Dictionary

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Cost-Effectiveness Acceptability FrontierConceptCEAF, Acceptability Frontier

The cost-effectiveness acceptability frontier (CEAF) plots the chance the option with the highest expected net benefit is cost-effective, by threshold.

Cost-Effectiveness AnalysisConceptCEA, Cost per Outcome Analysis

Cost-effectiveness analysis compares healthcare options by the extra cost of each extra unit of health gained, such as cost per life-year gained.

Cost-Effectiveness CriterionTermCE Criterion, Value Threshold Standard, Threshold Criterion, Threshold Rule, Threshold Cut-Off

The specific standard, typically a threshold, an assessment body uses to judge whether a technology's ICER represents acceptable value for money.

Cost-Effectiveness FrontierConceptCE Frontier, Cost-Effectiveness Efficiency Frontier, Efficient Frontier in Cost-Effectiveness Analysis

The cost-effectiveness frontier joins the strategies not ruled out by strict or extended dominance on a plot of expected cost against health effect.

Cost-Effectiveness League TableConceptCE League Table, ICER League Table

A cost-effectiveness league table ranks health care interventions by cost per QALY or a similar ratio so decision makers can compare value for money.

Cost-Effectiveness PlaneConceptCE Plane, Incremental Cost-Effect Plane

The cost-effectiveness plane graphs incremental cost (y-axis) against incremental effect (x-axis); its four quadrants show dominance or a trade-off.

Cost-Effectiveness PolicyTermCE Policy Analysis, Cost-Effectiveness Appraisal Policy

A policy analysis approach comparing costs and non-monetary outcomes, such as health gains, without converting outcomes into monetary terms.

Cost-Effectiveness ThresholdConceptCE Threshold, ICER Threshold, Cost per QALY Threshold, Lambda, WTP Ceiling Symbol

A cost-effectiveness threshold is the maximum cost per QALY gained that a health system treats as value for money when deciding which treatments to fund.

Cost-Minimisation AnalysisConceptCMA, Cost-Minimization Analysis

Cost-minimisation analysis compares only the costs of healthcare options, and is valid only when evidence shows their health outcomes are equivalent.

Cost-of-Illness StudyConceptCOI Study, Burden of Disease Costing, Cost-of-Illness Analysis, Cost of Illness

A cost-of-illness study estimates the economic burden of a disease, including healthcare costs, patient and carer costs, and lost productivity.

Cost-Offset AnalysisTermCost Offset Study, Savings Offset Analysis

An analysis examining whether the extra cost of an intervention is partly or fully offset by savings elsewhere, such as fewer hospital admissions.

Cost-Plus PricingConceptCost-Plus Markup, Full-Cost Pricing

Cost-plus pricing sets the price of a medicine or health product as its estimated unit cost plus a profit mark-up, either a percentage or a fixed amount.

Cost-Sharing ReductionTermCSR, Cost-Sharing Subsidy

A policy or benefit feature lowering the out-of-pocket amount a patient pays for healthcare, typically targeted at lower-income individuals.

Cost-to-Charge RatioConceptCCR, Cost-Charge Ratio

The cost-to-charge ratio (CCR) is a hospital's reported costs divided by its billed charges, used to estimate costs from the charges on patient records.

Cost-Utility AnalysisConceptCUA, QALY-Based Cost-Effectiveness

Cost-utility analysis is an economic evaluation that measures health gains in quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and reports cost per QALY gained.

CostsTerm

Costs is the area of health economics that measures the resources used in health care, and the wider resources lost to illness, and values them in money for economic evaluation.

Country-Specific Value SetConceptNational Value Set, Country Tariff

A country-specific value set is a set of utility weights, elicited from one country's general public, that turns EQ-5D or similar responses into utilities.

Coverage BroadeningTermBreadth Expansion, Population-Reach Expansion

An expansion in the proportion of a population covered by a health financing scheme, one dimension of progress toward universal health coverage.

Coverage DecisionConceptFunding Decision, Payer Coverage Ruling, Coverage Determination

A coverage decision is a payer's or HTA body's formal ruling on whether a health technology will be funded, for which patients and on what conditions.

Coverage DeepeningTermDepth Expansion, Service-Range Expansion

An expansion in the range of services covered or depth of financial protection provided by a scheme, distinct from population breadth.

Coverage ErrorConceptFrame Error, Coverage Bias

Coverage error arises when the sampling frame of a health survey or register misses part of the target population or includes people outside it.

Coverage ExpansionConceptCoverage Extension, Scope Expansion

Coverage expansion is a policy change that extends health cover to more people, adds services or cuts cost sharing, moving towards universal coverage.

Coverage GapConceptMedicare Part D Doughnut Hole, Prescription Coverage Band, Benefit Gap, Doughnut Hole, Coverage Shortfall

A coverage gap is a band of drug spending that a plan covers little or not at all, best known as the Medicare Part D doughnut hole, which ended in 2025.

