Person who, under the direction of a physician, performs various routine administrative and nontechnical clinical tasks in a hospital, clinic, or other medical facility. See administrative medical assistant and clinical medical assistant .

Online publications by physicians or health care workers over the Internet. Content ranges from medical studies and opinions of interpretations of medical studies to hot topics in the news related to health care such as tort reform and Medicare reimbursement, with links to interesting news items. Often called medblogging .

When one hears medical care , it infers treatment of illness or injury, maintenance of health, and prevention of disease by or under the supervision of a physician. The phrase health care has the intent of a broader scope of meaning when compared with the phrase medical care . See also health care .

Program developed by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to allow the VA to bill third-party payers for non-service-connected care rendered by the VA to veterans and to collect copayments from veterans with less than a 50% service-connected disability rating for non-service-connected care given, based on ability to pay.

1. Form of health care review in which a component of the quality assurance program audits and monitors the quality of both the delivery and organization of medical services. The purpose is to ensure that health care services are appropriate to the patients’ needs and of the highest quality and that the managed care plan in place supports and provides the care. 2. The Medicare Conditions of Participation require an audit with the use of screening criteria for evaluation by diagnosis and/or procedure. Utilization review requirements under Medicare and Medicaid require utilization review committees in hospitals and skilled nursing facilities to have at least one such study in progress at all times. Such studies are required by the Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) program. This is called medical care evaluation studies (MCE studies) .

Codes that characterize a medical condition or treatment. These code sets are usually maintained by professional societies and public health organizations. Compare with administrative code sets.