Dictionary
The Dictionary provides concise definitions of health economics terms, arranged alphabetically for quick reference. Use it to understand unfamiliar terminology or confirm the meaning of a specific term.
U
- Utilitarian WelfareTermUtilitarianism, Sum-Ranking Welfare
- A conception of social welfare judging policies by the sum, or average, of individual utility across the population, regardless of distribution.
- UtilityConceptPreference Satisfaction, Wellbeing Measure
- Utility is a numerical measure of preference; in health economics, a health utility values a health state on a scale where 1 is full health and 0 is dead.
- Utility FunctionConceptPreference Function, Utility Representation
- A utility function gives each outcome a number so that preferred outcomes score higher; in health economics it values health states, survival and income.
- Utility MaximisationConceptUtility Maximization, Preference Optimisation
- Utility maximisation is the assumption that a person chooses the affordable option they rank highest, the basis of health economic models of demand.
- Utility Possibility FrontierConceptUtility Possibilities Frontier
- The utility possibility frontier is a Pareto frontier of utility levels, where fixed resources such as a health budget let no one gain unless others lose.
- Utility-Based MeasureTermHealth Utility Instrument, Preference-Based HRQoL Tool
- A health outcome measure whose scores derive from a formal preference elicitation process and can be used directly to weight time for QALYs.