③ Free E-Dictionary of Health Information Technology and Security

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INTRODUCTION

There is a myth that all stakeholders in the healthcare space understand the meaning of basic information technology jargon. In truth, the vernacular of contemporary medical information systems is unique, and often misused or misunderstood.

Moreover, an emerging national Heath Information Technology (HIT) architecture; in the guise of terms, definitions, acronyms, abbreviations and standards; often puts the non-expert medical, nursing, public policy administrator or para-professional in a position of maximum uncertainty and minimum productivity .

The Dictionary of Health Information Technology and Security will therefore help define, clarify and explain …

“e-Health is an emerging field in the intersection of medical informatics, public health and business, referring to health services and information delivered or enhanced through the Internet and related technologies. In a broader sense, the term characterizes not only a technical development, but also a state-of-mind, a way of thinking, an attitude, and a commitment for networked, global thinking, to improve health care worldwide by using information and communication technology.” 

Gunther Eysenbach – [Editor: Journal of Medical Internet Research, MD, MPH]

[NOTE: The Journal of Medical Internet Research is the first international scientific peer-reviewed journal on all aspects of research, information, and communication in the healthcare field using Internet and Intranet-related technologies].

Submit your terms, abbreviations and definitions, right now.

A-D TERMINOLOGY

-A-

A: Hyper Text Markup Language computer anchor or website or webpage location link

ABELINE®: Internet2 high performance computer network of Cisco Systems®, Nortel Networks® and Qwest Communications®; backbone of the information superhighway Internet 2 concept

ABELL, Rosemary: Board member and past president of the North Carolina Healthcare Information and Communications Alliance, Research Triangle Park, N.C., and Director of National Healthcare Vertical Solutions, Keane Inc., Raleigh, N.C.

ABEND: The sudden and abrupt end to a computer program or online session.

ABORT: To cancel a computer system or online session command; retry; fail.

ABS: Absolute value function for computer systems or online access

Absolute address: Fixed computer system memory location

ABSOLUTE LINK: A direct hyperlink to a specific file on a network server

ABSOLUTE URL: Website address that contains all computer system machine contact information: full address, directory and file

ABSTRACT: Abbreviation, definition, information synopsis or medical executive summary; hardcopy or electronic

ABSTRACT MESSAGE: An electronic health or other message, within a message; data files, applications errors, etc.

ABSTRACT SYNTAX: An electronic transmission description method of basic medical data or other information element types.

ABUSE: CPT errors to upgrade codes for additional medical reimbursement but without purposeful fraudulent intent.

ACCELERATOR: Any device that speeds up a computer system application, program or process.

ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY: Established computer networks and online guidelines for healthcare facility or medical data control and user protocol; access authorization

ACCESS: To allow computer, server or network use, manipulation, medical data or health information entry, or information and file inspection; communication between terminal and host; the ability or the means necessary to read, write, modify, or communicate or to otherwise make use of any computer system resource.

ACCESS 2003®: MSFT database management software application with error checking, automatic property updating, object dependencies viewing, export and import data functionality, with link to lists on Microsoft Windows® SharePoint® Services sites, etc: expanded ability to import, export, and work with Extensible Markup Language (XML) data files.

ACCESS AUTHORIZATION: Information-use, policies or procedures that establish the rules for granting and/or restricting access to a medical informatics or health systems user, terminal, transaction, program, or health process; acceptable use

ACCESS AUTHORIZATION RECORDS: Establishes a procedure to assure that access and authorization to medical records are maintained; records should include who has access, the level of access, at what locations, and at what times.

ACCESS CODE: A number, password or biometric identifier used to gain computer network entry.

ACCESS CONTROL (AC): Policy and procedures that allow or prevent computer, server or network access; to triage files for read, write and erase functionality; enable authorized use of a resource while preventing unauthorized use or use in an unauthorized manner; a method of restricting access to resources, allowing only privileged entities access; types of access control include, among others, mandatory access control, discretionary access control, time-of-day, classification, pretty-good protection, and subject-object separation; access code.

Access control enforcement (ACE):  Subject user validation for requesting access to a particular processes or computer network enforcing with a defined security policy that provides for enforcement mechanisms distributed throughout the health system; not only the correctness of the access control decision, but also the strength of the access control enforcement to determine the level of security obtained; checking identity and requested access against access control lists is a common access control enforcement mechanism; medical file encryption is an example of an access control enforcement mechanism; access control.

ACCESS CONTROL GRID (ACG): Spreadsheet, table, graph or visual of an enterprise-wide health information management system

Access Control List (ACL): A table that tells an OS which access rights each health user has in a particular information system, such as medical file directory, individual file or entry for each system user with access privileges like the ability to read, write or to execute a file (i.e., MSFT Windows NT/2000©, Novell’s NetWare©, Digital’s OpenVMS®, and Unix-based systems).
ACCESS CONTROL POLICY (ACP): Security rules and regulations for point-of-entry health data privacy and medical accountability; access control

ACCESS CONTROL SYSTEM (ACS):  Schematic of health information management system entry with restrictions and user rights; access control list

ACCESS ESTABLISHMENT: A policy that sets the rules for determining the right of a person to have access to health information for job performance; the security policies, and the rules established therein, that determine an entity’s initial right of medical data access to a terminal, transaction, program, or process; access control.

ACCESS LEVEL (AL): Authorization or security clearance level to use a computer, server or network

ACCESS LEVEL AUTHORIZATION (ALA): Establishes a procedure to determine the computer or network access level granted to individuals working on or near protected health information, medical data or secure health data.

ACCESS MEASURES (AM): Ability to commence computer, server or network use after security verification with passwords, identification numbers, fingerprint, voice, iris scan or other biometric recognition systems

ACCESS MODE: Method of computer, server or network entry, with health information and medical data security protection mechanism; read, write, protect, create, delete, etc.

Access modification: The security policies and the rules that determine the type and reason for change or alteration to a health entity’s established right of access to a terminal, transaction, program, or process.

ACCESS POINT (AP): Wireless LAN, MAN or WAN receiver/transmitter that connects wired devices and networks; bridge link.

ACCESS RIGHTS (AR): Permission to use a computer, server or network usually assigned by a healthcare department managing director, medical data or health information technology officer, CTO, CIO, CSO, or CKO.

ACCESS SECURITY: To allow computer or healthcare network entry using ID / password / secure socket layer (SSL) encryption / biometrics, etc; unique identification and password assignments are usually made to medical staff members for access to medical information on a need-to-know basis, and only upon written authority of the owner of the data; need-to-know is determined by the individual covered healthcare entity but generally can be categorized into the following areas:

• access by medical care providers to individual patient data, for use in patient care or specific hospital operations
• access for research, planning, and quality improvement processes within the hospital
• access by those employees in the health record department whose role includes record processing-maintenance
• use of PKI (Private/Public Key Infrastructure) for public and private sectors, as needed, along with SSL technology and bio-metric encryption
• individual IDs / passwords may not be shared with another user.
• passwords changed frequently, as designated by system design.
• users limited to one log-on at a time, as designated by individual platform design.
• multiple attempts to sign on with an improper access code result in a lock-out status of the individual until access privileges are restored by health information services.
• access of all users is monitored by identification/password assignments; warning notices displayed on each screen to inform staff of the confidential nature of the information and that their access is being monitored.
• maintenance of the access assignments completed with employee change in status (i.e., termination, change of position).
• employee’s information
• system employee choice of whether personal data will be accessible or restricted for view by medical staff only in the hospital system; the option of requesting restricted access on selected systems and not others will not be available.
• an employee’s access to his/her own patient information must follow the process as defined in the release of information policies and procedures.
• pre-employment data will be retained only in the local employee health database.
• sensitive information (psychiatry, substance abuse, VIP, protected patients) is defined in the release of information policies and procedures.

ACCESSION NUMBER: Cancer registry numerically-ordered medical chart file or health information registration

ACCIDENTAL THREAT: Unintentional computer system assault or damage, as from physical properties, user mistake or other non-malicious source.

ACCOUNT: Health information electronic record keeping system for private medical data; patient specific file.

ACCOUNT LOCKOUT: Security system feature that prevent account access following several aborted attempts after a predetermined period.

ACCOUNT NAME: The user identifier on an email account; i.e.; username -@- host name

ACCOUNTABILITY: The healthcare information technology security objective that generates the requirement for actions of a medical entity to be traced uniquely to that entity; supports non-repudiation, deterrence, fault isolation, intrusion detection and prevention, and after-action recovery and legal action; the property that ensures that the actions of an entity can be traced uniquely to that entity (ASTM E1762 – 95)

ACCOUNTABLE INFORMATION (AI): Keystroke, mirroring or health data manipulation that evidences computer, server or network entry or processing.

ACCOUNTING: Creating an historical record of who was authenticated, at what time, and how long they accessed a health or other computer system.

ACCREDITED STANDARDS COMMITTEE (ASC): Organization that helps develop American National Standards (ANS) for computer and health information technology; accredited by ANSI for the development of American National Standards; ASC X12N develops medical electronic business exchange controls like 835-Health Care Claim Payment/Advice and 837-Health Care Claim.

ACCURACY: Computer, server or network misinformation or miscoding percentages or error rates; current medical data and information free form error.

ACKERMAN, MICHAEL, J; PhD: High Performance Computing and Communications Director, National Library of Medicine, Washington, DC.

ACOUSTIC COUPLER: A modem device which changes a sequential train of pulses into sounds of a given frequency to be received by a traditional telephone.

ACTIVATION: To transfer Enterprise JavaBean® (EJB) information to more permanent storage or electronic memory.

ACTIVE DESKTOP: Windows© function which integrates Internet Explorer® (IE); automatically updates Internet web pages.

ACTIVE INTRUSION: Intentional and unauthorized computer or network entry; manipulation, cracking or hacking.

ACTIVE STAR TOPOLOGY NETWORK: Hub and spoke stellate computer network systems configuration that sends out signals, information, data, or other communications back to a centralized management station; repeatable network reciprocity

ACTIVE THREAT: Potential intentional and unauthorized computer, server or network entry; breach of security, manipulation or software hacking.

ACTIVE WINDOW: The currently highlighted or last window clicked on computer screen.

ACTIVE X©:  MSFT Windows© object control used to enhance user interaction with a software application; a way to cope with user account control security.

ACTIVITY: The action for the creations of a product or service; application or file, etc.

ACTIVITY DATE: Charge-master data element of the most recent healthcare activity r medical data input.

ACQUIRE: To obtain a health data, medical information or other file from a digital camera, video recorder or scanner

ACROBAT©: Software systems from Adobe Systems Inc® for creating and reading fixed portable document files (.pdf) functional on several different platforms.

ACTIVE DESKTOP: The ability to use an Internet site webpage as a computer screen itself, rather than merely a running a Microsoft program application.

ACTIVE WINDOW: The computer screen or window frame currently in use.

ACTVE X: The dynamic components and content included in the Common Object Model (COM) architecture from Microsoft©.

ACTIVE CONTENT: Java®, JavaScript®, Active X® or similar programs that are downloaded from a web browser and executed in a single step, rather than as fixed HTML tag web page content which offers a static environment.

ACTOR: The role one plays in a health information management system; title or position; or an application responsible for certain health information technology, medical or other electronic tasks.

ADA: Computer program language of the 1970’s that linked subprograms and compiled them separately prior to execution; Augusta Ada Byron.

ADAPTER: A simple circuit device that allows one computer system to work with another; i.e., I/O card.

ADD NOISE: Speckled texture to a digital image or GUI application; slang term

ADD ON: A hardware unit that can be added to a computer to increase its capabilities or a software application or utility program that enhances a primary program.

ADD/REMOVE UTILITY: Windows© or other similar utility program that demonstrates all computer installed programs; programs are best uninstalled from here.

ADDRESS: The unique identifier for a computer or the number of a storage or memory location; Internet Service Provider (ISP), file name or email identifier.

ADDRESS BOOK: A web-browser e-mail address recording feature.

ADDRESS CLASS: One of four TCP/IP computer network types (A-D); the first 3 are used for Internet Protocol addressing.

ADDRESS MUNG(ING): To alter an email address in the security attempt to prevent mass collection and spamming.

ADDRESS RESOLUTION: High level Internet Protocol address conversion to its low level physical address.

ADDRESS RESOLUTION PROTOCOL (ARP): A method for mapping an Internet Protocol address to a physical machine address that is recognized in its local network.

ADELMAN, LEONORD, PhD: Professor of Computer Science and Director of the Laboratory for Molecular Science at USC; IT data security expert.

AD-HOC APPROACH: Common computer connectivity strategy to support many applications, vendors, hardware and software and connections to disparate health information systems; a self-forming computer network; a query not determined when run against a health or other data base.

AD-HOC MODE: Peer-to-peer networking that does not have an access point when wireless; infrastructure mode; slang term.

ADMINISTRATIVE CODE SET (ACS): HIPAA code sets that indicate general medical business functions rather than specific health information; non-clinical or non-medical code sets.

ADMINISTRATIVE CONTROLS: Procedures and policies that dictate health information system access, use, modification and management of computerized resources.

ADMINISTRATIVE HEALTH CARE DATA: Non clinical, non-medical patient electronic data, files and information, usually about third party payer, contact information and reimbursement status.

ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION: Healthcare data used for purchasing, operations, financial, human resource, executive decision-making and other managerial and business purposes; non-clinical IT information.

ADMINISTRATIVE RECORD: Non clinical and medical file of healthcare business or related data.

Administrative safeguards: Managerial actions, policies and procedures to manage the selection, development, implementation, and maintenance of security measures to protect electronic protected health information or medical data, and to manage the conduct of a covered entity’s workforce in relation to the protection of that information.

ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES ONLY (ASO): The third party non-clinical administration of a health plan; occurs when a self-insured entity contracts with a Third Party Administrator (TPA) to administer a health plan.

ADMINISTRATIVE SIMPLIFICATION (AS): The use of electronic standard code sets for health information exchange; Title II, Subtitle F of HIPAA gives HHS the authority to mandate the use of standards for the electronic exchange of health care data; to specify what medical and administrative code sets should be used within those standards; to require the use of national identification systems for health care patients, providers, payers (or plans), and employers (or sponsors); and to specify the types of measures required to protect the security and privacy of personally identifiable health care and medical information.

Administrative Systems: Typical hospital information and computer technology systems which usually include the following functions:

• admission scheduling and facility access management
• accounts payable and receivable
• patient and payer billing, internal finance, budgeting and accounting
• patient demographic information for admission, and other data items
• staffing and staff scheduling
• pharmacy inventory
• patient census
• facility maintenance

ADMINISTRATIVE USER ACCESS LEVEL: Computer access security level for non-clinical healthcare information.

ADMITTED TERM: Accepted definition for synonyms terms from an accredited health lexicon or other lexicology body

ADOBE ACROBAT©: Popular Portable Document Format (PDF) exchange program from Adobe Systems®, Inc. which allows documents created on one computer platform to be displayed and printed without loss of rich text enhancing features.

ADOBE SYSTEMS®, INC.: A graphics and desktop publishing software company founded by Dr. John Warnock, in 1982 to pioneer desktop publishing with fonts and applications; Photoshop©; Illustrator©; PageMaker©, Premier©; and GoLive©, etc.

ADVANCED DIAGNOSTIC CARD (ADC): Card, file tape, disk, CD or software program used to run automatic computer facilities diagnostic and security test systems.

ADVANCED ENCRYPTION STANDARD (AES): An encryption security standard which replaced the 40-bit WEP keys using 128, 192, or 256 bit keys; successor to Data Encryption Standard (DES) of the US NIST

ADVANCED MICRO DEVICES (AMD): A manufacturer of digital CPUs in Sunnyvale, CA; Intel© competitor with the K-6 Pentium competitor, as well as Athlon™ and Duron™ CPU products; released the Turion™ and MT-37 chips for gamers in 2005, among others:

ADVANCED ORGANIZATIONS TECHNOLOGY: All the electronic medical data interchange systems that allow computes, networks, servers, patient information kiosks and automatic patient response and input information systems to be integrated as one unit.

Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA): Governed under the Department of Defense; agency involved with the use of telemedicine and its development, and continuing research; responsible for establishing the network, which later became known as the Internet

ADVANCED STREAMING FORMAT (ASF): Electronic communications file format for sound, video, graphics, and text transmissions; etc.

ADWARE: Internet programs that open pop-up windows while browsing or surfing the Internet; slang term.

Aetna’s Aexcel network©: Proprietary analytic software and a database system to evaluate medical and health providers’ relative costs compared to other doctors providing similar services.

AGASSI, ANTOINE: Chairman, Governor’s e-Health Advisory Council, Tennessee.

AGENT: A background computer utility program that reports results to the end user upon completion.

Aggregate: To gather, assemble or collect separate health information or other sets of medical data from two or more sources.

AGGREGATE DATA: The clinical and non-clinical information extracted form a patient record and anonymously combined with other records for analysis, statistical or other studies.

AGORA: MSFT Windows Live Marketplace© Internet application; code name.

AHLTA: The US military’s medical data and electronic health record (EHR) initiative

AIRPORT: A wireless short-distance connectivity docket or port for Apple Macintosh Computers®; conformed to 802.11 Wi-Fi standards in 1999 with access point and router.

AirPort Extreme®: Airport computer connectivity docket from Apple Inc, that was released in 2003 and increased speed with a 802.11g standard; its base stations included a USB port for attaching a printer; some units included an analog dial-up modem. AirPort Express®: Media Hub and Bridge introduced in 2004 by Apple Inc, to combine an AirPort Extreme® computer base station with a digital media hub; connected to a home stereo by analog or digital audio outputs, its “AirTunes” feature allowed Apple’s iTunes jukebox software to stream music wirelessly from a Mac or Windows PC to a home stereo; AirTunes supports protected AAC titles purchased form Apple’s music store.

AIRSNORT: A wireless computer hacking or network cracking utility tool; slang term.

AJAX: Asynchronous JavaScript® and XML; a development technique for creating interactive websites and applications; the intent is to make web pages feel more responsive by exchanging small amounts of data with the server behind the scenes, so that the entire web page does not have to be reloaded each time the user makes a change; meant to increase the web page’s interactivity, speed; etc., term coined and developed by Jesse James Garett in 2005; MSFT OfficeLive© and SharePoint© Groove or the Zimbra© suite.

Alarm: Any communication or computer systems device that can sense an abnormal condition within the system and provide, either locally or remotely, a signal indicating the presence of the abnormality; a signal may be in any desired form ranging from a simple contact closure (or opening) to a time-phased automatic shutdown and restart cycle.

ALERT: A hardware or software generated health information management system warning; an active alert calls for an immediate alarm and response/reaction.

ALGEBRAIC CRYPTOGRAPHY: Security measure to encode text and protect privacy of health information using a code of prearranged numbers and mathematic equations.

ALGORITHM: Incremental stepwise procedure or software code for repeating a computer function or operation; clinical or critical medical path method for diagnostic/treatment protocols; cook book medicine as for acute pulmonary edema.

ALIAS: An alternative name field or file link or application initiation; phony authentication or assumed name (Macintosh and UNIX).

ALIAS DOMAIN NAME (ADN): An email protocol, within another email protocol, for security or enterprise-wise identification purposes.

ALIAS POLICY: Health information management confidentiality policies and procedures required by patients or responsibility person.

ALL PROGRAMS MENU: Computer program storage placement area for Windows©.

A 64-bit CPU from DEC; now Hewlett-Packard; under development initial product ting

ALPHA TEST: The initial examination of newly developed computer hardware, software or peripheral devices; secondary stress or beta testing is more robust.

ALPHABET FILING SYSTEM: Health information management recording system by which a patient’s last name is used as the first component of an identifier, followed by first and middle names.

ALPHANUMERIC: Any combination of numbers, letters or other symbols used for computer security codes, passwords, etc; a medical records filing system that uses the first two letters of a patient’s last name followed by several numbers as an identifier.

ALTAIR: Micro Instruments and Telemetry Systems, and MSFT Basic© driven hobbyist microcomputer, of 1975; 8080 Intel® based CPU with BASIC code written by W. Gates and P. Allen; first home computer designed by engineer H. Edward Roberts, MD of Cochran, Georgia.

ALTA VISTA©: An Internet search engine from Digital Equipment Corporation®, now HP.

alternative backup sitesL Off-site locations that are used for transferring computer operations in the event of an emergency

ALWAYS ON: Continuous internet connection; potential hacker access and security flaw

AMAZON®: One of the first prominent and leading e-retail merchants; Seattle WA…

AMENDMENT: HIPAA data privacy rule allowing the alterations of information while retaining the original.

AMERICA ON LINE© (AOL): A large commercial online internet access service provider based in Dulles, VA; merged with Time-Warner in 2000.

American Dental Association (ADA): The professional organization for dentists that maintains a hardcopy dental claim form and the associated claim submission specifications, and also maintains the Current Dental Terminology (CDT) medical code set; the ADA and the Dental Content Committee (DeCC), which it hosts, have formal consultative roles under HIPAA.

AMERICAN HEALTH INFORMATION MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION (AHIMA): A large trade association of health information and medical data management professionals.

American Medical Association (AMA): A professional organization for allopathic physicians; the secretariat of the NUCC and maintains the Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) medical code set.

AMERICAN MEDICAL INFORMATICS ASSOCIATION (AMIA): An organization that promotes the use of electronic medical management and healthcare informatics for clinical and administrative endeavors.

AMERICAN MEGATRENDS, INC (AMI): An early and leading supplier of BIOS software for motherboards, Norcross, Georgia.

American National Standards (ANS): Policies and information technology regulations developed and approved by organizations accredited by ANSI.

American National Standards Institute (ANSI): An organization that accredits various standards-setting committees, and monitors their compliance with the open rule-making process that they must follow to qualify for ANSI accreditation; HIPAA prescribes standards mandated by ANSI accredited bodies; Part II, 45 CFR 160.103.

AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR TESTING AND MATERIALS (ASTM): Organization that develops health information standards and information for the medical profession (Health Committee E-31).

American Telemedicine Association (ATA): Established in 1993 as a leading resource and advocate promoting access to medical care for patients and health professionals via telecommunications technology; membership open to individuals, companies, and other organizations with an interest in promoting the deployment of telemedicine throughout the world.

AMIGA©: A now bankrupt maker of computer systems like the Commodore Business Machines© of the later 80’s and early 90’ using Motorola technology; still active in Europe.

AMMENDMENT: Medical data HIPAA privacy rule allowing the alterations of information while retaining the original.

AMOROSO, JOSEPH: Director (Client Chief Information Officer) for the First Consulting Group; health data administrator.

AMPERSAND: The “&” symbol for the word and

AMPLIFICATION: To increase broadband signal strength; the formal use of heuristic techniques, artificial intelligence or gut feelings; slang term.

AMPLIFIER: Electronic devices that strengthen a signal as it traverses a communications channel.

ANALOG: Continuously variable physical information quantities (wave forms and frequencies) in devices operating on such data; i.e., telephone or mercury thermometer, etc.

ANALOG COMPUTER: A computing machine that uses continuous physical processes for computations.

ANALOG DATA: Continuous information stream of health or other electronic data value.

ANALOG SIGNAL: Continuous data transmission stream of various frequencies and wavelengths, voice, light or laser signals; a wave shaped electrical symbol, which continuously changes with respect to size and shape depending on the information source;  non-digital.

ANALOG TO DIGITAL: Conversion of older analog signals to electronic digital format.

ANALYSIS SESSION: A medical or healthcare information data mining segment.

ANALYSIS TOOL: Computer, network or web based application which provides real-time information on system activity, modifications, attacks and failures.

ANALYTIC REPRESENTATION: Environmental simulations or mathematical models that require a decision.

ANCHOR: A marker for HTML webpage or website document positions

ANIMATED CURSOR: Mouse pointer for frames, rather than single images, producing an animation loop

ANNOYBOT: A malicious Internet Relay Chat (IRC) robot or obnoxious utility program; slang term

ANONYMIZED DATA: Originally identifiable heath data or medical information that has been rendered anonymous or un-identifiable

ANONYMOUS FTP: File transfer protocol that allowed cloaked access to public computer networks or the internet using passwords such as: “guest”, “unknown”, “password” or “anonymous”; anonymous e-mailer; anonymous re-mailer, anonymous post; etc.

ANSWER: Computer or network configured to return phone calls, emails, Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) calls or other electronic communications prompts.

ANTENNA: A Wi-Fi high-gain or radiation pattern radio signal receiver/transmitter for wireless computer networks; omni-directional, patch, directional, or PC card attachment, etc.

ANTI-ALIAS: To eliminate the stair-step appearance of curved and slanted computer screen lines by illuminating nearby pixels.

ANTI-TEARING: The prevention of health or other data loss when contact is interrupted during communications; i.e., abrupt smart card withdrawal.

ANTI-VIRUS, VIRUS PROGRAM (AVVP): Software that removes anti-virus programs; one of the first AVVPs was written by Vessilen Bontchev in 1989; Dark Avenger variant.

ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE: A software package or subscription service used to thwart malicious computer or network attacks, such as: Symantec®, McAfee®, Trend Micro®, Panda Software®, Sunbelt Software®, Computer Associates®, AVG® or MS-FF ®, etc

ANTI-WORM: A software patch, fix; glitch repairer; do-gooder virus; slang term

APACHE: Open free source archetypical engine of the Internet and incubator for related UNIX innovations through its software foundation; web HTTP server program launched in 1995 by the Apache Group®.

APP: Computer software application; slang term

APPLE COMPUTER, INC©; Maker of non-PC hardware, software OSX operating systems, PDAs and peripherals; leader of the data wireless revolution in music, photos, podcasts, iPod video, etc; based in Cupertino, CA and founded by Steve Jobs and Stephen Wozniak.

APPLE iPOD©: Portable digital music and video player; iPOD Shuffle©, Nano© and Hi-Fi.

APPLE iPOD© HIFI: Computer as a home entertainment hub with wireless connections for CDs DVDs, stereos, high end television sets and iPOD© series machines for easy access to music, photos, movies and various digital media forms from other computer systems.

APPLE: MACINTOSH: Streamlined computer from the Xerox-PARC developer of the: window, icon menu, pointing device (WIMP) interface

APPLET: A small software application like a work processor, limited function spreadsheet or utility program often written in the JAVA programming language.

APPLETALK©: Macintosh© computer network communication protocol.

APPLEWORKS®: Productivity suite from the former Claris Corporation®; applications for the iMac machine from Apple Computer Inc®

APPLIANCE: A dedicated, single-task, electronic device; appliance server, etc.

APPLICATION: A software program that performs a task, or subscription internet service that does same or directs the specific function of a computer; i.e., Google Writely© word processor and Spreadsheet or Microsoft Office©, etc

APPLICATION ARCHITECTURE: Common computer program for systems integration, reuse and deployment in light of changing healthcare regulatory, business, clinical and technology requirements.

APPLICATION DATA CRITICAL ANALYSIS: Formal assessment of health information, medical or other data systems security.

APPLICATION LAYER: Higher seventh layer for the Open Systems Connection (OSC) models which allow computer network access using remote files, file transfer protocols and directory services, etc.

APPLICTION LEVEL PROXY: A type of firewall security technology.

APPLICATION META DATA: Data dictionary of forms, applications, menus and health or medical information and/or other electronic reports.

APPLICATION PROGRAM: Language that links computer or network to end-user in order to perform an applied task; medical information systems.

application program interface (API): A set of routines, protocols and tools for building software applications provided by most operating environments like MS-Windows© so that programmers can write applications; although designed for programmers, APIs are good for health industry end users because they guarantee programs have a similar interface; email, telephony calling systems, JAVA, graphics, and DirectX® API.

APplication security: The use of software, hardware, and procedural methods to protect computer and medical programs and applications from external threats; security measures may be built into applications so that a sound program security routine minimizes the likelihood that hackers will be able to manipulate applications and access, steal, modify, or delete sensitive data; once an afterthought in software design, health data and other security is becoming an increasingly important concern during development as applications become more frequently accessible over networks and are, as a result, vulnerable to a wide variety of threats.

APPLICATION SERVER: A program or computer system that controls back-end functions, databases or browsers, etc.

APPLICATION SERVICE PROVIDER (ASP): An entity that allows healthcare or other clients to use applications held on an off-site third-party server, usually on a subscription or per-member, per-month basis; mid-way between on-site processing and outsourcing, this model allows the client to control the processing workflow while eliminating the need to purchase and maintain the application software; service aggregator that act as a customer relationship manager and single point of contact for health client interactions; software application delivery model; a vendor that hosts and supports a Web application that users access via a secure Internet connection.

Application Training (AT): The education of medical staff in the correct ways of applying health information technology and related equipment so that it can be used to its fullest (clinical) capacity, and providing them with experience in the application of taught procedures; for example when different features will be employed for different patients or uses, the range of assistance the machine can offer them, how to alter the relationship between the machine and the patient or sample for different purposes, different procedures to pursue for different disorders or uses, etc.

APPLICATION WINDOW: Computer screen window with a running application.

APPLIED (ARTIFICIAL) INTELLIGENCE (AI): The electronic exhibition and manipulation of the computer-like characteristics of human intelligence; thinking machine

APPLY: To active and saves changes from an options list in Windows© 98.

APPOINTMENT SYSTEM: A scheduling resource management process or application that integrates healthcare and medical components like physicians, facilities, times and their effective utilization; access management.

APTITUDE TEST: Psychometrics to determine general abilities and skill acquisition capabilities.

APTIVE FREQUENCY HOPPING (AFH): Technique that allows Wi-Fi and Bluetooth© wireless connectivity and co-operation.

AQUA: The Apple Macintosh OS X® GUI visual interface.

ARCHETYPE: The attributes or features declaration for a named computer system content type.

ARCHIE: A public domain file finding internet utility program; archive; archie-client; archie-server.

ARCHIEVING: A technique of transferring health information created during operations into a more permanent form; vary from manual backups, through periodic transfer to audio cassettes, to real-tune storage onto WORM (Write Once Read Many) disks; memory sticks or optical disks, etc.

ARCHITECTURE: Computer and health information systems configuration of hardware, software and networks, etc; a term applied to both the process and the outcome of thinking out and specifying the overall structure, logical components, and the logical interrelationships of a computer, its operating system and network; a framework for applications, networks and computer programs.

ARCHIVE: To store seldom used computer programs or systems applications offline or offsite; backup systems.

ARDEN SYNTAX: A medical and clinical decision support system configuration; encoded language.

ARITHEMETIC LOGIC UNIT (ALU): CPU that performs mathematic operations; math co-processor.

ARMOURED VIRUS: A self-protecting and difficult to disassemble, malicious computer code; Whale variant

ARP SPOOFING: Unauthorized wired computer network access and Internet routing table corruption in order to steal PHI or other sensitive data.

ARPANET: The distributed Advanced Research Projects Agency Network of the Department of Defense; Internet precursor.

ARRAY: A set of unique and sequentially sequenced health or other data elements.

ARTICLE: A post, text or paper on a BBS or internet users group

ARTIFACT: An unwanted computer signal or visual image.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI): The use of computer systems, algorithms and clinical decisions support systems to mimic human thought; medical diagnosis and treatment, etc.

ASC X12N: HIPAA transmission standards, specifications and implementation guides from the Washington Publishing Company; or the National Council of Prescription Drug Programs.

ASCII: American Standard Code for Information Interchange, or a generic language computer language for numbers and characters; file, characters; transfer, string; etc.

