Author: Glossary
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Uniform reporting
Reporting of patient care information, financial information, or both under uniform definitions (and sometimes formats) in order to permit comparisons among hospitals or physicians.
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Under-coding
Submission of a patient’s bill with diagnosis or operation coding which will result in a smaller reimbursement than the patient’s condition and the care rendered would actually justify. Computer systems which are intended to prevent this are commercially available to health care providers. Compare to over-coding and optimal coding.
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Unbundling
Selling individual components of a service or product separately rather than as a package. Sometimes unbundling is done for the convenience of the customer, but often it is done in order to sell the same components for a greater total price than if they were packaged together (bundled). For example, a complete automobile can be…
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Ultrasound images
Images (pictures) of internal body structures, produced by recording (via computer) the sounds wave reflected from the body structures.
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Tying arrangement
Requiring a buyer to purchase a second product or service in order to get the first product. Tying arrangements may violate the federal antitrust laws.
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Trustee
A member of the governing body when that body is called a board of trustees. When the governing body is called the board of directors, then each member is called a “director.”
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Tringa
A sandpiper, from the Greek “tryngas.” In the genus Tringa Linnaeus there are three birds: the greater yellowlegs, the lesser yellowlegs, and the solitary sandpiper. There are, however, 17 other sandpipers which are not in this genus.
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Transitional care
A term covering care which is not acute care and not long-term care. “Transitional care” includes care in postacute convalescence, rehabilitation, and psychiatric care, whether given within acute or long-term care facilities, or in separate programs or facilities. Health care services provided to patients after hospitalization in an acute care facility, before they are ready…
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Tort reform
A change in the way in which individuals who are “harmed” by the health care system may be compensated. In the U.S., patients injured through malpractice or otherwise generally file a lawsuit seeking damages; such suits themselves cost a great deal, take up a lot of time and resources, and may result in enormous sums…
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Tools for change
A service of the American Hospital Association (AHA) for its members.