Category: E

A qualified stock bonus or combination money purchase and stock bonus plan designed to invest primarily in employer securities. Specific Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requirements must be met for setting up such a plan.  

The federal law adopted in 1974 in response to fraud and mismanagement of employee pension funds and benefit plans. ERISA, among other things, preempts state regulation of health benefit plans offered by self-insured employers. It does not preempt state laws that regulate insurance – a highly litigated distinction. ERISA offers remedies tor improper denial of…

An organization’s plan for health benefits for its employees and their dependents. The term generally refers to the “package” of benefits which are provided. Such plans are among the “fringe benefits” of the employees, and thus are not part of the employee’s salary. The employees may or may not contribute to paying the cost by…

This federal law requires hospitals who participate in the federal Medicare program to provide a medical screening exam to any patient who comes to their emergency room. If the condition is an emergency, the hospital must stabilize the patient unless the patient requests a transfer in writing and the physician considers the transfer to be…

A coordinated system for providing emergency medical services within a designated geographic area organized to respond to medical emergencies, regardless of the cause. It includes personnel, transportation, communication, equipment, and sometimes facilities. Such systems are subject to regulation by federal, state, and local agencies with respect to personnel qualifications, equipment and its maintenance, and the…

A defined geographic area used for emergency medical services planning, development, and coordination.  

A term sometimes used for the state agency with responsibility for, among other things, licensing emergency medical technicians (EMTs), approving ambulances and emergency medical facilities, and similar functions.  

A physical structure, excluding mobile vehicles, which has been approved by the appropriate regulatory authority to receive emergency patients and which is equipped and staffed to evaluate and treat patients with life threatening conditions.  

An electronic “mini-record “which has been proposed as a routine adjunct to the computer-based patient record (CPR). The ESPR would be created automatically as the CPR is created by a filtering process which places in the ESPR a standard, coded, “sanitized” data set with the information necessary to serve two purposes.  

A nationwide prototype program coordinated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to use information technology (IT) to deliver government benefits (AFDC, food stamps and social security payments) electronically by 1996. A task force consisting of the Administration for Children and Families (ACE), the Social Security Administration (SSA), and the Department of…