The CHIP team is providing the list of acronyms and terminology that is commonly referenced and invoked by the medical industry. Additional entries will be made as they enter the medical lexicon.
A-Z GLOSSARY OF TERMS AND ACRONYMS
AHCA – American Health Care Association
Financial Engineering – As it relates to senior care corporations, the practice of creating a complex structure of business entities, in some cases shell companies, to obfuscate capital flows.
Financialization – As related to the Medical-Industrial Complex (MIC), implies the primary focus of every verticality in this sector is to leverage and increase the flow of funds for the benefit of industry businesses.
Home Office Allocations – Uncontrolled and unaudited internally assessed charges and fees added to facility operating expenses.
KDADS – Kansas Department of Aging and Disability Services
MA Medicare – (MA) Medicare Advantage references the choice by seniors to receive their healthcare insurance through a for-profit medical insurance carrier such as Aetna and United Healthcare.
Medical-Industrial Complex – The commonly accepted definition of an industrial complex is socioeconomic concept wherein businesses become entwined with social and political systems or institutions to bolster a profit economy from those systems. Such a complex pursues its own interests at the expense of society and individuals. This is an appropriate description of the entire health services ecosystem in America today.
Ombudsman – while the definition of this term states that this role is one of advocacy for the general public and individuals in the case of conflicts with institutional organizations and other concentrated power centers, it is commonly reported by individuals who seek assistance through ombudsmen that the outcome of the investigation and related arbitration more frequently favors the institutions accused of misconduct, or worse.
PBM – Pharmacy Benefit Management, an organization that is essentially a middle man business wedged between the pharmaceutical manufacturer, the insurance company that covers part of the prescription cost, and the retail outlet that fills prescriptions. A Wikipedia contributor defines the PBM business model as hired by medical insurance organizations to negotiate prices with pharmaceutical companies. PBMs charge fees for this service, and also make profits in the margins between prices they negotiate with pharma companies and what they charge insurance companies. They are not required to be transparent and typically have signed agreements with pharma companies preventing them from disclosing the pricing they provide to a PBM. (See Rent Seeking below)
REIT – Real Estate Investment Trust, a financial enterprise organized as a trust company for the purpose of pooling investor funds and deploying those funds to purchase income producing properties of all classifications.
Related Parties – An amalgamation of LLC and other legal business structures that are collectively linked under an overarching entity.
Rent Seeking – an economic concept that occurs when an entity seeks to gain added wealth without any reciprocal contribution of productivity.
Stock Buybacks – The practice of corporations purchasing their own publicly traded shares to increase the per share valuation by reducing the number of shares outstanding.
Tax Arbitrage – The practice of profiting from differences that arise from the ways various types of income, capital gains, and transactions are taxed.
TM Medicare – (TM) Medicare refers to Traditional Medicare which is a direct relationship by a senior with government provided healthcare services. There is no association with private insurance carriers such as “advantage” plans, and often the insured will find it necessary and advantageous to add suplimental coverage.
Glossary
The CHIP team is providing the list of acronyms and terminology that is commonly referenced and invoked by the medical industry. Additional entries will be made as they enter the medical lexicon.
A-Z GLOSSARY OF TERMS AND ACRONYMS
AHCA – American Health Care Association
Financial Engineering – As it relates to senior care corporations, the practice of creating a complex structure of business entities, in some cases shell companies, to obfuscate capital flows.
Financialization – As related to the Medical-Industrial Complex (MIC), implies the primary focus of every verticality in this sector is to leverage and increase the flow of funds for the benefit of industry businesses.
Home Office Allocations – Uncontrolled and unaudited internally assessed charges and fees added to facility operating expenses.
KDADS – Kansas Department of Aging and Disability Services
MA Medicare – (MA) Medicare Advantage references the choice by seniors to receive their healthcare insurance through a for-profit medical insurance carrier such as Aetna and United Healthcare.
Medical-Industrial Complex – The commonly accepted definition of an industrial complex is socioeconomic concept wherein businesses become entwined with social and political systems or institutions to bolster a profit economy from those systems. Such a complex pursues its own interests at the expense of society and individuals. This is an appropriate description of the entire health services ecosystem in America today.
Ombudsman – while the definition of this term states that this role is one of advocacy for the general public and individuals in the case of conflicts with institutional organizations and other concentrated power centers, it is commonly reported by individuals who seek assistance through ombudsmen that the outcome of the investigation and related arbitration more frequently favors the institutions accused of misconduct, or worse.
PBM – Pharmacy Benefit Management, an organization that is essentially a middle man business wedged between the pharmaceutical manufacturer, the insurance company that covers part of the prescription cost, and the retail outlet that fills prescriptions. A Wikipedia contributor defines the PBM business model as hired by medical insurance organizations to negotiate prices with pharmaceutical companies. PBMs charge fees for this service, and also make profits in the margins between prices they negotiate with pharma companies and what they charge insurance companies. They are not required to be transparent and typically have signed agreements with pharma companies preventing them from disclosing the pricing they provide to a PBM. (See Rent Seeking below)
REIT – Real Estate Investment Trust, a financial enterprise organized as a trust company for the purpose of pooling investor funds and deploying those funds to purchase income producing properties of all classifications.
Related Parties – An amalgamation of LLC and other legal business structures that are collectively linked under an overarching entity.
Rent Seeking – an economic concept that occurs when an entity seeks to gain added wealth without any reciprocal contribution of productivity.
Stock Buybacks – The practice of corporations purchasing their own publicly traded shares to increase the per share valuation by reducing the number of shares outstanding.
Tax Arbitrage – The practice of profiting from differences that arise from the ways various types of income, capital gains, and transactions are taxed.
TM Medicare – (TM) Medicare refers to Traditional Medicare which is a direct relationship by a senior with government provided healthcare services. There is no association with private insurance carriers such as “advantage” plans, and often the insured will find it necessary and advantageous to add suplimental coverage.