Part 441 Definitions

A handbook of accounting policies, principles and concepts, including a chart of accounts with definitions and standard units of measure, which establishes a foundation for uniform reporting for health services institutions.

The period of time for which an operating statement is prepared. This period shall consist of the 12 consecutive calendar months or 13 four-week periods that begin on the first day of a month with an additional day (two in a leap year) added to the last period to make it coincide…

The body of doctrine associated with accounting, serving as an explanation of current practices and as a guide in the selection of conventions and procedures.

An outpatient who is referred by his private physician to the institution for diagnosis or treatment on a ambulatory basis. The responsibility for medical care remains with the referring physician.

An amount paid back or a credit allowed on account of an overcollection; rebate.

The process of formally entering a patient's name on the institution's records for service in a routine outpatient care service area.

Index number assigned to various procedures based upon the relative amount of labor, supplies and capital needed to perform the procedure. The unit value represents the cost of performing a service relative to some other service which is used as a base, i.e., has a unit value of …

Compensation for value of service rendered or expense incurred.

Health services rendered to persons who are not confined overnight in a health care institution. Ambulatory care services are often referred to as outpatient services.

(a) The restoration of a capital asset to its full productive capacity, or a contribution thereto, after damage, accident or prolonged use, without increase in its previously estimated service life or productive capacity. (b) The charge to operations representing the cost of such…

The substitution of one fixed asset for another, particularly of a new asset for an old, or of a new part for an old part. On the books of account, the recognition of the cost of the new asset requires the elimination of the cost of the asset it replaces.

(a) The cost of an acquired asset or asset part, capitalizable if the cost of its retired counterpart is removed from the asset account. (b) The cost at current prices, in a particular locality or market area, of replacing an item or property or a group of assets.

A segregation of retained earnings evidenced by the creation of a subordinate account. The segregation may be temporary or permanent, the purpose being to indicate to stockholders and creditors that a portion of retained earnings is recognized as unavailable for dividends. Exampl…

A graduate of a medical/osteopathic/dental school serving an advanced period of graduate training. This may represent the first year of graduate training or any year thereafter.

The obligation prudently to exercise assigned or imputed authority attaching to the assigned or imputed role of an individual or group participating in organizational activities or decisions.

An accounting system which accumulates and communicates historical and projected monetary and statistical data relating to revenues and controllable expenses, classified according to organizational units producing the revenues and responsible for incurring the expenses.

Funds restricted by donors or grantors for specific purposes. Restricted funds generally fall into three categories: plant replacement and expansion fund, specific purpose fund, and endowment fund. The accounts within each restricted fund are self-balancing, as each fund constitu…

Accumulated net income, less distributions to stockholders and transfers to paid-in capital accounts.

The removal of a fixed asset from service, following its sale or the end of its productive life, accompanied by the necessary adjustment of fixed asset and depreciation-reserve accounts.

Amounts received where delays in payments by an intermediary for covered services rendered to beneficiaries have caused financial difficulties for the hospital, or where a hospital has incurred a temporary delay in its bill processing beyond the provider's normal billing cycle.

The essential characteristic of ambulatory services is that the patients come to or are brought to a facility of the hospital for a purpose other than admission as an inpatient. Ambulatory services include emergency services, clinical services, ambulance services and home health …

Funds required by external sources to be used to meet debt service charges and the retirement of indebtedness on plant assets. The term sinking funds is sometimes used to describe these funds.

Sales of products, merchandise and services, and earnings from interest, dividends and wages.

An account for accumulating revenue consistent with the functional definition of the matching cost center.

Health facility activities providing direct services to patients (such as nursing, physical therapy and laboratory) and thereby generating revenue.

Regular; customary; ordinary, repetitive; everyday.

The price at which an asset of any kind can be sold less whatever cost is yet to be incurred.

A patient who pays either all or part of his hospital bill from his own funds as opposed to third-party funds.

The assumption by a hospital of a risk arising out of the ownership of property or from other cause.

The proportion of pooled investments, including accumulated gains or losses owned by a particular fund, usually expressed by a number (units) indicating the fractional ownership of total shares in the pool or by a percentage expressing the portion of the total pool owned by the p…

See retirement of indebtedness funds.

(a) The gradual extinguishment of any amount over a period of time: as, the retirement of a debt by serial payments to the creditor or into a sinking fund; the periodic writedown of an insurance premium or a bond premium. (b) A reduction of the book value of a fixed asset; a gene…

(a) Sold services refers to ancillary services a hospital sells to other providers of health care services, rather than directly to the other provider's patients. (b) It may also refer to other operating expenses, (i.e., laundry, data processing, etc.) which you sell to another o…

Funds restricted by the donor for a specific purpose or project. Board-designated assets do not constitute specific purpose funds.

Refers to the nature or source of material on which one or more laboratory tests may be carried out.

The standard unit of measure is used to provide a uniform statistic for measuring and comparing hospital costs and productivity output, not activity.

Compensation paid to an employee for being available to work.

The allocation of the accumulated costs of the nonrevenue producing centers to those other nonrevenue producing centers which utilize their services, as well as to the revenue producing centers to which they render service. Once the costs of a nonrevenue producing center have bee…

This method of allocating depreciation is a function of the passage of time and recognizes equal periodic charges over the useful life of the asset. The depreciation charge calculated by the straight-line method is not affected by asset productivity, efficiency, or degree of use.…

Services provided to patients who require a level of nursing care less than acute, including residential care.

A supporting ledger consisting of a group of accounts the total of which is in agreement with a control account.

A capital asset having physical existence.

Diagnostic or therapeutic services performed by specific facility departments as distinguished from general or routine patient care such as room and board. Ancillary servicesgenerally are those special services for which charges are customarily made in addition to routine charges…

A medical internship or residency training approved by the Council of Medical Education of the American Medical Association or, in the case of an osteopathic hospital, approved by the Committee on Hospitals of the Bureau of Professional Education of the American Osteopathic Assoc…

To be a nonapproved teaching program means that, a medical internship or residency training program is not approved by the Council of Medical Education of the American Medical Association or, in the case of an osteopathic hospital, is not approved by the Committee on Hospitals of…

Donated funds which by the terms of the agreement become available either for any legitimate purpose designated by the board or for a specific purpose designated by the donor upon the happening of an event or upon the passage of a stated period of time.

Refers to each determination for which a specimen is analyzed. For example, a specimen for the SMA-12/60 is a single-patient serum on which 12 different tests are performed.