Proposal of action or method used to speed admitting a patient to a hospital and to assist with quick reimbursement to the hospital. Also called hospital admissions program (HAP) .

1. Facility that has established a contractual arrangement to provide inpatient care for members of a managed care plan. 2. Inpatient facility where a physician has admitting privileges. 3. Facility that has an established relationship with a medical school.

Groups of hospitals that join together to share services and make purchases to reduce their costs. See also integrated delivery system .

These include differentials between hospital labor and nonlabor indices compared with general economy labor and nonlabor indices; rates of admission incidence; the trend toward treating less complicated cases in outpatient settings; and continued improvement in diagnosis-related group (DRG) coding.

Businesses that do retrospective audits for hospital facilities to try to obtain some percentage of savings from billed insurance claims.

Independent evaluation of hospital bills by an external auditor (third party) to investigate if medical services and supplies billed to the patient were those actually given and if the fees were for the correct amounts.

Inpatient and outpatient care, procedures, supplies, and medical services provided and billed by a hospital facility.

Cost sharing in which a Medicare Part A beneficiary must pay a daily amount for the 61st through 90th day of hospitalization. It is equal to one fourth of the inpatient hospital deductible. For lifetime reserve days, a Medicare beneficiary must pay a daily amount that is equal to one half of the inpatient hospital deductible. See lifetime reserve .

Continuous stay in an acute hospital, skilled nursing facility, or other inpatient facility for a specific time period. This phrase is commonly seen in insurance contracts where benefits are listed.