Dictionary

C

Coinsurance RateConceptCoinsurance Percentage, Cost-Share Rate

The specific percentage of a covered service's cost an insured person is responsible for paying under a coinsurance arrangement.

CointerventionConceptCo-intervention

A cointervention (co-intervention) is a treatment other than the one under study that trial participants receive; unequal use across arms can bias results.

Collaborative CareConceptIntegrated Behavioural Care, Care Manager Model

Collaborative care is a primary care model, mainly for depression, in which a care manager works with the patient's doctor and a mental health specialist.

Collinearity DiagnosticsConceptVIF Analysis

Collinearity diagnostics are regression checks, such as variance inflation factors, showing when predictors overlap too much to estimate separate effects.

Colorectal Cancer ScreeningTermCRC Screening, Colonoscopy Screening

A public health strategy using colonoscopy or stool-based testing to detect colorectal cancer or precancerous polyps in asymptomatic individuals.

Combination PricingTermCombo Pricing, Regimen Pricing

A pricing approach applied when two or more treatments are used together, requiring negotiation to establish a total price for the combined regimen.

Combination TherapyTermCombination Treatment, Multi-Drug Therapy, Concurrent Therapy, Concomitant Therapy, Simultaneous Treatment

A treatment approach using two or more distinct agents together, often to achieve a greater effect than either alone or address multiple mechanisms.

Comfort CareTermSymptom-Focused Care, End-of-Life Symptom Relief, Comfort Measures Only, CMO, Symptom-Relief Care

A treatment approach focused entirely on relieving symptoms and maximising quality of life, without pursuing curative or life-prolonging treatment.

Commercial Access AgreementTermCommercial Arrangement, Payer Access Deal

A negotiated arrangement between a manufacturer and payer establishing the price and conditions, sometimes outcomes-based, under which a treatment is made available.

Common Cause VariationConceptRandom Variation, Inherent Variation

Common cause variation is the routine variation a stable process produces from many small chance causes, predictable within limits from past data.

Common ComparatorConceptShared Comparator, Common Reference Treatment

A common comparator is a treatment, such as placebo or standard care, that two other treatments were each tested against, anchoring an indirect comparison.

Common Cost AllocationConceptJoint Cost Allocation, Shared Cost Allocation

Common cost allocation is the division of a cost shared by several health services, such as overheads or a joint input, among them by a chosen rule.

Common Pool ResourcesConceptCommon-Pool Goods, Commons

Common pool resources are goods where one user's use leaves less for others and excluding users is difficult or costly.

Common Random NumbersConceptCRN, Correlated Sampling

Common random numbers (CRN) is a simulation method that runs competing strategies on the same random draws, so their estimated difference is less noisy.

Common Terminology CriteriaTermCTCAE, Adverse Event Grading

A standardised grading system classifying the severity of adverse events observed in trials, widely used across oncology and other areas.

CommunalityConceptCommon Variance, Shared Variance Proportion

Communality is the proportion of an observed variable's variance explained by the common factors in a factor analysis, the complement of its uniqueness.

Communication OpennessTermOpen Communication, Speaking Up Climate

A patient safety culture dimension measuring how comfortable staff feel speaking up about safety concerns without fear of repercussion.

Community BenefitTermCharitable Community Activity, Non-Profit Community Contribution

The activities a non-profit hospital provides to improve community health, such as charity care and health education, typically required for tax-exempt status.

Community CareTermCommunity-Based Care, Care in the Community

Healthcare and support services delivered within a patient's local community setting rather than a hospital or institutional facility.

Community Health CentreTermCHC, Federally Qualified Health Centre

A federally supported facility providing comprehensive primary care to underserved populations regardless of ability to pay, often on a sliding fee scale.

Community Health Needs AssessmentConceptCHNA, Community Needs Assessment

Community health needs assessment (CHNA) is the three-yearly study of local health needs that US tax-exempt hospitals must publish to keep their exemption.

Community HospitalTermDistrict Hospital, Local General Hospital

A general, typically non-teaching hospital providing a broad range of medical and surgical services to its local population.

Community Mental HealthTermCommunity Psychiatry, Community-Based Mental Health

A mental health service delivery model providing care within a patient's local community rather than a centralised psychiatric institution.

Community RatingConceptCommunity-Rated Premium, Uniform Premium Setting

Community rating is a health insurance pricing rule that stops premiums varying with health or claims, allowing at most limited variation by age or area.

Community-Based InsuranceConceptCommunity-Based Health Insurance, Mutual Health Insurance, Community Contribution, Community Health Fund, Community Pooling

Community-based insurance is voluntary, not-for-profit health insurance run by a local community, whose members prepay small premiums into a shared fund.

