Glossary of Terms
American Medical Association (AMA)
Founded in 1847, the AMA is a national association that convenes state and specialty medical societies and other stakeholders. The AMA advocates at the federal and state levels on key health care issues impacting patients and physicians.
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
CMS is a federal agency within the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that administers the Medicare program and works in partnership with state governments to administer Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and health insurance portability standards. CMS is responsible for maintaining the codes used to classify medical services and procedures throughout the United States.
Chaplain Services Codes
The three chaplain services codes approved by CMS in October 2022 are: Q9001 assessment by chaplain services; Q9002 counseling, individual, by chaplain services; and Q9003 counseling, group, by chaplain services. These codes should be applied in all settings of care including virtual/telehealth visits or groups. These HCPCS Level II codes are designated by the letter “Q.” CMS assigns Q codes to procedures, services, and supplies on a temporary basis, often for new modalities of care not currently identified in other HCPCS codes. When a permanent code is assigned in the future, the Q code is deleted and cross-referenced.
Chargemaster
The hospital charge description master, or hospital chargemaster, is a list of all the services and items provided to patients in a hospital, along with their costs. The process for updating the chargemaster is not intended to ensure that it is a comprehensive document for tracking relative prices. Instead, hospitals focus on adding new services and calibrating highly competitive services rather than updating rates for older services.
Current Procedural Terminology (CPT)
CPT codes are maintained by the American Medical Association (AMA). These codes describe medical procedures and services provided by healthcare professionals, such as doctors and nurses.
Electronic Medical Record (EMR)
An Electronic Medical Record (EMR) is a digital version of a patient’s healthcare chart. It is a software program that allows healthcare practices to create, store, and receive these charts. EMRs are designed to store data accurately and to capture the state of a patient across time.
Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS)
HCPCS codes are a set of standardized codes used to describe medical procedures, services, and supplies that are provided to patients. The HCPCS code system is made up of two levels: Level I codes are the Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes, which are maintained by the American Medical Association (AMA). These codes describe medical procedures and services provided by healthcare professionals, such as doctors and nurses. Level II codes are the HCPCS codes proper, which are maintained by CMS. These codes describe medical supplies, equipment, and other services that are not covered by CPT codes.
ICD-10
ICD-10 is the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, a medical classification list developed, updated, and owned by the World Health Organization (WHO). It contains codes for diseases, signs and symptoms, abnormal findings, complaints, social circumstances, and external causes of injury or diseases. These codes are used by healthcare systems worldwide for the diagnosis of diseases.
Spiritual Assessment and Intervention Model (Spiritual AIM)
The model focuses on the initial assessment of a patient during a spiritual care encounter and provides concrete interventions based on that assessment. This unique, evidence-based, outcome-oriented, model has been under development since 2011 and has been continually refined since then. More information at https://spiritualaim.org/ .
7x7 Model for Spiritual Assessment
A format developed by George Fitchett and an interdisciplinary team in healthcare settings. This model outlines seven dimensions of holistic assessment: psychological, family systems, medical, psychosocial, cultural, spiritual, and social issues (e.g. poverty). More information at www.uphs.upenn.edu/pastoral/cpe/fitchett_7x7model_article.pdf .