Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

  • Alternative financing system

    An alternative to the fee-for-service (FFS) payment system, such as a health care organization (HCO), health maintenance organization (HMO), or competitive medical plan (CMP) in which some other mechanism, usually capitation, is the method of payment to the organization and sometimes to the physician.  

  • Alpha center

    A non-profit, private research organization focusing on health care financing and organizational issues. The Alpha Center also conducts a health care program for the uninsured in conjunction with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.  

  • Alliance

    In common usage, any one of a variety of collaborative arrangements among individuals or institutions. In the past, hospitals have formed alliances or affiliations, for example, between those furnishing primary, secondary, and tertiary care.  

  • All-payer plan

    A payment policy under which the same payment method is applied to patients of all payers. Today, the term “all-payer plan” really means applying the prospective payment system (PPS) to all patients, rather than Medicare patients only. (Medicare patients are the only patients to which the PPS applies under the present federal regulations.)  

  • Organization agency

    An organization set up to carry out services such as home health care, “meals on wheels/’ or registration of tumor patients. In this usage, the agency may be part of either the public sector or the private sector. If the agency is private, it may be either nonprofit or for-profit.  

  • Legal agency

    A legal relationship in which one person acts on behalf of another. A written agency agreement is called a power of attorney.  

  • Administrative agency

    A part of state or federal government, created by the legislature, which has specific administrative duties and functions, often including regulation of a profession or industry. A state board of medical examiners, for example, is an administrative agency. There is a body of law (administrative law) which governs the powers of administrative agencies, the process…

  • Advance directive

    A statement executed by a person while of sound mind as to that person’s wishes about the use of medical interventions for him or her self in case of the loss of his or her own decision-making capacity. A number of forms of advance directives have been proposed and are used; some are described below.…

  • Adult day health services

    Medical and other health care services provided to patients whose condition permits them to return home or to another facility at night. When such care is regularly scheduled, it may be termed partial hospitalization.  

  • Administrative law

    The body of law which governs the powers of administrative agencies, the process of agency decision-making, and the procedures by which a party can challenge an adverse decision of an agency. The body of law which governs the powers of administrative agencies, the process of agency decision-making, and the procedures by which a party can…

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