Category: P

A grant of Federal funds to a public or private agency or organization for a specified purpose authorized by law, such as development of an emergency medical services system, or conduct of a continuing education program. The making of project grants is usually discretionary with HEW. Applicants are chosen on the basis of merit, often…

A tax which takes an increasing proportion of income as income rises, such as the Federal personal income tax. Incremental increases in taxable income are subject to an increased marginal tax rate.  

A system under which patients are grouped together in units depending on their need for care as determined by their degree of illness rather than by consideration of medical specialty. There are three conventional levels or stages of progressive patient care: intensive care, that needed for critically ill patients; intermediate care, that intermediate between intensive…

The gain made by the sale of a good or service after deducting the value of the labor, materials, rents, interest on capital and other expenses involved in the production of the good or service. Economists define profit as return to (or on) capital investment, and distinguish normal (competitive) and excessive (more than competitive) profit.…

Assesses technical knowledge and skills related to the performance requirements of a specific job, whether such knowledge and skills were acquired through formal or informal means. Section 241 of the Social Security Amendments of 1972, requires the Secretary of HEW, in carrying out his functions relating to qualifications for health manpower, to develop and conduct…

Obligation of providers or their professional liability insurers to pay for damages resulting from the providers’ acts of omission or commission in treating patients. The term is sometimes preferred by providers to medical malpractice because it does not necessarily imply negligence. It is also a term which more adequately describes the obligations of all types…

A shared-computer medical record information system purchased by hospitals from the Commission on Professional and Hospital Activities (CPHA) in Ann Arbor, Michigan, a nonprofit computer center. Information flows into the system through a discharge abstract completed by the hospital medical record department on every discharged patient. The patient information is displayed back to the hospital…

A term with no consistent or agreed upon meaning. Most occupational groups in the health field aspire to being considered professions. There are a number of usual components: formal education and examination are required for membership in the profession; certification or licensure is required for membership, reflecting community sanction or approval; there exist regional or…

An indicator of the quality of medical care used to assess the activities of health manpower and programs in the management of patients. Process measures document the process of care used for various populations or diagnoses; for example, the fraction of people with hypertension who receive an intravenous pyelogram or the percentage of cases of…

A medical in which the information and conclusions contained in the record arc organized to describe each of the patients problems. The description properly includes subjective, objective and significant negative information, discussion and conclusions, and diagnostic and treatment plans with respect to each problem. The record, which was developed by Lawrence Weed, M.D., has gained…