Pharmacy Vernacular

Question 1

Quality-Adjusted Life-Year (QALY)

Answer 1

• This unit of measure is one way to quantify health outcomes resulting from some types of intervention.
• The number of years at full health that would be valued equivalently to the number of years of life experienced in a less desirable health state.

Question 2

Quality-of-Life Measures

Answer 2

• the general well-being of individuals and societies, outlining negative and positive features of life.
• An assessment of the patient’s perceptions of how he or she is dealing with a disease or with everyday life when suffering from a particular condition.

Question 3

Cost-Benefit Analysis

Answer 3

• An analysis of the cost effectiveness of different alternatives in order to see whether the benefits outweigh the costs

Question 4

Cost-Effectiveness

Answer 4

• a form of economic analysis that compares the relative costs and outcomes (effects) of different courses of action.
• Usually considered as a ratio, the cost effectiveness of a drug or procedure, for example, relates the cost of that drug or procedure to the health benefits resulting from it.
• In health terms, it is often expressed as the cost per year per life-year saved or as the cost per quality-adjusted life-year saved.

Question 5

Diagnostic-Related Groups (DRGs)

Answer 5

• a statistical system of classifying any inpatient stay into groups for the purposes of payment.
• A program in which hospital procedures are rated in terms of cost, taking into account the intensity of services delivered. A standard flat rate per procedure is derived from this scale, which is paid by Medicare for its beneficiaries, regardless of the cost to the hospital to provide that service.