Care Delivery Glossary · Health Tech

340B: the federal program requiring manufacturers to sell covered outpatient drugs to qualifying hospitals and clinics at or below a ceiling price, with bans on duplicate Medicaid discounts and diversion (Hospitals & Health Systems).
Accession number: the performing lab's or imaging center's own number for an order once it receives the specimen or performs the study (Labs, Imaging & Diagnostics).
ADT (admit, discharge, transfer): the stream of registration and patient movement events a hospital's departmental systems subscribe to, usually HL7 v2 (Hospitals & Health Systems).
Asynchronous care (store and forward): a questionnaire, photo or message reviewed by a clinician later rather than in a live visit (Telehealth).
Audio-only telehealth: a phone call accepted as a visit under a payer's telehealth rules (Telehealth).
CCM (chronic care management): monthly Medicare-paid care coordination between visits, billed by staff or practitioner time against a consented care plan (Referrals & Care Coordination).
CDS (clinical decision support): software that gives a clinician a recommendation, alert or score; excluded from the device definition only when it meets section 520(o)(1)(E)'s criteria (Digital Health Apps & Devices).
CLIA (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments): the federal certification every lab testing human specimens needs, from a certificate of waiver to accreditation, with rules on report contents and critical values (Labs, Imaging & Diagnostics).
Closed-loop referral: a referral tracked from order through scheduling and visit until the consult report comes back to the sender (Referrals & Care Coordination).
Compendium: a lab's catalog of orderable tests with codes, specimen requirements and ask-at-order-entry questions, versioned per lab (Labs, Imaging & Diagnostics).
Compounding (503A, 503B): a pharmacy (503A) or registered outsourcing facility (503B) preparing a drug rather than dispensing a manufactured product (E-Prescribing & Pharmacy).
Critical value: a result indicating an imminently life-threatening condition, which the lab must report immediately and the practice must route to a clinician who acts (Labs, Imaging & Diagnostics).
Digital therapeutic: software that is itself the treatment, often an FDA-authorized prescription device (Digital Health Apps & Devices).
Direct secure messaging: certificate-secured email for health care between Direct addresses through accredited HISPs (Referrals & Care Coordination).
DTC telehealth (direct to consumer): cash-pay, usually subscription treatment sold online, with physician-owned medical groups and often the company's own pharmacy (Telehealth).
E-visit: a patient-initiated portal exchange billed as online evaluation and management by cumulative time over 7 days (99421 to 99423) (Patient Portals & Patient Access Apps).
EMTALA (Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act): the law requiring hospital EDs to screen and stabilize anyone who comes, regardless of ability to pay, without delaying for payment or insurance questions (Hospitals & Health Systems).
EPCS (electronic prescribing of controlled substances): DEA's rules for e-prescribing Schedules II to V: identity proofing, two-factor signing, two-person access control and audited applications; mandatory for Part D at 70% (E-Prescribing & Pharmacy).
General wellness product: a low-risk product for maintaining a healthy lifestyle that FDA doesn't regulate as a device, under its January 2026 guidance (Digital Health Apps & Devices).
HBNR (Health Breach Notification Rule): the FTC rule requiring health apps and personal health record vendors outside HIPAA to notify people of breaches, including unauthorized disclosures (Digital Health Apps & Devices).
Hospital at home: inpatient-level care delivered in the patient's home under Medicare's Acute Hospital Care at Home waiver, extended to September 30, 2030 (Hospitals & Health Systems).
IMLC (Interstate Medical Licensure Compact): an expedited pathway for physicians to separate full licenses in member states (Telehealth).
Information blocking (results release): under the Cures Act, delaying results or notes to patients without an exception, such as a blanket hold for clinician review (Labs, Imaging & Diagnostics).
NCPDP SCRIPT: the standard for prescription messages between prescribers and pharmacies; versions 2017071 and 2023011 coexist until January 1, 2028 (E-Prescribing & Pharmacy).
NCPDP Telecommunication Standard: the HIPAA standard for real-time pharmacy claims, version D.0 moving to F6 on August 14, 2027 (E-Prescribing & Pharmacy).
NLC (Nurse Licensure Compact): one multistate nursing license with the privilege to practice in member states (Telehealth).
