Telemedicine Glossary: Key Telehealth Terms Explained
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- Acute Care Telemedicine
- Acute Care Telemedicine is a consultation in a hospital or other urgent care or emergency setting, including teleNeurology, telePsychiatry, teleICU. Usually via videoconference.
- Acute Stroke Ready Hospital (ASRH) Certification
- Acute Stroke Ready Hospital Certification is one of the four advanced levels of stroke certification for Joint Commission-accredited hospitals. ASRH is for hospitals or emergency centers with a dedicated stroke-focused program. See Stroke Certification.
- American Telemedicine Association
- American Telemedicine Association is a non-profit organization whose goal is to promote access to medical care for consumers and health professionals via telecommunications technology.
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- Boarding
- Psychiatric boarding is defined as psychiatric patients’ waiting in hallways or other emergency room areas for inpatient beds.
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- ClearHealth Quality Institute (CHQI)
- ClearHealth Quality Institute is an independent, third-party telemedicine accreditation program certified by ClearHealth Quality Institute covering Consumer to Provider (C2P), Provider to Consumer (P2C), and Provider to Provider (P2P) telemedicine services.
- Comprehensive Stroke Center (CSC)
- Comprehensive Stroke Center is one of the four advanced levels of stroke certification for Joint Commission-accredited hospitals. CSC is the most demanding certification and is designed for those hospitals that have specific abilities to receive and treat the most complex stroke cases. See Stroke Certification.
- Coordination of Care
- Coordination of care is defined as activities between two or more participants (including the patient) involved in a patient’s care to ensure the appropriate delivery of health care services. Requires exchange of information among participants responsible for different aspects of care.
- Credentialing
- Credentialing is verification of physician education, residency, board certification, work history, and other credentials. See Telemedicine Credentialing, Licensing and Privileging: A Primer.
- Credentialing By Proxy (CBP)
- Credentialing by proxy is a streamlined process for the credentialing of telemedicine based practitioners. CBP permits the hospital or facility offering telemedicine services to utilize the prime source verifications obtained and maintained by the telemedicine provider rather than duplicating that effort. In order to provide CBP, telemedicine providers must be accredited by the Joint Commission.
- Crisis Stabilization
- Crisis stabilization is direct mental health care to non-hospitalized individuals (of all ages) experiencing an acute crisis of a psychiatric nature that may jeopardize their current community living situation. May include medication changes, therapy, case management or hospitalization with a goal to transition a person in crisis back to normalcy.
- Critical Access Hospital
- Critical Access Hospital is a designation by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for rural hospitals with 25 or fewer acute care inpatient beds which is located more than 35 miles from another hospital (some exceptions), maintains an average length of stay of 96 hours or less for acute care patients, and provides 24/7 emergency care services.
- Critical Care
- Critical Care is the specialized care of patients whose conditions are life-threatening and who require comprehensive care and constant monitoring, usually in intensive care units. Also known as intensive care.
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- DICOM
- DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) is a standard for handling, storing, printing, and transmitting information in medical imaging. It includes a file format definition and a network communications protocol.
- Direct-to-Consumer Telemedicine
- Direct-to-Consumer Telemedicine is the ability for patients to connect to a physician or nurse via videoconference for minor, non-emergency care. Often offered through health plans as a benefit.
- Disaster Recovery
- Disaster Recovery is planning that allows an organization to maintain or quickly resume mission-critical functions following a disaster. See Delivering Telemedicine in a Blizzard or a Hurricane: A Disaster Preparation Strategy.
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- Electroencephalogram (EEG)
- Electroencephalogram is a diagnostic test that records electrical signals of the brain. This electrical activity is detected by electrodes, or sensors, placed on the patient’s scalp and transmitted to a polygraph that records the activity and produces graphs on moving paper using an ink writing pen or on a computer screen.
- Electronic Health Record (EHR)
- Electronic Health Record (EHR) is an electronic version of a patient’s medical history that is maintained by a provider over time, and may include all of the key administrative clinical data relevant to that person’s care under a particular provider, including demographics, progress notes, problems, medications, vital signs, past medical history, immunizations, laboratory data and radiology reports.
- Electronic Medical Record (EMR)
- An electronic medical record (EMR) is a digital version of the traditional paper-based medical record for an individual. The EMR represents a medical record within a single facility, such as a doctor’s office or a clinic.
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- HIPAA
- HIPAA is the acronym for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, a US law designed to provide privacy standards to protect patients’ medical records and other health information provided to health plans, doctors, hospitals and other health care providers.
- HITRUST
- The HITRUST Common Security Framework (CSF) was developed to address the multitude of security, privacy and regulatory challenges facing healthcare organizations. HITRUST CSF has become a widely adopted security and privacy framework across industries globally.
