An Acronym Alphabet Soup
Here are some of the items in the "acronym alphabet soup" that relates to my project.
(O)HIT – (Oregon) Health Information Technology; each state has one
ACOs – Accountable Care Organizations
ACOs – focus on Medicare initially (since federal government controls them)
AIM
AMA – American Medical Association; national group of member physicians
CCO – Coordinated Care Organization; new to Oregon, would focus on Medicaid initially, get Medicaid, state administers under OHP, would get money and a number of Oregonians to administer efficient and effective care to, through hospitals, dentists, etc.
CDC – Center for Disease Control and Prevention
CHIP
CHIPRA – national system of quality children’s healthcare
CME - Continuing Medical Education; required training for practicing doctors to ensure they stay up-to-date, usually an hour or class requirement
CMS
EHR - Electronic Health Record
EMR - Electronic Medical Record
EMTALA – The Act passed by Congress that requires emergency personnel to give patients at least minimum testing before sending them away, and ensures that everyone, no matter their insurance plan (or lack of) receives care
HIE – Health Information Exchange; has an audit trail, encrypted, can’t just be emailed
HIPAA – one of the major pieces of legislation that protects patient privacy
HITOC – Health Information Technology Oversight Council; created in Oregon in June 2009, which was coincidentally also when the HITEC Act was passed, which gave it more money than it would have had otherwise
ICD9 – the list of codes U.S. doctors have used for years to classify diseases, ailments, etc. For example, pneumonia would have a different code from chicken pox
ICD10 – the code system the rest of the world uses, and the U.S. is now switching to
IT – Information Technology
MCO – Manage Care Organization; current method for dispensing Medicaid, people are assigned to one, the organization contracts with physicians, and gets a certain amount of money per month per member
NHIN – coordination for states
OCHIN
OEBB – The group of educators in Oregon whose healthcare is paid for by the state
OHA - Oregon Health Authority; administers the Oregon Health Plan
O-HITEC – REC of HITECH, gives technical support for EHR adoption in small, rural hospitals and primary care offices (which have fewer than 10 physicians), division of OCHIN
OHN - Leading national organization, delivers broadband internet access to rural Oregon
OHP – Oregon Health Plan
OHPB - Oregon Health Policy Board; directs the OHA, made up of chairman, director, and various stakeholders (director of OHSU, New Season’s,
OMA - Oregon Medical Association; like the AMA for Oregon, organization physicians can join, provides benefits to members (liability insurance deals, classes, representatives advocate in Salem, etc.)
ONC
PDMP – prescribed drugs controlling or something
PEBB – The group of public employees, or retired employees, whose healthcare is paid for by the state
REC – Regional Extension Center
RFP
ROI – Return On Investment; what people hope will happen after the switch to electronic health records
IMPORTANT LEGISLATION:
HITECH Act – part of federal economic stimulus bill in 2009, provided federal stimulus money for advances in health information technology (gave money to HITOC, for EHR incentive money, work with PCC)
OTHER IMPORTANT TERMS:
Medicaid
Medicare
Direct
Affordable Care Act
Defensive Medicine – doctors do more than necessary to prevent being sued for malpractice
This list is from http://www.oregon.gov/OHA/OHPR/HITOC/Documents/SandOpPlans201008/HIEStrategicPlanOR.pdf:
AMH: Addiction and Mental Health Division
CAH: critical access hospital
COEMR: Central Oregon EMR
COIPA: Central Oregon IPA
CVE: chartered value exchange
DCBS: Department of Consumer and Business Services
DHS: Department of Human Services
DMAP: Division of Medical Assistance Programs
DMICE: OHSU Department of Medical Informatics & Clinical Epidemiology
EHR: electronic health record
EMR: electronic medical record
EPM: electronic practice management system
FCHP: fully capitated health plan
FQHC: federally quali!ed health center
HIIAC: Health Information Infrastructure Advisory Committee
HIE: health information exchange
HIO: health information organization
HIT: health information technologies
HITOC: Health Information Technology Oversight Council
HRB: health record bank
HRBO: Health Record Bank of Oregon
IPA: independent practice association
MPI: master patient index
OAHHS: Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems
OHA: Oregon Health Authority
OHP: Oregon Health Plan
OHPB: Oregon Health Policy Board
OHPR: Office for Oregon Health Policy and Research
PHR: personal health record
QIO: quality improvement organization
RHC: rural health center
RHIO: regional health information organization
RLS: record locator service
Comments
A general comment
Rohisha: this is a great blog and a lot of fun to read. I must admit a little pride when you wrote about the constitutionality of "Obamacare." But in a larger way, your work here demonstrates what I have known about you for years: you have a voracious appetite for knowledge. Now the snow is starting to stick to the roof and I am excited to see where this research and learning takes youQ
Thanks, Patrick. It was
Thanks, Patrick. It was really nice to talk about the current issues in your class...it kind of stopped seeming like a "class," after awhile, because it was so relevant and interesting. Unfortunately classes aren't always like that, in high school. Hopefully it will take me to a location from which I can be useful...
Jeez. You could start a new dictionary of acronyms
Do you find that these become an obstacle to communication? I personally struggle with them but know that this stems from a cultural difference.... How did you manage to keep up with all these AND the actual discussions in which they were being used?!
Too many acronyms...but more importantly, too many groups!
Well, technically, the acronyms are shortened versions of more lengthy, unwieldy, names, which would be even greater obstacles. I have found that people generally know the acronyms for things and groups they deal with regularly, so they are as integrated into the language as the names other groups, in other areas, have. However, I have been in a few meetings in which people spend time explaining the acronyms to other people, or trying to remember them. This is, of course, inevitable, when you have so many.
I find it a little concerning that there are so many groups (which each have their own acronyms) in the first place. It seems like it's a lot more inefficient to have all of these little groups, with people who sometimes seem very focused on their own area, but don't have a lot of knowledge about the groups that, I think, they should be working closely with. People are starting to realize the same thing, and groups have been combining - for example, the state groups that are in charge of paying for the health insurance for different groups of Oregonians (teachers, public employees, the poor, who qualify for Medicaid, etc.) used to be each a separate entity, and buy health plans for their members (and not all the same health plans - someone told me one group was buying 36 different insurance plans, though I'm not sure if this was the four groups together), but recently, they have been combined, and put under the direction of the OHA, which is directed by the OHPB. I have the suspicion, based on another conversation I had, that these groups still act semi-autonomously, even as a part of the OHA, but it's a start.
Anyways, the most concerning thing about having all these acronyms, for me, is that it means that there are many groups focused on their little area of healthcare, when in fact, we really need someone with a very broad idea of what's going on, and how to maximize efficiency, and minimize costs, of the system. And this is only talking at the state level - adding in the federal hierarchies, and Medicare, and how federal and state programs interact, adds numerous levels of complexity and inefficiency.