Dictionary

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Adjuvant TherapyTermAdjuvant Treatment, Post-Surgical Therapy

Treatment given after a primary treatment, most commonly surgery, to eliminate remaining cancer cells and reduce the risk of recurrence.

ADME StudiesConceptADME, ADME Profiling, Absorption Distribution Metabolism Excretion

ADME studies measure how a drug is absorbed, distributed, metabolised and excreted, informing dose adjustments for organ impairment and drug interactions.

Administrative BarrierConceptBureaucratic Barrier, Procedural Barrier, Red Tape

An administrative barrier is a paperwork, enrolment, renewal or approval requirement that deters or delays use of healthcare.

Administrative CensoringConceptEnd-of-Study Censoring, Administrative Right Censoring

Administrative censoring is right censoring that occurs when a trial's planned end of follow-up or data cut-off arrives before a patient has the event.

Administrative Cost RatioConceptACR, Expense Ratio

Administrative cost ratio is the share of an insurer's premium income, or a health system's spending, used for administration rather than claims or care.

Administrative DataConceptAdmin Data, Routinely-Collected Data

Administrative data are records made to run or pay for care, such as claims, hospital admissions and prescriptions, reused to measure costs and outcomes.

Administrative DatabaseTermAdmin Database, Administrative Claims Database

A large-scale collection of administrative data, such as insurance claims or government health records, made available for secondary research use.

Administrative FeasibilityConceptImplementation Feasibility, Institutional Feasibility

Administrative feasibility is whether the agencies that would run a health policy have the staff, systems and mandate to deliver it as designed.

Administrative SimplificationConceptAdmin Simplification, Red-Tape Reduction

Administrative simplification is policy to cut the cost of health system paperwork, such as claims, eligibility checks and prior authorisation.

Administrative WasteConceptAdmin Waste, Bureaucratic Waste

Administrative waste is health care administrative spending that adds no value or costs more than needed, such as duplicate reporting or complex billing.

Admission ProcessTermPatient Intake, Inpatient Registration

The formal sequence of steps through which a patient is registered and accepted for inpatient care within a hospital.

Adult Day CareTermAdult Day Services, Adult Day Program, Day Centre Care

A community programme providing supervised care and activities to adults during daytime hours, allowing family carers respite or continued employment.

Advance Care PlanningConceptACP, Future Care Planning

Advance care planning (ACP) is a process in which people discuss and record their goals and preferences for future medical care with family and clinicians.

Advance DirectiveTermAdvance Decision, Healthcare Directive

A legal document specifying an individual's preferences for future medical treatment, or designating a decision-maker, to be used if they cannot communicate.

Advanced Therapy Medicinal ProductConceptATMP, Gene and Cell Therapies

An advanced therapy medicinal product (ATMP) is an EU-regulated gene, cell or tissue-based medicine, often given once, whose lasting value HTA must judge.

Adverse Drug EventConceptADE, Drug-Related Injury

An adverse drug event (ADE) is harm to a patient from a medicine, whether caused by a medication error or by a reaction despite correct use.

Adverse Drug ReactionConceptADR, Side Effect, Drug Reaction, Adverse Reaction, Adverse Effect

An adverse drug reaction (ADR) is a noxious, unintended response to a medicine, where a causal link to the drug is at least a reasonable possibility.

Adverse EventConceptAE, Adverse Medical Event

An adverse event (AE) is any unfavourable medical occurrence after treatment, caused by it or not; in patient safety, an injury caused by medical care.

Adverse Event CostTermAE Cost, Toxicity Management Cost, Side Effect Cost

The expense of managing a treatment's side effects, covering additional medical visits, hospitalisation, and supportive medications required.

Adverse Event RateConceptAE Rate, AE Frequency

Adverse event rate (AE rate) is the count of adverse events, or of patients with one, divided by the patients or person-time at risk in a stated period.

Adverse Event ReportingConceptAE Reporting, Safety Reporting

Adverse event reporting sends suspected drug reactions and safety incidents to regulators or national systems, giving safety signals but not event rates.

Adverse SelectionConceptAnti-Selection, Negative Selection

Adverse selection occurs when people who know they are higher risk buy more health or life insurance, which can raise premiums and drive out lower risks.

AffordabilityConceptAbility to Pay, Financial Reach, Financial Access, Ability to Pay for Care

Affordability is whether a payer or household can meet the cost of health care from available resources without displacing other care or causing hardship.

Affordability CriterionTermAffordability Standard, Budget Sustainability Criterion, Sustainability Criterion, Sustainability Test, System-Viability Criterion

A standard judging whether a new technology's aggregate cost is sustainable within a health system's resources, considered separately from cost-effectiveness.

Affordability ThresholdConceptBudget-Impact Threshold, Total-Cost Ceiling

An affordability threshold is the budget impact level above which a payer flags a new technology for special handling, even if it is cost-effective.

