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
- Academic Expert in HTASubject-Matter Academic, Independent Academic Adviser
- A researcher with specialised subject matter expertise invited to contribute independent scientific perspective to a health technology assessment process.
B
- Balanced ScorecardBSC, Kaplan-Norton Scorecard
- A strategic performance framework tracking organisational performance across multiple perspectives, such as financial, customer, and internal process, rather than finance alone.
C
- CAHPSConsumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems, Patient Experience Survey
- The Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems, a family of standardised patient experience surveys measuring patients' care perspectives.
- Cancer Treatment EconomicsOncology Treatment Economics, Cancer Therapy Economics
- The analysis of costs, health outcomes and resource consequences across cancer treatment pathways for a specified population, comparator, perspective and decision.
- Clinical ExpertClinical Specialist, Subject Clinician
- A practicing clinician with specialised experience treating a condition, invited to contribute professional perspective to an assessment process.
- Consumer AssessmentConsumer Survey, Patient Perspective Survey
- A standardised survey methodology measuring patients' or consumers' perspectives on care received, covering communication quality and timeliness.
- Cost ValuationValuation of Costs, Resource Valuation, Monetary Valuation of Resource Use, Costing Valuation
- Cost valuation is the assignment of monetary values to measured resource use in accordance with a specified perspective, setting, price year, and decision purpose.
D
- Deliberative ProcessDeliberation, Reasoned Deliberation
- A structured process of reasoned discussion of evidence and perspectives, used to reach well-justified decisions amid uncertainty or competing values.
- Disease PerspectiveDisease-Specific Perspective, Condition Perspective
- An analytic viewpoint defined by the specific disease being studied, including all relevant costs and outcomes regardless of which payer bears them.
E
- Employer PerspectiveEmployer Viewpoint, Employer Cost Perspective
- An analytic viewpoint including only costs and outcomes relevant to an employer, such as premium contributions and productivity losses from absenteeism.
F
- 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.
G
- 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.
- 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.
H
- Healthcare PerspectiveHealth System Perspective, Third-Party Payer Perspective
- An analytic viewpoint including only costs and outcomes falling on the healthcare payer or provider, excluding broader costs such as productivity loss.
- Healthcare Sector PerspectiveHealth Sector Perspective, Health Care Sector Viewpoint
- An analytic viewpoint including costs and outcomes across the healthcare system broadly, but still excluding costs falling entirely outside the health sector.
- Healthcare System CostSystem-Wide Cost, Total System Cost
- The total expense incurred across an entire healthcare system providing care, covering all payers and providers, unlike a single payer's narrower perspective.
I
- Incremental CostAdditional Cost, Marginal Cost Difference
- Incremental cost is the difference in expected total cost between one healthcare option and its stated comparator, calculated using the same population, perspective, time horizon, currency, price year and costing methods.
- Industry RepresentativeManufacturer Representative, Industry Stakeholder
- An individual employed by or contracted to a manufacturer who provides input or represents its perspective during an assessment process.
- Institutional PerspectiveHospital Perspective, Provider Institution Perspective
- An analytic viewpoint including only costs and outcomes relevant to a single institution, such as a hospital, rather than the broader health system.
- Intervention PerspectiveIntervention-Level Perspective, Intervention-Defined Viewpoint
- An analytic viewpoint defined by the specific intervention being studied, including all costs and outcomes directly attributable to it regardless of who bears them.
L
- Limited Societal PerspectiveRestricted Societal Perspective, Modified Societal Perspective
- An analytic viewpoint including healthcare sector costs along with a defined subset of non-healthcare costs, such as informal carer time, short of a full societal view.
- Local PerspectiveSub-National Perspective, Local Health Authority Perspective
- An analytic viewpoint considering costs and outcomes relevant to a specific region or local health authority, rather than a national health system.
N
- National PerspectiveCountry-Level Perspective, National-Level Perspective
- An analytic viewpoint considering costs and outcomes relevant to an entire country's health system, rather than a single institution, region, or payer.