ASP.NET: Originally called ASP+, it is the next generation of Microsoft’s Active Server Page©, a feature of their Internet Information Server; Both ASP and ASP.NET allow a Web site builder to dynamically build Web pages by inserting queries to a relational database in the Web page. ASP.NET is different than its predecessor in two major ways: it supports code written in compiled languages such as Visual Basic, Perl and C++ and it features server controls that can separate the code from the content, allowing GUI editing of pages; Although ASP.NET is not backwards compatible with ASP, it is able to run side by side with ASP applications. ASP.NET files can be recognized by their .aspx extension.

ASSEMBLER: A software program that translates assembly computer language into machine computer language; source code reader; cache; listing; language, etc.

ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE: Hardware dependent and machine driven second generation computer instruction language of simple phrases.

ASSOCIATE: A computer priority command always initiated on boot-up.

ASSOCIATION FOR ELECTRONIC HEALTH CARE TRANSACTONS (AFEHCT): A professional society that promotes the use of electronic connectivity in the health care industrial complex.

ASSOCIATION RULE ANALYSIS: Useful if/then rule extraction from a medical database.

ASSUMPTION CODING: CPT code assignment without associated clinical signs and symptoms.

ASSURANCE: Grounds for confidence that the HIPAA healthcare information security objectives (integrity, availability, confidentiality, and accountability) have been adequately met by a specific implementation; “adequately met” includes: (1) functionality that performs correctly, (2) sufficient protection against unintentional errors (by users or software), and (3) sufficient resistance to intentional penetration or by-pass.

ASTERISK: An ultra-low cost PBX; the character symbol “*”.

ASYMETRIC (ASYNCHRONOUS) COMMUNICATION: Non-immediate or not instantaneous reply communications method like the telephones; such as email.

ASYMETRIC CRYPTOLOGY: The use of two different but mathematically related electronic keys for secure health data and medical information storage, transmission and manipulation.

ASYMMETRIC DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER LINE (ADSL): Technique used to increase bandwidth over standard land-linked copper telephone wires; a pair of modems connected by a copper line that yields asymmetrical transmission of data.

Asymmetric encryption: Encryption and decryption performed using two different keys, one of which is referred to as the public key and one of which is referred to as the private key; also known as public-key encryption.

Asymmetric key: One half of a key pair used in an asymmetric “public-key” encryption system with two important properties: (1) the key used for encryption is different from the one used for decryption, (2) neither key can feasibly be derived from the other.

ASYMMETRIC MULTIPROCESSING: Assigning separate micro processors for different tasks.

ASYNCHRONOUS: Occurring at different and varying times; flow of electronic information using start and stop bit parities, for beginning and end points.

ASYNCHRONOUS COMMUNICATION: Two way dual communications with time delay fracture; as with online Certified Medical Planner© “live” distance learning; there is a lapse in time from when a message is sent and when it is received.

Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM): Electronic delivery mode that usually supports the simultaneous transmission of data, voice and video streaming; two way high band with communications; method of data transmission where a start signal precedes individual characters and one or more stop signals follow it; because of this start/stop system, delays may occur between characters; denotes the complete system of protocols and equipment associated with cell based communications networks that have the ability to transmit voice, data, and video traffic simultaneously using a statistical multiplexing scheme; this switching is expected to bridge the gap between packet and circuit switching; uses packets referred to as cells that are designed to switch cells so rapidly that there is no perceptible delay.

AT SIGN (@): Used to separate a recipient name from the domain name in an internet email address.

ATHLON®: A popular Intel Pentium© like CPU made by the AMD Corporation® in 1999; AMD-K7 code name.

Atom: An XML-based file format that allows lists of information “feeds” to be synchronized between medical and other publishers, patients and consumers, composed of entries synchronizing Web content such as Web logs and news headlines to other Web sites and directly to patient consumers.

ATOMIC DATA: A basic or low detailed level of health information or medical data sets.

ATOMIC LEVEL DATA: Health data or medical information captured at the point of clinical contact; all or none transaction.

ATOMICITY: Computer or network actions that must either be completed or aborted; go or no-go; usually for security purposes.

ATTACHMENT: Files, programs, spreadsheets, data, or images, etc., include and sent along with an email message.

ATTACK: Aggressive and usually unwanted attempts to enter a secured computer system without authorization; usually for malicious mischief.

attack tree: An inverted tree diagram that provides a visual image of the attacks

that may occur against an asset.

ATTACK VECTOR: Viruses that attack a computer from a wired or wireless network; the source or transmission of infection.

ATTEMPTED SECURITY VIOLATION: Unsuccessful attack to gain unauthorized access to a computer, server or network.

ATTENDING PHYSICIAN IDENTIFICATION: A unique national identification number assigned to medical providers.

ATTENUATE: Signal weakness degradation over time and distance, usually regenerated with hubs for base-band, and amplifiers for broad-band.

Attribute: A computer system file access classification which permits it be retrieved or erased; usual attributes are read/write, read only, archive and hidden, etc; software or code information that describes a specific characteristic, like a health directory or patient file; a health data abstraction.

ATTRIBUTE TYPE: Rough computer systems suffix classifier for medical data attributes.

ATTRIBUTES: Health information management system elements and medical information contained in a relational database

AUDIO TELECONFERENCING: Simultaneous dual voice communications between two parties at remote locations; two way communications between physician and patient at various locations.

AUDIT: The monitoring of healthcare IT security relevant events is a key element for after-the-fact detection of and recovery from security breaches; HIPAA review.

AUDIT CONTROL: Mechanisms to record and examine computer system activity in order to identify suspected PHI or medical data access activities, assess the security system and respond to potential weaknesses; the mechanisms employed to record and examine computer system activity

AUDIT TRAIL: Data collected and potentially used to facilitate a health security review (ISO 7498-2); log used for security violation detection, auditing, error correction, recovery and deterrence.

AUTHENTICATE: Medical records or healthcare data confirmed by signature; to verify the identity of a computer, server or network user, by password, or, public or private key infrastructure (PKI) or other means such as biometric identification; ensuring the identity of a user, process, or device, often as a prerequisite to allowing access to resources in a computer system or network

Authentication: Assurance that a claimed electronic or human user identity is valid; authentication service provides the means to verify the identity of a patient.

AUTHENTICATION HEADER (AH): IPSec protocol for tunnel identification and security.

AUTHOR: Originator of a medical or healthcare record; doctor, health practitioner or medical provider.

Authorization: Enables specification and subsequent management of the allowed health information data actions for a given system or computer network; a document signed and dated by the individual who authorizes use and disclosure of protected health information for reasons other than treatment, payment or health care operations; must contain a description of the protected health information, the names or class of persons permitted to make a disclosure, the names or class of persons to whom the covered entity may disclose, an expiration date or event, an explanation of the individual’s right to revoke and how to revoke and a statement about potential re-disclosures.

AUTHORIZATION CODE: Security access key; usually an alphanumeric password

AUTHORIZATION CONTROL: Access control rules for medical information or a health information management system which can be centralized, hierarchical or individual.

AUTHORIZATION RIGIDITY: Health information management system lacking discretionary access control judgment.

AUTHORize: To authenticate a computer user or obtain consent for protected healthcare information (PHI); the granting or denying of access rights to a user, program, or process.

AUTOA UTHENTICATION: An automated authentication process.

AUTO BAUD DETECT: The detection and simultaneous adjustments of electronic communication speeds.

AUTO CALL: Automated call placements to predetermined numbers.

AUTO CALL NUMBER: External phone on the data line of an auto call feature.

AUTO CODE: Extracting medical records or health data information and converting it into computerized CPT and ICD-9-CM codes; computer assisted alpha numerical medical billing.

AUTO DIAL: Automatic dialing of stored telephone numbers, or email addresses.

AUTOEXEC.BAT: Command file executed upon computer boot, for DOS and Windows©

AUTOMAGIC: As if by magic; slang term.

AUTOMATED CLEARING HOUSE (ACH): Electronic check processing between banks and financial institutions, and customers, hospitals, clinical and medical practices.

Automated Data Collection: The direct transmission of physiological health information or medial data from monitoring devices to either a bedside display system or a computer-based patient record.

AUTOMATIC CAMP-ON: Music replacement feature when a dialed telephone number is busy.

AUTOMATIC FORMS PROCESSING TECHNOLOGY: The ability to electronically and securely enter and abstract online PHI or medical data

Automatic log-off: The cessation of an electronic computer session that is terminated after a pre-determined time of inactivity

AUTOMATIC PATCH: Automated computer system debugging feature usually performed without end-user awareness.

AUTOMATIC PRIVATE INTERNET PROTOCOL ADDRESS (APIPA): The basic sequence of computer networking to locate a specific private website used only for internal networks and not into the Internet from a router.

AUTOMATIC QUEUING: Instantaneous telephone call ported to a holding track until the correct connection is available; auto-save; automatic alert; automatic email responder, etc.

AUTONOMY: Self determination regarding medical care or healthcare information access.

AUTONYMOUS SYSTEM: Computer system networks, switches and routers that are controlled by a singular authority through a common IGP.

AUTORESPONDER: The email equivalent of instantaneous fax-on-demand.

AUXILIARY STORAGE: Secondary or additional computer storage capacity; magnetic tape back-up, external floppy disk, zip drive, hard disk, flash memory stick, optical or CD-ROM etc.

AVAILABILITY: The healthcare information security objective that generates the requirement for protection against intentional or accidental attempts to (1) perform unauthorized deletion of medical data or (2) otherwise cause a denial of service or data.

AVATAR: A special user who is given the authority to access all file directories and files under the root directory in a UNIX based computer system; virtual reality environment.

Awareness Training: To provide training for all levels of personnel including a review of the medical organization’s policies and procedures for keeping protected health information confidential.

AWK: A computer language replaced by PERL, that for scanning text files and processing lines and strings of code.

AZYXXI: A clinical data repository system company created by physicians that allows doctors to retrieve and view patient data from a variety of sources, including legacy, access management laboratory and radiology; purchased by the Microsoft Corporation in 2006.

-B-

B2B: Business-to-Business.

B2C: Business-to-Consumer (Client).

B2P: Business-to-Patient.

BS7799/ISO-17799 Model: A healthcare security standard that suggests a multi-step approach to protect healthcare information:

• business continuity planning
• system access control
• system development and maintenance
• physical and environmental security
• compliance
• personnel security
• security organization
• computer and network management
• asset classification and control
• security policy and procedures

BS 7799/ISO 17799 Security Standard: The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is the world’s largest developer of standards. Although ISO’s principal activity is the development of technical standards, ISO standards also have important economic and social repercussions. ISO standards make a positive difference, not just to engineers and manufacturers for whom they solve basic problems in production and distribution, but to society as a whole. ISO 17799 is a comprehensive set of controls comprising best practices in information security. It is established as the major standard for information security. Its British precursor was published in the early 1990s as a Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Code of Practice and in 1995, was further developed and published by the British Standard Institution (BSI) as BS 7799. It outlines the specifications for an information security management system (ISMS). Security awareness is very much an integral part of any BS 7799/ISO 17799-compliant ISMS. A recurring theme throughout the standard is that people in an organization must be made aware of the security policies, procedures and control requirements that they are expected to uphold. This would be a task of a health organization’s Security Officer and IT department. ISO 17799 addresses topics in terms of policies and general good practices. The document specifically identifies itself as “a starting point for developing organization specific guidance.” It states that not all of the guidance and controls it contains may be applicable and that additional controls not contained may be required. It is not intended to give definitive details or “how-to’s.” ISO 17799 offers a ten-step approach addressing the following major topics:

1. Business continuity planning
2. System access control
3. Systems development and maintenance
4. Physical and environmental security
5. Compliance
6. Personnel security
7. Security organization
8. Computer and network management
9. Asset classification and control
10. Security policy

BABBAGE, CHARLES (1791-1871): Inventor of the mechanical computing machine known as the “Analytic Engine” and precursor to electronic computers.

BACKBONE: High speed transmission pathway for an interconnected computer network; high volume trunk in a computer network; slang term

Backbone Network: A high-speed, high capacity transmission facility created to interconnect lower speed distribution channels from smaller branches of the computer or telecommunication network; Lucent Systems®; Nortel®; Cisco Systems©

BACK DOOR: A means to access to a computer program that bypasses security mechanisms, sometimes installed by a programmer so that the program can be accessed for troubleshooting or other purposes; however attackers often use back doors that they detect or install themselves, as part of an exploit; in some cases, a worm is designed to take advantage of a back door created by an earlier attack; trapdoor; for example, the worm Nimda gained entrance through a back door left by Code Red slang term.

BACK DOOR TROJANS AND BOTS: Currently, the biggest threat to healthcare and all PC users worldwide according to the MSFT Corporation®.

BACK DOOR WORM: Malicious code spread by TCP port inoculation; Bagel variant of 2004.

BACK END: All computer systems components not seen or interacted with by the end-user.

BACK GROUND: Program or application that is executing without operator or end user input; any noise, print, processing or task, etc.

BACK GROUND MODE: Occurs when a computer continues with a task function while another application is still running; printing, transferring, surfing or use functions.

BACK PROPAGATION ALGORITHM: Training protocol for medical neural networks that propagates software code errors from output to hidden input.

BACK UP: To copy, store or mirror all health data  programs, applications and software for storage purposes; onsite or remote hot and cold backup locations exist; separately removed medium include another hard-drive, Rev® or Zip® drive, flash disk, tape drive or floppy disk, online storage, CD or DVD, etc; medical, health or other information recovery or restoration feature.

BACK UP UTILTIY: Program to perform basic computer backup functions like PowerQuest Drive Image©, Norton Ghost©, Stomp Backup My PC© and Dantz Retrospect Professional Version©.

BACKWARD COMPATIBLE: To function with prior computer versions of itself; i.e., Windows Vista® is mostly backward compatible with Windows XP©; XP with MSDOS©, etc.

BACTERIA: Computer system virus capable of health systems or enterprise wide replication; bacterium

Bad Sector: A segment of computer disk storage that can’t be read or written due to a physical problem in the disk; usually are marked by the operating system and bypassed; if data are recorded in a sector that goes bad, file recovery software and occasionally special hardware may be needed to restore it.

BAD WARE: A software program or application that adds spyware, adware and other unauthorized programs without user disclosure; slang term; http://www.stopbadware.org

BALANCED BUDGET ACT: Title IV, in 1997 that included financial provisions for Medicaid, Medicare, Medicare+Choice, child care, Medical Savings Accounts, Health Savings Accounts, Medigap plans, rural healthcare, military retirees with related healthcare economic IT initiatives.

BALL, MARION J: Associate Vice President for Health Information Resources, University of Maryland, Baltimore.

BANDWIDTH: Electronic information carrying capacity, measured in Mbps or Kbps or wireless frequency spectrum; bandwidth-on-demand; bandwidth reservation, bandwidth testing and trading; allocation, broker, exchange, management, demand, reservation, etc.

BANG: UNIX system exclamation point; slang term.

BANGPATH: An email address that includes an exclamation mark; slang term.

BANNER: Application or Internet based web page advertisement; computer monitor/screen sign or paid marketing area.

BANYAN VINES: A computer network operating system that shares information with a central sever source; A DOS, WINDOWS®, OS/2, OSX bridge program; slang term.

BAR CHART: Visual representation or graph of nominal or ordinal data.

BAR CODE: Electronic identification tag for smart cards and inventory control.

Bar Coding Systems: Final FDA ruling issued in February 2004 that required bar codes on most prescription and non-prescription medications used in hospitals and dispensed based on a physician’s order; the bar code must contain at least the National Drug Code (NDC) number, which specifically identifies the drug; although hospitals are not required at this time to have a bar code reading system on the wards, this ruling has heightened the priority of implementing hospital-wide systems for patient-drug matching using bar codes; a usual procedure for bar coding is as follows:

• drug given to the nurse for patient administration
• in the patient’s room, the provider scans the bar code on the patient’s identification badge to positively identifies the patient
• medication container is passed through the scanner to identify the drug
• match patient to the drug order; if no match including drug, dosage, and time of administration, an alert is displayed in real-time to correct the error prior to administration.

