HSE enforceable regulations to protect workers from substances hazardous to health. Substance means any solid, gas, fume, dust or vapour and any micro-organism. The employer must, inter alia, assess, monitor and control each work situation to ensure that workers are not exposed to possibly harmful amounts of any substance connected with the work. COSHH sets out limits for a large number of hazardous substances based on maximum exposure limits and occupational exposure standards. The employee has a duty to cooperate with the employer regarding monitoring and health surveillance.
Insurance Encyclopedia
Cosmetic surgery
Elective operation of cutaneous or underlying tissues performed to improve appearance and correct a structural defect or to remove a scar, birthmark, or normal evidence of aging. Most health insurance plans do not pay for it unless disfigurement resulted from an accident or catastrophic event. Cosmetic surgery is differentiated from reconstructive surgery, which insurance programs feature as a benefit. Also called aesthetic surgery. See reconstructive surgery.
Cost accountant
Individual whose work is to inspect, keep, or adjust financial accounts. When a patient is denied certain treatment, it may be the result of the cost accountant determining that treatment was not cost-effective and thus unnecessary.
Cost and freight (CFR)
Same as Cost, Insurance and Freight except that the cost of insurance is borne by the overseas buyer.
Cost center
Department to which a revenue or expense is allocated.
Cost comparison methods
Various formulas that insurance companies use to show prospective insurance applicants the cost of different insurance policies.
Cost containment
Ongoing process used by government programs and managed care plans to keep costs within a certain budget and reduce expenditures. Types of cost curtailing activities include reducing administrative costs, controlling use of health care services, limiting demand for medical services, and managing other situations that add to higher costs. Various strategies used to keep costs down are capitation, disease management, preventive care, and wellness programs.
Cost contract
Arrangement between a managed care plan and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), under which the health plan provides health services and is reimbursed its costs. The beneficiary can use providers outside the plan’s provider network.
Cost contract (Health Insurance)
A contract between a health care provider and the Health Care Financing Administration. The provider agrees to provide services to people covered under the plan at a reasonable cost.
Cost effectiveness
Efficiency and competence of an insurance plan or program in achieving given intervention outcomes in relation to the program or plan costs. For example, the production of services with the least possible cost or treatment of a medical condition with the least expensive level of care that obtains the desired health outcome of the patient. Also called cost efficiency.