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Federally Qualified Health Center
A Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) is a reimbursement designation from the Bureau of Primary Health Care and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. This designation is significant for several health programs funded under the Health Center Consolidation Act (Section 330 of the Public Health Service Act). An FQHC is a community-based organization that provides comprehensive primary care and preventive care, including health, oral, and mental health/substance abuse services to persons of all ages, regardless of their ability to pay or health insurance status. Thus, they are a critical component of the health care safety net. FQHCs are called Community/Migrant Health Centers (C/MHC), Community Health Centers (CHC), and 330 Funded Clinics. FQHCs are automatically designated as health professional shortage facilities. Funded programs Health programs funded include: * Community Health Centers which serve a va ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bureau Of Primary Health Care
The Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHC) is a part of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. HRSA helps fund, staff and support a national network of health clinics for people who otherwise would have little or no access to care. BPHC funds health centers in underserved communities, providing access to high quality, family oriented, comprehensive primary and preventive health care for people who are low-income, uninsured or face other obstacles to getting health care. The Bureau is headed by Associate Administrator Jim Macrae and Deputy Associate Administrator Tonya Bowers. History The Bureau was formed in 1982 as a merge of the Bureau of Medical Services and the Bureau of Community Health Services. Predecessors The Bureau of Primary Health Care is the direct descendant of the oldest function of the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS): the system of Marine Hospitals founded in 1798. When the PHS's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Health Insurance Coverage In The United States
Health insurance coverage in the United States is provided by several public and private sources. During 2019, the U.S. population overall was approximately 330 million, with 59 million people 65 years of age and over covered by the federal Medicare program. The 273 million non-institutionalized persons under age 65 either obtained their coverage from employer-based (159 million) or non-employer based (84 million) sources, or were uninsured (30 million). During the year 2019, 89% of the non-institutionalized population had health insurance coverage. Separately, approximately 12 million military personnel (considered part of the "institutional" population) received coverage through the Veteran's Administration and Military Health System. Despite being among the top world economic powers, the US remains the sole industrialized nation in the world without universal health care coverage. Prohibitively high cost is the primary reason Americans give for problems accessing health ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Health Centers Initiative
Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organization''– ''Basic Documents'', Forty-fifth edition, Supplement, October 2006. A variety of definitions have been used for different purposes over time. Health can be promoted by encouraging healthful activities, such as regular physical exercise and adequate sleep, and by reducing or avoiding unhealthful activities or situations, such as smoking or excessive stress. Some factors affecting health are due to individual choices, such as whether to engage in a high-risk behavior, while others are due to structural causes, such as whether the society is arranged in a way that makes it easier or harder for people to get necessary healthcare services. Still, other factors are beyond both individual and group choices, such as genetic disorders. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Committee For Quality Assurance
The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in the United States that works to improve health care quality through the administration of evidence-based standards, measures, programs, and accreditation. The National Committee for Quality Assurance operates on a formula of measure, analyze, and improve and it aims to build consensus across the industry by working with policymakers, employers, doctors, and patients, as well as health plans. History The National Committee for Quality Assurance was established in 1990 with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Programs The National Committee for Quality Assurance manages voluntary accreditation programs for individual physicians, health plans, and medical groups. It offers dedicated programs targeting vendor certification, software certification, and compliance auditing. Health plans seek accreditation and measure performance through the administration and submissi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patient Centered Medical Home
The medical home, also known as the patient-centered medical home (PCMH), is a team-based health care delivery model led by a health care provider to provide comprehensive and continuous medical care to patients with a goal to obtain maximal health outcomes. It is described in the "Joint Principles" (see below) as "an approach to providing comprehensive primary care for children, youth and adults." The provision of medical homes is intended to allow better access to health care, increase satisfaction with care, and improve health. The "Joint Principles" that popularly define a PCMH were established through the efforts of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), American College of Physicians (ACP), and American Osteopathic Association (AOA) in 2007. Care coordination is an essential component of the PCMH. Care coordination requires additional resources such as health information technology and appropriately-trained staff to provide ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System
The Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS, often pronounced by its acronym as "hick picks") is a set of health care procedure codes based on the American Medical Association's Current Procedural Terminology (CPT). History The acronym ''HCPCS'' originally stood for ''HCFA Common Procedure Coding System'', a medical billing process used by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Prior to 2001, CMS was known as the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA). HCPCS was established in 1978 to provide a standardized coding system for describing the specific items and services provided in the delivery of health care. Such coding is necessary for Medicare, Medicaid, and other health insurance programs to ensure that insurance claims are processed in an orderly and consistent manner. Initially, use of the codes was voluntary, but with the implementation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) use of the HCPCS for transactions invo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prospective Payment System
