Category: P

Literally, cost per day. Refers, in general, to hospital or other inpatient institutional costs per da}^ or for a day of care. Hospitals occasionally charge for their services on the basis of a per diem rate derived by dividing their total costs by the number of inpatient days of care given. Per diem costs are…

In marketing insurance or HMOs, the percentage of possible subscribers who have in fact contracted for benefits (subscribed). Participation is sometimes used synonymous. The act of penetrating.  

A tax liability imposed on an employer, or employee, related to the amount of the company payroll or individual pay, the revenues from which are used to finance a specific benefit. In the health field, payroll tax is often used synonymously with the social security tax. That tax, it is important to note, is not…

A specified amount taken out of pay to finance a benefit. Payroll deductions may be either a set payroll tax, as the social security tax, or a required payment for a benefit, for example, a group health Insurance premium. A payroll deduction generally refers to any amount withheld from the earnings of an employee.  

A study, usually undertaken by an individual health program or a health planning agency, to determine the geographic distribution of the homes of the patients served by one or more health programs. Such studies help define catchment and medical trade areas, and are useful in locating and planning the development of new services.  

The numbers and types of patients served by a hospital or other health program. Patients may be classified according to their homes, socioeconomic characteristics, diagnoses, or severity of illness. Knowledge of a program’s patient mix is important for planning and comparative purposes. The numbers and types of patients served by a hospital or other health…

A measure of institutional use, usually measured as the number of inpatients at a specified time (e.g., midnight). The total number of inpatient service days, for all patients, during a specified period of time (for example, a month). Ordinarily this number will be expressed in three segments—adult days, pediatric days, and newborn days—since there almost…

One who is receiving health services; sometimes used synonymously with consumer. Being able to wait a long time without becoming annoyed. A person who has established a contractual relationship with a health care provider for that provider to care for that person. A patient may or may not be ill or injured. A patient who…

A synonym for the comprehensive health planning program The first set of amendments to the program were made in 1967 which was given the short title, Partnership for Health Amendments of 1967, and hence the name.  

A physician participates in an insurance plan when he agrees to accept the plan’s preestablished fee or reasonable charge as the maximum amount which can be collected for services rendered. A non-participating physician may charge more than the insurance program’s maximum allowable amount for a particular service. The patient is then liable for the excess…