Category: H

  • Haematocrit

    Also known as packed cell volume, this is an expression of the fraction of blood volume occupied by the erythrocytes and is helpful in diagnosing various types of anaemia. It is measured by centrifuging a sample of blood in a capillary tube and measuring the height of the resulting packed cells as a percentage of…

  • Hypertext

    Text stored in digital form, containing electronic links to other digitized text, sounds, and still or moving pictures. There is no limit to how many links a “hypertext document” may contain, nor any limit to how far this link may take the reader. The link in the hypertext document is usually identified by certain text…

  • Hyde amendment

    An amendment to the Appropriations Act in 1976, revised in 1980, which forbids federal funds to reimburse the cost of non-therapeutic abortions under the Medicaid program. The 1980 revisions allowed federal funds to be used if a woman was raped or abused by incest and she promptly reported the incident to the police or a…

  • Hospitalize

    To admit a patient to a hospital in which that patient will be lodged. The patient, once admitted, becomes an “inpatient.”  

  • Hospital Satellite Network

    A hospital television network, to which several hundred hospitals subscribe. Some of its broadcasts are “in the clear,” that is, without charge, while others require a registration or fee.  

  • Hospital Research and Educational Trust

    A nonprofit research arm of the American Hospital Association (AHA), which supports activities to improve hospitals and health services.  

  • Hospital Health Plan Corporation

    A corporation in Minnesota which assists communities, their hospitals, and their physicians in establishing Hospital Health Plans (HHPs), and provides startup assistance, continuing support for its transactional and analytical management information system, and liaison with other HHPs.  

  • Hospital engineer

    A term sometimes used to designate the person responsible for the operation and maintenance of the equipment and the physical plant.  

  • Hospital discharge abstract system

    A system in which a number of hospitals submit coded, computer-ready summaries (discharge abstracts) of clinical records to a central shared computer service. The summaries may be submitted on paper or via computer media. In return, the hospitals receive reports and analyses of their own data, which they need for their internal operations. In addition,…

  • Hospital Community Benefits Standards Program

    A voluntary certification program for hospitals, created at New York University by Robert Sigmond and Anthony Kovner, under grant support from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. The purpose of the program is to stimulate hospitals to provide community benefits, and to reward them with special certification when they do.