Factor Loading
A factor loading is a model-estimated coefficient that relates an observed variable to a latent factor under a specified factor-analytic measurement model.
Encyclopaedia
Explore comprehensive, evidence-informed explanations of key health economics concepts, including their development, application and relationships to other concepts. Published entries are validated through human expert review.
Concepts, entries and ontology terms
A concept page is a published entry on the wiki. Some concepts also have a full encyclopaedia article. The Health Economics Ontology (HEO) holds every concept, including dictionary terms without an article, so it is larger than the list of published pages. The knowledge graph shows how concepts relate to each other.
Factor Rotation
Factor rotation transforms an extracted factor solution to make its loading pattern easier to interpret while preserving the model-implied common covariance under an equivalent transformation.
Factorial Design
Factorial design is a trial design randomising people to combinations of two or more treatments, so one trial estimates each effect and any interaction.
Failure to Rescue
Failure to rescue (FTR) is a hospital quality measure giving the share of patients who die after developing a complication, most often following surgery.
Falls Rate
Falls rate is inpatient falls per 1,000 occupied bed days (patient days), a hospital patient safety indicator also reported for injurious falls.
Feasibility Assessment
An evaluation of whether a proposed study or intervention can practically be conducted given available resources, infrastructure, and population characteristics.
Fee-for-Service
Fee-for-service (FFS) is a provider payment method in which a purchaser pays separately for each item of care, such as a consultation, test or procedure.
Fieller Method
The Fieller method calculates a confidence interval for a ratio such as the ICER, allowing for joint uncertainty in the cost and effect differences.
Financial Barrier
A financial barrier is a cost that stops or delays people using health or social care, such as charges, travel or lost pay, when they cannot afford it.
Finite Difference Method
The finite difference method replaces derivatives with algebraic differences between function values at neighbouring grid points.
Finite Mixture Model
A finite mixture model treats data such as patient costs or utilities as coming from a fixed number of hidden subgroups, each with its own distribution.
First-Order Index
A first-order index in variance-based sensitivity analysis is the fraction of model-output variance explained by changes in the conditional mean when one uncertain input varies on its own under the specified input distribution.
Fixed Effect Model
A meta-analysis model assuming all included studies estimate the same true effect, with observed variation attributed entirely to sampling error.
Fixed Effects
Fixed effects are unit-specific terms in panel data regression that remove bias from stable unmeasured traits of patients, hospitals or areas.
FLACC Scale
FLACC Scale is an observer-rated pain score for young or non-verbal children, totalling 0 to 10, used as a trial outcome but unable to give QALYs directly.
Fleming-Harrington Estimator
The Fleming-Harrington estimator derives survival from censored trial data as the exponential of minus a cumulative hazard corrected for tied event times.
Fleming-Harrington Test
The Fleming-Harrington test is a weighted log-rank test whose two parameters tilt survival comparisons in trials and HTA towards early or late differences.
Flexible Parametric Model
A flexible parametric model is a survival model that uses splines in time to fit complex hazard shapes, giving smooth curves for extrapolation in HTA.
Focus Group
A focus group is a moderated small-group discussion used in health research and economic evaluation to explore people's views through their interaction.
Folding Back
Folding back is the backward evaluation of a decision tree that takes probability-weighted values at chance nodes and selects the preferred feasible action at decision nodes under a stated objective.