HTA and HEOR Glossary

40 key terms in health technology assessment, health economics and market access

Clear, short definitions of the terms used in health technology assessment (HTA), health economics and outcomes research (HEOR) and market access. Each term links to a longer explanation where one exists.

Added therapeutic value: The clinical benefit of a new technology over the comparators already used, as judged by an HTA body. It is the basis for price and reimbursement negotiations in many countries.
Budget impact analysis (BIA): An estimate of the financial consequences of adopting a new technology for a specific health budget over a short period, usually three to five years. Learn more
Burden of disease: The impact of a disease on patients, the health system and society, measured in terms such as prevalence, mortality, quality of life and costs.
Comparator: The treatment or care against which a new technology is assessed. HTA bodies usually define it as the standard of care in their country.
Cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA): An economic evaluation that compares the costs and health outcomes of two or more options. The result is usually expressed as an ICER. Learn more
Cost-effectiveness threshold: A reference value of cost per QALY gained that decision-makers use to judge whether a technology is good value for money. Some countries publish it; others do not. Learn more
Cost-minimisation analysis: An economic evaluation used when two options have equivalent health outcomes, so that only their costs are compared.
Cost-utility analysis (CUA): A type of cost-effectiveness analysis in which health outcomes are measured in QALYs. Learn more
Discounting: Reducing future costs and health outcomes to their present value, reflecting the preference for benefits now rather than later. HTA guidelines set the rates to use.
Dominance: A technology is dominant when it is more effective and less costly than its comparator, and dominated when it is less effective and more costly. Learn more
EQ-5D: A standardised questionnaire that describes health in five dimensions: mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain or discomfort, and anxiety or depression. National value sets convert the answers into utilities.
Evidence gap analysis: A structured review of the evidence available for a technology, to find what is missing before an HTA submission or a market access plan. Learn more
Evidence synthesis: Combining the results of several studies to answer a question, through a narrative summary or statistical methods such as meta-analysis. Learn more
Global value dossier (GVD): A reference document that brings together the clinical, economic and humanistic evidence on a technology, used by local teams to prepare HTA submissions and value messages. Learn more
Health economics and outcomes research (HEOR): The discipline that measures the clinical, economic and patient-relevant value of health technologies to support pricing, reimbursement and access decisions. Learn more
Health technology assessment (HTA): A systematic evaluation of the clinical, economic, social and ethical implications of a health technology, used to inform decisions on its use and funding. Learn more
Health-related quality of life (HRQoL): How a person's health affects their physical, mental and social well-being, measured with generic or disease-specific questionnaires.
INFARMED: The Portuguese National Authority of Medicines and Health Products. It carries out the assessment of health technologies for public funding under SiNATS. Learn more
Incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER): The difference in cost between two options divided by the difference in their health outcomes, usually expressed as cost per QALY gained. Learn more
Indirect treatment comparison (ITC): A method to estimate the relative effect of two treatments that were never compared head-to-head, using evidence from other trials. Learn more
Joint Clinical Assessment (JCA): The EU-level assessment of the relative clinical effectiveness of new medicines and some medical devices under the EU HTA Regulation, used by all member states. Learn more
Managed entry agreement: An arrangement between a company and a payer that allows access to a technology under specific conditions, such as price discounts, spending caps or outcome-based payments.
Market access: The process of making a health technology available to patients at the right price, including evidence generation, HTA, pricing and reimbursement. Learn more
Markov model: A decision-analytic model in which patients move between defined health states over time, often used for chronic diseases. Learn more
Matching-adjusted indirect comparison (MAIC): A population-adjusted indirect comparison that reweights individual patient data from one trial to match the average characteristics of another. Learn more
Meta-analysis: A statistical method that combines the results of several studies measuring the same outcome into one overall estimate. Learn more
Network meta-analysis (NMA): A meta-analysis that combines direct and indirect evidence across a network of trials to compare several treatments at the same time. Learn more
PICO: The framework that defines an assessment question by Population, Intervention, Comparators and Outcomes. It is central to the EU Joint Clinical Assessment. Learn more
Partitioned survival model: A model, common in oncology, that uses survival curves to estimate the time patients spend in each health state, such as progression-free and progressed disease. Learn more
Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs): Questionnaires completed by patients about their own health, symptoms and quality of life. Learn more
Probabilistic sensitivity analysis (PSA): An analysis that varies all model inputs at the same time according to their uncertainty, to show how likely a technology is to be cost-effective.
Quality-adjusted life year (QALY): A measure of health benefit that combines length and quality of life. One year in full health equals one QALY. Learn more
Real-world evidence (RWE): Evidence on the use, benefits and risks of a technology drawn from data collected outside clinical trials, such as health records, registries and surveys. Learn more
Reimbursement: Public or insurer funding of all or part of the price of a health technology, usually decided after an HTA. Learn more
SiNATS: The Portuguese National Health Technology Assessment System, coordinated by INFARMED. A new regime was established by Decree-Law no. 118/2026. Learn more
Systematic literature review (SLR): A structured, protocol-based method to find, select and appraise all the studies that answer a defined question. Learn more
Umbrella review: A review of existing systematic reviews and meta-analyses on a topic, used when many reviews already exist. Learn more
Utility: A value between 0 (death) and 1 (full health) that reflects how people value a health state. Utilities are used to calculate QALYs. Learn more
Value communication: Presenting the evidence on a technology's value in a clear and credible way to payers, HTA bodies and clinicians. Learn more
Willingness to pay (WTP): The maximum amount a decision-maker is prepared to pay for a unit of health benefit, such as one QALY. Learn more