Observation status: an outpatient stay in a hospital bed, paid under the outpatient system even overnight (Hospitals & Health Systems).
Patient Access API: the FHIR API CMS requires impacted payers to offer members for claims, clinical and, from 2027, prior authorization data (Patient Portals & Patient Access Apps).
PCCP (predetermined change control plan): FDA authorization in advance for planned changes to an AI-enabled device (Digital Health Apps & Devices).
PDMP (prescription drug monitoring program): a state database of controlled-substance dispensing that prescribers and pharmacists query (E-Prescribing & Pharmacy).
Placer and filler numbers: the ordering system's and the performing system's identifiers for the same order (Labs, Imaging & Diagnostics).
Price transparency file: a hospital's machine-readable file of gross, cash and negotiated charges in CMS's template, attested from 2026 (Hospitals & Health Systems).
Proxy access: one person using a portal for another, by their own login and a scoped grant (Patient Portals & Patient Access Apps).
PSYPACT: the compact giving psychologists authority for interjurisdictional telepsychology (APIT) and a temporary authorization to practice (TAP) (Telehealth).
RPM and RTM (remote physiologic and therapeutic monitoring): monthly Medicare services built from device data days and management time, not telehealth visits (Telehealth).
Ryan Haight Act: the 2008 law requiring an in-person evaluation before prescribing controlled substances over the internet, waived by DEA's telemedicine flexibilities through December 31, 2026 (E-Prescribing & Pharmacy).
SaMD (software as a medical device): software intended to diagnose, treat, mitigate or prevent disease, regulated by FDA as a device (Digital Health Apps & Devices).
Surescripts: the national network carrying e-prescriptions, medication history and benefit checks between prescribers and pharmacies (E-Prescribing & Pharmacy).
TCM (transitional care management): post-discharge care paid once per transition, with a contact within 2 business days and a visit within 7 or 14 days (Referrals & Care Coordination).
Two-midnight rule: Medicare's benchmark that inpatient admission is generally appropriate when the physician expects care to cross two midnights (Hospitals & Health Systems).

340B: the federal program requiring manufacturers to sell covered outpatient drugs to qualifying hospitals and clinics at or below a ceiling price, with bans on duplicate Medicaid discounts and diversion (Hospitals & Health Systems).
Accession number: the performing lab's or imaging center's own number for an order once it receives the specimen or performs the study (Labs, Imaging & Diagnostics).
ADT (admit, discharge, transfer): the stream of registration and patient movement events a hospital's departmental systems subscribe to, usually HL7 v2 (Hospitals & Health Systems).
Asynchronous care (store and forward): a questionnaire, photo or message reviewed by a clinician later rather than in a live visit (Telehealth).
Audio-only telehealth: a phone call accepted as a visit under a payer's telehealth rules (Telehealth).
CCM (chronic care management): monthly Medicare-paid care coordination between visits, billed by staff or practitioner time against a consented care plan (Referrals & Care Coordination).
CDS (clinical decision support): software that gives a clinician a recommendation, alert or score; excluded from the device definition only when it meets section 520(o)(1)(E)'s criteria (Digital Health Apps & Devices).
CLIA (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments): the federal certification every lab testing human specimens needs, from a certificate of waiver to accreditation, with rules on report contents and critical values (Labs, Imaging & Diagnostics).
Closed-loop referral: a referral tracked from order through scheduling and visit until the consult report comes back to the sender (Referrals & Care Coordination).
Compendium: a lab's catalog of orderable tests with codes, specimen requirements and ask-at-order-entry questions, versioned per lab (Labs, Imaging & Diagnostics).
Compounding (503A, 503B): a pharmacy (503A) or registered outsourcing facility (503B) preparing a drug rather than dispensing a manufactured product (E-Prescribing & Pharmacy).
Critical value: a result indicating an imminently life-threatening condition, which the lab must report immediately and the practice must route to a clinician who acts (Labs, Imaging & Diagnostics).
Digital therapeutic: software that is itself the treatment, often an FDA-authorized prescription device (Digital Health Apps & Devices).
