Dictionary

C

C. diff RateTermC. difficile Rate, CDI Rate

A measure of the frequency of healthcare-associated Clostridioides difficile infections within a facility, tracking infection prevention and stewardship performance.

CADTHConceptCanadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health, Canada's Drug Agency

CADTH is the former name of Canada's Drug Agency (CDA-AMC), which assesses drugs and health technologies and advises Canada's public drug plans on funding.

CAHPSConceptConsumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems, Patient Experience Survey

CAHPS (Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) is AHRQ's family of patient experience surveys, used in US quality reporting and payment.

CalibrationConceptModel Tuning, Parameter Fitting

Calibration is the estimation of unobservable or uncertain parameters in a health economic model by adjusting them until model outputs match observed data.

Calibration AssessmentTermCalibration Check, Goodness-of-Fit Assessment

An evaluation of how closely a calibrated model's predicted outputs match the observed data used as calibration targets, typically using formal fit statistics.

Calibration of ExpertsConceptExpert Calibration, Cooke Method

Calibration of Experts scores experts' probability judgements on seed questions with known answers, to weight their views on decision model inputs.

Calibration PlotTermReliability Diagram, Calibration Curve

A graphical tool assessing how well a model's predicted probabilities correspond to actually observed outcome frequencies across risk groups.

Cancer BurdenConceptCancer Disease Burden, Oncological Burden

Cancer Burden is the toll of cancer on a population, counted as new cases, deaths and disability-adjusted life years, and often valued as economic cost.

Cancer CentreTermCancer Care Centre, Oncology Facility

A specialist facility focused on cancer diagnosis and treatment, offering multidisciplinary medical, surgical, and radiation oncology services.

Cancer Drug PricingTermOncology Drug Pricing, Cancer Medication Pricing

The pricing strategies and resulting costs of cancer medications, an area of scrutiny given the substantial cost of newer targeted and biologic therapies.

Cancer EpidemiologyConceptOncological Epidemiology, Cancer Epidemiological Study

Cancer Epidemiology studies how often cancer occurs, what causes it and who survives or dies, supplying incidence and survival inputs to economic models.

Cancer RegistryConceptTumour Registry, Cancer Surveillance Registry

Cancer Registry is an information system holding data on people with cancer, from tumour stage to treatment and survival, used to model survival in HTA.

Cancer ScreeningConceptOncology Screening, Cancer Detection Screening

Cancer Screening is testing symptom-free people to find cancer or precancer early, judged economically on deaths prevented against cost and overdiagnosis.

Cancer Screening CoverageTermScreening Coverage Rate, Cancer Screening Uptake

A measure of the proportion of an eligible population receiving recommended cancer screening tests, an indicator of preventive service access.

Capability Index ValuesConceptCapability Tariff, Capability Value Set, ICECAP Index Values

Capability index values are preference weights, often from best-worst scaling, that turn ICECAP answers into one score anchored at full and no capability.

CapacityConceptThroughput Limit, Maximum Output

Capacity is the maximum output, such as patients treated or scans per week, that a health service can sustain with its fixed staff, beds and equipment.

Capacity AssessmentTermDecision-Making Capacity Evaluation, Mental Competence Evaluation

A clinical evaluation of an individual's ability to understand information, appreciate consequences, and communicate a choice, to determine consent validity.

Capacity ManagementConceptCapacity Optimisation, Demand-Capacity Balancing

Capacity management matches existing hospital beds and staff to patient demand by scheduling admissions and discharges, reducing waits and idle beds.

Capacity PlanningConceptService-Demand Planning, Provision Forecasting

Capacity planning estimates the beds, staff, theatre time and equipment a health service needs to meet expected demand to a stated standard of access.

Capacity UtilisationConceptCapacity Utilization

Capacity utilisation is the share of available health care capacity, such as staffed beds, theatre sessions or scanner time, that is used over a period.

Capital BudgetConceptCapital Expenditure Budget, CapEx Budget

Capital Budget is a health system's spending limit for long-lived assets such as hospitals, equipment and IT, kept apart from day-to-day running costs.

Capital CostConceptCapital Expenditure, CapEx

Capital Cost is the cost of assets used for over a year, such as buildings and medical equipment, spread over their useful life in economic evaluation.

CapitationConceptCapitated Payment, Per-Capita Payment

Capitation is a provider payment method paying a fixed amount per enrolled person per period for a defined package of care, whatever care each person uses.

Capitation PaymentConceptRisk-Adjusted Capitation, Capitation Fee

A capitation payment is a predetermined amount paid to a healthcare provider or organisation per covered person over a defined period for a specified set of services, largely independent of that person's actual service use.

Capitation Payment SystemTermCapitation System, Capitated Payment System

The overall structure governing how capitated payments are calculated and administered, covering risk adjustment, frequency, and scope of covered services.

CAR-T TherapyConceptCAR-T Cell Therapy, Chimeric Antigen Receptor Therapy

CAR-T Therapy is a one-off cancer treatment made from a patient's own T cells, engineered to attack the cancer; its high price rests on lasting remission.

