Dictionary

C

ComplianceConceptConformance, Rule Adherence

Compliance is conformity with a requirement: a patient following a prescribed regimen (now often termed adherence) or a provider meeting legal rules.

Compliance CommitteeTermEthics and Compliance Board, Oversight Committee

A group within a healthcare organisation overseeing the development, implementation, and effectiveness of the organisation's compliance programme.

Compliance OfficerTermCorporate Integrity Lead, Compliance Lead

An individual designated with primary responsibility for overseeing an organisation's compliance programme, including monitoring and coordinating corrective action.

Compliance ProgrammeConceptCompliance Plan, Integrity Programme

A compliance programme is the internal system a health care organisation uses to prevent, detect and correct breaches of health care law and payer rules.

Compliance StandardsTermCompliance Requirements, Conformance Standards

The specific requirements a healthcare organisation's compliance programme is designed to meet, covering billing accuracy and privacy protection.

Complication RateTermComplication Frequency, Adverse-Outcome Rate, Complication Measure, Complication Indicator, Adverse Outcome Measure

A measure of how frequently a specific adverse outcome occurs within a defined patient population undergoing a particular procedure.

Composite EndpointConceptCombined Endpoint, Composite Primary Endpoint, Composite Outcome, Combined Outcome, Multi-Component Outcome

A composite endpoint is a trial outcome combining two or more events, such as death or hospitalisation, usually counting a patient once at the first event.

Composite MeasureTermComposite Indicator, Summary Score Measure

A performance metric combining multiple individual indicators into a single summary score for a more comprehensive assessment.

Composite Value ScoreTermAggregate Value Score, Overall Value Index

A single, aggregated numerical score combining multiple value criteria, such as clinical benefit and cost, into an overall value assessment.

Computer Vision HealthConceptMedical Computer Vision, Health Image Analysis

Computer vision health tools use AI, mostly deep learning, to read medical images such as X-rays, retinal scans and pathology slides to detect disease.

Computerized Order EntryConceptCPOE, Computerised Provider Order Entry

Computerized order entry (CPOE) lets clinicians enter medication, test and other orders electronically instead of on paper, often with decision support.

Concentration CurveConceptLorenz-Type Curve, Cumulative-Share Curve

A concentration curve plots the cumulative share of a health variable against the cumulative share of the population ranked from poorest to richest.

Concentration IndexConceptSocioeconomic Inequality Index

The concentration index measures socioeconomic inequality in a health variable; a negative value means it is disproportionately held by the poor.

Concurrent ControlConcept

A concurrent control is a control group drawn from the same population as the treated group and followed over the same period, so time trends affect both.

Concurrent QueryTermConcurrent Coding Query, Real-Time Query

A request from a documentation specialist to a treating physician, made while a patient is still hospitalised, seeking clarification on documentation.

Concurrent ReviewTermContinued Stay Review, In-Patient Utilisation Review

A utilisation management assessment conducted while a patient is actively receiving care, evaluating whether continued treatment remains medically necessary.

Concurrent Risk AdjustmentConceptSame-Period Risk Adjustment, Concurrent Risk Model

Concurrent risk adjustment predicts health care spending for a period from diagnoses recorded in that same period, often to adjust health plan payments.

Condition IndexConceptCondition Indices, Collinearity Condition Index, Conditioning Index

A condition index is the ratio of the largest singular value of a scaled regression design matrix to another singular value, used to assess near-linear dependence among predictors.

Condition of ParticipationTermCoP, Participation Requirement

A specific health and safety standard a provider must meet to be eligible for reimbursement from a government health programme.

Condition PaymentTermCondition-Based Payment, Per-Condition Bundle

A payment arrangement in which a fixed amount covers a specific medical condition's treatment over a defined period, regardless of individual services required.

Conditional ApprovalTermEU Conditional Authorisation, Approval Under Conditions

An EU regulatory pathway granting market authorisation for an unmet need based on less comprehensive data, subject to further studies within a set timeframe.

Conditional CoverageTermProvisional Coverage, Managed Access Coverage, Coverage with Evidence Development, Conditional Reimbursement, Outcomes-Based Reimbursement, Provisional Reimbursement

A decision to cover a new technology provisionally, subject to collecting further evidence confirming its value within a set timeframe.

Conditional LogicConceptConditional Rules, If-Then Logic

Conditional logic is the set of if-then rules in a health economic model that make risks, costs or treatment depend on age, time, history or response.

Conditional ProbabilityConceptConditional Chance, Probability Given an Event

Conditional probability is the chance of an event given that another has occurred; health economic models use it for branch and transition probabilities.

