HFMA Healthcare Acronyms Glossary
A quick-reference guide to common abbreviations used in healthcare finance, revenue cycle, reimbursement, compliance and technology.
| Acronym | Meaning |
|---|---|
| AAPM | Advanced Alternative Payment Model |
| ACA | Affordable Care Act |
| ACCESS | Advancing Chronic Care with Effective, Scalable Solutions |
| ACO | Accountable Care Organization |
| ACO REACH | Accountable Care Organization Realizing Equity, Access, and Community Health |
| ADL | Activities of Daily Living |
| AHEAD | Achieving healthcare Efficiency through Accountable Design Model |
| AI | Artificial Intelligence |
| AMC | Academic Medical Center |
| API | Application Programming Interface |
| APM | Alternative Payment Model |
| AR | Accounts Receivable |
| ASC | Ambulatory Surgery Center |
| ASM | Ambulatory Specialty Model |
| ASPIRE | Acceleraing State Pediatric Innovation Readiness and Effectivness |
| BALANCE | Better Approaches to Lifestyle and Nutrition for Comprehensive hEalth |
| BMI | Body Mass Index |
| BPCI-A | Bundled Payments for Care Improvement Advanced |
| CAH | Critical Access Hospital |
| CAHPS | Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems |
| CBO | Community-Based Organization |
| CCD | Continuity of Care Document |
| C-CDA | Consolidated Clinical Document Architecture |
| CDC | Centers for Disease Control and Prevention |
| CDI | Clinical Documentation Improvement |
| CDM | Charge Description Master |
| CDS | Clinical Decision Support |
| CFO | Chief Financial Officer |
| CHC | Community Health Center |
| CHIP | Children’s Health Insurance Program |
| CJR | Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement |
| CJR-X | Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement Expanded |
| CKCC | Comprehensive Kidney Care Contracting |
| CMS | Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services |
| CNO | Chief Nursing Officer |
| COPD | Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease |
| CPT | Current Procedural Terminology |
| DC | Direct Contracting |
| DNR | Do Not Resuscitate |
| DRG | Diagnosis-Related Group |
| EBITDA | Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation & Amortization |
| ED | Emergency Department |
| EHR | Electronic Health Record |
| EMR | Electronic Medical Record |
| EOB | Explanation of Benefits |
| EOM | Enhancing Oncology Model |
| ePHI | Electronic Protected Health Information |
| ERA | Electronic Remittance Advice |
| ETC | End-Stage Renal Disease Treatment Choices Model |
| FDA | Food and Drug Administration |
| FFS | Fee-for-Service |
| FHIR | Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources |
| FQHC | Federally Qualified Health Center |
| GenAI | Generative Artificial Intelligence |
| GLOBE | Global Benchmark for Efficient Drug Pricing |
| GPDC | Global and Professional Direct Contracting |
| GUARD | Guarding US Medicare Against Rising Drug Costs |
| GUIDE | Guiding an Improved Dementia Experience |
| HAC | Hospital-Acquired Condition |
| HAI | Healthcare-Associated Infection |
| HCC | Hierarchical Condition Category |
| HCO | Healthcare Organization |
| HEDIS | Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set |
| HHS | U.S. Department of Health and Human Services |
| HIE | Health Information Exchange |
| HIM | Health Information Management |
| HIPAA | Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act |
| HL7 | Health Level Seven International |
| HOPD | Hospital Outpatient Department |
| IBH | Innovation in Behavioral Health |
| ICD-10-CM | International Classification of Diseases, Clinical Modification |
| ICU | Intensive Care Unit |
| IDN | Integrated Delivery Network |
| IOTA | Increasing Organ Transplant Access |
| IPPS | Inpatient Prospective Payment System |
| KCC | Kidney Care Choices |
| KPI | Key Performance Indicator |
| LEAD | Long-term Enhanced ACO Design |
| LLM | Large Language Model |
| LOS | Length of Stay |
| MA | Medicare Advantage |
| MAC | Medicare Administrative Contractor |
| MACRA | Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act |
| MCP | Making Care Primary |
| Medicaid | Joint federal-state health insurance program |
| Medicare | Federal health insurance program |
| MEDPAC | Medicare Payment Advisory Commission |
| MFA | Multi-Factor Authentication |
| MIPS | Merit-based Incentive Payment System |
| MPH | Master of Public Health |
| MSSP | Medicare Shared Savings Program |
| NCCI | National Correct Coding Initiative |
| NDC | National Drug Code |
| NLP | Natural Language Processing |
| NPI | National Provider Identifier |
| NQF | National Quality Forum |
| OCM | Oncology Care Model |
| OCR | Office for Civil Rights |
| ONC | Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT |
| OPEX | Operating Expenses |
| OPPS | Outpatient Prospective Payment System |
| PBM | Pharmacy Benefit Manager |
| PCF | Primary Care First |
| PCP | Primary Care Provider |
| PHI | Protected Health Information |
| PRO | Patient-Reported Outcome |
| PROM | Patient-Reported Outcome Measure |
| PSI | Patient Safety Indicator |
| QHP | Qualified Health Plan |
| RCM | Revenue Cycle Management |
| REH | Rural Emergency Hospital |
| REMS | Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy |
| RHC | Rural Health Clinic |
| ROI | Return on Investment |
| RPA | Robotic Process Automation |
| RPM | Remote Patient Monitoring |
| RTLS | Real-Time Location System |
| RVU | Relative Value Unit |
| Rx | Prescription |
| SDOH | Social Drivers (or Determinants) of Health |
| SEP-1 | Severe Sepsis and Septic Shock Management Bundle |
| SNF | Skilled Nursing Facility |
| TCM | Transitional Care Management |
| TCO | Total Cost of Ownership |
| TEAM | Transforming Episode Accountability Model |
| TEFCA | Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement |
| UB-04 | Uniform Billing Form (Institutional Claim) |
| VA | Department of Veterans Affairs |
| VBC | Value-Based Care |
| VBID | Value-Based Insurance Design |
| VBP | Value-Based Payment |
| WISeR | Wasteful and Inappropriate Service Reduction |
| YTD | Year-to-Date |