BARNETT, OCTO, G, MD: Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, and Director, Laboratory of Computer Science, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA

BARRETT, CRAIG, R: Chairman of the Board, the Intel Corporation.

BASEBAND: Individual digital bi-directional data transmission; a telecommunication system in which information is carried in digital (and analog) form on a single un-multiplexed signal; Ethernet network.

BASHSHUR, RASHID, L; MD: Editor-in-Chief Emeritus: Telemedicine and e-Health Journal.

BASIC: A popular high-level computer language.

BASIC INPUT/OUTPUT SYSTEM (BIOS): Fundamental PC controller for data-read, memory, storage, keyboards, printers, peripherals, displays, etc; determines functionality upon PC boot-up.

bastion server: A firewall configured to withstand and prevent unauthorized access or services. It is typically segmented from the rest of the intranet in its own subnet or perimeter network.

BAT FILE: Data file name ending in .bat for computer command lists.

BATCH: A group of healthcare or paper medical claims from many sources; batch job.

BATCH PROCESSING: The one-time processing of computer tasks, such as running a group of healthcare or paper medical claims from many sources, usually with time delayed output; job processing; punch cards

BATCH TRANSMISSION: Processing several computer transactions at once

BAUD: A unit of digital transmission that indicates the speed of information flow. The rate indicates the number of events able to be processed in one second and is expressed as bits per second (bps). The baud rate is the standard unit of measure for data transmission capability; typical older rates were 1200, 2400, 9600, and 14,400 baud; the signaling rate of a telephone line in the number of transitions made in a second; 1/300 sec = 300 baud.

BAUD RATE: Transmission speed, per symbol/second, of electronic data information

BAUMANN, HERMAN: Executive Director of Strategic Development for the American Hospital Association (AHA).

BAYER MATRIX: CMOS or CCD color pixel imagery

BBL: Be Back Later; slang expression

BEACONING: Problem ablation process for a token ring computer network

BEAM: Infrared wireless computer network connection.

BEAM WIDTH: Radio antenna coverage angle

BEAN: JAVA© open source computer language from Sun Microsystems, Inc; JAVA Bean slang term.

BEDSIDE WORKSTATION: Computer network client machine in a patient hospital, hospice or home bedroom.

BEEP CODE: Series of audio BIOS alarms caused by faulty PC hardware and sounded when a computer is started or booted-up; i.e., AMI® and Award BIOS® beep codes.

BEHRINGER versus Princeton medical Center: Court decision that confirmed patient privacy and held healthcare organizations responsible for that privacy. 

Bell Operating Companies (BOC): Grouped under the seven regional BOCs, or RBOCs.

Bellovin, Steven, M: Researcher on computer networks, security and Professor of Computer Science at Columbia University.

BENCHMARK: A performance test of hardware and/or software or other computer system peripheral devices.

BENIGN VIRUS: A prank software code that does no real harm; good-times virus.

BeOS: BeBox® computer operating system developed by Be, Inc®

BEOWULF: Clustered computer network running on the Linux® operating system.

BERNERS-LEE, TIMOTHY: Created the World Wide Web in 1989, while working at CERN, using clickable hypertext links (hot links) in academic documents; inventor of the Web.

BERNOULLI BOX: Non-volatile cartridge for a removable floppy disk drive with large storage capacity.

BETA TEST: The secondary or final stress examination of newly developed computer hardware, software or peripheral devices; site, etc.

Bibliographic database: Indexed computer or printed source of citations of journal articles and other reports in the literature; typically include author, title, source, abstract, and/or related information; MEDLINE® and EMBASE®.

BIFF: A sound, light or other alerting method for incoming new email transmissions; slang term.

BIG IRON: Large and expensive main frame computers or hardware legacy systems; slang term.

BILINGUAL: A computer systems running two or more operating system or languages.

Billed Claims: The fees or billed charges for healthcare services provided that have been submitted by a medical practitioner or healthcare provider to a payer.

Billing Code of 1992 (UB-92): A Federal code billing form that requires hospitals follow a specific billing procedures; similar to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (HCFA) 1500 form, but reserved for the inpatient component of health services.

BILLING CYCLE: The exact date for which certain medical services are billed; paper or electronically.

BILLING FLOAT: Time delayed between medical services provision, and invoicing the third party or patient.

BINARY: The principle behind computers using two digit commands of 0 and 1.

BINARY CODE: The computer coding system of binary digits; number, notation, file, transfer, tree, etc.

Binary Option: An option that has two outcomes; generally structured to pay a predetermined fixed amount when-in-the-money; or correct, or pay nothing when-out-the money; or incorrect; either or medical diagnostic dilemma.

BINARY PHASE SHIFT KEYING (BPSK): Radio-modulation technique for wireless computer transmissions.

BIND: To link or assign one computer routine or address to another; to attach a productive device driver to computer adapter.

BINHEX: A Macintosh computer utility format that converts binary computer files to ASCII text files.

BIOETHICS: Te application of moral principles to health and healthcare data information and processing.

BIOINFORMATICS: The application of medical and biological science to the health information management field.

Biological Information Technology (BIOIT): Cross industry alliance of the Microsoft Corporation to enhance the ability to use and share digital health and biomedical data.

BIOMETRIC: Personal security identity characteristics, such as a signature, fingerprints, voice, iris or retinal scan, hand or foot vein geometry, facial characteristics, hair analysis, eye, blood vessel or DNA.

BIOMETRIC IDENTIFICATION: Secure identification using biometrics that identifies a human from a measurement of a physical feature or repeatable action of the individual (for example, hand geometry, retinal scan, iris scan, fingerprint patterns, facial characteristics, DNA sequence characteristics, voice prints, and hand written signature).

BIONIC: A machine or instrument patterned after human beings or nature.

BIOPASSWORD: Start-up healthcare IT security pioneer of keyboarding patterns to boost online security through neural network patterns.

BIOS: The first operating system code employed upon computer initiation or start-up (boot-up); basic input/output system; supports all peripheral technologies and internal services such as the real-time clock.

BIOS INT. 13 ROUTINE: A DOS interrupt that is used to activate disk functions, such as seek, read, write and format.

BIOTERRORISM: Germ or biological warfare.

BIT(s): Binary (2 digits) term coined by John Tukey in 1949; either Yes/No; On/Off; Dot/Dash, or an O/I value; the small unit of electronic transmission information; bit rate; bit stream; but stuffing, etc

BIT DEPTH: The number of pixel determining bits for tone or color range.

BIT LOCK: A hard drive encryption tool such as the MSFT Vista® 265-bit algorithm BitLocker Drive Encryption© which secures files, folders or data drives.

BIT MAP: Pixel image of many bits that only defines in terms of black and white rather than a grayscale image.

BIT NET: An Internet-like system linking universities.

BIT ORDER: Serial transmission order of electronic health or other information bits.

BIT PIPE: Online or internet resources for case studies, case law, reports, white papers, journals, literature, web or pod casts, etc; slang term.

BITS PER SECOND (BPS): The number of binary digits transmitted per second that particularly applies to older modem which transmit at either 14.4 Kbps (14,400 bps) or 28.8 Kbps (28,000 bps); newer modems are capable of 33.6 Kbps and 56Kbps, and in some cases, transmission speed may extend to 128 Kbps; T lines and cables modems are fastest.

BLACKBERRY: A hand held portable digital device with email capacity and wireless connectivity; from Research in Motion® (RIM).

BLACKCOMB: One of the purported follow-ups to the MSTF Windows Vista© OS; Chicago, Cairo, Longhorn, Memphis, Whistler, etc. product code names.

BLACK HAT (BH): A malicious compute hacker, cracker or criminal; Black Hating is the act of compromising the security of a system; slang term

BLACK HOLE; The “place in cyberspace” where email, IM, IRC, text, video, audio or other messages or electronic transmissions, disappear; slang term

BLACK LIST: A list of websites and/or email addresses that will not be accepted for deliverance.

BLADE: Machine that takes health and other data processing to a computer network server allowing the operating system and applications to be accessed remotely.

BLADE SERVER: Thin computer system that work in groups with servers stacked like a library bookshelf with easy chassis replacement, access and functionality.

BLANK CHARACTER: A space character like a letter or digit that comprises one computer byte.

BLANKET AUTHORIZATION: Wholesale medical data release permission for PHI within a certain time period or other range.

BLASTER WORM: Malicious code launched against Windows 2000© and XP PCs that caused DoD attacks in August 2003.

BLENDED THREAT: Computer health network attack that seeks to maximize damage severity of damage and speed of contagion by combining methods, like using worms, trojans and viruses while taking advantage of vulnerabilities in computers or other physical systems

BLOATWARE: Inefficient, massive, slow software codes, computer programs or applications; slang term.

BLOCK: Physical unit of stored medical or other data on an output/input electronic device; physical medical record unit.

BLOCK ALGORITHM: Computerized data encryption of larger information segments.

BLOCK(ER): Usually a software utility program that prevents unwanted email transmissions, or spam; slang term.

BLOG: A type of online public website where entries are made as in a diary, and displayed in reverse chronological order; weblog; slang term coined Peter Merholz

BLOG LINE: Internet online news reporter and feed reader

BLOG ROLL: Feature that links to other blog to alert them that you are linking to them; social blog networking

BLOGGER: One who writes reads blogs; slang term.

BLOGOSPHRE: The Internet universe of all blog websites.

BLUE FIN: A vendor-neutral application programming interface to help healthcare IT departments achieve interoperability across SANs built from multiple vendors; a standard to increase the reliability and security of storage products while also making them easier to manage.

BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH (BSOD): MSFT Windows® inoperable error message that requires computer rebooting; slang term.

BLUETOOTH® DEVICE: Machines, like cell phone with headset, transmitting across communications channels 1 to 14, over time.

BLUETOOTH® TECHNOLOGY: Wireless mobile technology standard built into millions of mobile phones, headsets, portable computers, desktops and notebooks; named after Harold Bluetooth, a 10th century Viking king; healthcare telemetry and rural data transmissions; the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (BSIG) advocates measures aimed at pushing healthcare interoperability for wireless devices and other computers designed for use in the medical field; other wireless stands include: Wi-Fi, ZigBe®, IrDA and RFID.

BLUMENFELD, BARRY; MD, MS: Associate Director for Clinical Informatics, Research and Development, Partners Healthcare System.

BOMB: Any electronic virus, worm, Trojan or other malicious computer code with a preset activation date for release

BOOK, ERIC, MD:  CIO and CMO of Blue Shield of California, and payment pioneer for chronic medical conditions.

BOOKMARK: A web browser feature that allows one to record or store web addresses, pages, site and URLS, etc for quick access.

BOOLE, CHARLES (1815-1864): Mathematician who first used formula for logical human reasoning; father of modern digital computer programming

BOOLEAN LOGIC: Mathematical algorithm and algebraic rules that govern logical computer functions developed by George BOOLE in the 19^th century (AND, OR, and NOT are primary features of Boolean logic); query.

BOOT (ING)(UP): Starting or initiation a computer operating system to load into random access memory and start executing its first instructions by examining the BIOS, hardware, floppy and hard drive, RAM, CPU, OS, etc.

BOOT DISK: A floppy disk that contains needed computer operating system start-up files.

BOOT DRIVE: The disk drive on which a computer’s operating system is installed

BOOT PARTITION: Separation of computer system operating systems information and data files.

BOOT PASSWORD: BIOS option to secure and protect a computer start-up procedure.

Boot Sector: Reserved sector on a hard disk used to load an operating system; a master boot record is typically the first sector in the first partition which contains a program that reads the partition table and points to another small program which causes the computer to boot the operating system.

Boot Time: Time between seeing the Windows© Splash Screen until the completed Windows Desktop (or similar startup time on other operating systems).

BORDER: The moveable edge of a Windows© based computer screen used to change its size.

BORDER GATEWAY PROTOCOL (BGP): Method to advertise the reach of autonomous systems networks

BORLAND INTERNATIONAL: Company founded by Philippe Kahn in Scotts Valley California that first released the program Turbo Pascal©, the utility Sidekick©; followed by various C+ compliers, Paradox© database, Quattro© spreadsheet, and more recently Delphi©, Kylix© and Java© development tools and templates; now the Inprise Corporation

BOSS SCREEN: A fake computer screen of a business application or program that is quickly popped up when the boss walks by a workplace cubicle: slang term.

BOT: A smaller software algorithm for a minimally intelligent agent that is programmed to scour the Web for inventory prices in a certain range, or for medical journal articles that mention a disease or condition, etc; slang term.

BOTLENECK: Overloaded computer network.

BOTNET: A zombie army of Internet computers drones that, although their owners/users are unaware, have been set up to forward spam messages; a collection of broad-banded PCs hijacked during virus and worm attacks and seeded with software that connects back to the remote hacker for instructions.

BOUNCE: To correctly shut down or reboot a computer, system or network; email that is returned to sender.

BOUND APPLICATIONS: Computer programs that still run under a DOS or O/S2 operating platforms.

BOURNE SHELL: UNIX computer language and command interpreter; Steven Bourne.

BOURNE, STEPHEN, R, PhD: Computer scientist from Trinity College, Cambridge and developer of the command line UNIX interface shell which bears his name; chief technology officer for El Dorado, California, Ventures, an investment capital consulting firm

BOZO: Electronic newsgroup miscreant fool, or internet nerd; slang term

BOZO FILTER: Software program that screens internet email messages based on specific individualized criteria: slang term.

BOZO LIST: A blacklist of miscreant IMers, IRCers, fax spammers or e-mailers; slang term

BRACES: Curly brackets or symbols used in computer programming to mark the beginning or end of a contained area or phrase.

BRAILER, DAVID, MD, PhD: First and former national coordinator for Health Care Information Technology (HCIT) for the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C, and who resigned in April, 2006. Now, the current Vice President of the American Health Information Community (AHIC), and physician pay-for-performance expert, Washington, DC; replaced by Robert Kolodner, in September 2006 who was chief health informatics officer of the Veterans Health Administration.

BRAIN DUMP: A large mass of health or medical data that may or may not be secure, or easy to understand, decipher or digest; raw information overload.

BRAITHWAITE, WILLIAM, MD: Senior advisor on health information policy, Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), CMO, e-Health Initiative Foundation.

BRANCH: A deviation from normal computer sequential instructions or operations.

BRAND SPOOFING: E-mail fraud where the perpetrator sends out legitimate-looking e-mails that appear to come from well known and trustworthy Web sites in an attempt to gather personal and financial information from the recipient; a speculative phishing venture.

BRAUN, PETER: Researcher form Harvard University who established the appropriateness of relative value CPT codes along with William Hsiao, MD.

BREACH OF CONFIDENTIALITY: A third party chain-of-trust violation regarding PHI.

BREACH OF SECURITY: A violation of medical information data integrity and security; unwanted disclosure of PHI.

BRIA, WILLIAM, F, II; MD: Clinical Information Systems and IT Medical Director for the University of Michigan, Medical Center in Ann Arbor, President of the Association of Medical Directors of Information Systems in Keene, New Hampshire.

BRICKS AND MORTAR: A tangible and physical business such as a hospital, clinic or medical practice; non-virtual; real.

BRIDGE: A program or device that connects two computers or simple networks of dissimilar type; identical protocol interface.

BRIGHTCOVE: An internet TV distributor.

Brightness: The perception of luminance by the human eye; although many use luminance and brightness interchangeably, they are not exact synonyms.

BRIGHTON, JOHN, MD: CIO of Aetna U.S. Healthcare, headquartered in Blue Bell, Pa.

