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.
B
- Bayesian Meta-AnalysisBayesian Evidence Synthesis, Bayesian Pooling
- An approach combining evidence across studies using Bayesian methods, formally incorporating prior information to produce a posterior effect estimate distribution.
C
- Community ContributionCommunity Health Fund, Community Pooling
- A health financing mechanism in which local community members pool resources, often through small regular payments, to cover collective healthcare costs.
- Cream SkimmingCherry Picking, Favourable Risk Selection
- A practice where an insurer or provider selectively attracts healthier, lower-cost enrollees while avoiding sicker ones, undermining risk pooling.
D
- Data PoolingStudy Pooling, Statistical Pooling
- The process of statistically combining results from multiple studies into a single summary estimate, weighted by each study's precision.
E
- Equal WeightsEqual Weighting, Unweighted Pooling
- A method combining multiple experts' judgements by giving each opinion identical weight in the pooled estimate, unlike performance-based weighting.
M
- Meta-AnalysisEffect-Size Pooling, Pooled Analysis
- Meta-analysis statistically combines effect estimates from multiple studies addressing a sufficiently similar question.
N
- Narrative SynthesisNarrative Data Synthesis, Textual Synthesis
- An evidence synthesis summarising findings from multiple studies primarily through descriptive text, rather than formal statistical pooling.
P
- PoolingPrepaid Fund Accumulation, Shared Fund
- The accumulation and management of prepaid healthcare funds into a shared fund used to pay for services for a covered population.
- Pooling EquilibriumPooling Outcome, Mixed-Type Equilibrium
- A market outcome in which different risk types make the same choice, so a firm cannot distinguish between them from behaviour alone.
Q
- Quantitative SynthesisStatistical Synthesis, Statistical Pooling of Studies
- The statistical combination of numerical results from multiple studies into a single pooled estimate, unlike a descriptive narrative synthesis.
R
- Risk PoolingFund Pooling, Financial Pooling
- Risk pooling is the accumulation and management of prepaid health funds for a defined population so that the financial consequences of health-care need are shared across members rather than borne solely by each person when illness occurs.