Confidence EllipseTermJoint Confidence Region, CE-Plane Ellipse

A graphical region, typically on a cost-effectiveness plane, showing where the true joint value of incremental cost and effect is expected to fall.

Confidence IntervalConceptCI Statistics, Frequentist Interval

A confidence interval (CI) is a range around an estimate, such as a cost difference, built so a set share, often 95%, of such ranges hold the true value.

Confidence Interval EstimationConceptCI Calculation, Interval Estimate Construction

The statistical process of calculating a range of plausible values for an unknown parameter based on sample data and a specified confidence level.

Confidence Profile MethodConceptConfidence Profiles

The confidence profile method is a Bayesian method that adjusts studies of varied design for bias and pools them into parameter distributions for HTA.

Confidential DiscountTermPrivate Discount, Undisclosed Rebate

A price reduction negotiated privately between a manufacturer and payer, keeping a higher public list price while offering a lower net price.

Confidential PriceTermActual Net Price, Net Transaction Price

The actual net price paid for a treatment following a confidential discount, differing from and typically lower than the publicly disclosed list price.

Confidential PricingConceptConfidential Discount Arrangement, Undisclosed Pricing

Confidential pricing keeps a medicine's negotiated net price secret between manufacturer and payer, while a higher list price stays public.

ConfidentialityConceptInformation Privacy Duty, Patient Privacy Duty

Confidentiality is the ethical and legal duty to protect identifiable patient information from disclosure unless there is consent or another lawful basis.

Confirmatory Factor AnalysisConceptCFA, Confirmatory Factor Modelling

Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) tests whether data fit a prespecified model linking health questionnaire items to the latent factors they measure.

Confirmatory TrialConceptPost-Approval Verification Trial, Confirmatory Study

A confirmatory trial is a controlled trial testing pre-set hypotheses to give firm evidence of efficacy or safety, for licensing or after early approval.

Conflict of InterestConcept

Conflict of interest is a situation where a secondary interest, such as a manufacturer's payment, risks unduly swaying judgement in research, care or HTA.

ConfounderConceptConfounding Variable, Confounding Factor

A confounder is a variable, such as disease severity, that affects both the treatment a patient receives and the outcome, biasing unadjusted comparisons.

ConfoundingConceptConfounded Association, Third-Variable Bias

Confounding is bias in an estimated treatment effect when a common cause of treatment and outcome mixes the treatment's effect with group differences.

Confounding by AggregationConceptAggregation Confounding, Group-Level Confounding

Confounding by aggregation is bias when group-level data, such as regional or trial averages, mix differences between groups into an exposure's effect.

Confounding by IndicationConceptIndication Bias, Channelling Bias

Confounding by indication is bias in observational treatment studies arising when the reason a patient is treated also affects their risk of the outcome.

Conjoint AnalysisConceptConjoint Study, Attribute Trade-Off Study

Conjoint analysis is a family of stated preference methods estimating how people value treatment or service attributes from ratings, rankings or choices.

Connected DeviceTermConnected Health Device, Networked Medical Device

A medical or health monitoring device with wireless connectivity, transmitting data to systems such as health records for remote monitoring.

Connected NetworkTermConnected Evidence Network, Linked Evidence Network

A set of trials that together link every treatment of interest to every other through a chain of direct comparisons.

Consensus BuildingConceptConsensus Development, Stakeholder Agreement Process

Consensus building is the use of structured group methods, such as Delphi panels, to agree judgements for guidelines and policy when evidence is thin.

Consent CapacityTermDecision-Making Capacity, Capacity to Consent

An individual's clinical ability to understand information, appreciate consequences, and communicate a choice, the foundational requirement for valid consent.

Consent for TreatmentTermTreatment Consent, Clinical Consent

The process by which a patient agrees to a proposed intervention after being given sufficient information to make an informed decision.

ConsequentialityTermPerceived Policy Influence, Response Consequence Belief

The extent to which respondents in a stated preference survey believe their answers could influence a real policy or funding outcome.

ConsistencyTermDirect-Indirect Agreement, Network Coherence

Within network meta-analysis, the property that direct and indirect evidence for the same treatment pair agree with one another.

Consolidated BillingTermBundled Facility Billing, Consolidated Claims

A billing requirement mandating certain post-acute facilities bill for most services a resident receives, including outside consultants, rather than separate billing.

Consolidation TherapyTermConsolidation Treatment, Post-Induction Therapy

A treatment given after successful induction therapy has reduced disease burden, intended to eliminate remaining disease and reduce relapse risk.

Constant HazardConceptTime-Invariant Hazard, Flat Hazard

Constant hazard is the survival modelling assumption that the event rate among people still at risk stays the same over time, giving exponential survival.