Author: Glossary
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Quality improvement project
One activity in the process of continuous quality improvement (CQI). Each project involves a process which has been identified as deserving improvement, and which has been given priority (prioritizing of effort is critical in CQI). For each project, a team is assigned consisting of representatives from all departments involved in the process targeted for improvement,…
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Quality improvement
The sum of all the activities which create desired change in quality. In the health care setting, quality improvement requires a feedback loop which involves the identification of patterns of the care of patients (or of the performance of other systems involved in care), the analysis of those patterns in order to identify opportunities for…
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Quality function
The sum of all the activities, wherever performed, through which the hospital achieves the quality of care it provides. This usage is comparable to speaking of the “fiscal function,” which is the sum of the activities, wherever performed, through which the hospital achieves fiscal soundness. The term “quality function” is replacing “quality assurance function.”
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Quality assurance monitor
A part of the Professional Activity Study (PAS) of the Commission on Professional and Hospital Activities (CPHA). The care of patients, as reflected in their computerized discharge abstracts, is compared with standards established by clinical specialty societies, and the findings are displayed for use in hospital quality management.
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Public relations
The efforts to communicate with the hospital’s audiences and constituencies and to enhance the hospital’s image.
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Psychographics
The analysis of populations on the basis of certain characteristics of individuals, specifically their attitudes, values, and lifestyles. The psychographic attributes of individuals are obtained by surveys or forms of psychometric testing. Such analyses are extensions of demographics. The attributes involved are not what are usually considered demographic; the analyses combine the psychographic data with…
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Proxy
Someone who stands in for another person and is authorized to act on that person’s behalf. An individual who is granted the authority or empowerment to act on behalf of another person, along with the document or written authorization appointing that individual.
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Provider-sponsored organization
A type of provider service network (PSN) proposed in the House of Representatives Republican Medicare reform proposal (Fall 1995). A PSO could be established and enter into business without the necessity of obtaining state licensure as an insurance (such licensure is required for other types of health care plans). The state could issue a certificate…
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Provider service network
A health care organization proposed in the (fall 1995) Republican House Medicare reform proposal. A PSN is operated by providers and is funded in part by the capital contributions of its members. It requires all members to provide health care to Medicare beneficiaries, and it receives the compensation on behalf of the members and distributes…
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Provider reimbursement review board
A panel of five members appointed by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), to which a provider may appeal a decision of a fiscal intermediary denying payment for services under Medicare.