- Hemorrhagic Stroke
- Hemorrhagic Stroke is caused by a weakened vessel that ruptures and bleeds into the surrounding brain. The blood accumulates and compresses the surrounding brain tissue. The two types of hemorrhagic strokes are intracerebral (within the brain) hemorrhage or subarachnoid hemorrhage.
- Hospitalist
- Hospitalists are physicians whose primary professional focus is the general medical care of hospitalized patients. See Hospitalist Challenges Telemedicine Can Help Solve.
- Hub-and-spoke model
- Hub-and-spoke model is a healthcare delivery network model consisting of an anchor establishment (hub) which offers a full array of services, complemented by secondary establishments (spokes) which offer more limited services, routing patients needing more intensive services to the hub for treatment.
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- Intensive care
- Intensive care is specialized care of patients whose conditions are life-threatening and who require comprehensive care and constant monitoring, usually in intensive care units. Also known as critical care
- Interstate Medical Licensing Compact
- The Interstate Medical Licensure Compact (IMLC) is an agreement between 26 states 1 territory allowing licensed physicians to qualify to practice medicine across state lines within the Compact.
- Involuntary Commitment (IVC)
- Involuntary Commitment (IVC) is a legal process through which an individual who is deemed by a qualified agent to have symptoms of severe mental disorder is ordered by a court into treatment in a psychiatric hospital (inpatient) or in the community (outpatient).
- Involuntary Commitment (IVC) Reversal
- Involuntary Commitment (IVC) Reversal is the determination that a mental health patient who was previously involuntarily committed no longer meets the criteria for commitment, i.e., is no longer a threat to themselves or others.
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- Lean Six Sigma
- Lean Six Sigma is a structured problem-solving methodology that relies on a collaborative team effort to improve performance by standardizing processes, reducing defects and waste, and improving workflows. Done by using the DMAIC framework (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control). See Improve Telemedicine Workflows Using Lean Six Sigma.
- Licensure/Licensing
- Licensure/Licensing is the process of being licensed to practice medicine in a certain state. Each state has its own licensing board, and varying requirements for licensing. See Telemedicine Credentialing, Licensing and Privileging: A Primer.
- Load balancing
- Load balancing is using underutilized clinician time in one practice or facility to meet excess capacity at another practice or facility, often by using telemedicine.
- Locum tenens physician
- Locum tenens physician is one who works in the place of another physician when a hospital or practice is short-staffed
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- Medication Management Support
- Medication management support is outpatient treatment rendered by a qualified physician, or others whose scope of practice includes prescribing medication, is the initial evaluation of the patient’s need for psychotropic medications, the provision of a prescription, and, as-needed, ongoing medical monitoring/evaluation related to the patient’s use of the psychotropic medication.
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- Neurology
- Neurology is the specialized care of patients with disorders of the nervous system, which includes the brain, the spinal cord, and the nerves.
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- PACS
- PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication Systems) is a system based on the universal DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) standard, which uses a server to store and allow facile access to high-quality radiologic images, including conventional films, CT, MRI, PET scans and other medical images over a network.
- Post-acute Care
- Post-acute is care received after a stay in an acute care hospital, provided at another facility, on an outpatient basis, or in the home.
- Primary Stroke Center (PSC) Certification
- Primary Stroke Center (PSC) Certification is one of the four advanced levels of stroke certification for Joint Commission-accredited hospitals. PSC is designed for hospitals providing the critical elements to achieve long-term success in improving outcomes. See Stroke Certification.
- Privileging
- Privileging is the process of granting privileges to practice in a hospital, HMO, or other healthcare facility. See Telemedicine Credentialing, Licensing and Privileging: A Primer.
- Psychiatry
- Psychiatry is the specialized care of patients with mental illness. Psychiatrists are medical doctors (MDs) who graduate from medical school, have a year of medical internship, and have 3 years of residency in the assessment and treatment of mental health disorders.
- Pulmonology
- Pulmonology is a medical specialty that focuses on the respiratory system and is related to intensive or critical care.
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- RACER
- RACER is an acronym for Remote Acute Care Emergency Response protocol developed by Access TeleCare to assist acute care hospitals in emergency response efforts via telemedicine. See Hurricane Season Adds Urgency to Telemedicine Implementations.
- Readmission
- Readmission is an episode when a patient who had been discharged from a hospital is admitted again within a specified time interval. Readmission rates have increasingly been used as an outcome measure in health services research and as a quality benchmark for health systems.
- Rounding
- Rounding is the act of clinicians collaborating to assess and treat patients in the hospital or another in-patient setting.
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- Short-Term Acute Care Hospital
- Short-Term Acute Care Hospital is where patients receive active but short-term treatment for a severe injury or episode of illness, an urgent medical condition, or during recovery from surgery. Short-term acute care hospitals are by far the most numerous hospital type in the United States, making up just under 50 percent of all U.S. hospitals.
