Indirect costs

1. Medical practice business overhead costs that are not associated with the physician’s medical service directly provided to the patient (e.g., rent, office supplies, utilities). 2. In managed care programs, cost that cannot be associated directly with a certain activity, service, or product. Indirect costs are usually distributed among the plan’s services in proportion to each service’s share of direct costs.

Indirect damage

Sometimes referred to as indirect loss, this is loss resulting from a peril but not directly caused by that peril. An example is fire damaging a freezer (direct damage), with resultant food spoilage (indirect damage).

Indirect medical education adjustment

Change or modification applied to payments under the prospective payment system (PPS) for hospitals that operate approved graduate medical education programs. For operating costs, the adjustment is based on the hospital’s ratio of interns and residents to the number of beds. For capital costs, the adjustment is based on the hospital’s ratio of interns and residents to average daily occupancy.

Indirect treatment relationship

Association or connection between an individual and a health care provider in which the provider delivers care to the patient based on orders from another physician and the provider either gives services and supplies, reports diagnoses, or provides results directly to another provider who interacts with the patient. For example, a radiologist or a pathologist would be considered to have indirect treatment relationships with patients because they provide diagnostic services requested by other providers and furnish results to the patient through the direct treating physician.

Indisputability Clause

A clause in a policy providing that after a stated period the insurer may not dispute the validly of the policy in the absence of fraud on the part of the insured, thus relieving the insured of the consequences of any innocent non-disclosure or misrepresentation.