Author: Glossary

Pertaining to a governmental unit. While “municipal” is commonly used to refer to a local governmental unit, such as a city or town, it can also be used in a broad sense to refer to the internal affairs of a state, nation, or people.  

A health care reform approach which uses a number of payers, usually both private and public. The German-style system is a multipayer system.  

A term which technically pertains to two or more hospitals under a single governing body. In current usage, “multihospital system” also applies to a number of formal and informal arrangements among hospitals, varying from sharing of one or two services, through a variety of leasing, sponsoring, and contract-managing schemes, to full-blown single ownership of two…

From monopsony, a market in which there is only one buyer, and that buyer exerts a disproportionate influence on the market; a special type of oligopsony, in which there are a few buyers with such influence.  

Regulatory guidelines issued in 1972 by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, who along with the National Association of HMO Regulators now update the Model Act. The Act is used by many states to regulate their HMOs, ensuring the delivery of basic health care services according to the appropriate standards of care.  

A system whose failure is likely to result in failure to accomplish a given task. For example, a space-heating control system is primarily mission-critical; its failure will result in a cold or overheated house. A water heating control system is safety-critical, since its failure may result in a burned person.  

In 1992 Minnesota enacted “Health-Right” legislation which is being closely watched in the health care reform discussions. The law (1) establishes a commission whose goal is at least a 10% decrease in the annual rate of increase in health care costs; (2) establishes a voluntary, state-subsidized insurance called Minnesota Care which is available to low-income…

A philosophy of medical practice in which the major focus is on the whole person rather than on a physiological system. Attention is given to patient empowerment, emotional connections, families, and cultural and language barriers. Patients are encouraged to use support groups, and are taught such techniques as meditation, yoga, stretching, nutrition, and relaxation exercises.…

Regulation of the health care of patients at the level of the individual institution, physician, and patient. Not only does microregulation interfere with the freedom of all three, but it also significantly increases administrative costs and paperwork, because of the oversight system required to monitor the “behavior” of the physician, patient, and institution.