BRITTLE: Friable, insecure or unstable software output, application or program.

BROADBAND: The total number of capacity bands available in a frequency modulated and high speed unidirectional electronic data transmission; high-speed, high-capacity electronic transmission channel of co-axial or fiber cables, instead of traditional copper telephone land-lines, which may carry voice, data and video Internet or download transmission, simultaneously; modem or network, etc.

Broadband Code Division Multiple Access (BCDMA): A form of wireless technology where digital health information and medical data is sent over communication networks

BROADBAND NETWORK: High speed ringed computers or computer network.

Broadband over Power Lines (BPL): Radiofrequency energy used to carry high speed broadband-like electronic data packets traveling on electric current power lines, assisted by amplification repeaters and coupled with wired or wireless transmission to PCs, servers or networks for Internet access beyond traditional phone companies and DSL cable providers (i.e., GreyStone Power Corp®., and TXU Corp®); plugging into the net.

BROADCAST: Data packet delivery to all nodes of a networked computer system.

BROADCAST MONITORING: The hub access point of a wired computer network where wireless data packets and information can be intercepted.

BROADCAST STORM: To incapacitate electronic transmissions by exceeding bandwidth capacity.

BROKEN LINK: An Internet web page address hyperlink that is not functional.

BROKEN PIPE: A computer systems or network communications failure

BROUTER: A computing device that provided both computer bridging and routing network functions; slang term.

BROWNOUT: A short period of insufficient electricity or power; longer blackout.

BROWSE: To search or scour the Internet for information or pleasure.

BROWSER: Software interface that supports messages, visuals, hyperlinks, searches and audio information transmissions on the World Wide Web (WWW); i.e., Internet Explorer© 7, Netscape Navigator©, Firefox©, Safari©, Opera©, Mozilla©, Thunderbird©, or GreenBorder Pro© running IE7® inside a safe “sandbox” so that malicious software can-not penetrate an OS while surfing.

BROWSER CACHE: Hard disk sector which holds visited web page content to speed and enhance the Internet browsing experience.

BROWSER HIJACKER: A software program design to alter a user’s browser settings.

Browser Shield: Ability to detect malicious code on a Web site and rewrite it for health data safety while preserving information on the webpage.

BROWSERSHIELD©: MSFT Internet Explorer© security platform to intercept and remove on the fly, malicious code (embedded scripts) hidden on web pages and showing users safe equivalents of those pages; patch release alternative developed by Helen Wang.

BROWSING: Search the World Wide Web for electronic networked information; surfing; slang term.

BROWZER: British ISP and web browser void of web history or cache search tracking features.

BRUTE FORCE BANDWIDTH: LAN, WAN or MAN optimization with software application acceleration to increase network transmission speed; to move health and other data faster, securely and efficiently led by F5 Networks; slang term; Cisco NetScaler©, Packeteer®; slang term.

BRUTE FORCE CRACKING: A trial and error method used by application programs to decode encrypted health or other data such as passwords or through exhaustive effort rather than intellectual strategies; considered to be an infallible, although time-consuming, approach; power hacking.

BSD: UNIX language variant developed at UCB.

BUCHOLZ, WERNER: Scientist who coined the term byte, during the early design phase for the IBM Stretch® computer system, in 1956.

BUCKET BRIGADE: Occurs when a attacker intercepts messages in a public key exchange and then retransmits them, substituting his/her own public key for the requested one, so that the two original parties still appear to be communicating with each other; man-in-the-middle or fire brigade attack; slang terms.

BUDDY LIST: Collection of email, IM addresses cell phone-numbers or contact information, etc.

BUFFER: Temporary computer input/output storage area to compensate for transmission speed irregularities.

BUFFER OVERFLOW: Data overflow that occurs when a program tries to store more information in a buffer than it was intended to hold, and spills into adjacent buffers, corrupting or overwriting the valid data held in them; although it may occur accidentally through programming error, buffer overflow is an increasingly common type of security attack on health or other data integrity.

BUG: Colloquial term coined by Admiral Grace Hopper; erroneous computer code or programming mistake; coding error, slang term.

BUGGY VIRUS: Incompetent malicious software code (virus) that fails to deliver its payload; slang term.

Build: A version of a computer program or application that is still in testing; although a version number is usually given to a released product, a build number is sometimes used instead.

BULLETIN BOARD (SERVICE) SYSTEM (BBS): A networked computer system to receive and host calls, communicate or exchange files, music medical, or other data; non-commerical dial-up service; circa 1980’s with dial-up connections; newsgroups; computer service that allows users in an isolated location to access a central host computer through a computer in order to read and send electronic messages. 

BUNDLE: To sell computer software, hardware and peripheral components as a single combined package.

BURN: To store health or other digital data on a CDROM, DVD, EPROM, etc; to electrically write data.

Burns, LOUIS: Intel© Digital Health Group Manager.

BURST MODE: High speed computer channel transmission flow.

BUS: A common channel, hardware configuration or common pathway between CPU and multiple electronic devices; there are several bus types like: USB, AGP, SCSI, FireWire and PCI.

BUS NETWORK: A small and inexpensive Land Area Network (LAN) of connected computers and systems; topology, system, etc.

BUSINESS ASSOCIATE (BA): 45 CFR § 164.522 A healthcare organization or person that works on behalf of a covered entity, such as an independent consultant or contractor, but is not employed by the Covered Entity or a link in the Chain of Trust (COT); a person or entity who, on behalf of a covered entity or an organized health care arrangement, performs or assists in the performance of one of the following:

• a function or activity involving the use or disclosure of individually identifiable health information, including claims processing or administration, data analysis, processing or administration, utilization review, quality assurance, billing, benefit management, practice management and repricing.
• provides legal, actuarial, accounting, consulting, data aggregation, management, administrative, accreditation or financial services for such covered entity or organized health care arrangement.

Business Associate Agreement (BAA): HIPAA security contract for the BA of a CE with the following terms and conditions:

1. Business Associate agrees to not use or disclose Protected Health Information other than as permitted or required by the Agreement or as Required by Law.
2. Business Associate agrees to use appropriate safeguards to prevent use or disclosure of the Protected Health Information other than as provided for by this Agreement.
3. Business Associate agrees to mitigate, to the extent practicable, any harmful effect that is known to Business Associate of a use or disclosure of Protected Health Information by Business Associate in violation of the requirements of this Agreement. [This provision may be included if it is appropriate for the Covered Entity to pass on its duty to mitigate damages to a Business Associate.]
4. Business Associate agrees to report to Covered Entity any use or disclosure of the Protected Health Information not provided for by this Agreement of which it becomes aware.
5. Business Associate agrees to ensure that any agent, including a subcontractor, to whom it provides Protected Health Information received from, or created or received by Business Associate on behalf of Covered Entity, agrees to the same restrictions and conditions that apply through this Agreement to Business Associate with respect to such information.
6. Business Associate agrees to provide access, at the request of Covered Entity, and in the time and manner [Insert negotiated terms], to Protected Health Information in a Designated Record Set, to Covered Entity or, as directed by Covered Entity, to an Individual in order to meet the requirements under 45 CFR § 164.524. [Not necessary if business associate does not have protected health information in a designated record set.]
7. Business Associate agrees to make any amendment(s) to Protected Health Information in a Designated Record Set that the Covered Entity directs or agrees to pursuant to 45 CFR § 164.526 at the request of Covered Entity or an Individual, and in the time and manner [Insert negotiated terms]. [Not necessary if business associate does not have protected health information in a designated record set.]
8. Business Associate agrees to make internal practices, books, and records, including policies and procedures and Protected Health Information, relating to the use and disclosure of Protected Health Information received from, or created or received by Business Associate on behalf of, Covered Entity available [to the Covered Entity, or] to the Secretary, in a time and manner [Insert negotiated terms] or designated by the Secretary, for purposes of the Secretary determining Covered Entity’s compliance with the Privacy Rule.
9. Business Associate agrees to document such disclosures of Protected Health Information and information related to such disclosures as would be required for Covered Entity to respond to a request by an Individual for an accounting of disclosures of Protected Health Information in accordance with 45 CFR § 164.528.
10. Business Associate agrees to provide to Covered Entity or an Individual, in time and manner [Insert negotiated terms], information collected in accordance with Section [Insert Section Number in Contract Where Provision (i) Appears] of this Agreement, to permit Covered Entity to respond to a request by an Individual for an accounting of disclosures of Protected Health Information in accordance with 45 CFR § 164.528.

The business associate agreement is usually part of a contract made in the procurement process, but can be part of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), Grant Agreement (GA) or other document.

BUSINESS ASSOCIATE AGREEMENT Uses and Disclosures: HIPAA styled general use and disclosure permission provisions for CEs [(a) and (b) are alternative approaches] with the following terms and conditions:

1. Specify purposes:

Except as otherwise limited in an agreement, Business Associates may use or disclose Protected Health Information on behalf of, or to provide services to, Covered Entity for the following purposes, if such use or disclosure of Protected Health Information would not violate the Privacy Rule if done by Covered Entity or the minimum necessary policies and procedures of the Covered Entity: [List Purposes].

1. Refer to underlying services agreement:

Except as otherwise limited in an agreement, Business Associate may use or disclose Protected Health Information to perform functions, activities, or services for, or on behalf of, Covered Entity as specified in [Insert Name of Services Agreement], provided that such use or disclosure would not violate the Privacy Rule if done by Covered Entity or the minimum necessary policies and procedures of the Covered Entity.

1. Specific Use and Disclosure Provisions [only necessary if parties wish to allow Business Associate to engage in such activities]
2. Except as otherwise limited in an Agreement, Business Associate may use Protected Health Information for the proper management and administration of the Business Associate or to carry out the legal responsibilities of the Business Associate.
3. Except as otherwise limited in an Agreement, Business Associate may disclose Protected Health Information for the proper management and administration of the Business Associate, provided that disclosures are Required By Law, or Business Associate obtains reasonable assurances from the person to whom the information is disclosed that it will remain confidential and used or further disclosed only as Required By Law or for the purpose for which it was disclosed to the person, and the person notifies the Business Associate of any instances of which it is aware in which the confidentiality of the information has been breached.

iii.   Except as otherwise limited in an Agreement, Business Associate may use Protected Health Information to provide Data Aggregation services to Covered Entity as permitted by 42 CFR § 164.504(e)(2)(i)(B).

164. Business Associate may use Protected Health Information to report violations of law to appropriate Federal and State authorities, consistent with § 164.502(j)(1).

BUSINESS ENTERPRISE SECURITY DEFENSE FEATURES: (of industry leaders):

• Microsoft®: built anti-malware into Vista OS.
• Intel®: chip-partitioning technology
• EMC®: ID vendor Authentica
• Oracle®: enterprise vault and secure back-up products
• Cisco®: integrated network firewalls.

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE: The goal or end-product of medical knowledge management.

BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP: An entity or one who assumes responsibility for another especially concerning HIPAA:

• a Third Party Administrator (TPA) is a business associate that performs claims administration and related business functions for a self-insured entity.
• a health care clearinghouse is a business associate that translates data to or from a standard format in behalf of a covered entity.
• a contract that extends the responsibility to protect health care data across a series of sub-contractual relationships.

BUSINESS RESUMPTion:  Returning a computer system or network to functionality usually after an unanticipated cessation of activities.

Business Unit: Workforce member subject to HIPAA regulations and who are engaged in providing a specific product or service that involves Protected Health Information (PHI) on behalf of the Covered Entity (CE).

BUTTON: A computer tool bar navigation icon.

BYTE (BinarY TablE):  A terms first coined by Werner Bucholz in 1956, to represent a series of eight 1 or 0 used to symbolize a specific computer character; A ninth bit may be used in the memory circuits as a parity bit for error checking; originally coined to mean the smallest addressable group of bits in a computer, but not always been eight; SI octet prefix: bits, bytes, kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes, terabytes, petabytes, exabytes, zettabytes and yottabytes.

– C –

C: A programming language developed by Bell Laboratories and Dennis Ritchie in the 1970s for UNIX operating system computers; C+ and C++ are extension of the language with similar general purpose languages like Pascal and ALGOL.

C++: Object oriented version of the C computer programming language, and adopted by companies like Apple Computer Inc®, and Sun Microsystems, Inc®.

C#: MSFT .NET framework language similar to Java with increased object orientated operating system interface.

C SHELL: Interactive UNIX format developed by William Joy, at the University of California, and co-founder of Sun Microsystems.

C2C: Client (Customer) to Client (Customer)

C2P: Client (Customer) to Patient (Provider)

CABLE INTERNET: An Internet access by way of wired coaxial TV service.

CABLE MODEM: Coaxial wire used to connect a computer and TV system for Internet or online service.

CABLE / PHONE OPERATOR: Companies like BellSouth©, AT&T© and Verizon Communications©, that are massive broadband users.

CABLE TELEPHONY: Telephone service enabled by a TV coaxial wire company.

Cable television (CATV): A transmission system that distributes broadcast television signals and other services by means of a coaxial cable.

CACHE: Temporary computer memory storage space that speeds RAM data access; memory cache (“cache store” or “RAM cache”) is a portion of memory made of high-speed static RAM (SRAM) rather than the slower and cheaper dynamic RAM (DRAM) which is used for main memory and is effective because most programs access the same data or instructions so that by keeping as much of this information as possible in SRAM, a computer can avoid slower DRAM; disk cache uses conventional main memory and the most recently accessed data from is stored in a memory buffer; when a program needs to access data from the disk, it first checks the disk cache. Disk caching dramatically improves the performance of applications because accessing data in RAM is faster than accessing it on a hard disk; cache memory, farm, card, etc.

CACHE POISON: Malicious deletion or alteration of IDNSs and IP addresses that is stored in caches farms and passed on to other serves thereby contaminating the entire network

CADDY: CD or CVD plastic holder or carrier.

CAIRO: Aborted Windows© OS; code term.

CALIFORNIA DATA BASE SECURITY BREECH INFORMATION ACT (SB-1386): A state law requiring organizations that maintain personal information about individuals to inform those individuals if the security of their information is compromised, and stipulates that if there’s a security breach of a database containing personal data, the responsible organization must notify each individual for whom it maintained information; went into effect July 1, 2003 and was created to help stem the increasing incidence of identity theft.

CALL BACK: To identify a caller or calling terminal, and then disconnect the call, dial back and authenticate the original call.

CALL CENTER: A telephonic central point of access for healthcare triage.

CALL WAIT: Telephone call alert notification while in use.

CANCEL: To end a computer input command; terminate transmissions.

CANCELBOT: Computer utility program that automatically cancels prearranged messages, emails or IMs, etc.

CANNED: A previously written or off the self software product, routine or program.

CANON GROUP: An early group of leading healthcare informaticists who defined the need for medical IT terminology standardization.

CANONICAL: The process of conforming with some specification in order to ensure that health or other data is in an approved format; generating or converting canonical data from non-canonical data; a core, standard for foundation for related medical and healthcare IT concepts.

CAPACITY: The ability to perform a number of tasks, per unit time.

CARBON COPY: Remote controlled software for Windows© and MS-DOS®

CARD BUS: 32 bit data bus specification format for fast Ethernet transmissions.

CARD READER: Machine hardware able to read computer punch cards, smart cards, magnetic strips, memory or flash sticks, microchips and RFID tags, etc.

CARDINAL: The number of rows in a data table or entries in an index.

CARET: Hat or circumflex character “^” that indicates mathematical exponentially; or a proofreading insertion symbol.

CAREWARE: A shareware software program that suggests charitable donations.

CARNIVORE: A digital FBI sting operation, email and cell phone or wire tap program to reduce healthcare and other types of fraud or e-commerce evil doers; code name.

CARR, KEVIN, D; MD: Program Director and CMIO for the Waterbury Health Access Program, in Connecticut.

CARRIER: A FTC regulated telecommunications company.

