1. Attention given to individuals or communities by representatives of the health services for the purpose of promoting, maintaining, monitoring, or restoring health. The phrase health care has the intent of a broader scope of meaning when compared with the phrase medical care . When one hears medical care, it infers treatment by or under the supervision of a physician. 2. Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), care, services, or supplies related to the health of an individual. This includes preventive, diagnostic, therapeutic, rehabilitative, maintenance, or palliative care, and counseling, service, assessment, or procedure involving physical or mental conditions, or functional status. It also involves the sale or dispensing of a drug, device, equipment, or other item relating to a prescription.

Central location in which medical services are provided to group model health maintenance organization (HMO) members.

Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), a third-party administrator (TPA) who receives insurance claims from the physician’s office in a nonstandard format or with nonstandard data and puts it into standard data elements or a standard transaction, or that receives a standard transaction and processes or assists processing the data into nonstandard format for a receiving entity. The TPA performs software edits and redistributes the claims electronically to various insurance carriers.

Unified body of health care providers, purchasers of care, industry, labor, and insurance companies to try to solve medical costs and problems.

Working group of individuals administered by the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. It is responsible for maintaining specific coding schemes used in the X12 transaction set such as claim adjustment reason codes, claim status category codes, and claim status codes.

Provide health care services to those in a community.