- Stroke
- Stroke is when when blood flow to an area of brain is cut off. When this happens, brain cells are deprived of oxygen and begin to die. When brain cells die during a stroke, abilities controlled by that area of the brain such as memory and muscle control are lost.
- Stroke Certification
- Stroke Certification is a program that The Joint Commission offers with four advanced levels of certification. The program requirements were developed in collaboration with the American Heart Association (AHA) and American Stroke Association (ASA).
- Supply and demand
- Supply and demand is the balance between patients requiring care and the physicians and other health professionals available to treat them. Specialist shortages, aging population, increase in medical innovation all factor into the balance.
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- TeleBehavioralHealth
- TeleBehavioralHealth, also known as telePsychiatry, and teleMentalHealth, is virtual care for mental health and substance abuse patients.
- TeleCardiology
- TeleCardiology is the diagnosis and treatment of disorders of the heart by a remote clinician using technology like videoconferencing.
- TeleCritical Care
- TeleCritical Care delivers 24/7 coverage for patients with complex or high acuity conditions. Through telemedicine, critical care experts, or intensivists, can diagnose and treat patients remotely to support and stand in for on-site critical care when needed.
- TeleICU
- TeleICU is the delivery of critical care through telecommunications technology, usually videoconferencing. TeleICU allows critical care experts, or intensivists, to see patients remotely to supplement or replace in-person ICU care.
- TeleMentalHealth
- TeleMental Health, also known as telePsychiatry, and teleBehavioral Health, is virtual care for mental health and substance abuse patients.
- TeleNeurohospitalist
- A TeleNeurohospitalist is a physician who remotely manages inpatients with neurologic disorders.
- TeleNeurology
- TeleNeurology is the delivery of neurological assessment and care through telecommunications technology, usually videoconferencing. TeleNeurology allows neurological experts to see patients remotely to supplement or replace in-person neurological care.
- TelePsychiatry
- TelePsychiatry is the delivery of psychiatric assessment and care through telecommunications technology, usually videoconferencing. TelePsychiatry allows psychiatrists and other mental health providers to see patients remotely to supplement or replace in-person psychiatric care.
- TelePulmonology
- Pulmonology is a medical specialty that focuses on the respiratory system and is related to intensive or critical care. TelePulmonology is the delivery of a pulmonary assessment and care through telecommunications technology, usually videoconferencing. TelePulmonology allows pulmonary experts to see patients remotely to supplement local care teams or replace in-person pulmonary care.
- Telemedicine
- Telemedicine is the diagnosis and treatment of patients by a remote clinician using telecommunications technology like videoconferencing.
- Telemedicine Platform
- Telemedicine platform is the technology infrastructure that supports an organization to build, optimize and deploy a turnkey telemedicine program aligned with clinical, financial and operational goals. Best-in-class attributes include flexibility, modularity, and scalability.
- Telestroke
- Telestroke is the rapid virtual examination of a suspected stroke patient, over video, including review of imaging, and recommendation for or against administration of a clot-busting drug.
- The Joint Commission
- The Joint Commission is an independent, not-for-profit organization that accredits and certifies health care organizations, including hospitals, ambulatory and office-based surgery, behavioral health, home health care, laboratory and nursing care center services. The Joint Commission’s proprietary Gold Seal of Approval and may only be used by authorized accredited and certified organizations.
- Thrombectomy
- Thrombectomy is the interventional procedure of removing a blood clot (thrombus) from a blood vessel.
- Thrombectomy-Capable Stroke Center (TSC)
- Thrombectomy-Capable Stroke Center (TSC) is one of the four advanced levels of stroke certification for Joint Commission-accredited hospitals. TSC is designed for hospitals providing endovascular procedures and post-procedural care. See Stroke Certification.
- Time last known well (TLKW)
- Time last known well (TLKW) is the time prior to hospital arrival at which the patient was last known to be without the signs and symptoms of the current stroke or at his or her baseline state of health.
- Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA)
- Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA) begins just like an ischemic stroke; the difference is that in a TIA, the blockage is temporary and blood flow returns on its own. Since blood flow is interrupted only for a short time, the symptoms of a TIA don’t last long–usually less than hour.
- tPA
- TPA is Tissue Plasminogen Activator, a “clot dissolving” medicine. The use of tPA as an acronym is now discouraged, as there have been adverse events because of confusion between tPA and TNK.
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- URAC
- URAC is an accreditation body originally incorporated under the name Utilization Review Accreditation Commission. That name was shortened to the acronym URAC in 1996. The URAC Telehealth Accreditation seal is a mark of high-performing telehealth providers who believe in and practice excellence.
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- Value-based Care
- Value-based Care is a healthcare delivery model in which providers, including hospitals and physicians, are paid based on patient health outcomes versus traditional fee-for-service.
- Virtual hospital
- Virtual hospital is an acute care telemedicine organization that provides specialists care to physical facilities via videoconferencing and other technology.
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