CASCADE: Overlapping computer screen or menu windows.

Cascade Menu: The arrangement of window screens under a pull-down menu command.

CASE SENSITIVE: To interpret the difference between upper (capital) and lower (small) case letters.

Cathode Ray Tube: The monitor or other means of displaying digital or analog data in a computer system.

CAVITY: A type of stealth or covert computer virus that alters or overwrites a small section of an infected file; allowing it to live and propagate; slang term.

CD AUTHORING: Software to produce and urn CDs and DVDs; Roxio Easy CD Creator©, Ahead Nero© and Pinnacle Instant CD©.

CELEBRITY VIRUS: Malicious code named after notables like Rod Stewart, Jethro Tull or Jennifer Lopez which overwrite target programs, but retain and rename them for easy treatment; slang term.

CELERON©: Intel© value brand CPU; code name Covington.

CELL: Transmission packet used on fixed Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) and similar telephone networks; an elementary unit of storage

CELL®: Microprocessor chip released by IBM in 2006 with more computing power than traditional chips in handling some handheld healthcare applications; first appeared in thin “blade” server systems.

CENSOREWARE: Software utility program that restricts internet site visits, transmissions and files, etc; security measure; slang term

CENTER FOR HEALTH INFORMATION MANAGEMENT (CHIM): Industry association or health information technology and research.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP): An organization in Atlanta, Georgia, that maintains several code sets included in the HIPAA standards, including the ICD-9-CM codes.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS): The organization that historically maintained the UB-92 institutional EMC format specifications, the professional EMC NSF specifications, and specifications for various certifications and authorizations used by the Medicare and Medicaid programs. CMS also maintains the HCPCS medical code set and the Medicare Remittance Advice Remark Codes (MRARC) administrative code set.

CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT (CPU): Integrated motherboard chip that directs all arithmetic, logic, graphic, audio and video, on-ground connectivity and wireless computer operations; health IT professionals (particularly those involved with mainframes and minicomputers) often refer to the entire computer as a CPU, in which case “CPU” refers to the processor, memory (RAM) and I/O architecture (channels or buses); with speeds exceeding 10Ghz; Intel®, AMD®, Motorola®, etc.

CENTRINO®: Intel© mobile brand wireless CPU.

CERF, VINTON, PhD: Early designer of ARPANET while a graduate student at UCLA; known as father of the Internet and co-author of the TCP/IP protocol that allowed independent networks to form one large network; currently the chief internet strategist for MCI WorldCom, evangelist for Google, and developer of the Internet Planetary Network (IPN); partner of Robert Kahn, PhD.

CERTIFICATE AUTHORITY: A third party encryption verification agency for personal identification in health data communications.

CERTIFICATE OF DESTRUCTION (COD): Third party verification and proof of medical data destruction and/or the secure annihilation of PHI.

CERTIFICATE OF REVOCATION LIST: Schedule of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) approvals decommissioned by a certification authority.

CERTIFICATION: The formal approval of software, hardware, and end users for a computer system; the technical evaluation performed as part of, and in support of, the accreditation process that establishes the extent to which a particular computer system or network design and implementation meet a pre-specified set of security requirements; may be performed internally or by an external accrediting agency.

CERTIFIED MEDICAL PLANNER© (CMP©):

Professional economics designation (Certified Medical Planner©), first charted for advisors in 2000 that integrates the personal financial planning process (taxation, insurance, investing, retirement and estate planning) for physicians, with specific knowledge of contemporaneous health information technology and managed care principles, such as: (financial, managerial and medical cost accounting, fringe benefits analysis, risk management, human resources and access management, managed care medicine, healthcare informatics and human labor outsourcing), with medical practice valuation techniques, succession planning and most healthcare business concepts as accredited by the Institute of Medical Business Advisors, Inc, Atlanta, Georgia (www.MedicalBusinessAdvisors.com); a CMP© charter-holder or CMP© certificant (http://www.CertifiedMedicalPlanner.com)

CETERIS PARIBUS: latin phrase for: “al things being equal”, which acknowledges non-controllable possibilities in a controlled testing hypothesis situation.

CHAIKEN, BARRY, MD, MPH: Vice President, medical affairs, McKesson Corp., Alpharetta, Ga.

chain of custody: A process that documents everyone who has had contact with

or direct possession of the evidence.

CHAIN OF TRUST (COT): Suggestion that each and every covered entity and business associate share responsibility and accountability for confidential PHI.

Chain of Trust Partner Agreement: Contract entered into by two business partners in which it is agreed to exchange data and that the first party will transmit information to the second party, where the data transmitted is agreed to be protected between the partners; sender and receiver depend upon each other to maintain the integrity and confidentiality of the transmitted information; multiple two-party contracts may be involved in moving information from the originator to the ultimate recipient; for example, a provider may contract with a clearing house to transmit claims to the clearing house; the clearing house, in turn, may contract with another clearing house or with a payer for the further transmittal of those same claims.

CHAMPUS: Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services (U.S.C. Title 10 Section 1072(4)

CHANNEL: Tele-communication electronic pathway located between receiving and transmitting computer devices; a radio frequency assignment designed depending on the frequency band being used and the geographic location of the sending/receiving sites.

CHANNEL HOP: To quickly switch from one chat room, newsgroup or IRC site, to another without interacting; channel surfing; slang term.

CHARACTER: A set of basic symbols group or element to express data or information.

CHARACTER SPACING: The amount of font space reserved for each electronic character, letter, number or symbol.

Charge-coupled Device: A light-sensitive device that converts light information into electronic information via sensor that collect light as a buildup of electrical charge; the signal that results from this conversion can be converted into computer code and then used to form an image; commonly used in television and digital cameras, and radiology image scanners.

CHARGE MASTER: A comprehensive review of a physician, clinic, facility, medical provider or hospital’s charges to ensure Medicare billing compliance through complete and accurate HCPCS/CPT and UB-92 revenue code assignments for all items including supplies and pharmaceuticals.

CHART: The paper and pen physical and written medical record; also an electronic medical record; electronic health record, etc.

CHART DEPLETION POLICY: Formal regulations for deciding when a medical record may be removed from resident medial records over a specific time period.

CHART ORDER POLICY: Regulations for detailed health data and information documentation listings to define location and order within the medical record.

CHART TRACKING: Identifies the exact location and placement of PHI or other medical records.

CHARTING BY EXCPETION: Health information management and medical records and medical documentation system that focus and records abnormal medical and clinical events.

CHAT: Real time conferencing ability enhanced by internet keyboarding.

CHAT MODE: A split screen real time Internet communication program.

CHAT ROOM: Real time ISP sector devoted to a single medical topic or other topical keyboarding discussion; electronic forum or BBS; informal IRC site.

CHECK BOX: An on/off toggle switch queue in a software dialog box.

CHECK DIGIT: End-product of an operating system checksum process.

CHECKED: MSFT error detection or debugging code in isolated development products.

CHECKSUM: Summation or additions of digits and bits according to rules of parity in order to verify health or other data integrity and authenticity; error detection mechanism.

CHEESE WORM: Usually helpful computer security patches for the Linux system, Lion worm that repairs exploits; slang term.

CHEUNG, NT, MD: Executive Manager, Healthcare Informatics Division, Hospital Authority of Hong Kong.

CHICAGO: MSFT Windows 95© version; codename.

Chief Information Officer (CIO): A senior corporate position with strategic responsibility for health information management and medical data and information technology and integrity.

Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO): A senior corporate position with strategic responsibility for health knowledge and medical data management.

Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA): A federal act that requires operators of online services or Web sites directed at children under the age of 13 to obtain parental consent prior to the collection, use, disclosure, or display of a child’s personal information.

CHIP: Increasing small and more powerful semiconductors, like processed silicone, gallium or germanium, used ion computers for certain electronic characteristics, like storage, circuitry or logic elements; integrated circuit: Moore’s Law of microprocessor density.

CHIP INTERFACE: A fast computer connection between main processor and co-processor, or other chips: Geneseo; code name; Hyper-transport or AMD chip-to-chip interface.

CHKDSK, CHKDSK /F: A DOS utility program which looks for lost clusters on a hard disk and reports the current amount of free memory and disk space; it has been replaced by ScanDisk.

CHOCKLEY, NANCY: President and CEO, National Institute for Health Care Management Research and Education Foundation (NIHCMRF); Washington, DC.

CHURCH, GEORGE, PhD: Professor of Computational Genetics, Harvard Medical School.

CHURCH-TURING THESIS: Hypothesis that no mechanical computing device can do anything fundamentally different than another mechanical machine.

CIH VIRUS: Malicious computer code that first appeared in 1998 that tried to overwrite a

computer system’s BIOS and render it unbootable; Chernobyl virus variant.

CINNAMON BUN: The “@” sign; slang term.

CIPHER LOCK: A combination lock that uses buttons that must be pushed in the

proper sequence in order to open the door.

CIPHER TEXT: Unreadable medical information in a secure and encrypted format.

CIRCUIT LEVEL PROXY: A type of non-application specific firewall technology; i.e., SOCKS.

CIRCUIT SWITCH: Connection between a dedicated circuit network path and a telephone system.

Circuit Switched Network: A line switching and dial-up service network that temporarily links multiple channels between multiple points that permits the medical user to exclusive use of an open channel to exchange protected health information.

CIRCULARITY: The endless cycle that suggests a computer can not finish a task unit it is already completed; circular impossible logic; loop

CISCO SYSTEMS®, INC.: Founded in San Jose, CA in 1984 as a leading manufacturer of computer network equipment, routers, bridges, frames, switches and management software; CEO John Chambers.

Citation: The record of an article, book, or other report in a bibliographic health or other database that includes summary descriptive information, e.g., authors, title, abstract, source, and indexing terms.

CITRON, JEFFREY: CEO of Vonage© Holdings which offers internet telephone services enhancing health communications.

CLAIM: Medical invoice for healthcare services rendered; a doctor’s medical bill.

CLAIM ADJUSTMENT REASON CODE: The code set for the difference between an original medical provider charge and ultimate reimbursement; a national administrative code set that identifies the reasons for any differences or adjustments between the provider charge for a claim or service and the payer’s payment for it; code set used in the X12 835 Claim Payment & Remittance Advice and the X12 837 Claim transactions and maintained by the Health Care Code Maintenance Committee (HCCMC).

CLAIM ATTACHMENT: The hardcopy or electronic record needed to pay a medical claim.

Claim Status Code: A national administrative code set that identifies the status of health care claims and used in the X12 277 Claim Status Notification transactions, and maintained by the Health Care Code Maintenance Committee (HCCMC).

Claim Status CODE Category: National administrative code set category that indicates the general category of the status of health care claims; code set is used in the X12 277 Claim Status Notification transactions and is maintained by the Health Care Code Maintenance Committee.

claimant: One who submits a claim for payment of benefits for a suffered loss, according to the provisions of a health insurance-policy.

Claims Clearinghouse: Organizations that examine and format claims for reimbursement.

CLANCY, CAROLYN, MD: Director, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ); DHHS.

CLARINET®: Subscription based United Press International newsgroup; with feeds from Reuters®, SportsTicker®, and Commerce Business Daily®, etc.

CLARK, TERRY; MD: President and CEO of physician distance-learning Medantic Technology©, Inc., and former Fulbright Scholar, NIH consultant and Commissioner for the Presidential Task Force to improve Health Care for American Veterans.

CLASS: Electronic objects that share a common attribute; higher level abstraction for identification and definition; object oriented program; or US FCC approval scheme:

• Class A: Approved for industrial or business use; high radio frequency interference potential
• Class B: Approved for residential areas; low radio frequency interference potential

Classification: Protection of health data from unauthorized access by the designation of multiple levels of access authorization clearances to be required for access, dependent upon the sensitivity of the information.

CLASSIFICATION LEVEL: Security clearance and authorization degree.

CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM: Any method to organized related health information for retrieval, manipulation and storage.

CLEAN BOOT: A computer systems startup without load.

Clean Claim: A claim that meets all insurer requirements and is submitted before the filing limit; electronic invoice or hardcopy.

CLEAR: Setting of a bit or computer/electronic device register to zero.

CLEAR MEMORY: To start computer RAM registers to a blank condition.

Clear text: Easily read and unsecured language; plain text.

CLEARANCE: Security classification for health information or medical data access and manipulation.

CLEARING HOUSE: HIPAA medical invoice, healthcare data transaction exchange and medical data implementation service center that that meets or exceeds Federally-mandated standardized Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) transaction requirements.

CLEARY, SCOTT: Project Management, e-Health, Connecticut.

CLICK: To push or release a button on a computer mouse or keyboard to activate an input instruction.

CLICK AND DRAG: To electronically grasp a computer screen icon and move it to a new location to exercise a specific function.

CLICK FRAUD: Phony computer clicks that drive up a website’s revenue, rather than to search for a real product or service, for advertising driven sites.

CLICK STREAM: Mouse click trail that specifies a particular computer operation; click through.

CLICK THROUGH: The act of linking to a third party in order to measure advertising effectiveness.

CLICK TO CALL: Internet advertising model that allows Internet surfers to speak with a human being on company shopping and search platforms; product ordering intersection of eBay®, Skype® and Google®.

CLICKABLE IMAGE: An URL embedded picture, drawing, photograph or similar visual hyperlinked item.

CLIENT: A dumb receiving computer terminal with access to a central server or host that performs specific tasks but does not house or share network information.

CLIENT REGISTRY: Area where a patient’s medical data and PHI is housed and stored.

CLIENT SERVER: A smart mainframe computer or central server that houses and shares specific health data or other information with clients or dumb network terminals.

Client server system: A “repository” or computers known as “servers” which  store large amounts of medical information and perform limited health data processing; communications with servers and client workstations that perform data processing and often have Graphical User Interfaces (GUI) for ease of use; both customizability and resource use is high, depending on the desired sophistication; many medical and clinical information systems that process data directly related to patient care use this configuration.

CLIENT SIDE APPLICATION: A program that runs on a computer network rather than a server.

CLINGER-COHEN ACT: Public Law 104-106; Information Technology Management Reform Act (ITMRA) of 1996.

CLINICAL CODE SETS: The confidential electronic identifiers for medical health services; medical code sets.

CLINCIAL CODING: The assignment of alpha-numerical codes to medical diagnostic and procedural verbiage and statements.

CLINICAL CONTENT OBJECT WORK GROUP (ccowg): HL7 standard for shared clinical applications.

CLINICAL DATA: Protected Health Information (PHI) from patient, physician, laboratory, clinic, hospital and/or payer, etc; identifiable patient medical information.

CLINICAL DATA INFORMATION SYSTEMS: Automatic and securely connected system of integrated computers, central severs and the Internet that transmits Protected Health Information (PHI) from patient, physician, laboratory, clinic, hospital and/or payer, etc.

CLINICAL DATA REPOSITORY (CDR): Electronic storehouse of encrypted patient medical information; clinical data storage.

CLINICAL GUIDELINES: Suggested and personalized medial protocols or treatment algorithm.

CLINICAL INFORMATICS (CI): The management of medical and clinical data; the use of computers, networks and IT for patient care and health administration.

CLINICAL INFORMATION: All the related medical information about a patient; Protected Health Information (PHI) from patients, providers, laboratories, clinics, hospitals and/or payers or other stakeholders, etc.

CLINICAL INFORMATION SYSTEM (CIS): A computer network systems that supports patient care; relating exclusively to the information regarding the care of a patient, rather than administrative data, this hospital-based information system is designed to collect and organize data.

Clinical information system NETWORK: Computer information technology health system which encompasses a wide range of features, functions, and modules with may include the following:

• pharmacy information systems with bar coding and drug interaction checking
• computerized physician (provider) order entry (CPOE) for clinicians to directly order tests and treatments on-line.
• departmental systems such as laboratory information systems, radiology systems, and intensive care clinical computing
• electronic medical record systems (EMR) which allow physician orders, free text clinical notes, decision support, radiology images, and other areas to be nearly fully computerized, allowing a “paperless” medical institution.

