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.
A
- Activity-Based CostingABC
- A costing method that assigns overhead and indirect costs to services based on the actual activities that consume resources, rather than a simple volume measure.
C
- Comprehensive Cost Analysis
- A cost analysis that captures direct medical, direct non-medical, and indirect costs at once rather than a single category.
- Cost Allocation
- The process of assigning shared or indirect costs to specific departments, services, or patients using a defined allocation basis.
D
- Direct Cost
- A cost that can be directly attributed to producing a specific good or delivering a specific service, such as medication given to a patient.
- Direct Graduate Medical Education
- A US Medicare funding stream reimbursing teaching hospitals for direct costs of training resident physicians, such as salaries and supervision.
- Direct Medical Cost
- A direct cost incurred specifically for the provision of medical care, such as physician fees, hospital charges, or medication.
- Direct Non-Medical Cost
- A direct cost borne by a patient or carer that is not itself a medical expense, such as transport to appointments.
F
- Free Clinic
- A facility providing medical services at no direct cost, typically relying on volunteer clinicians and charitable funding for uninsured populations.
I
- Indirect Cost
- A cost associated with an intervention that is not directly incurred in providing it, such as lost productivity from illness or premature death.
S
- Societal Cost
- The total cost of an intervention from the broadest perspective, covering direct healthcare, direct non-medical, and indirect costs regardless of who bears them.
- Stroke Rehabilitation Economics
- The application of health economic evaluation to stroke rehabilitation services, assessing how therapy intensity affects both direct costs and long-term disability costs.