Glossary - Evaluation Methods in Biomedical Informatics - page 365

Cost Benefit Analysis: Economic analysis in which both costs and out-
comes are measured in terms of money. It requires methods to value clini-
cal benefit in terms of financial resources. The result is a statement of the
type “running the reminder system cost $20,000 per annum but saves $15
per patient in laboratory tests.”
Cost-Consequence analysis: Economic analysis that simply lists the costs
in terms of money and the outcomes in whatever measure is appropriate
for the particular condition. The number of outcomes may be single or
multiple, and no attempt is made to analytically compare costs and
outcomes.
Cost Effectiveness Analysis: Economic analysis that measures costs in
dollars, and outcomes in a single health care outcome (such as life
expectancy, number of infections averted) that is consistent across options.
The result is a statement of the type “running the reminder system costs
$20,000 per annum but saves one laboratory test per patient.”
Cost Minimizing Analysis: Economic analysis that chooses the lowest cost
strategy out of several options. A fundamental assumption is that the out-
comes are equivalent.
Cost to charge ratio: The ratio of the overall costs a department or
hospital spends related to the global measure of charges for the services
it provides. It is used to develop individual cost measures for specific
services or items by assuming that the same cost-charge ratio found
for the organization as a whole applies to each component of the
organization.
Critiquing system: Decision support system in which the decision maker
describes the task (such as a patient) to the system then specifies his or her
own plan to the system. The system then generates advice—a critique—
which explores the logical implication of those plans in the context of the
task data and the resource's stored knowledge.
Decision support system (decision-aid): Information resource that com-
pares at least two task characteristics with knowledge held in computer-
readable form and then guides a decision maker by offering task-specific
or situation-specific advice. Such information resources, by definition, offer
more than a summary of the task data. For example, a prescribing decision
support system might offer a doctor advice based on the patient's diagno-
sis, age, allergies etc..
Demonstration study: Study that establishes a relation—which may be
associational or causal—between a set of measured variables. (See Chap-
ters 7 and 8).
Dependent variable: In a correlational or experimental study, the main
variable of interest or outcome variable, which is thought to be affected by
or associated with the independent variables (qv.). (See Chapter 7).