P
- Patient ExpertExpert Patient, Patient Advocate
- An individual with personal or caregiver experience of a health condition, invited to contribute their perspective to an assessment process.
- Patient Family PerspectivePatient-and-Family Perspective, Carer Perspective
- An analytic viewpoint including costs and outcomes experienced by a patient's family, such as informal caregiving time and lost income, alongside the patient's own.
- Patient InputPatient Perspective Input, Patient Testimony HTA
- Information, perspectives, or preferences provided by patients or their representatives during an assessment process, formally or through consultation.
- Patient Involvement HTAPatient Involvement in HTA, HTA Patient Engagement
- The specific mechanisms through which patient perspectives are formally incorporated into an assessment, including expert testimony and committee representation.
- Patient PerspectivePatient Viewpoint, Patient-Level Perspective
- An analytic viewpoint including only costs and outcomes directly experienced by the patient, such as out-of-pocket expenses and personal time costs.
- Patient SubmissionPatient Organisation Submission, Patient Group Submission
- A formal written contribution from a patient or patient organisation describing a condition's impact from the patient perspective.
- Patient Value MessagePatient-Focused Value Message, Patient Value Story
- A concise statement summarising a technology's key benefits from patients' own perspective, addressing quality of life and treatment burden.
- Payer PerspectivePayer Viewpoint, Insurer Perspective
- An analytic viewpoint including only costs and outcomes relevant to a specific healthcare payer, such as an insurer or government health programme.
- Payer RepresentativePayer Delegate, Insurer Representative
- An individual representing the perspective of a healthcare payer, such as an insurer, contributing input to an assessment process.
- PerspectiveAnalytic Viewpoint, Costing Standpoint
- The viewpoint adopted in an economic evaluation that determines which categories of cost and outcome are included, such as payer, patient, or societal.
- Policy PerspectivePolicymaker Viewpoint, Decision-Maker Standpoint
- An analytic viewpoint defined by the interests of a policy-making body responsible for a broad set of programmes, rather than a single payer.
- Private Sector PerspectiveCommercial Viewpoint, Industry Standpoint
- An analytic viewpoint including only costs and outcomes relevant to private organisations, such as insurers or employers, excluding costs borne by public payers.
- Programme PerspectiveProgram Perspective, Intervention-Programme Viewpoint
- An analytic viewpoint defined by the boundaries of a specific programme, including all costs and outcomes attributable to it regardless of the broader payer.
- Public Sector PerspectiveGovernment-Sector Viewpoint, State Analytic Perspective
- An analytic viewpoint including costs and outcomes relevant to government budgets, potentially spanning multiple public agencies rather than a single health payer.
R
- Regional PerspectiveRegional Viewpoint, Devolved Perspective
- An analytic viewpoint considering costs and outcomes relevant to a defined geographic region within a country, rather than the health system as a whole.
S
- Societal CostSocietal Perspective Cost, Total Social 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.
- Societal PerspectiveSocial Perspective, Whole-Society Viewpoint
- An analytic viewpoint including all costs and outcomes regardless of who bears them, including productivity losses and informal carer time.
- Societal ValueSocial Value, Broad Value
- The total benefit a technology provides from the broadest perspective, covering direct patient health, caregiver burden, productivity, and other societal effects.
- Strategy MapStrategic Linkage Map, Strategy Diagram
- A visual diagram illustrating cause-and-effect relationships between an organisation's strategic objectives across multiple performance perspectives.
- System PerspectivePayer-System Viewpoint, Third-Party Payer View
- An analytic viewpoint considering costs and outcomes across an entire health system rather than a single institution, programme, or payer.
T
- Technology PerspectiveTechnology Viewpoint, Device-Focused Perspective
- An analytic viewpoint defined by the specific health technology being assessed, including all costs and outcomes attributable to it across its uses.
- Third Party PerspectiveReimburser Viewpoint, Third-Payer Viewpoint
- An analytic viewpoint including only costs and outcomes relevant to a third-party payer, such as an insurer, excluding costs borne directly by patients.