One of a standard style of charting (documenting) procedures for progress notes in patient’s medical records; the acronym means subjective, objective, assessment, plan. Subjective = statements of symptoms and chief complaints (CC) in the patient’s own words, which is the reason for the encounter. Objective = facts and findings from the physical examination, x-rays, laboratory, and other diagnostic tests. Assessment = evaluation of subjective and objective findings, which is medical decision-making by putting all the facts together to obtain a diagnosis. Plan of treatment = documentation of a strategy for care to be put into action and list of recommendations, instructions, further testing, and medication. Also see CHEDDAR .

Special type of health plan that provides the full range of Medicare benefits offered by standard Medicare HMOs, plus other services that include prescription drug and chronic care benefits, respite care, and short-term nursing home care; homemaker, personal care services, and medical transportation; and eyeglasses, hearing aids, and dental benefits.

Age-appropriate review of a patient’s past and current activities (e.g., marital status, employment history, sexual history, level of education, smoking, diet intake, alcohol use). Depending on the category of evaluation and management (E/M) service, documented review of two or all three past, family, and/or social history (PFSH) is required. For comprehensive assessments, all three areas are required.

1. Additional medical insurance coverage to protect against losses when the insured wage earner’s income is interrupted or terminated because of illness or accident and the loss is not covered by workers’ compensation, disability income benefits, or Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). 2. Insurance plan that complements the benefits from a specified government health insurance program.

Concept in which an individual works, the worker pays taxes into the system, and when the worker retires or becomes disabled, the worker, his or her spouse, and his or her dependent children receive monthly benefits based on the reported earnings. Also, the worker’s survivors can collect benefits if the worker dies.
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A general term used to refer to the programs mandated by the Social Security Act of 1935. With the amendments made to the act since then, it is now sometimes called Old Age, Survivors, Disability, and Health Insurance. Through social security, programs that provide assistance to certain segmentds of the public are administrated, such as Public Assistance.

Public Law 74-271, enacted on August 14, 1935, with subsequent amendments. The Social Security Act consists of 20 titles, four of which have been repealed. The health insurance (HI) and supplementary medical insurance (SMI) programs are authorized by Title XVIII of the Social Security Act.

Federal agency that administers Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) programs for disabled persons and determines initial entitlement to and eligibility for Medicare benefits.

Five major categories of benefits are (1) retirement, (2) disability, (3) dependent (family), (4) survivors, and (5) Medicare. The retirement, dependent (family), survivor, and disability programs provide monthly cash benefits and Medicare provides medical coverage.

Federal long-term disability income program that gives benefits to disabled workers who are younger than age 65 and paid Social Security tax for a specific number of quarter-year periods.

Nine-digit number assigned to each individual by the federal government for identification purposes; used as a tax identification number to maintain an accurate record of each person’s wages or self-employment earnings.