Unit 2 Vocab (Ch 5-8) Flashcards
Agency
Common law situation in business where the principal (employer) authorizes an agent (employee) to deal with a third person (customer, supplier or other third party) on the principal’s behalf.
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Settlement of civil disputes between parties using neutral mediators or arbitrators without going to court.
Arbitration
A method of settling disputes in which the opposing parties agree to abide by the decision of an arbitrator.
Mediation
An alternative dispute resolution method in which a neutral third party listens to both sides of an argument then helps resolve the dispute but the third party has no authority to enforce it
Confidentiality
The act of holding information in confidence not to be released to unauthorized individuals.
Damages
Monetary award sought by plaintiff’s in lawsuits.
Deposition
Sworn testimony given and recorded outside the courtroom during the pretrial phase of a case.
Duty of Care
The legal obligation of health care workers to patients and sometimes non-patients.
Standard of Care
The level of performance expected of a health care practitioner in carrying out his or her professional duties.
Interrogatory
A written set of questions requiring written answers from a plaintiff or defendant under oath.
Liable
Legally responsible or obligated.
Negligence
An unintentional tort not intended to cause harm but with disregard for the consequences of the act.
Forms of negligence include: misfeasance, malfeasance, nonfeasance and malpractice
Malpractice
The misconduct of a professional
Malfeasance
The performance of a totally wrongful and unlawful act
Misfeasance
The performance of a lawful act in an illegal or improper manner.
Nonfeasance
The failure to act when one should.
Privileged Communication
Information held confidential in a protected relationship.
Reasonable Person Standard
The standard of behavior that judges a person’s actions in a situation according to what a reasonable person would or would not do in similar circumstances.
Res Ipsa Loquitur
Literally means “the thing speaks for itself”. Also known as the Doctrine of Common Knowledge. A situation so obviously negligent that no expert witness need be called.
Respondeat Superior
Literally means “let the master answer”. A doctrine under which an employer is legally liable for the acts of his or her employees, if the acts were performed within the scope of the employee’s duties.
Standard of Care
The level of performance expected of a health care practitioner in carrying out his or her professional duties.
Subpoena
A legal document requiring the recipient to appear as a witness in court or to give a deposition.
Subpoena Duces Tecum
A legal document requiring the recipient to bring certain written records to court to be used as evidence in a lawsuit.
Summons
A written notification written by the clerk of court and delivered with a copy of the complaint to the defendant in a lawsuit, directing him or her to respond to the charges brought in a court of law.
Testimony
Statements sworn to under oath by witnesses testifying in court and giving depositions.
Wrongful Death Statues
State statutes that allow a person’s beneficiaries to collect for loss to the estate of the deceased for future earnings when a death is judged to have been due to negligence.
Affirmative Defenses
Defenses used by defendants in medical professional liability suits that allow the accused to present factual evidence that the patient’s condition was caused by some factor other than the defendant’s negligence.
Assumption of Risk
A legal defense that holds that the defendant is not guilty of a negligent act because the plaintiff knew of an accepted any risks involved beforehand
Claims-made Insurance
A type of liability insurance that covers the insured only for those claims made (not for any injury occurring) while the policy is in force.
Comparative Negligence
An affirmative defense claimed by the defendants alleging that the plaintiff contributed to the injury by a certain degree.
Contributory Negligence
An affirmative defense that alleges that the plaintiff, through a lack of care, caused or contributed to his or her own injury.
Denial
A defense that claims innocence of the charges or that one or more of the 4 D’s of negligence are lacking.
Emergency
A type of affirmative defense in which the person who comes to the aid of a victim in an emergency is not held liable under certain circumstances.
Liability Insurance
Contract coverage for potential damages incurred as a result of a negligent act.
Occurrence Insurance
A type of liability insurance that covers the insured for any claims arising from an incident that occurred during the time the policy is in force, regardless of when the claim is made.
Prior Acts Insurance Coverage
A supplement to a claims made insurance policy that can me purchased from a new carrier when health care practitioners change carriers.
Quality Improvement
A program of measures taken by health care providers and practitioners to uphold the quality of patient care.
Release of Tortfeasor
A technical defense that prohibits a lawsuit against a person who caused an injury (the tortfeasor) if he or she was expressly released from further liability in the settlement of a lawsuit.
Res Judicata
Literally means “the thing has been decided”. Legal principle that a claim may not be retried between the same parties if it has already been legally resolved.
Risk Management
The taking of steps to minimize danger, hazard or liability.
