Part 441 Definitions

Net worth.

The right to and enjoyment of services or benefits flowing from an asset, usually evidenced by the possession of legal title or by a beneficial interest in the title.

The number of minutes oxygen has been administered to a patient. Consideration should be given to volume of oxygen used.

A corporation or other organization related to another by owning or being owned, by common management or by a long-term lease of its properties or other control device.

The total amount of cash, property and services contributed to a corporation by its stockholders and constituting a major balance sheet item. It may be reflected in a single account or divided between capital stock and additional paid-in capital accounts.

See medical staff classification.

A controlling company having subsidiaries. Without a trade or business of its own, a parent company may also be termed a holding company.

Medicare benefits are payable from two trust funds. Part A services, which, in general, are those rendered by institutions, are reimbursed from funds derived from payroll tax. Part B services, generally medical and surgical physicians services, and outpatient treatment and diagno…

The hospital's full established charges for services rendered to patients regardless of amounts actually paid to the hospital by or in behalf of patients.

A unit of measure denoting lodging facilities provided and services rendered to one inpatient between the census-taking hour on two successive days. The day of admission but not the day of discharge or death is counted as a patient day. If both admission and discharge or death oc…

A person or organization which pays the hospital for services rendered to patients. This can be the patient and/or third party, such as Medicare, Medicaid, Blue Cross or other private insurance plan.

(a) A record showing the wage or salary earned by employees for a certain period and the various deductions for withholding tax, health benefits, and so on. (b) Total wages and salaries accrued or payable for a given period.

(a) An analysis of the total amount of salaries and wages paid or accrued for a period, showing the component amounts to be charged to the various cost centers. (b) The entry by which the amount of salaries and wages paid or accrued for a period is charged in the required detail …

The records relating to the authorization, computation, distribution and payment of wages and salaries. They include payrolls, time slips, time-clock cards, withholding authorizations, cancelled payroll checks or receipts for wages paid, wage and salary authorizations and individ…

The number of years or other time periods an asset or asset group has remained in service at a given date.

A patient less than 14 years old.

A plan under which the hospital receives cash payments from third-party payors (usually Medicare) in constant amounts each period. The total of these payments received over a year is the estimated cost of providing services to patients covered by the plan.

A book inventory kept in continous agreement with stock on hand by means of a detailed record that may also serve as a subsidiary ledger where dollar amounts as well as physical quantities are maintained. Sections of the stockroom are inventoried at short intervals and the quanti…

Property or assets of a temporary and movable character as contrasted with real property.

An inventory determined by observation and evidenced by a listing of the actual count, weight or measure.

Total potential operating life, as of a machine, as contrasted with useful or economic life, which may be much less because of the presence of obsolescence or inadequacy, or both.

A doctor of medicine or of osteopathy who is fully licensed to practice medicine.

The physician who has legal responsibility for the care of a patient in a hospital.

Physicians who have primary responsibility for teaching activities related to graduate physicians in training or medical/osteopathic/dental undergraduate students in an identified clinical service.

Physical properties used for institutional purposes: i.e., land, building, improvements, equipment, and so forth. The term does not include real estate or properties of restricted or unrestricted funds not used for health facility operations.

American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Resources restricted by donor and other third parties for the acquisition or construction of plant assets or the reduction of related debt.

Assets of two or more funds consolidated for investment purposes.

An infant born at any time through the 37th week of gestation (259 days).

A separate facility, approved by the State, used exclusively for the care of infants whose birth weight is 2,500 grams or less.

An expenditure, often recurrent, for future benefits; a type of deferred charge. Examples: prepaid operating expenses, prepaid rent, taxes, royalties, commissions; unexpired insurance premiums; stationery and office supplies. Such items are classifiable as current assets and cons…

To pay for a service before its receipt or enjoyment; such prepayment, as for insurance or rent, reflecting long-established commercial practices, contrasts with accrue (or the recognition of the receipt or enjoyment of other types of services paid for after their receipt or enjo…

The price a buyer is willing to pay for one or a series of future benefits, the term generally being associated with a formal computation of the estimated worth in the future of such benefits from which a discount or compensation for waiting is deducted.

A correction of an error in earlier financial statements or an adjustment that results from realization of income tax benefits of pre-acquisition loss carry-forwards of purchased subsidiaries; all other items of profit or loss recognized in a fiscal year are required to be includ…

A unit of activity in an ancillary cost center. For example, a procedure in a radiology cost center may be a series of pictures which constitute an exam.

The professional services provided to patients by hospital-based physicians, as opposed to the education, research and administrative duties performed by the hospital-based physicians.

A unit for the care of alcohol and/or drug rehabilitation inpatients. The hospital must also employ specially trained personnel to staff this unit, and at least one psychiatrist must be on the medical staff.

Daily hospital or ambulatory service category of the patient.

An individual or institution which gives medical care. Institutional providers include a hospital, skilled nursing facility and intermediate care facility. Individual providers include individuals (physicians, dentists, etc.) who practice independently of institutional providers …

A program offering treatment including a planned program of recreational, social and vocational activities in a therapeutic environment under the direction of a psychiatrist or a physician with specialized knowledge in the field. Treatment services may be provided by a staff whic…

The care of psychiatric inpatients; the hospital must also employ specially trained personnel to staff this service, and at least one psychiatrist must be on the medical staff.

A program of inpatient care, similar to that described under psychiatric day care, and must include overnight stay in the facility.

The total number of films used, including cardiac angiography exposures, mammography and xerography. Consideration should be given to the size of film used.

Land and land improvements, including buildings and appurtenances.

The process of recasting a hospital's revenue and expense accounts into a new structure, e.g., moving from a responsibility to a functional arrangement. For purposes of this manual, the process of converting the hospital's accounts so as to comply with the prescribed reporting pr…

A book or document containing or evidencing some or all of the activities of a hospital or containing or supporting a transaction, entry or account. Examples: a book of account; subsidiary ledger; invoice; voucher; contract; correspondence; internal report; minute book.

A referred ambulatory patient is one who is treated and/or diagnosed in an ancillary service area of a hospital upon referral and who does not meet the definition criteria for an emergency outpatient or the clinical outpatient. A referral of an emergency or clinical outpatient to…