CLINICAL INTEGRATION (CI): The confidential, sure and correct union of patient electronic medical information with all appropriate healthcare parties or decision makers: physicians, facilities, laboratories, and payers.

CLINCIAL MESSAGING: Real-time or asynchronous clinical or medical data and/or PHI electronic exchanges; clinical instant messaging; CMing; slang term.

CLINICAL (Critical) PATHWAY (CP): Formalized and mandated medical protocol or treatment algorithm; critical pathway.

CLINCIAL PORTAL: A network centered HIM access computer device.

CLINICAL TERMS, VERSION 3 (CTV3): The UK National Health Services “read codes” used to facilitate medical information interchange; US SNOMED counterpart.

CLINICAL WORKSTATION: A single point of clinical data access or electronic interface.

CLIP ART: Previously prepared graphic images used for desktop publishing, writing etc.

CLIP BOARD: Windows© feature used to store electronic information; any temporary electronic storage cache.

CLIPPER: A general governmental cryptology security chip.

CLIPPER CHIP: Date protection chip proposed by the government and National Security Agency in 1993 to secure vital and individualized health and other information, but defunct by 1996; now used as a slang term for the invasion of privacy.

CLOCK: An evenly spaced computer impulse generator, in MhZ, where or 1 MhZ = 1,000,000 cycles per second (CPS).

CLOCK SPEED: Microprocessor performance velocity and benchmark expressed in megahertz units; MhZ.

CLONE: An IBM compatible personal computer made by a manufacturer other than IBM, which exited the PC business in 2005, to China based Lenovo®, under the leadership of William Amelio, formerly of Dell, China; Compaq Computer, etc.

CLOSE: To exit a computer program and clear it from memory.

CLOSED CARD SYSTEM: Smart card central processor computer chip system, operating in a single environment such as hospital access management.

Closed INFORMATION SYSTEM: A type of electronic mailing list that allows only members of that mailing list to send messages to it; distinguished from ‘open’ or ‘moderated’.

CLUSTER: 1024 bytes hard disk storage space; hard disk allocation unit or some number of disk sectors which are treated as a unit; smallest unit of storage that the operating system can manage.

CLUSTER COMPUTING: A series of networked connected computers.

CLUSTER VIRUS: A singular malicious computer code that attacks file but gives the appearance of mass infestation.

CMOS: Complementary MOS or the most widely used type of integrated circuit for digital processors and memories.

CMOS MEMORY: A small, battery-backed memory bank in a computer which holds configuration settings.

COASTER: A free CD or DVD give-away as a product/service promotional item; slang term.

COAXIAL CABLE: Transmission lines made of 2 cores; an inner white conductor encased in insulation, and an outer black conductor with PCV insulation; a single or dual transmission wire covered by an insulating layer, a shielding layer, and an outer jacket; because it contains a high bandwidth, it may be a broadband carrier with the ability to transmit data, voice, and video.

COBOL: Common Business Oriented Language was the first widely-used high-level programming language for healthcare and other business applications, like payroll, accounting, and other business applications written over the past 35 years are still in use and it is possible that there are more existing lines of programming code in COBOL than in any other programming language; generally perceived as out-of-date and viewed as legacy applications; developed by Grace Hopper as a simple linguistically based computer language program that revolutionized the business computer.

COBWEB SITE: An old URL; dated website; slang term.

COCOA APP: Software written specifically for a Mac OS X; slang term.

CODE: A way of dealing with electronic data for a physical computing machine; method for systemically dealing with medical data or other information; computer program.

CODE EDITOR: Software that evaluates medical claims and compares it with clinical records that may affect reimbursement.

CODE LOOKUP: An electronic file with recoded medical codes and healthcare indexes.

CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS (CFR): Governmental collection of federal regulations and guidelines published in the Federal Register.

CODE RED WORM: Malicious software that infected the White House website in 2001 and capable of fast replication, hibernation and re-infection; slang term.

CODE SET (CS): 45 CFR 162.103 Any HIPAA encryption or de-encryption electronic algorithms used for HIPAA medical information transactions; data elements such as tables of terms, medical concepts, medical diagnostic codes, or medical procedure codes; both the codes and the descriptions.

CODE SET MAINTAINING ORGANIZATION: The association that creates and maintains HIPAA electronic code sets for secure health data transmissions; Part II, 45 CFR 162.103.

CODED DATA: Health information or medical data aggregated in a standardized way for comparison.

CODER: One who converts a written diagnosis or medical treatment into a number-letter alpha-numeric code for payment and reimbursement; biller. 

Coder-Decoder (CODEC): A device that converts a digital signal to an analog signal at one end of transmission, and back again to a digital signal at the opposing end.

CODING: The transference of disease, injury and medical treatment descriptions and narratives, into designated and approved alpha-numeric form.

CODING CLINIC: American Hospital Association quarterly publication on ICD-9-CM coding issues approved by the CMS

CODING CONVENTION: The typeface, font, indentation and punctuation mark used to determine how ICD-9-CM Codes are interpreted.

CODING CREEP: A slang term for elevated (increased-acuity) coding, in order to increase medical payments and reimbursement.

CODING SPECIALIST: One who is an expert at assigning alphanumeric to diagnostic or medical procedures.

COGAN, JOHN; PhD: Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution, Stanford University.

COHORT DATA: Patients grouped together and described by common characteristics such as age, sex, disease state, medications, complications insurance coverage, etc.

COLD BACKUP: A database backup when the database is offline and thus not accessible for updating; offline backup.

COLD BOOT: Computer start-up from a powered-down, or off, state; a hard boot.

cold site: An alternative backup site that provides the basic computing infrastructure,

such as wiring and ventilation, but very little equipment.

CollaboraCare Consortium: A partnership of electronic, DME and other vendors that help provide regional health information organizations, provider communities and health insurance plans with prepackaged, integrated components of payer/provider information exchange and medical EDI.

COLLABORATIVE NETWORK: A computer network or single-issue social website internally run, policed and self-censored; wiki; collaborative filter; collaborative censor.

COLLABORATIVE STORAGE DATA SET: American Joint Commission on Cancer neoplasm staging standard; user derived data base.

COLLECTION: The medical and/or electronic billing process.

COLLEGE OF HEALTH INFORMATION MANAGEMENT FOR EXECUTIVES (CHIME): Educational and certifying branch of the Center for Healthcare Information Management (CHIME), an industry association for health information technology and research; useful for CIOs and CTOs.

COLLEN, MORRIS, F: Director Emeritus and Healthcare Information Technology Consultant, Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program, Oakland, California.

COLLISION: Malfunction of two computer network nodes attempting shared access at the same.

COLLISION DETECTION Ability to detect Ethernet traffic and avoid a nodal collision on a shared computer network.

Color model: The dimensional coordinate system used to describe colors numerically, such as Red, Green, Blue (RGB); Hue, Lightness, Saturation (HLS); and Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black and Lightness (SMYBL).

Color Saturation: The sum of ink in a given area of an electronic image; because of dot gain and press conditions, there is no color saturation value above 300.

Color space: A particular electronic color variant with a specific range of colors as its chief characteristic

Combination Halftone: An image that is comprised of elements of half tones and line art.

COM1/COM2/COM3: The first two serial communication ports on a PC.

COM PORT: Serial port for connecting a cable to an IBM PC-compatible computer, usually, but not exclusively for data communications; referred to by the operating system as COM1, COM2, COM3, etc.

COMM CLOSET: Physical location or storage area for computer and networking equipment; communication closet, wiring closet; slang terms.

COMMAND: Application option in a pull-down menu; computer system input.

COMMAND BUTTON: Dialog box Windows© icon for a pre-selected program, application or input command.

COMMAND.COM: A computer program command which access and executes user/operator input; is used with DOS; Bourne, Korn and C shells with UNIX operating systems.

COMMAND INTERPRETER: Software that can access and execute user input; the term.

COMMAND PROMPT: The place to input instruction for a DOS command; C:\ or A:\, or UNIX %

Comment: Public opinion on proposed or potential HIPAA related regulations provided in response to an NPRM, Notice of Intent, or other federal regulatory notice; ignored computer program information seen only by the user.

Common Carrier: A telecommunications company, charging published and nondiscriminatory rates and regulated by the government, which offers communications relay services to the general public by means of shared circuits.

Common Framework: Includes all the technical documents and specifications, testing interfaces, and code, as well as a companion set of privacy and security policies and model contractual language to help medical or other organizations interested in information exchange to move quickly towards the necessary legal agreements for private and secure health information and data sharing.

COMMON GATEWAY INTERFACE (CGI): A web server standard to pass a user’s request to an application program and to receive data back to forward to the user.

COMMON SERVICES: Software shared across several applications.

COMMUNICATION ARCHITECTURE: The software and hardware capacity that facilitates electronic computer interactivity. 

Communication Multiplexer: An instrument that permits health data from multiple, lower speed communication lines to share a single higher speed communication path.

COMMUNICATIONS BUS: Health Information Access Layer segment that allows standard messages and protocols.

COMMUNITY HEALTH INFORMATION NETWORK (CHIN): A connected electronic entity committed to securely share private patient health information among entities like medical providers, clinics, laboratories, hospitals, outpatient centers, hospice and other healthcare facilities; Community Health Management Information Systems (CHMIS), Enterprise Information Networks (EINs), Regional Health Information Networks (RHINs) and Health Information Networks (HINs).

COMPACT DISC (CD): Optical drive which can read or write data by burning tiny bumps into the surface; speed is in numbers like 64X, 32X or 24X; reading speed is higher than writing speed; developed by Philips Electronics®.

Compact Disc – Read Only Memory (CD-ROM): A computer drive that can

read CD-R and CD-RW discs. 

Compact Disc – Recordable (CD-R): An optical disc that contains up to

650 megabytes of data and cannot be changed once recorded. 

Compact Disc – Rewriteable (CD-RW): An optical disc that can be used to

record data, erase it, and re-record again.

COMPACT FLASH: Non-volatile flash storage; memory stick; thumb stick, etc.

COMPACT FLASH CARD: Smart card, memory stick or processor chip that uses non-volatile memory like that from the Macromedia Corporation©, now Adobe Systems©, Inc.

COMPAQ© COMPUTER: A first IBM PC clone manufacturer that acquired DEC, and has since been acquired by HP.

COMpARTMented intranet: Internal computer network analogous to the watertight doors on a ship; supports the enforcement of health organizational policies and the limitation of damage in the event of a security breach as illustrated below. 

Compatibility: The ability of two pieces of hardware (a personal computer and a printer, for example) to work together; standards, published specifications of procedures, equipment interfaces, and data; for computer systems to work together; formats are essential to decreasing and possibly eventually extinguishing incompatibility; IBM PC clone to MacBook©

COMPILED LANGUAGE: Computer code that runs very fast as an executable file.

COMPILER: Software language translator program for machine instructions.

COMPLEMENTARY Code Keying (CCK): Wi-Fi high speed transmission technique; while a Baker sequence is its slower analog.

COMPLETE TRUST DOMAIN: The MSFT Windows NT© large complex network multiple account resource that communicates two-way trustworthy computing.

Complex Instruction Set Computer (CISC): Efficient microprocessors capable of high speeds and many transactions.

COMPLIANCE: Conformity to HIPAA medical data security policies and standards as well as the data security procedures developed to meet user needs; improper conduct includes, but is not limited to a lack of discretion or unauthorized disclosure of any health information concerning a specific patient.

Compliance date: The date by which a covered healthcare entity must comply with a standard, implementation specification, requirement or modification specified by the CMS, HHS, FRC or other agency.

COMPLIANT: Year 2000, or Y2-K compatible hardware, software or electronic computer peripheral devices; security moniker for trust.

COMPONENT: Self contained application that is part of an object oriented computer program; block of GUI applications.

COMPONENT CODE: Post-comprehensive code nomenclature which cannot be charge to Medicare when a comprehensive code is also charged.

COMPONENT CODING: Standardized medical report code regardless of physician specialty.

COMPONENT WARE: All the individual partitions, hardware and software programs with protected patient information that support the healthcare industrial complex; clinical, laboratory, drug, facility, providers, payer and third part intermediary. 

Compress: To transform health or other data to minimize the space required for storage or transmission or to download more efficiently.

COMPRESSED FILE: Software utility program used to condense, transport and archive programs with the file extension .zip.

Compressed Video: Video images that have been processed to reduce the amount of bandwidth adequate for capturing the necessary information so that medical images and health information can be sent over a telephone network

COMPRESSION: Concentrated electronic data used to enhance and speed transmission or reduce storage capacity; especially useful for radiology, X-ray, MRI, and CT and PET scan images and broadband transmissions.

Compression Ratio: The ration of the number of bits in an original medical image to the number in a compressed version of that image; for example, a compression ratio of 3:1 would signify a compressed image with a third of the number of bits of the original image.

Compression Software: A program that physically reduces the data size of an image or file achieved by deleting like elements of information for the purposes of compression, then restoring those elements upon decompression.

COMPU SERVE©: An early online information server based in Columbus Ohio; subsidiary of AOL since 1998.

Computed Radiography (CR): A system of creating digital radiographic images that utilizes a storage phosphor plate (instead of film) in a cassette; once the plate is exposed, a laser beam scans it to produce the digital data which are then translated to an image.

COMPUTER: A machine and related system connections that contain an input/output device, storage capability, arithmetic and logic units and a control unit, and used to accept, manipulate and output data. The personal computer (PC) is the most important type of machine introduced by IBM® in 1981 and cloned by Compaq Computer Corporation® in 1983; IBM exited the product line to Lenovo® in 2005; PCs built by Apple Inc., like the Macintosh (Mac) are graphically intense and usually used by schools, gamers, and artists; most health information technologists and technologies use the IBM-compatible platform (clone); desktop, laptop, notebook, hand-held, pen or PDA; categorized by class, generation or mode of processing.

COMPUTER ABSUE: Illegal and unethical acts committed with a computer.

COMPUTER BASED PATIENT RECORD (CBPR): The electronic capture, storage, processing, transmission, presentation and security functionality of clinical patient medical information; electronic medical records; electronic patient chart.

COMPUTER BASED PATIENT RECORD INSTITUTE (CBPRI): Non-profit organization founded in 1992 to promote, focus, evaluate, standardize and create policy on the use of electronic medical records (EMRs); past chairmen include Dr. Paul C. Tang and Dr. W. Ed Hammond.

Computer Conferencing: Communications within groups through computers, or the use of shared computer files, remote terminal equipment, and telecommunications channels for two-way communication.

COMPUTER CRIME: Illegal and acts committed with a computer; especially financial; medical fraud and coding abuse.

COMPUTER NETWORK: Assemblage of electronically connected computers and peripheral devices to share medical or protected patient health information.

COMPUTER OUTPUT TO MICROFILM: The long term storage of computer files on microfilm, or microfiche.

COMPUTER PRIESTHOOD: Electronic machine expert; slang term.

COMPUTER SECURITY: Administrative and user hardware, software, Internet-based and peripheral procedures used to protect patient medical and private health information.

COMPUTER SECURITY METHODS: Integrity safeguards implemented within healthcare information technology architecture using the networking, hardware, software, server, and firmware of the technology itself; includes (1) the hardware, firmware, and software that implements security functionality and (2) the design, implementation, and verification techniques used to ensure that system assurance requirements are satisfied:

• patients, visitors, or employees
• attempting to obtain another password or security code
• using or attempting to use another’s password or security code or allowing the use of one’s code by another
• unauthorized modification of information or database structure
• unauthorized access, whether internally or from a remote location
• unauthorized release of patient information.

COMPUTER TELEPHONY: The union of telephone and computer technologies to place calls within the public system; VOIP.

