Pharmacoeconomics utilizes a combination of scientific and economic methods to evaluate and compare the value of one drug or therapy to another, which provides grounded data to assist in optimal allocation of health care resources.

Managed care implies a defined structure and process of designing and delivering covered health care benefits that include risk-sharing, price and utilization controls, and quality assurance.

The Institutes of Medicine defines patient safety as the prevention of harm to patients. In the context of pharmaceutical outcomes and policy patient safety is the prevention of harm in the context of medication safety.

The ultimate goal of health care regulation is to ensure health care quality. Accomplishing this task requires balancing competing needs, such as cost and access.