Coverage Gap AnalysisTermService Gap Analysis, Unmet-Need Analysis

An examination of the difference between health services a population needs and those it actually receives, identifying improvement priorities.

Coverage PolicyConceptCoverage Rules, Reimbursement Policy Rules

Coverage policy is the set of rules a health payer uses to decide which services and technologies it funds, for whom and what share of the cost it meets.

Coverage SubmissionTermCoverage Application, Funding Submission

A formal application submitted by a manufacturer presenting clinical and economic evidence supporting a request for coverage of a technology.

Covered EntityTermRegulated Entity, Privacy-Regulated Organisation

A US legal classification covering providers, health plans, and clearinghouses subject to specific patient health information protection requirements.

Covered ServiceTermCovered Benefit, Reimbursable Service

A healthcare service for which an insurance plan has agreed to pay, subject to the plan's specific terms and cost-sharing requirements.

Cox Proportional HazardsConceptCox Model, Cox Regression

The Cox proportional hazards model is a semi-parametric survival regression that estimates hazard ratios without specifying the baseline hazard.

Cox-Snell ResidualConceptCox-Snell Residuals

A Cox-Snell residual is a survival model's fitted cumulative hazard at a patient's observed time, used to check overall fit against a unit exponential.

Cream SkimmingConceptCherry Picking, Favourable Risk Selection

Cream skimming is when an insurer or provider attracts people expected to cost less than it is paid for them and deters those expected to cost more.

Credence GoodConceptCredence Product, Trust Good

A credence good is a good or service whose quality or need a buyer cannot judge even after use, such as medical care, where the expert seller knows more.

CredentialingConceptPrivileging, Qualification Verification, Credential Verification, Primary Source Verification, Credential Check

Credentialing is how a hospital or health insurer verifies a clinician's licence, certification and disciplinary record before they treat its patients.

Credibility AssessmentConceptCredibility Evaluation, Model Trustworthiness Review

An overall evaluation of whether a model's structure, evidence base, and validation results provide enough confidence to inform a real decision.

Credible IntervalConceptBayesian Interval, Posterior Interval

A credible interval is a Bayesian range that contains an unknown parameter, such as a treatment effect, with a stated posterior probability, often 95%.

Credible Interval EstimationConceptBayesian Interval Estimation, Posterior Interval Estimation

The Bayesian process of calculating a range of plausible values for a parameter based on its estimated posterior probability distribution.

Crisis InterventionTermCrisis Care, Acute Crisis Response

A short-term, intensive treatment for an acute mental health crisis, intended to stabilise the situation and connect the individual with ongoing care.

CRISPRTermCas9 System, Guided Genome Editing

A gene editing technology using a guided enzyme system to precisely target and modify specific DNA sequences, underlying a growing gene therapy pipeline.

Criterion ValidityConceptCriterion-Related Validity, Reference-Standard Validity

Criterion validity is the degree to which a measure's scores agree with a gold standard for the same concept, assessed at the same time or later.

Critical Access HospitalTermCAH, Small Rural Hospital Designation

A designation for small, rural hospitals meeting defined criteria, qualifying them for enhanced Medicare reimbursement to support financial viability.

Critical AppraisalConceptStudy Appraisal, Evidence Critical Review

Critical appraisal is the structured judgement of whether a study, model or economic evaluation is sound and relevant enough to inform a health decision.

Critical ValueConceptRejection Threshold, Significance Cutoff

A critical value is a cutoff on a test statistic's reference distribution that defines a rejection boundary for a specified hypothesis test and error level.

Cross Validity AssessmentTermCross-Validity Check, Generalisation Assessment

An evaluation of whether a model's predictions remain accurate when applied to a different but related dataset or population than the original.

Cross-Cultural ValidityConceptMeasurement Invariance, Cross-Cultural Equivalence

Cross-cultural validity is how far items in a translated or culturally adapted health questionnaire, such as the EQ-5D, perform like the original version.

Cross-Price ElasticityConceptCross-Elasticity of Demand, Cross Elasticity

Cross-price elasticity measures how demand for one good responds to a change in another good's price: positive for substitutes, negative for complements.

Cross-Sectional DataTermCross-Sectional Dataset, Snapshot Data

Data collected from a population at a single point in time, capturing exposure and outcome status simultaneously without following individuals over time.

Cross-Sectional DesignConceptPrevalence Study Design, Point-Prevalence Design

A cross-sectional design is an observational design that measures exposure and outcome in a population at one point in time, often to estimate prevalence.

Cross-Sectional StudyTermPrevalence Study, Point-in-Time Study

A study examining a defined population at a single point in time, measuring prevalence without following participants over time.

Cross-ValidationConceptOut-of-Sample Validation, Resampling Validation

Cross-validation estimates how well a prediction model, such as a cost or risk model, will perform on new data by testing it on data held out from fitting.

Crossover DesignConceptCrossover Trial Design, Within-Subject Design

Crossover design is a clinical trial design in which each participant receives two or more treatments in a randomised order and acts as their own control.