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.
E
- ElasticityResponsiveness Measure, Economic Sensitivity
- A measure of how strongly one economic quantity responds to a change in another, such as the responsiveness of quantity demanded to a change in price or income.
H
- Health System GoalsSystem Goals, Health System Objectives
- The fundamental objectives a health system aims to achieve, including improving population health, fairness in financial contribution, and responsiveness to expectations.
- Health System PerformanceSystem Performance, Health System Assessment
- An overall assessment of how well a health system achieves its goals, evaluated across population health outcomes, financial fairness, and responsiveness.
- Health System ResponsivenessSystem Responsiveness, Patient Responsiveness
- The degree to which a health system meets the legitimate non-health expectations of its population, such as dignity, autonomy, and prompt attention.
I
- Income Elasticity of DemandIncome Elasticity, Demand Income Responsiveness
- A measure of how quantity demanded responds to a change in consumer income, calculated as percentage change in demand over percentage change in income.
M
- Measurement PropertyPsychometric Property, Instrument Property
- A characteristic that describes how well a health measurement instrument performs, such as its validity, reliability or responsiveness, used to judge whether the instrument captures the intended concept accurately and consistently.
P
- Pandemic ElasticityPandemic Demand Responsiveness, Crisis Elasticity
- The responsiveness of healthcare demand, supply, or prices to changes in disease prevalence during a pandemic, measured using standard economic elasticity.
R
- ResponsivenessChange Detection, Ability to Detect Change, Sensitivity to Change
- The ability of an outcome measurement instrument to detect change over time in the construct it is intended to measure, in a specified population and context of use.
- Responsiveness AssessmentChange-Sensitivity Assessment, Responsiveness Testing
- An evaluation of an outcome measure's ability to detect a clinically meaningful change in a patient's condition over time.
S
- Standardised Response MeanSRM, Standardized Response Mean
- A responsiveness statistic calculated as the mean score change over time divided by the standard deviation of that change, unlike an effect size.
W
- Waiting TimeWait Time, Time to Treatment
- The interval between a patient's referral for a service and the point at which they actually receive it, a responsiveness indicator.