Healthcare Flashcards
Academic health center
An institution that encompasses all of the health-related components of a university, including its health professions school, patient care operations, and research enterprise.
Acute care hospital
A hospital (typically a community hospital) that delivers services designed to meet the needs of patients who require short-term care for a period of less than 30 days.
Ambulatory care
Medical care provided on an outpatient basis.
Ancillary services
Services that relate to a patient’s care, such as lab work, X-rays, and anesthesia.
Average length of stay
The average number of days in a given period that a patient remains in the hospital; varies by type of admission, age, and sex and is calculated by dividing the total number of bed days by the number of discharges for a specified period.
Bundled pricing
The act of placing several products or services together in a single package and selling for a lower price than would be charged if the items were sold separately; in healthcare, usually means one price for all of the services provided for a given diagnosis or procedure, such as total joint replacement.
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
The federal agency responsible for administering Medicare, Medicaid, and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.
Community benefit
Charitable care, educational services, and other benefits that a healthcare organization provides to its community to qualify as a tax-exempt charity under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
Community-acquired infection rates
The measure of infections acquired from a community, in contrast to those acquired in a hospital.
Continuum of care
The full spectrum of healthcare, including preventive, ambulatory, acute, post-acute, long-term, palliative, and hospice.
Critical access hospital
A rural community hospital that receives cost-based reimbursement.
Disproportionate share hospital
A hospital that receives Medicare funding for treating a higher proportion of indigent patients (calculated by a formula); the Affordable Care Act would decrease this funding over time.
Epidemiologic planning model
A statistical analysis and forecast of the health needs of the community a healthcare organization serves.
Evidence-based management
A management approach that relies heavily on performance measurement, identification of best practices, and formal process specification.
Health maintenance organization
A health insurance organization licensed at the state level to which subscribers pay a predetermined fee in return for access to a panel of employed physicians and network of facilities.
Health savings account
An account created for individuals who are covered under high-deductible health plans to save for medical expenses that the plans do not cover.
Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set
A comprehensive set of standardized performance measures designed to provide purchasers and consumers with the information they need for reliable comparison of health plan performance; HEDIS measures relate to significant public health issues such as cancer, heart disease, smoking, asthma, and diabetes.
Hospice
An organization that provides medical care and support services (e.g., pain and symptom management, counseling, bereavement services) to terminally ill patients and their families; it may be a freestanding facility, a unit of a hospital or other institution, or a separate program of a hospital, agency, or institution.
Hospital preauthorization
A managed care technique in which the insured obtains permission from a managed care organization before entering the hospital for nonemergency care.