A prospective payment system (PPS) is a term used to refer to several payment methodologies for which means of determining insurance reimbursement is based on a predetermined payment regardless of the intensity of the actual service provided. It includes a system for paying hospitals based on predetermined prices, from Medicare. Payments are typically based on codes provided on the insurance claim such as these: * Diagnosis-related groups for hospital inpatient claims * Ambulatory Payment Classification for hospital outpatient claims * Current Procedural Terminology for other outpatient claims The PPS was established by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), as a result of the Social Security Amendments Act of 1983, specifically to address expensive hospital care. Regardless of services provided, payment was of an established fee. The idea was to encourage hospitals to lower their prices for expensive hospital care. In 2000, CMS changed the reimbursement system ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act Of 1990
The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 (OBRA-90; ) is a United States statute enacted pursuant to the budget reconciliation process to reduce the United States federal budget deficit. The Act included the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990 which established the "pay-as-you-go" or " PAYGO" process for discretionary spending and taxes. The Act was signed into law by President George H. W. Bush on November 5, 1990, counter to his 1988 campaign promise not to raise taxes. This became an issue in the presidential election of 1992. Provisions The Act increased individual income tax rates. The top statutory tax rate increased from 28% to 31%, and the individual alternative minimum tax rate increased from 21% to 24%. The capital gains rate was capped at 28%. The value of high income itemized deductions was limited: reduced by 3% times the extent to which AGI exceeds $100,000. It temporarily created the personal exemption phase out applicable to the range of taxable income between $15 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Social Security Act
The Social Security Act of 1935 is a law enacted by the 74th United States Congress and signed into law by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The law created the Social Security program as well as insurance against unemployment. The law was part of Roosevelt's New Deal domestic program. By the 1930s, the United States was the only modern industrial country without any national system of social security. In the midst of the Great Depression, the physician Francis Townsend galvanized support behind a proposal to issue direct payments to the elderly. Responding to that movement, Roosevelt organized a committee led by Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins to develop a major social welfare program proposal. Roosevelt presented the plan in early 1935 and signed the Social Security Act into law on August 14, 1935. The act was upheld by the Supreme Court in two major cases decided in 1937. The law established the Social Security program. The old-age program is funded by payroll taxes, an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Medicare (United States)
Medicare is a government national health insurance program in the United States, begun in 1965 under the Social Security Administration (SSA) and now administered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). It primarily provides health insurance for Americans aged 65 and older, but also for some younger people with disability status as determined by the SSA, including people with end stage renal disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease). In 2018, according to the 2019 Medicare Trustees Report, Medicare provided health insurance for over 59.9 million individuals—more than 52 million people aged 65 and older and about 8 million younger people. According to annual Medicare Trustees reports and research by the government's MedPAC group, Medicare covers about half of healthcare expenses of those enrolled. Enrollees almost always cover most of the remaining costs by taking additional private insurance and/or by joining a public Part C or P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Federal Tort Claims Act
The Federal Tort Claims Act (August 2, 1946, ch.646, Title IV, 28 U.S.C. Part VI, Chapter 171and ) ("FTCA") is a 1946 federal statute that permits private parties to sue the United States in a federal court for most torts committed by persons acting on behalf of the United States. Historically, citizens have not been able to sue their state—a doctrine referred to as sovereign immunity. The FTCA constitutes a limited waiver of sovereign immunity, permitting citizens to pursue some tort claims against the government. It was passed and enacted as a part of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946. Limitations Under the FTCA, " e United States sliable ... in the same manner and to the same extent as a private individual under like circumstances, but s notliable for interest prior to judgment or for punitive damages." . Federal courts have jurisdiction over such claims, but apply the law of the state "where the act or omission occurred". (b). Thus, both federal and state la ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sliding Scale Fees
Sliding scale fees are variable prices for products, services, or taxes based on a customer's ability to pay. Such fees are thereby reduced for those who have lower incomes, or alternatively, less money to spare after their personal expenses, regardless of income. Sliding scale fees are a form of price discrimination or differential pricing. A business or organization may have various motivations for pricing a product or service on a sliding scale. These may include the desire to be charitable to those less able to afford the product or service, their ability to get a tax deduction for offering their services as charity, their ability to benefit from the revenue even from a partial payment, their retention of a longtime customer/client, or referrals that such a customer/client may provide. For example, healthcare providers sometime offer a sliding scale of fees to patients. Some child-adoption agencies collect legal fees (normally very expensive) on a sliding scale, so that couples ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