Cardiac CentreTermCardiac Center, Heart Centre

A specialist facility focused on heart condition diagnosis and treatment, typically offering advanced diagnostic, interventional, and surgical services.

Cardiac RehabilitationConceptCardiac Rehab, Heart Rehabilitation

Cardiac Rehabilitation is supervised exercise, education and psychological care after a cardiac event; most economic evaluations find it cost-effective.

Cardiac ResynchronizationTermCRT, Cardiac Resynchronisation Therapy

A device treatment for certain heart failure types that coordinates chamber contraction timing through simultaneous pacing, improving pumping efficiency.

Cardiac SurgeryTermHeart Surgery, Cardiothoracic Surgery

Surgical procedures on the heart and major blood vessels, including bypass grafting and valve repair, reserved for conditions not managed by medication alone.

Cardinal ScalingConceptCardinal Measurement, Interval-Level Scaling

Cardinal scaling values health states so that differences between values show strength of preference, as QALYs require; ordinal scales give rank only.

CardiotoxicityTermCardiac Toxicity, Heart Damage

An adverse effect in which a drug or treatment damages the heart or impairs its normal function, a concern with certain chemotherapy agents.

Cardiovascular Disease BurdenTermCVD Burden, Heart Disease Burden

The total impact of cardiovascular disease on a population, typically quantified using disability-adjusted life years, mortality rates, and healthcare expenditure.

Cardiovascular EconomicsTermCV Economics, Cardiology Economics, Anticoagulation Economics, Anticoagulant Economics, DOAC Economics, CVD Diagnosis Economics, Cardiovascular Diagnosis Economics, CVD Diagnostic Cost-Effectiveness, Cardiac Device Economics, Implantable Device Economics, Cardiac Implant Economics, Stroke Economics, Economics of Stroke, Cerebrovascular Economics

The broad application of health economic evaluation to conditions and interventions affecting the heart and blood vessels, from prevention through rehabilitation.

Cardiovascular EpidemiologyTermCVD Epidemiology, Cardiac Epidemiology

A branch of epidemiology studying the distribution and determinants of cardiovascular disease, including major modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors.

Cardiovascular PreventionTermCVD Prevention, Cardiac Prevention

Interventions reducing cardiovascular disease incidence by modifying risk factors, such as blood pressure, cholesterol, and smoking, spanning public health and clinical measures.

Cardiovascular Risk ScreeningTermCVD Risk Screening, Heart Risk Screening

A population strategy assessing individuals for risk factors, such as blood pressure and cholesterol, to identify who would benefit from preventive intervention.

Care BundleConceptEvidence-Based Bundle, Bundle of Care

Care Bundle is a quality improvement intervention of three to five evidence-based practices given together to each eligible patient, audited all-or-none.

Care ConferenceTermCase Conference, Multidisciplinary Meeting, Family Meeting, Family Conference

A structured meeting bringing together providers, and often the patient and family, to discuss condition, treatment, and goals of care.

Care CoordinationConceptCoordinated Care, Care Orchestration

Care coordination is the deliberate organisation of care among a patient's providers and the patient, sharing information for appropriate, efficient care.

Care GapTermGuideline Gap, Unmet Care Need

A discrepancy between the care a patient is recommended to receive based on guidelines and the care they actually receive.

Care ManagementConceptCare Navigation, Patient Navigation Support

Care Management is planned support for high-need, high-cost patients, in which a care manager agrees a care plan and follows up to avoid costly admissions.

Care Needs AssessmentTermCare Assessment, Support Needs Assessment

An evaluation of an individual's specific healthcare and support needs, used to determine the appropriate level of services required.

Care PathwayConceptPatient Pathway, Managed Clinical Pathway

Care pathway is the organised sequence of care for a defined patient group and period; in economic evaluation it shows where a new technology is used.

Care PlanTermTreatment Plan, Individual Care Record

A formal document outlining the specific healthcare services, goals, and interventions planned for an individual patient's treatment.

Care StandardizationTermCare Standardisation, Clinical Standardization

The process of establishing and consistently applying a defined, evidence-based approach to a clinical condition or process across an organisation.

Care TransitionConceptTransition of Care, Care Handover

Care Transition is a patient's move between care settings or providers, such as hospital discharge home, a period of raised risk of harm and readmission.

Caregiver BurdenConceptCarer Burden, Caregiving Strain

Caregiver Burden is the strain unpaid caring puts on a carer's health, time, finances and social life, a family spillover economic evaluations can count.

Caregiver OutcomeTermCarer Outcome, Carer Health Outcome

A measure capturing a health condition's impact on an informal carer, such as caregiving time, burden, or the carer's own quality of life.

Caregiver Quality of LifeConceptCarer Quality of Life, Caregiver Wellbeing

Caregiver Quality of Life is an unpaid carer's own health and wellbeing as affected by caring, measured in economic evaluation with EQ-5D or CarerQol.