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.
C
- Clinical Value Measurement
- A value measurement focused on health outcomes achieved per unit of cost for a defined condition, tracked across the full cycle of care.
- Cohort Study
- An observational study following a group sharing a common exposure or characteristic forward in time to observe subsequent health outcomes.
- Comparative Equity Analysis
- An equity analysis that benchmarks the distribution of health outcomes or resources across different regions, countries, or health systems.
- Cost Analysis
- A study that estimates the resources consumed by a health intervention without relating those costs to health outcomes.
- Cost-Effectiveness Threshold
- A cost-effectiveness threshold is a benchmark used to judge whether the additional health produced by an intervention is worth its additional cost, usually expressed as an amount per QALY or another unit of health outcome.
- Cost-Utility AnalysisCUA
- Cost-utility analysis is a full economic evaluation that compares healthcare alternatives by relating differences in their costs to differences in preference-weighted health outcomes, most commonly quality-adjusted life years.
D
- Differential Discounting
- The practice of applying different discount rates to costs and health outcomes within an economic evaluation, rather than discounting both at the same rate.
- Discount Rate
- The annual percentage applied to future costs or health outcomes to express them in present-value terms and permit consistent comparison across time.
- Discounting Health
- The application of a discount rate to future health outcomes within an economic evaluation, converting them into a common present-day value.
E
- Environmental Data
- Data capturing physical environment characteristics, such as air quality or water contamination levels, used to study their relationship with health outcomes.
- Environmental Epidemiology
- A branch of epidemiology studying how physical environment exposures, such as air pollution, affect human health outcomes within populations.
- Equity Analysis Policy
- An assessment of whether a proposed policy would improve or worsen existing disparities in health outcomes or access across subgroups.
- Equity Criterion
- A standard judging whether a funding decision would exacerbate or reduce existing disparities in health outcomes or access.
- Equity Gap
- The observed difference in health outcomes, access, or financing burden between population subgroups that is considered unfair or avoidable.
- Exposure
- A factor, such as a behaviour, treatment, or environmental agent, whose relationship to a health outcome is being studied.
F
- Foundational System Analysis
- The core approach to understanding how a health system's financing, workforce, and service delivery interact to produce population health outcomes.
- Fundamental Equity Analysis
- An equity analysis limited to the most basic comparison of health outcomes or resource distribution between two population groups.
G
- Generic Measure
- A health outcome measure applicable across different diseases and populations, unlike a condition-specific measure tailored to one disease.
- Gini Coefficient Health
- An adaptation of the Gini coefficient, originally measuring income inequality, applied to measure inequality in a health outcome, such as life expectancy.
H
- Health Disparity
- A difference in health outcomes or access between population groups, particularly one closely linked to social or economic disadvantage.
- Health Economic Model
- A mathematical representation of the costs and health outcomes of alternative interventions over a defined time horizon, used when single-study data are insufficient.
- Health Outcome
- Any change in health status resulting from a healthcare intervention or a condition's natural course, from survival to patient-reported quality of life.
- Health System Efficiency
- The degree to which a health system achieves maximum possible health outcomes from available resources, or a given outcome using minimum resources.
- Health System Performance
- An overall assessment of how well a health system achieves its goals, evaluated across population health outcomes, financial fairness, and responsiveness.
I
- Incremental Effectiveness
- Incremental effectiveness is the difference in health outcomes between an intervention and its comparator, calculated in a consistent outcome unit and comparison direction.
- Incremental Net Monetary BenefitINMB
- Incremental net monetary benefit, or INMB, converts the difference in health outcomes between two alternatives into a monetary value at a stated cost-effectiveness threshold and then subtracts their difference in cost.
- Index-Based Measure
- A health outcome measure producing a single summary utility score by combining information across multiple dimensions, rather than reporting each separately.
- Integrated Equity Analysis
- An equity analysis combining data on health outcomes, healthcare utilisation, and financing burden into a single evaluation rather than treating each separately.
- International Comparison
- An analysis examining how health outcomes, costs, or policies differ across multiple countries, identifying best practices and system design effects.
- International Equity Analysis
- An equity analysis comparing disparities in health outcomes or healthcare access across countries with different health systems and income levels.
K
- Knowledge Translation
- The exchange, synthesis, and application of research knowledge to improve health outcomes, moving evidence from research into practice and policy.
M
- Minimal Important Difference
- The smallest change in a health outcome measure a patient would perceive as beneficial, or that would prompt a clinician to change management.
- Minimally Important Difference
- The threshold change in a health outcome score considered meaningful, estimated using either anchor-based or distribution-based methods.
- Monetary Valuation
- The expression of a health outcome or other non-market good in monetary terms, typically through stated preference methods.
N
- Net Benefit Approach
- A framework for economic evaluation that converts health outcomes into money at a set value per unit of effect, then subtracts cost.
- Nutrition Policy
- Government policy addressing dietary patterns and nutrition-related health outcomes, covering food labelling, school nutrition standards, and taxation of poor-nutrition foods.
O
- Occupational Epidemiology
- A branch of epidemiology studying the relationship between workplace exposures and health outcomes among working populations.
- Outcome-Based Budget
- A budgeting approach that allocates funds according to expected or achieved health outcomes rather than historical spending or input costs.
P
- Patient Preference
- An individual patient's relative valuation of different treatment attributes or health outcomes, often elicited through methods such as a discrete choice experiment.
- Patient-Centred OutcomePatient-Centered Outcome
- A health outcome measure specifically identified as important to patients themselves, rather than selected primarily for clinical or biomarker significance.
- Perceived Health
- A patient's own subjective rating of overall health status, shown to independently predict future health outcomes and healthcare use beyond clinical measures alone.
- Perinatal Epidemiology
- A branch of epidemiology studying health outcomes and their determinants during pregnancy, childbirth, and the immediate postnatal period.
- Population Health
- The health outcomes of a group of individuals, including their distribution, encompassing healthcare delivery and broader social and environmental determinants.
- Profile-Based Measure
- A health outcome measure reporting separate scores across multiple dimensions rather than combining them into a single index value.
- Protective Factor
- A characteristic, behaviour, or exposure associated with a reduced risk of a particular disease or health outcome.
R
- Resource Allocation
- The process of distributing limited health system resources across competing uses to maximise health outcomes or other policy objectives.
- Responsiveness
- The ability of a health outcome measure to detect a clinically meaningful change in health status over time when one has genuinely occurred.
- Risk
- The probability that a particular health outcome will occur within a defined population over a specified period of time.
- Risk Analytics
- The application of data analysis to identify and quantify an individual's or population's risk of a specific future health outcome.
- Risk Factor
- A characteristic, behaviour, or exposure associated with an increased likelihood of a disease or health outcome, without necessarily being an established direct cause.