Legal agreement between a provider and third-party payers such as Medicare or Medicaid to provide medical services for a predetermined fee; often used in a discounted fee arrangement. Also called purchase discount. See also disallowance.

Substance that is injected into the body, introduced via catheter, or swallowed to allow radiographic images of internal structures that would normally be difficult to see on x-ray films. Also called contrast material.

Maximum yearly contribution legally permitted to a participant’s account in a defined benefit pension plan (DBPP). This may include employer and employee contributions and forfeitures that have been reallocated from other participants’ accounts. The contribution limit is set under Section 415 of the Internal Revenue Code.

Dollar amount an employer must pay for the cost of health insurance coverage for employees or employees and dependents.

Income that results when a mutual insurance company makes more money than it needs to pay for the cost of providing insurance.

Parts of documentation that confirm the selection of procedure codes for evaluation and management (E/M) services but may not be of sufficient quantity to make a change in code selection. An exception is if counseling or coordination of care requires more than half the intraservice time for the encounter, then time is used to determine the code selection when billing.

Group insurance plan in which the insured pays a portion of the cost of the group insurance coverage.