Provision in a pension plan that gives a benefit to the surviving spouse of a vested plan participant if the participant deceases before retiring. Qualified plans must include this provision.

Medications that are available only with a written prescription from a licensed practitioner.

Written order for medication, therapy, or therapeutic device given by a physician, dentist, or other licensed practitioner, which then goes to a person authorized to dispense the order.
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Creation (or extinguishment) of a legal right or obligation by the lapse of time.

Management company or organization that monitors prescription claims for managed care plans and tracks the drugs and volume prescribed by the plan’s participating providers of medical services. The PBM’s sophisticated information systems help identify patients who have chronic diseases, drug utilization, compliance patterns, and physicians’ prescribing patterns. Also called pharmacy benefit manager (PBM).

Medication that can be dispensed to the public only with an order given by a properly authorized individual. The drug must be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and only a licensed, registered pharmacist or physician may dispense the prescription.

Insurance plan for prescription drug expenses with deductible and copayments. Some plans allow the insured to obtain the medication at any pharmacy, and other plans have little or no copayment when going to specific pharmacies.

Diagnosis present at the time of the inpatient admission. It can include conditions known at the time of admission, present at admission but not diagnosed until later, and conditions that develop during outpatient encounters such as emergency department, observation, or outpatient surgery. Also see present-on-admission (POA) indicator.

Interest rate factor for determining the present value of a sum in the future. A formula is used to obtain this number.

Code, eighth digit, that is attached to the diagnostic code required for reporting Medicare inpatients’ claims for specific types of conditions. It is to be reported on the UB-04 claim form in diagnostic coding fields 67 and 67A-Q. For electronically transmitted claims, the POA is reported in loop 2300, data element H101, which should contain the letters “POA” followed by the assigned value for the code. Also see present on admission (POA).

Reason for the patient’s office visit such as complaints, condition, disease, findings, illness, injury, signs, or symptoms.