Author: Glossary

A group “in name only.” A type of group described by Delbecq, Van de Ven, and Gustafson in which individuals are together in the process known as the Nominal Group Technique (NGT).  

Originating or existing in the intellect or the spiritual world. There are an increasing number of health care organizations which are emphasizing the integration of science and spirituality in order to enhance the “healing force,” joining scientific medicine with a spiritual or noetic dimension, to create whole person and whole community health care.  

An informal relationship among individuals for exchange of information, counsel, and planning; a support group. The branch of medicine which deals with the nervous system, its functions and its diseases and disorders. One of the medical specialties for which residency programs have been approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).  

A network is an entity that provides, or provides for, integrated health services to a defined population of individuals. A network offers comprehensive or specialty services and has a centralized structure that coordinates and integrates services provided by components and practitioners participating in the network. The term broadly covers a wide variety of arrangements, including…

A facility, located where it will be easy for patients to go, which provides various services short of inpatient care.  

A fee schedule for paying physicians or other health care providers, determined through collective bargaining.  

Legislation governing procedures by which a competent person can execute an advance directive concerning the withholding or withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment, in case of incompetence.  

An initiative of the federal government begun in 1992 to enhance the application of computer technology and telecommunications in all sectors of the society. The initiative calls for a partnership between the government and the private sector in which the government helps with development efforts, but the private sector owns and operates the NIL It…

An economic indicator to show what the United States spends on health care each year. It is usually expressed as a percentage of the gross domestic product (GDP). The NHE is the sum total of all health care expenditures, including physician and hospital services, drugs, home nursing care, eyeglasses, dental services, and so forth, as…

A federal program for providing medical, dental, and nursing services to rural areas of the United States.