Self-Insurance Coverage
Insurance coverage option whereby insured subscribers contribute to a trust fund to be used to pay potential damage awards.
Statute of Limitations
The time period established by state law during which a lawsuit may be filed.
Tail Coverage
An insurance coverage option for health care practitioners. When a claims-made policy is discontinued it extends coverage for malpractice claims alleged to have occurred during those dates that claims-made coverage was in effect.
Technical Defenses
Defenses used in a lawsuit that are based on legal technicalities.
Addendum
A significant change or addition to the electronic health record.
Confidentiality of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Patient Records
A federal statute that protects patients with histories of substance abuse regarding the release of information about treatment.
Consent
Permission from a person, either express or implied, for something to be done by another.
Express – consent given specifically verbally or in writing
Implied – consent which is an assumption of permission inferred from the actions of the individual (eg. standing in line for an immunization)
Doctrine of Informed Consent
The legal basis for informed consent, usually outlined in a state’s medical practice acts.
Doctrine of Professional Discretion
A principle under which a physician can exercise judgement as to whether to show patients who are being treated for mental or emotional conditions their records. Disclosure depends on whether in the physician’s judgement such patients would be harmed by viewing the records.
Fiduciary Duty
A physician’s obligation to his or her patient, based on trust and confidence.
Good Samaritan Acts
State laws protecting physicians and sometimes other health practitioners and laypersons from charges of negligence or abandonment if they stop to help the victim of an accident or other emergency.
Health Information Technology (HIT)
The application of information processing involving both computer hardware and software that deals with the storage, retrieval, sharing and use of health information, data and knowledge for communication and decision making.
Meaningful Use
A process by which health care providers use an electronic health record according to guidelines set by the federal government.
Goals: improved quality, efficiency, safety; reduce disparities; engage patients and families; improve population and public health; maintain privacy and security of patient info.
Medical Record
A collection of data recorded when a patient seeks medical treatment.
Patient Portal
A secure online website that gives patients 24 hour availability to health care providers.
Social Media
Forms of electronic communication (Facebook, Linked In, Twitter, blogs, wikis, etc.) through which users create online communities to share info, ideas, personal messages and other content.
Telemedicine
Remote consultation by patients with physicians and other health professionals via telephone, closed circuit television or the Internet.
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)
An act passed in 2009 that strengthened HIPAAs privacy and security regulations via the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act.
Breach
Any unauthorized acquisition, access, use or disclosure of personal health information which compromises the security or privacy of such information.
Covered Entities
Health care providers and clearinghouses that transmit HIPAA transactions electronically and must comply with HIPAA standards and rules.
Criminal Health Care Fraud Statute
A section of the US Code that prohibits fraud against any health care benefit program. Prohibits knowingly or willingly executing a scheme, or attempting to execute a scheme, with the intent to:
Defraud any health care program
Obtain by false pretenses, representations, or promises any money or property under the control of any health care benefit program
De-identify
Information that does not contain information that can be used to identify the patient
Electronic Health Record (EHR)
A more comprehensive record that the EMR, travelling with the patient and focusing on the total health of the patient.
Electronic Medical Record (EMR)
Contains all patient records for one practice.
Encryption
The scrambling or encoding of information before sending it electronically.
Federal Anti-kickback Law
Prohibits knowingly and willingly receiving or paying anything of value to influence the referral of federal health care program business.
Federal False Claims Act
A federal law that allows for individuals to bring civil actions on behalf of the US government for false claims made to the federal government under a provision of the law called “qui tam” (for the King and oneself).
Firewall
Hardware, software or both, designed to prevent unauthorized persons from accessing electronic info.
Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH)
A section of ARRA that strengthened HIPAA privacy and security provisions by expanding privacy and security rules and who they apply to, use of PHI, and finalized breach notification requirements.
Limited Data Set
Protected health information from which certain patient identifiers have been removed.
Permission
A reason under HIPAA for disclosing patient information.
Privacy
Freedom from unauthorized intrusion.
Protected Health Information (PHI)
Information that contains one or more patient identifiers.
Stark Law
Prohibits physicians or their family members who own health care facilities from referring patients to those entities if Medicare or Medicaid will be paying for treatment.
State Pre-emption
State laws take precedence when stricter than HIPAA privacy laws.
Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments (ADAAA)
Made significant changes to the definition of disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act requiring it to be interpreted more broadly. E.g. an impairment does not need to prevent or severely or significantly restrict a major life activity to be considered “substantially limiting”; a condition that is episodic or in remission could be a disability of it is limiting when active
