Glossary

A Federal law that allows persons to qualify immediately for comparable health insurance coverage when they change their employment relationships. Title II, Subtitle F, of HIPAA gives HHS the authority to mandate the use of standards for the electronic exchange of health care data; to specify what medical and administrative code sets should be used within those standards; to require the use of national identification systems for health care patients, providers, payers (or plans), and employers (or sponsors); and to specify the types of measures required to protect the security and privacy of personally identifiable health care information. Also known as the Kennedy-Kassebaum Bill, the Kassebaum-Kennedy Bill, K2, or Public Law 104-191.

An entity that provides for or arranges for the provision of care and contracts on a prepaid capitated risk basis to provide a comprehensive set of services.

An ANSI-accredited group that defines standards for the cross-platform exchange of information within a health care organization. HL7 is responsible for specifying the Level Seven OSI standards for the health industry. The X12 275 transaction will probably incorporate the HL7 CRU message to transmit claim attachments as part of a future HIPAA claim attachments standard. The HL7 Attachment SIG is responsible for the HL7 portion of this standard.

A type of Medicare managed care plan where a group of doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers agree to give health care to Medicare beneficiaries for a set amount of money from Medicare every month. You usually must get your care from the providers in the plan.

A type of Medicare managed care plan where a group of doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers agree to give health care to Medicare beneficiaries for a set amount of money from Medicare every month. You usually must get your care from the providers in the plan.

An entity that assumes the risk of paying for medical treatments, i.e. uninsured patient, self-insured employer, payer, or HMO.

A medical code set that identifies health care procedures, equipment, and supplies for claim submission purposes. It has been selected for use in the HIPAA transactions. HCPCS Level I contains numeric CPT codes which are maintained by the AMA. HCPCS Level II contains alphanumeric codes used to identify various items and services that are not included in the CPT medical code set. These are maintained by HCFA, the BCBSA, and the HIAA. HCPCS Level III contains alphanumeric codes that are assigned by Medicaid state agencies to identify additional items and services not included in levels I or II. These are usually called "local codes", and must have "W", "X", "Y", or "Z" in the first position. HCPCS Procedure Modifier Codes can be used with all three levels, with the WA - ZY range used for locally assigned procedure modifiers.

An organization for the improvement of the financial management of healthcare-related organizations. The HFMA sponsors some HIPAA educational seminars.

An administrative code set that classifies health care providers by type and area of specialization. The code set will be used in certain adopted transactions. (Note: A given provider may have more than one Healthcare Provider Taxonomy Code.)

A procedure that gives a dissatisfied claimant an opportunity to present reasons for the dissatisfaction and to receive a new determination based on the record developed at the hearing. Hearings are provided for in §1842(b)(3)(C) of the Act.