Age RatingConceptAge-Based Rating, Age-Banded Pricing

Age rating is setting health insurance premiums by the buyer's age, as expected costs rise with age; some laws cap it, such as the US 3:1 adult limit.

Age WeightingConceptAge Weights

Age weighting values a year of healthy life by the age at which it is lived, as in the original GBD DALY, which gave years in young adulthood most weight.

Agent-Based ModelConceptABM, Agent-Based Simulation

An agent-based model (ABM) simulates individuals as agents that follow rules and interact, so outcomes such as infections, costs and QALYs emerge.

Aggregate Data Meta-AnalysisConceptAD Meta-Analysis, Summary Data Meta-Analysis

Aggregate data meta-analysis pools study-level summary results, such as effect estimates and standard errors, from several studies into one estimate.

Aggregate ModelTermSummary-Parameter Model, Population-Summary Model

A model representing a population using summary-level parameters, such as average transition probabilities, rather than tracking individual patients separately.

Aggregate Stop-LossConceptAggregate Excess Cover, Aggregate Claims Cover

Aggregate stop-loss is insurance that reimburses a self-funded employer for total health claims above an agreed attachment point in a plan year.

Aggregation LevelTermLevel of Aggregation, Model Granularity

The degree of detail at which a model represents its population, ranging from fully individual-level simulation to fully aggregated cohort averages.

Aging-Driven Cost GrowthConceptAgeing-Driven Cost Growth, Demographic Cost Pressure

Aging-driven cost growth is the share of health spending growth due to an older population, usually smaller than growth from rising incomes and technology.

AHRQ Surveys on Patient Safety Culture (SOPS)TermAHRQ Surveys on Patient Safety Culture, SOPS

A US standardised survey assessing staff perceptions of an organisation's patient safety culture, covering teamwork and communication openness.

AI Diagnostic ValueConceptValue of AI Diagnostics, AI Diagnostic Assessment

AI diagnostic value is the assessment of an AI diagnostic tool's net health and cost effect in a care pathway, judged on outcomes, not accuracy alone.

AIFATermAgenzia Italiana del Farmaco, Italian Medicines Agency

The Italian Medicines Agency, the national regulatory and health technology assessment body responsible for drug approval, pricing, and reimbursement in Italy.

Air EmbolismTermGas Embolism, Venous Gas Embolism

A serious, generally preventable safety event in which air enters a patient's bloodstream, most commonly through improper intravenous line management.

Akaike Information CriterionConceptAIC, Akaike Criterion

Akaike information criterion (AIC) is a statistic ranking models fitted to the same data, such as survival curves in HTA, by fit penalised per parameter.

Alcohol Consumption RateTermPer-Capita Alcohol Intake, Population Alcohol Intake

A population-level measure of average alcohol intake, tracked as a key modifiable risk factor for chronic disease and injury.

Alcohol PolicyConceptAlcohol Control Policy, Alcohol Harm Reduction Policy

Alcohol policy is the set of public measures, such as alcohol taxes, minimum unit prices and limits on sales and marketing, used to reduce alcohol harm.

Alcohol Use EconomicsConceptAlcohol Control Economics, Alcohol Economics

Alcohol use economics estimates what drinking costs health services and society and tests the value for money of alcohol screening and control policies.

Alert FatigueConceptAlert Desensitisation

Alert fatigue is clinicians' falling response when too many low-value computerised alerts consume time and attention, so important ones are overridden too.

All-Cause MortalityConceptTotal Mortality, Overall Death Rate

All-cause mortality is the rate of death from any cause in a population; models take background rates from life tables, and trials use it as an endpoint.

All-Inclusive RateTermAll-Inclusive Payment, Global Rate, Comprehensive Episode Rate

A single, comprehensive payment amount covering all services during a defined care episode, such as a per diem hospital rate.

All-Payer SystemConceptAll-Payer Rate Setting, Uniform-Rate System

An all-payer system is a provider payment arrangement in which a regulator sets the rates that every payer, public or private, pays for the same service.

Allergy AlertTermAllergy Warning, Drug Allergy Warning

A computerised notification warning a prescriber that a proposed medication conflicts with a patient's documented allergy.

Alliance ModelConceptAlliance Contracting, Collaborative Alliance

An alliance model is a health care arrangement in which independent providers and commissioners share goals, decisions, risk and reward without merging.

Allocation ConcealmentConceptConcealed Allocation, Allocation Masking, Concealment of Allocation

Allocation concealment hides the next assignment in a randomised trial from recruiters until allocation, protecting the treatment effects that inform HTA.

Allocative DistortionTermAllocative Inefficiency, Resource Misallocation

A departure from the efficient allocation of resources across competing uses, typically caused by market failure, regulation, or mispriced goods.

Allocative EfficiencyConceptAllocative Optimality, Value-Maximising Allocation

Allocative efficiency is spending a health budget on the mix of services that yields the most health or welfare, so that no reallocation could do better.