Dictionary

R

Rheumatoid ArthritisTermRA, Rheumatoid Disease

A chronic autoimmune condition in which the immune system attacks the joints, causing inflammation, pain, and progressive damage if not controlled.

Right CensoringConceptRight-Censored Data, Type I Censoring

The most common form of censoring, occurring when follow-up ends or a patient is lost before the event of interest has occurred.

RiskTermProbability of Event, Outcome Probability

The probability that a particular health outcome will occur within a defined population over a specified period of time.

Risk AdjustmentConceptRisk-Adjusted Payment, Morbidity Adjustment

Risk adjustment makes outcomes, costs, utilisation or payments more comparable by accounting for differences in characteristics that affect expected results but are not the focus of the comparison.

Risk Adjustment DesignTermAdjustment Model Specification, Risk Model Design

The methodological choices underlying a risk adjustment system, including which factors are incorporated, how weighted, and adjustment timing.

Risk Adjustment MechanismTermRisk Adjustment Formula, Payment Adjustment Formula

The specific formula used to calculate payment adjustments based on predicted health risk, incorporating diagnoses, demographics, and prior utilisation.

Risk AnalyticsTermRisk Data Analytics, Predictive Risk Analysis

The application of data analysis to identify and quantify an individual's or population's risk of a specific future health outcome.

Risk AssessmentTermCompliance Vulnerability Review, Compliance Exposure Analysis

A systematic process identifying and evaluating compliance vulnerabilities within an organisation, used to prioritise monitoring and auditing efforts.

Risk ClassificationTermRisk Categorisation, Risk Grouping

The process of categorising individuals by expected healthcare costs or risk level, used as an input to pricing or risk adjustment.

Risk CorridorTermRisk-Sharing Corridor, Loss Corridor

A risk-sharing mechanism where government shares in an insurer's unexpectedly high losses or profits relative to a projected target, stabilising a new market.

Risk DifferenceTermAbsolute Difference in Risk, Between-Group Risk Gap

The absolute difference between the risk of an outcome in one group and in another, the excess or reduced risk from an exposure.

Risk EqualizationTermRisk Equalisation, Risk-Adjusted Transfer

A mechanism in multi-payer systems redistributing funds among competing insurers based on their enrolled populations' relative risk profile.

Risk EvaluationConceptDrug Safety Risk Review, Pre-Approval Safety Review

A formal assessment of a drug's potential safety risks, sometimes resulting in a required mitigation strategy such as restricted distribution or mandatory counselling.

Risk FactorTermPredisposing Factor, Determinant of Risk

A characteristic, behaviour, or exposure associated with an increased likelihood of a disease or health outcome, without necessarily being an established direct cause.

Risk Management PlanTermRMP, Risk Management System

A required document outlining measures a manufacturer will implement to identify, characterise, and minimise a treatment's risks over its market life.

Risk of BiasTermRoB, Bias Susceptibility

The degree to which a study's design, conduct, or analysis may have introduced systematic errors distorting its findings from the truth.

Risk of Bias AssessmentTermBias Risk Appraisal, Bias Domain Assessment

A structured evaluation of a study's methodological quality, examining domains such as randomisation and blinding, to judge how much confidence its results deserve.

Risk of MortalityTermROM, Mortality Risk Class

A classification indicating the likelihood a patient will die during hospitalisation, based on diagnoses and clinical characteristics, used to risk-adjust comparisons.

Risk PoolTermInsurance Pool, Pooled Group

The group whose healthcare costs are collectively financed through a shared insurance arrangement, with premiums covering those who become ill.

Risk PoolingConceptFund Pooling, Financial Pooling, Pooling

Risk pooling is the accumulation and management of prepaid health funds for a defined population so that the financial consequences of health-care need are shared across members rather than borne solely by each person when illness occurs.

Risk Prediction ModelTermRisk Model, Clinical Prediction Model

A statistical model estimating an individual's probability of a specific future health outcome based on current characteristics and risk factors.

Risk RatingTermRisk-Based Rating, Actuarial Rating

A method setting premiums based on an individual's or group's specific assessed risk level, unlike a uniform community rating.

Risk RatioConceptCumulative Incidence Ratio, Incidence Proportion Ratio

A measure calculated as the ratio of risk in one group compared to another, synonymous with relative risk for event comparisons.

Risk RetentionTermRetained Risk, Self-Funding

The portion of financial risk an insurer or self-insured employer chooses to retain itself, rather than transferring to a reinsurer.

Risk ScoreConceptRisk Adjustment Score, Morbidity Score

A numerical summary of measured predictors used to estimate or rank the likelihood of a specified future outcome in a defined population and time horizon.

