Dictionary

M

Mortality MeasureTermMortality Metric, Mortality Outcome Indicator

A quality indicator assessing patient death rate associated with a condition, procedure, or hospitalisation, typically risk-adjusted for patient severity.

Mortality RateConceptCrude Death Rate, Age-Specific Mortality

A mortality rate measures deaths in a defined population over a specified period relative to the corresponding population or person-time at risk, with its scale and denominator stated explicitly.

Moving Target ProblemConceptMoving Target

The moving target problem arises when a device, software or procedure changes during HTA, so evidence on it may be out of date by the time of the decision.

MRSA RateTermMRSA Infection Rate, MRSA Incidence

A measure of the frequency of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections within a facility, an infection prevention and resistance indicator.

Multi-Attribute UtilityConceptMAUT

Multi-attribute utility is a health state utility built by combining utilities for several health dimensions with an additive or multiplicative function.

Multi-Criteria Decision AnalysisConceptMCDA, Multi-Criteria Appraisal, Multi-Criteria Analysis HTA

Multi-criteria decision analysis is a family of structured methods that compares alternatives across multiple explicit criteria and incorporates judgments about the trade-offs among them.

Multi-Objective OptimisationConceptMOO, Pareto Optimisation

Multi-objective optimisation finds the efficient trade-offs when a health budget decision has conflicting goals, such as total QALYs and health equity.

Multi-Payer SystemTermPlural-Payer System, Competing Payers Model, Multi-Payer, Plural Payer System, Competing-Payer Model

A financing model involving multiple distinct insurance payers, public or private, competing or coexisting to finance healthcare for different population segments.

Multi-Sectoral AnalysisTermCross-Sectoral Analysis, Intersectoral Evaluation

An economic evaluation considering costs and benefits arising across more than one sector, such as health, education, and social care.

Multi-State Life TableConceptMultistate Life Table, Increment-Decrement Life Table, Increment-Decrement Table

A life-table framework that uses transitions among multiple living states and death to estimate how long a specified population or starting group is expected to spend in each state.

Multi-Way Sensitivity AnalysisTermMultiway SA, Simultaneous Parameter Variation, Multi-Way Sensitivity

An analysis systematically varying two or more input parameters together across a defined range of combinations, examining their combined effect on results.

Multi-Way Threshold AnalysisTermMultiway Threshold, Joint Threshold Analysis

A sensitivity analysis identifying the combinations of two or more parameter values at which a model's conclusion, such as cost-effectiveness, would change.

MulticollinearityConceptCollinearity, Predictor Correlation

A condition in which predictors in a model are linearly dependent or nearly so, making their separate coefficients difficult or impossible to estimate precisely.

Multidisciplinary CareTermMDT Care, Multidisciplinary Team Care

A delivery model in which providers from multiple disciplines each contribute specific expertise, typically working somewhat independently within their own specialisation.

Multidisciplinary RoundTermMDT Round, Interdisciplinary Ward Round

A structured process in which clinicians from different specialties collaboratively review a patient's case together, typically for complex hospitalised patients.

MultimorbidityTermMultiple Morbidity, Co-occurring Conditions

The co-occurrence of two or more chronic conditions in the same individual, without designating any single condition as the primary focus.

Multinomial Logit ModelConceptMNL, MNL Model

Multinomial logit model (MNL) is a random utility choice model used to estimate preference weights from DCE data, assuming IID extreme value errors.

Multiple ComparisonTermMulti-Way Comparison, Many-Option Ranking

A situation involving more than two mutually exclusive interventions, requiring a systematic method, such as fully incremental analysis, to rank and compare them correctly.

Multiple ComparisonsTermMultiplicity Problem, Multiple Testing

The statistical concern that conducting several hypothesis tests at once raises the overall chance of a false positive result purely by chance.

Multiple ImputationConceptMI, Rubin's Rules

Multiple imputation is a missing-data method that creates several plausible completed datasets, analyses each for the same target, and pools the estimates and their uncertainty to reflect uncertainty about unobserved values.

Multiple RegressionConceptMultivariable Regression

Multiple regression models one outcome, such as patient cost or QALYs, on two or more explanatory variables, adjusting each coefficient for the others.

Multiple Technology AssessmentTermMTA, Multi-Technology Appraisal

An assessment process evaluating several related technologies for the same condition together within a single, coordinated review.

Multiplicative ScaleTermRelative-Effect Scale, Log Scale

A framework assessing whether two exposures interact by examining whether their combined effect on relative risk differs from the product of each.

Multivariate Meta-AnalysisConceptMVMA, Joint Meta-Analysis

Multivariate meta-analysis pools study results on two or more correlated outcomes, such as progression-free and overall survival, in a single joint model.

Multivariate SamplingTermMulti-Parameter Draw, Joint Parameter Sampling

The simultaneous drawing of random values for multiple correlated input parameters from their joint probability distribution, rather than sampling each independently.

Musculoskeletal EconomicsTermMSK Economics, Bone and Joint Economics

The broad application of health economic evaluation to bone, joint, muscle, and connective tissue conditions, spanning arthritis, osteoporosis, and injury.