Author: Glossary

Requiring or allowing a response from the user. In computer and telecommunications usage, interactive refers to a program that assumes the user or viewer will exercise some degree of choice to determine how the program will proceed. Almost all computer programs are interactive in that they present some kind of menu to the user, and…

As defined by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) for Medicaid, “an institution that is primarily engaged in providing diagnosis, treatment or care of persons with mental diseases.” A hospital, skilled nursing facility (SNF), or intermediate care facility (ICF), for example, can also be an IMD for Medicaid purposes; the “overall character” of…

An adjective applied to a provider or a service when the provider is a part of the health care network (or system) or the service is available within the network, and thus the cost has been the subject of prior agreement. The antonym is, of course, “out-of-network.”  

The damage caused by a legal wrong. For example, defamation causes “injury” to a person’s reputation; a breach of contract may cause financial injury.  

The damage caused by an external force, as contrasted with an “illness,” which simply indicates that the body is not in a healthy condition.  

One who weaves a cohesive web of information from disparate bits of data and other information. This term was coined to extend the usual terms of “writer” and “editor”. An info-weaver is a knowledge worker whose skills include the ability to add hypertext links to written text, and to make the presentation of information interactive…

The use of computers and computer applications to handle large masses of data. Information technology became a popular descriptive label during the 1990’s, particularly among universities who wanted a broader label than “computer science” as a name for newly created departments that dealt with the explosion of computer usage. The use of electronic computers or…

A poorly defined term used to refer to anything from a pencil and paper to a full-blown computer system. Usually the term “information system” is modified by words specifying its purpose, such as “management information system (MIS).” Any structure or device that converts data input from diverse systems into outputs such as reports and screen…

An emerging term (seeking a standard definition) which is used to cover information along with its management, particularly by computer. Usually the field involved is used along with “informatics,” e.g., “medical informatics.” The theory, science, and practice of the use of computer and informational technologies to store, retrieve, transmit, and manipulate data.  

A proposed method of financing health care costs by giving tax advantages to individuals who establish and maintain personal “individual health care accounts (ICHAs)” similar in concept to individual retirement accounts (IRAs). Money placed in such accounts would be excluded from the individual’s taxable income and would be invested, with principal and income to be…