1. Clearness or sharpness of perception such as visual acuity. 2. Measure of a patient’s severity of illness to establish nurse staffing requirements.

Refers to a medical condition that runs a short but relatively severe course. To report for billing purposes, documentation must establish medical necessity of services rendered.

Medical services that are generally provided for a short period of time to treat a certain illness or condition. This type of care can include short-term hospital stays, doctor’s visits, surgery, and x-rays.

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Skilled, medically necessary care provided by medical and nursing personnel in order to restore a person to good health.

Facility that gives continuous professional medical care to patients during an acute condition, injury, or sudden onset of illness or disease.

Immediate medical services for the examination, diagnosis, care, and treatment of a patient because of severe episodes of illness. Usually, acute care is given in a hospital by specialized personnel and use of sophisticated technical equipment. It may be intensive care, critical care, or emergency care.

Sickness that is usually of short-term duration and that often comes on quickly.

Organization formed to protect patient access to quality long-term hospital care; formerly known as Long Term Acute Care Hospital Association of America (LTACHA). Long Term Acute Care Hospitals (LTACHs) are hospitals that provide patients with acute care for extended inpatient stays (defined by federal statute as an average of 25 days or more). ALTHA works to protect the rights of medically complex patients and the hospitals that treat them by educating federal and state regulators, members of Congress, and health care industry colleagues. ALTHA also works to increase quality of care by sharing and improving best practices among its hospital members.