Community-Based ResearchConceptCBPR, Community-Engaged Research

Community-based research is health research in which community members, organisations and researchers share every stage, from research questions to action.

ComorbidityConceptCo-Morbidity, Coexisting Condition

Comorbidity is any other condition a patient has alongside the index disease under study; in health economics it shifts costs, utilities and survival.

Companion DiagnosticConceptCDx, Companion Test

A companion diagnostic (CDx) is a test that identifies patients a specific drug is likely to help or harm, so the drug and test are assessed together.

Companion Diagnostic DevelopmentTermCDx Development, Diagnostic Co-Development

The process of developing a diagnostic test identifying patients likely to benefit from, or be harmed by, a specific corresponding therapeutic product.

Comparability StudyConceptComparability Exercise, Biosimilarity Study

A comparability study is a stepwise comparison showing a biologic is highly similar to its pre-change version or, for a biosimilar, its reference product.

Comparative Billing ReportTermCBR, Billing Benchmark Report

A report comparing a provider's billing patterns against peer benchmarks, identifying potential outliers warranting review for appropriateness or compliance.

Comparative Effectiveness ResearchConceptCER, Comparative Effectiveness

Comparative effectiveness research (CER) compares the benefits and harms of different health care options in routine care to show what works best for whom.

Comparative Effectiveness StudyTermCE Study, Head-to-Head Study

A research study directly comparing the real-world benefits and harms of two or more alternative interventions for a clinical condition.

Comparative EvidenceTermRelative-Effect Evidence, Comparative Effect Data, Comparative Effectiveness Evidence, CE Evidence, Head-to-Head Evidence

Data comparing the relative effects of two or more interventions, whether from a direct head-to-head trial or indirect network meta-analysis.

ComparatorConceptControl Intervention, Reference Arm

A comparator is the alternative, such as current practice or another treatment, against which a new health intervention is compared in economic evaluation.

Comparator SelectionConceptComparator Choice, Choice of Comparator

Comparator selection is the HTA step that decides which existing treatments a new technology is compared with, usually current care or what it replaces.

Compartmental ModelConceptCompartment Model, SIR-Type Model

A compartmental model splits a population into compartments, such as susceptible, infectious and recovered, and uses equations for the flows between them.

Compassionate UseConceptInvestigational Access, Emergency Treatment Access

Compassionate use is the supply of an unauthorised medicine, outside a trial, to patients with a serious disease and no satisfactory authorised treatment.

Compensating VariationConceptCV

Compensating variation (CV) is the sum that restores original utility after a health or policy change: willingness to pay for a gain or to accept a loss.

CompetenceConceptLegal Decision Authority, Decisional Standing

Competence is a person's legal authority to make their own decisions, such as consenting to treatment, as distinct from clinical assessment of capacity.

Competing EventsTermCompeting Event

A situation in a simulation model where several distinct events could occur next for an entity, requiring the model to determine which happens first.

Competing RisksConceptCompeting-Risk Events, Multiple-Event Risk

Competing risks are events that each end a patient's time at risk, such as cardiovascular and other-cause death, so the first to occur rules out the rest.

Competition TheoryConceptTheory of Competition, Competitive Markets Theory

Competition theory explains how rivalry between firms and market structure shape prices and quality, including in hospital and health insurance markets.

Competition-Based PricingConceptCompetitive Pricing, Market-Based Pricing

Competition-based pricing sets a medicine's price from the prices of rival treatments for the same condition, not from its own cost or added health value.

ComplaintTermGrievance, Dissatisfaction Report

A formal expression of dissatisfaction submitted by an insured individual regarding their health plan, such as a disputed claim denial.

Complaint RateTermComplaint Frequency, Complaint Volume, Grievance Rate, Grievance Frequency, Formal Complaint Frequency

A measure of how frequently patients or families formally express dissatisfaction with the care or service received within an organisation.

Complete Molecular ResponseTermCMR, Molecular Remission

A response criterion in some blood cancers indicating molecular testing can no longer detect any trace of the disease-associated genetic marker.

Complete RemissionTermFull Remission, Disease Clearance

A cancer treatment outcome in which all detectable signs of disease have disappeared, though undetectable cells may still remain.

Complete ResponseTermCR, Full Response

A standardised tumour response classification indicating the complete disappearance of all target and non-target tumour lesions following treatment.

Completer AnalysisTermCompleters-Only Analysis, Full-Completion Analysis

A missing data method including only participants who completed the entire study with no missing outcome data, excluding all others.