Category: E

Name given to a drug or pharmaceutical product by the United States Ado])ted Names Council (USAN). This name is usually shorter and simpler than the chemical name, and is the one most commonly used in the scientific literature. It is the name by which most physicians and pharmacists learn about a particular drug product in…

Testing intended to equate an individual’s knowledge, experience and skill, however acquired, with the knowledge, experience and skill acquired by formal education or training. Successful completion of equivalency tests may be used to obtain course credits toward an academic degree without taking the courses, or a license which requires academic training without having the training.…

In the Federal budget, legislation that requires the payment of benefits or entitlements to any person or government meeting the requirements established by such law. Mandatory entitlements include social security benefits and veterans’ pensions. Section 401 of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 places restrictions on the enactment of new entitlement authority.…

Period during which individuals may enroll for insurance or health maintenance organization benefits. There are two kinds of enrollment periods, for example, for supplementary medical insurance of Medicare: the initial enrollment period (the seven months beginning three months before and ending three months after the month a person first becomes eligible, usually by turning 65);…

To agree to participate in a contract for benefits from an insurance company or health maintenance organization. A person who enrolls is an enrollee or subscriber. The number of people (and their dependents) enrolled with an insurance company or HMO is its enrollment. In health care to enlist in or seek coverage from a health…

Recognition by a State of a license given by another State, when the qualifications and standards required by the original licensing State are equivalent to or higher than those of the endorsing State. The licensee is relieved by endorsement of the full burden of obtaining a license in the endorsing State. There is not necessarily…

A contact between a patient and health professional in which care is given. Some definitions exclude either telephone contacts or home visits. An encounter form records selected demographic, diagnostic and related information describing an encounter. The personal contact between the patient and a professional health care giver. This term is typically used only with respect…

One of the three parts of the present administration’s national health insurance proposal, the Comprehensive Health Insurance Plan, providing health insurance for full time employees and their dependents. The plan would operate by requiring employers to offer comprehensive health insurance with cost sharing and pay 75 percent of the premium cost (65 percent for the…

An integrated system of appropriate health manpower, facilities and equipment which provides all necessary emergency care in a defined geographic area. The development of such systems is Federal!}’ assisted under the Emergency Medical Services Systems Act of 1973, P.I.. 93-154, in which the term is defined and the necessary components of the system listed (sections…

Care for patients with severe, life-threatening, or potentially disabling conditions that require intervention within minutes or hours. Most hospitals and programs providing emergency care are also asked to provide care for man}’ conditions which providers would not consider as emergencies, suggesting that consumers define the term more nearly synonymously with primary care and use such…