different populations at the cost of condition-specific sensitivity.
- Generic PricingGeneric Drug Pricing, Off-Patent Pricing
- The pricing strategies applied to generic drugs, typically set substantially below the original brand-name product's price to reflect lower development cost.
- Global PerspectiveGlobal Viewpoint, Multi-Country Perspective
- An analytic viewpoint considering costs and outcomes across multiple countries or the world as a whole, rather than one national health system.
- Gold PlanGold Tier Plan, Gold Metal Tier
- A US Affordable Care Act marketplace plan category with a relatively high actuarial value, around eighty percent, giving higher premiums but lower cost-sharing.
- Government PerspectivePublic Budget Perspective, Cross-Agency Viewpoint
- An analytic viewpoint including costs and outcomes relevant to government budgets as a whole, potentially spanning several public agencies beyond health.
- Government SubsidyPublic Subsidy, State Subsidy
- Financial support provided by a government to reduce the cost of a good or service, such as healthcare, below unsubsidised market price.
H
- Half-Cycle CorrectionHalf-Cycle Adjustment, Mid-Cycle Correction
- Half-cycle correction is a within-cycle adjustment in discrete-time state-transition models that approximates time-accruing costs or health effects between recorded state-occupancy endpoints.
- Headroom AnalysisHeadroom Method, Value Ceiling Analysis
- An early-stage technique estimating the maximum price or cost-effectiveness ceiling a technology under development could command, before detailed clinical evidence exists.
- Health AnalyticsHealth Data Analytics, Analytics in Health Systems
- In health systems, the use of data analysis methods to turn routine health, cost and outcome data into information that supports clinical, operational and resource-allocation decisions.