Direct secure messaging: certificate-secured email for health care between Direct addresses through accredited HISPs (Referrals & Care Coordination).
DTC telehealth (direct to consumer): cash-pay, usually subscription treatment sold online, with physician-owned medical groups and often the company's own pharmacy (Telehealth).
E-visit: a patient-initiated portal exchange billed as online evaluation and management by cumulative time over 7 days (99421 to 99423) (Patient Portals & Patient Access Apps).
EMTALA (Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act): the law requiring hospital EDs to screen and stabilize anyone who comes, regardless of ability to pay, without delaying for payment or insurance questions (Hospitals & Health Systems).
EPCS (electronic prescribing of controlled substances): DEA's rules for e-prescribing Schedules II to V: identity proofing, two-factor signing, two-person access control and audited applications; mandatory for Part D at 70% (E-Prescribing & Pharmacy).
General wellness product: a low-risk product for maintaining a healthy lifestyle that FDA doesn't regulate as a device, under its January 2026 guidance (Digital Health Apps & Devices).
HBNR (Health Breach Notification Rule): the FTC rule requiring health apps and personal health record vendors outside HIPAA to notify people of breaches, including unauthorized disclosures (Digital Health Apps & Devices).
Hospital at home: inpatient-level care delivered in the patient's home under Medicare's Acute Hospital Care at Home waiver, extended to September 30, 2030 (Hospitals & Health Systems).
IMLC (Interstate Medical Licensure Compact): an expedited pathway for physicians to separate full licenses in member states (Telehealth).
Information blocking (results release): under the Cures Act, delaying results or notes to patients without an exception, such as a blanket hold for clinician review (Labs, Imaging & Diagnostics).
NCPDP SCRIPT: the standard for prescription messages between prescribers and pharmacies; versions 2017071 and 2023011 coexist until January 1, 2028 (E-Prescribing & Pharmacy).
NCPDP Telecommunication Standard: the HIPAA standard for real-time pharmacy claims, version D.0 moving to F6 on August 14, 2027 (E-Prescribing & Pharmacy).
NLC (Nurse Licensure Compact): one multistate nursing license with the privilege to practice in member states (Telehealth).
Observation status: an outpatient stay in a hospital bed, paid under the outpatient system even overnight (Hospitals & Health Systems).
Patient Access API: the FHIR API CMS requires impacted payers to offer members for claims, clinical and, from 2027, prior authorization data (Patient Portals & Patient Access Apps).
PCCP (predetermined change control plan): FDA authorization in advance for planned changes to an AI-enabled device (Digital Health Apps & Devices).
PDMP (prescription drug monitoring program): a state database of controlled-substance dispensing that prescribers and pharmacists query (E-Prescribing & Pharmacy).
Placer and filler numbers: the ordering system's and the performing system's identifiers for the same order (Labs, Imaging & Diagnostics).
Price transparency file: a hospital's machine-readable file of gross, cash and negotiated charges in CMS's template, attested from 2026 (Hospitals & Health Systems).
Proxy access: one person using a portal for another, by their own login and a scoped grant (Patient Portals & Patient Access Apps).
PSYPACT: the compact giving psychologists authority for interjurisdictional telepsychology (APIT) and a temporary authorization to practice (TAP) (Telehealth).
RPM and RTM (remote physiologic and therapeutic monitoring): monthly Medicare services built from device data days and management time, not telehealth visits (Telehealth).
Ryan Haight Act: the 2008 law requiring an in-person evaluation before prescribing controlled substances over the internet, waived by DEA's telemedicine flexibilities through December 31, 2026 (E-Prescribing & Pharmacy).
SaMD (software as a medical device): software intended to diagnose, treat, mitigate or prevent disease, regulated by FDA as a device (Digital Health Apps & Devices).
Surescripts: the national network carrying e-prescriptions, medication history and benefit checks between prescribers and pharmacies (E-Prescribing & Pharmacy).
TCM (transitional care management): post-discharge care paid once per transition, with a contact within 2 business days and a visit within 7 or 14 days (Referrals & Care Coordination).
Two-midnight rule: Medicare's benchmark that inpatient admission is generally appropriate when the physician expects care to cross two midnights (Hospitals & Health Systems).