1Average Daily Census
The number of people ho stay overnight in a hospital bed on a typical day at a specific hospital.
2Academic Medical Centers
Hospitals and other types of providers that are affiliated with a medical school and play active roles in training new health care providers, especially physicians, and in clinical research in collaboration with a medical school.
3Access
An individual's ability to obtain medical services on a timely and financially acceptable basis. Factors determining ease of access also include availability of health care facilities, transportation to them, and reasonable hours of operation.
4Accountable Care Organization (ACOs)
An entity--usually a hospital or a physician group--that accepts responsibility for the medical care of a population of people. An insurer or government payer develops some form of financial incentives to motivate the ACO to ensure that health care cost patterns for the covered group are better than the patterns for comparable people not in the group. First initiated by the Medicare program, various versions of the ACO idea are being tried by a range of payers.
5Activities of Daily Living (ADLs)
Tasks required for a person's normal functioning.
6Acute Care
Medical care of a limited duration, provided in a hospital or outpatient setting, to treat an injury or short-term illness.
7Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions
Conditions for which patients are hospitalized that could have been handled on an outpatient basis.
8Appropriate Care
Care for which expected health exceed negative consequences.
9Assisted Living
Services provided to individuals who need assistance with activities of daily living.
10Attending physicians
Doctors who have "privileges" to use a particular hospital for inpatient care of their patients.
11Avoidable Mortality
A count of unnecessary deaths from diseases for which effective public health and medical interventions are available.
12Accreditation
A decision made by a recognized organization that an institution substantially meets appropriate standards.