Terms in Chapter 7: Outpatient Services and Primary Care
Ambulatory care
Outpatient services, including (1) care rendered to patients who come to physicians’ offices, outpatient departments of hospitals, and health centers to receive care; (2) outpatient services intended to serve the surrounding community (community medicine); and (3) certain services that are transported to the patient.
Community-oriented primary care
Health care that incorporates the elements of good primary care delivery and adds a population-based approach to identifying and addressing community health problems.
Complementary and alternative medicine
The broad domain of all health care resources other than those intrinsic to biomedicine.
Gatekeeping
The use of primary care physicians to coordinate health care services needed by an enrollee in a managed care plan.
Hospice
A cluster of special services for dying persons (those with a life expectancy of six months or less), which blends medical, spiritual, legal, financial, and family-support services. The venue can vary from a specialized facility to a nursing home to the patient’s own home.
Medical home
Patient-centered care based on the principles of the Chronic Care Model-that is, use of evidence-based guidelines, application of appropriate health information technology, and use of “best practices”-that seeks to consistently and reliably meet the needs of patients while being accountable for the quality and value of care provided.
Outpatient
Services provided while a patient is not lodged in the hospital or some other health care institution.
Palliative
Serving to relieve or alleviate, such as pharmacologic pain management and nausea relief.
Secondary care
Routine hospitalization, routine surgery, and specialized outpatient care, such as consultation with specialists and rehabilitation. Compared to primary care, these services