Risk SelectionTermCherry-Picking, Favourable Selection

The practice by which insurers end up enrolling a disproportionately healthier or sicker population than the market average, distorting fair competition.

Risk SharingTermRisk Distribution, Risk Spreading

An arrangement distributing financial risk between two or more parties, such as an insurer and reinsurer, rather than one bearing it alone.

Risk Sharing DesignTermRisk-Sharing Structure, Sharing Arrangement Design

The specific structure of a risk-sharing arrangement, including the threshold at which sharing begins and the proportion of costs each party bears above it.

Risk Sharing SchemeTermRisk Sharing Agreement, RSS, Outcomes-Based Scheme, Risk-Sharing Arrangement

An arrangement distributing the financial or clinical uncertainty of a new treatment's real-world performance between manufacturer and payer, often linked to outcomes.

Risk StratificationTermRisk-Based Stratification, Patient Risk Grouping

The process of classifying patients into distinct groups by their level of risk for an outcome, using demographic or clinical characteristics.

Risk TransferTermRisk Shifting, Transfer of Risk

The process by which one party shifts responsibility for financial risk to another, typically in exchange for a premium or fee.

Risk-Adjusted MeasureTermRisk-Adjusted Metric, Risk-Adjusted Indicator, Case-Mix Adjusted Measure, Case-Mix Adjusted Metric, Casemix-Adjusted Indicator

A performance metric statistically adjusted for differences in patient population risk profile, ensuring fair comparison across providers of differing complexity.

Rivalrous ConsumptionTermRivalry, Consumption Rivalry

A characteristic of a good in which one person's consumption of it reduces the quantity available for others.

Robust OptimisationConceptRobust Optimization, Worst-Case Optimisation

An optimisation approach that selects a feasible decision to perform well under the worst parameter values in a specified uncertainty set, often requiring constraints to hold throughout that set.

Robust Standard ErrorConceptRobust SE, Heteroskedasticity-Consistent Standard Error

An estimate of a regression coefficient's statistical uncertainty that remains valid even when standard modelling assumptions, such as constant error variance, are violated.

ROC CurveConceptReceiver Operating Characteristic Curve, ROC Analysis

A graph depicting the trade-off between a test's true positive rate and false positive rate across a full range of decision thresholds.

Role FunctioningTermRole Participation, Social Role Capacity, Role Function

A broader construct covering an individual's overall capacity to fulfil expected social and occupational roles, assessed as a composite scale.

Root Cause AnalysisTermRCA, Causal Investigation, Root Cause Investigation

A systematic process investigating a serious adverse event to identify its fundamental, underlying causes, rather than only surface-level circumstances.

Root Mean Square ErrorConceptRMSE, Root Mean Squared Error

The square root of the mean squared difference between numerical predictions and their corresponding observed values, expressed in the outcome’s original units.

Route of AdministrationConceptAdministration Route, Delivery Route

The specific pathway by which a drug enters the body, such as oral, intravenous, subcutaneous, or inhaled, affecting absorption and onset of action.

Royston-Parmar ModelConceptFlexible Parametric Survival Model, RP Spline Model

A class of flexible parametric survival models using restricted cubic splines to represent a transformed survival or hazard function while remaining fully parametric.

Rule of RescueTermRescue Principle, Identifiable Victim Effect

An ethical intuition describing the strong societal impulse to devote resources to rescuing identifiable individuals in immediate danger, even against cost-effectiveness logic.

Run ChartTermRun-Sequence Plot, Trend Chart

A graphical display of data plotted over time, used to identify trends or shifts in a process, simpler than a control chart.

Run Chart AnalysisTermRun Chart Interpretation, Trend Rule Analysis

The process of interpreting a run chart to identify meaningful trends or patterns in a process or outcome measure over time.

Run LengthTermSimulation Length, Iteration Count

The number of iterations, or amount of simulated time, for which a simulation model runs before its results are recorded and analysed.

Run-In PeriodTermLead-In Period, Pre-Randomisation Phase

An initial trial phase, before randomisation, during which all participants receive a common intervention, used to exclude likely non-adherent or non-responsive individuals.

Runge-Kutta MethodConceptRK Method, Runge-Kutta Integration

A Runge-Kutta method is a one-step numerical scheme for approximating the solution of an ordinary differential equation by combining several derivative evaluations within each integration step.

Rural AccessTermRural Healthcare Access, Remote Access

A healthcare access dimension concerning the particular challenges of obtaining care in rural or remote areas, often greater distances and thinner supply.

Rural HospitalTermRural Health Facility, Non-Metropolitan Hospital

A hospital in a rural, non-metropolitan area, often facing distinct financial challenges from lower patient volumes and greater distances from other facilities.