Category: E

Surgery which need not be performed on an emergency basis, because reasonable delays will not affect the outcome of surgery unfavorably. It should be understood that such surgery is usually necessary and may be major. A surgical procedure that is selected by the patient or their guardian, often for non-urgent reasons, and while it may…

In health economics, a measure of the sensitivity of demand for a product or service to changes in its price (price elasticity) or the income of the people demanding the product or service (income elasticity). Price elasticity is the ratio of the resulting percentage change in demand to a given percentage change in price. Price…

An organization sponsored by the AMA, AHA, AAMC, association for Hospital Medical Education, and Federation of State Medical Boards of the U.S. which operates a program of educating, testing and evaluating foreign medical graduates who seek internships and residencies in the U.S. The ECFMG was formed in 1974 by merger of the Educational Council for…

Cost savings resulting from aggregation of resources and /or mass production. In particular, it refers to decreases in average cost when all factors of production are expanded proportionately. For example, hospital costs for a unit of service are generally less in 300 than 30 bed hospitals. (There is some evidence that they may be greater…

A Federal program established to control wages and prices. On August 15, 1971, all wages and prices were frozen for a period of ninety days. During that period a system of wage and price controls administered through a Cost of Living Council was implemented. Controls continued, with periodic changes in the flexibility and the intensity…

The common erroneous assumption that because two things are associated one must be caused by the other. A statistical term for a logical fallacy in trying to take information from group studies and apply it to individuals. In epidemiology, the erroneous attempt to determine an individual’s specific risk of developing a disease from an analysis…

A program mandated by law as part of the Medicaid program. The law (section 1905(a)(4)(B) of the Social Security Act) requires that by July 1 , 1969, all States have in effect a program for eligible children under age 21 “to ascertain their physical or mental defects, and such health care, treatment, and other measures…

Excessive use of gestures when talking.  

Morbid habit of inspecting one’s own skin.  

Farthest or terminal part. The part of a limb farthest away from the body, especially the hand or foot. A situation or state of great distress or danger. The greatest intensity of something. Any of the limbs; an arm or a leg.