Organization established in 1978 as part of an effort to achieve recognition for the medical transcription profession; formerly known as American Association for Medical Transcription (AAMT). Vision: To direct the evolution of the medical transcription profession. Mission: To advance and represent the profession of medical transcription through the promotion of quality health care documentation. Purpose: To set and uphold standards for education and practice in the field of medical transcription that ensure the highest level of accuracy, privacy, and security of health care documentation for the U.S. health care system to protect public health, increase patient safety, and improve quality of care for health care consumers. Goals and Objectives: Medical transcriptionists are provided the tools to ensure accuracy, privacy, and security of health care documentation to improve patient safety and quality of care through the following objectives: Participate in the development of health care documentation standards to protect consumer privacy and security of medical information; advocate for legislation and regulations that protect the public’s health care information; set standards of education and practice for the medical transcription profession.

Nationwide community of members that support medical providers practicing in the United States and advance their knowledge of important socioeconomic issues through continuing education, exchange of ideas between members, and certification programs that recognize personal educational achievements.

Values relating to future trends in certain key factors that affect the balance in the trust funds. Demographic assumptions include fertility, mortality, net immigration, marriage, divorce, retirement patterns, disability incidence and termination rates, and changes in the labor force. Economic assumptions include unemployment, average earnings, inflation, interest rates, and productivity. Also called demographic assumptions.

Word that means “insurance” that is commonly used in Canada and Great Britain.

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Synonym for Insurance. Used commonly for the life business and in the traditional form of marine policy. Charles Babbage in 1826 suggested that assurance was a contract on the duration of life which must either happen or fail and insurance is a contract relating to any other uncertain event which may partly happen or partly fail but the distinction has never been universally accepted.

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UK: a term commonly used to distinguish insurance business providing benefits related to the duration of human life from other types of insurance (but for practical purposes the terms assurance and insurance are interchangeable).

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UK: Means an insured event that is certain to happen, e.g. in an endowment policy, the life assured will either survive the policy term or die within it. In contrast insurance is taken to mean events, e.g. road accidents that may or may not happen to the individual. The terms have often been used interchangeably although insurance is now the main term.

Type of managed care contract between Medicare and a payer or a payer and a provider wherein patients receive care during the entire term of the contract even if actual costs exceed the payment established by the agreement.

Age of the insured as of the insured’s last birthday.

Medical staff member who is legally and primarily responsible for the medical care and treatment given to a patient and who would normally be expected to certify and recertify the medical necessity of the number of services rendered for the patient’s care while in the hospital. An attending physician who has a patient admitted to the hospital may be referred to as the admitting physician.