COMPUTER TRESPASS: Using a computer system without permission.

COMPUTER VIRUS: A software code snippet to control or damage computer information.

Computerized Physician Order Entry Systems (CPOES): Automatic medical provider electronic medical chart ordering system that usually includes seven features:

• Medication analysis system:       A medication analysis program usually accompanies the order entry system; in such cases, either after order entry or interactively, the system checks for potential problems such as drug-drug interactions, duplicate orders, drug allergies and hypersensitivities, and dosage miscalculations; sophisticated systems may also check for drug interactions with co-morbidities (e.g. psychiatric drugs that may increase blood pressure in a depressed patient with hypertension), drug-lab interactions (e.g. labs pointing to renal impairment which may adversely affect drug levels), and suggestions to use drugs with the same therapeutic effect but lower cost; physicians have the option to decline the alerts and continue with the order; alerts frequently override providers and provide feedback that can lead to modification of the alert paradigms; encouraging feedback increases the robustness of the CPOE system and facilitates continuous quality improvement:
• Order clarity:  The verification of illegible signatures and orders as well as preventing possible errors in order translation; affirming orders takes professional time, and resources are spent duplicating the data; thus, real cost savings can be realized through the elimination of these processes.
• Increased work efficiency: Instantaneous electronic transmittal of orders to radiology, laboratory, pharmacy, consulting services, or other departments replaces corresponding manual tasks.
• Point of care utilization:  Guidelines that are accessible through hand-held devices or bedside terminals offer the advantage of decision support during the patient encounter; the Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement (ICSI), for example, has guidelines installed on a 3Com™Palm Pilot® for the purposes of walk-through during or around the time of the patient encounter; for other guidelines, software exists that allows a provider to interactively access guidelines through selection of appropriate pathways on the on-line decision tree.
• Benchmarking and performance tracking: The comparison of input data to evidence-based clinical guidelines allows the possibility of performance analysis compared to norms or benchmarks; rule must not be too rigid since in specific instances it may be appropriate to vary from guideline algorithms.
• On-line alerts: In similar fashion to medication alerts from CPOE, guideline-based alerts show a medical provider where a clinical decision may conflict with evidence-based guidelines; provider is allowed to override the alert if he or she feels the clinical situation warrants special decision-making.
• Regulatory reporting: An increase in guideline compliance can support improvements in regulatory reporting, such as to JCAHO and CMS for acute myocardial infarction and heart failure treatment appropriateness, as an example.

CONCENTRATOR: A computing network devices that divides electronic data into two or lower bandwidth channels in order to speed transmission; hub and/or router.

CONCEPT VIRUS: Computer system code with no malicious or destructive payload; as in the JAVA StrangeBrew variant of 1998.

CONCURRENT CODING: CPT coding and billing while the patient is still in the hospital.

CONFERENCE: Real-time computer network communications; multiple private or public messages found on a system, usually specific to a particular topic and sometimes moderated by a host who leads the discussion; also called ‘Folder,’ ‘SIG’ (Special Interest Group), or ‘Echo’; much like the newsgroups on the Internet.

Confidential: The property that health or other information is not made available or disclosed to unauthorized individuals, entities or processes (ISO 7498-2); to keep medical data and protected health information (PHI) private.

CONFIDENTIAL HEALTH INFORMATION (CHI): Protected Health Information (PHI) that is prohibited from free-use and secured from unauthorized dissemination or use; patient specific medical data.

CONFIDENTIALITY: The healthcare information technology security objective that generates a requirement for protection from intentional or accidental attempts to perform unauthorized computer, server, or network data-reads; includes data in storage, during processing, and while in transit.

CONFIG.SYS: A DOS and early Windows© computer boot-up file with contents and peripheral attachment information.

CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT (CM): Historical log of computer or network manipulations like software and hardware instillations, file or program additions or deletions, security changes, vendor numbers and codes, etc.

CONFIGURE: All the components that comprise a computer system or network and its peripheral devices.

CONFORMANCE: Dynamic and static option conditions for implementation in a standard.

CONGESTION: An overloaded computer system network, internet, extra-net, intranet etc.

CONNECTIVITY: The potential for a computer, server, peripheral components, or network to establish links and communicate with like configured machines; Internet; wireless medical data transmission connectivity standards include: Bluetooth©, USB, Wi-Fi, Z-Wave© and ZigBe©; the ability to send and receive information between two locations, devices, or business services.

CONNELLY, PAUL: Chief Information and Security Officer for Hospital Corporation of America (HCA).

Consent: A document signed and dated by the individual that a covered entity obtains prior to using or disclosing protected health information to carry out treatment, payment or health care operations; consent is not required under the HIPAA privacy rule; § 164.506 for uses or disclosures to carry out treatment, payment or health care operations.

ConSent requirement: A plain language document that will:

inform individuals and patients that protected health information may be used and disclosed to carry out treatment, payment or health care operations;

• refer the individual or patient to the notice required by §164.520 for a more complete description of such uses and disclosures and state that the individual has the right to review the notice prior to signing the consent;
• if the covered healthcare entity has reserved the right to change its privacy practices that are described in the notice in accordance with § 164.520 (b)(1)(v)(C), state that the terms of its notice may change and describe how the individual may obtain a revised notice;

State that:

the individual or patient has a right to request that the covered entity restrict how protected health information is used or disclosed to carry out treatment, payment, or health care operations;

• the covered entity is not required to agree to requested restrictions; and
• if the covered entity agrees to a requested restriction, the restriction is binding on the covered entity;State that the individual has the right to revoke the consent in writing, except to the extent that the covered entity has taken action in reliance thereon; and be signed by the individual or patient and dated.

CONSOLE: Input/output device situated between computer operator and machine; main keyboard.

Consolidated Health Informatics (CHI): e-Government initiative with the goal of adopting vocabulary and messaging standards to facilitate communication of clinical information across the federal health enterprise.

CONSULTATION REPORT: The formal findings of a participating physician.

Consultative Committee on International Telephone and Telegraph: Currently, the International Telecommunications Union Consultative Committee for Telecommunications (ITU-T); an international agency responsible for developing standards for telecommunications, as well as FAX and video/audio/imaging coder-decoder (CODEC) devices.

CONSUMER DRIVEN (DIRECTED) HEALTH PLAN (CDHP): Healthcare re-insurance plan predicated on high deductibles, low premiums and patient responsibility.

CONTACT: Electrical connection between surfaces that allows conduction or current flow.

CONTENT PROVIDER: A firm that provides online medical or other information over the Internet; NIH, iMBA, Inc., AOL, MSN, Library of Congress; etc.

CONTENT SPOOF: A type of security intrusion to present a faked or modified Web site to the user as if it were legitimate with the intent is, typically, to defraud victims or to misrepresent a health or other organization, physician or individual; trust exploitation between a healthcare organization and payers, patients, providers, TPAs, etc.

CONTENT STANDARD: HIPAA specifications for both data element and coding of secure transmissions.

Context-based access: An access control based on the context of a health transaction (as opposed to being based on attributes of the initiator or target); the “external” factors might include time of day, location of the user, and strength of user authentication.

Contiguous: Adjacent or touching; contrast with fragmentation.

Contingency Plan: A plan for responding to a health system information technology emergency that includes performing backups, preparing critical facilities that can be used to facilitate continuity of operations in the event of an emergency, and recovering from a disaster; updated regularly.

Continuity of signature capability: Rule that the public verification of a signature shall not compromise the ability of the signer to apply additional secure signatures at a later date (ASTM E 1762-95)

CONTINUOUS SPEECH RECOGNITION: The translation of human voice into electronic written language; usually in real-time.

CONTRACT CODER: An interim CPT coder.

CONTROL ACCESS (CA): Authorized administration and clearance for individual computer, server, or network use and security.

CONTROL KEY: An alternate meaning to another activated keyboard computer input key.

CONTROL MENU: Windows© menu used to manipulate various interfaces or operating system features.

CONTROL PANEL: Windows repository for tools and applications, like: add/delete hardware, add/remove programs, display, system and user accounts.

CONTROL PROGRAM FOR MICROPROCESSORS (CP/M): Older operating system for microprocessors like the Zilog Z80© computer of the 1970s; predates DOS and created by Gary Kildall of Intergalactic Digital Research©; also the creator of BIOS (Basic Input/Output System); Quick and Dirty Operating System.

CONTROL RESOURCE: Application of an access control computer mechanism for health or other security; control rights.

CONTROL UNIT: Input/output device that directs computer operations, and interprets code and initiates commands to execute functions.

CONTROLLED MEDICAL TERMINOLOGY: Healthcare concepts expressed as a particular lexicon of vocabulary.

CONTROLLER: Electronic circuit board or system to run a peripheral computer device.

Conventional memory: Random Access Memory (RAM) used by MS-DOS© to run real-mode application.

CONVERSION: Changes to a source code or computer database; utility that changes file format.

CONVERSATION MODE: Transmission method required a computerized response.

COOKIE: Software information sent from websites via internet browser to a personal computer hard drive for storage; cached information; authorize or unauthorized website visit electronic log; slang term; text-file that is stored in a user’s browser to retain web-pages, sites, passwords, CC’s etc; slang term.

COOKIE FILTER: Software computer utility program that reduces or prevent information relay using cookies.

cookie poisoning: The modification of a cookie (personal information in a Web user’s computer) by an attacker to gain unauthorized information about the user for purposes like identity theft; the attacker may use the information to open new accounts or to gain access to the user’s existing accounts; slang term.

COPROCESSOR: A designated computer chip, like a graphics or math coprocessor, to work in conjunction with the main CPU; Xilinx® and AMD® Torrenza; code name.

COPY: To duplicate and store health data, medical or other information.

COPY PROTECT: To secure any electronic storage media from unauthorized duplication.

CORBA: An open, vendor-independent architecture and infrastructure that computer applications use to work together over networks.

Core Duo Processor: Mobile Intel® CPU with two execution cores optimized for multi-threaded applications and multitasking; allows simultaneously running multiple applications such as games, number-crunching programs while downloading music or running virus-scanning security programs in the background.

CORE MEMORY: Volatile and older data storage mechanism from MIT.

COREL® CORPORATION: Company that introduced an early electronic drawing program in 1989, CorelDraw©, based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; since acquired the WordPerfect© line business applications and Linux distributor.

CORRECT CODING INITIATIVE (CCI): Quarterly guidelines for the appropriateness of CPT codes and medical billing combinations for Medicare payment.

CORRECTION: HIPAA data privacy rule allowing the alterations of electronic medical information while not retaining the original.

COTHREN, ROBERT, M, PhD: Chief Scientist, Health Solutions Northrop Grumman Corporation.

COUNTER MEASURE: An action, process, device, or system that can prevent, or mitigate the effects of, threats to a computer, server or network and can take the form of software, hardware and modes of behavior, such as: personal and application firewalls, anti-virus software, and pop-up, spy or add ware blockers.

Counter signature: The ability to prove the order of application of signatures; analogous to the normal business practice of signing a document which has already been signed by another party (ASTM E 1762 -95); part of a digital signature.

COUSINEAU, LEO, MD: Director of Medical Informatics for the Kevric Company, Silver Spring, Maryland.

COVERED ENTITY (CE): 42 CFR § 164.504(e)(2)(i)(B). Any organization that deals with protected health information (PHI), for example:

• a healthcare provider submits invoices, or bills and is paid for, healthcare services and transmits any health information in electronic form;
• an individual or group health plan provides, or pays the cost of medical care. Health plans include group health plans, health maintenance organizations (HMOs), health insurance issuers, Medicare, Medicaid, governmental health care programs; and
• a healthcare clearinghouse processes nonstandard data elements of health information into standard elements, receiving data and translating it from one format into another. Billing services, hospitals, clinics, nursing homes physicians, podiatrists and dentists are other examples of covered entities.

Covered Entity CONTRACT Obligations: HIPAA Provisions for Covered Entities to inform business associates of privacy practices and restrictions [provisions dependent on business arrangement]:

164. Covered Entity shall notify Business Associate of any limitation(s) in its notice of privacy practices of Covered Entity in accordance with 45 CFR § 164.520, to the extent that such limitation may affect Business Associate’s use or disclosure of Protected Health Information.
165. Covered Entity shall notify Business Associate of any changes in, or revocation of, permission by Individual to use or disclose Protected Health Information, to the extent that such changes may affect Business Associate’s use or disclosure of Protected Health Information.
166. Covered Entity shall notify Business Associate of any restriction to the use or disclosure of Protected Health Information that Covered Entity has agreed to in accordance with 45 CFR § 164.522, to the extent that such restriction may affect Business Associate’s use or disclosure of Protected Health Information.

COVERED ENTITY CONTRACT Permissible Requests: Covered Entity shall not request Business Associate to use or disclose Protected Health Information in any manner that would not be permissible under the Privacy Rule if done by Covered Entity. [Include an exception if the Business Associate will use or disclose protected health information for, and the contract includes provisions for, data aggregation or management and administrative activities of Business Associate]: (sample)

Terms and Terminations:

1. Term. The Term of this Agreement shall be effective as of [Insert Effective Date], and shall terminate when all of the Protected Health Information provided by Covered Entity to Business Associate, or created or received by Business Associate on behalf of Covered Entity, is destroyed or returned to Covered Entity, or, if it is infeasible to return or destroy Protected Health Information, protections are extended to such information, in accordance with the termination provisions in this Section. [Term may differ.]
2. Termination for Cause. Upon Covered Entity’s knowledge of a material breach by Business Associate, Covered Entity shall either:
3. Provide an opportunity for Business Associate to cure the breach or end the violation and terminate this Agreement [and the _________ Agreement/ sections ____ of the ______________ Agreement] if Business Associate does not cure the breach or end the violation within the time specified by Covered Entity;
4. Immediately terminate this Agreement [and the _________ Agreement/ sections ____ of the ______________ Agreement] if Business Associate has breached a material term of this Agreement and cure is not possible; or
5. If neither termination nor cure is feasible, Covered Entity shall report the violation to the Secretary.

[Bracketed language in this provision may be necessary if there is an underlying services agreement. Also, opportunity to cure is permitted, but not required by the Privacy Rule.]

1. Effect of Termination.
2. Except as provided in paragraph (2) of this section, upon termination of this Agreement, for any reason, Business Associate shall return or destroy all Protected Health Information received from Covered Entity, or created or received by Business Associate on behalf of Covered Entity. This provision shall apply to Protected Health Information that is in the possession of subcontractors or agents of Business Associate. Business Associate shall retain no copies of the Protected Health Information.
3. In the event that Business Associate determines that returning or destroying the Protected Health Information is infeasible, Business Associate shall provide to Covered Entity notification of the conditions that make return or destruction infeasible. Upon [Insert negotiated terms] that return or destruction of Protected Health Information is infeasible, Business Associate shall extend the protections of this Agreement to such Protected Health Information and limit further uses and disclosures of such Protected Health Information to those purposes that make the return or destruction infeasible, for so long as Business Associate maintains such Protected Health Information.

COVERED ENTITY CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS: According to Section 164.306(a) of the HIPAA security rules, a covered entity must:

• ensure the confidentiality, integrity and availability of all electronic PHI that it creates, receives, maintains or transmits
• protect against any reasonably anticipated threats or hazards to the security or integrity of such information
• protect against any reasonably anticipated uses or disclosures of such information that are not permitted or required under the privacy rule
• ensure compliance with the security rule by its workforce.

COVERED FUNCTION: All the processes performed by a covered entity, according to HIPAA; those functions of a covered entity, the performance of which makes the entity a health care plan, health care provider or health care clearinghouse.

CP/M: Control Program for Microprocessors; a 1980’s OS from Digital Research Inc® and precursor to DOS.

CRACKER: An unauthorized attempt to access a computer or computer system; hacker; slang term.

CRAPLETT: A small useless JAVA® application program; slang term.

CRASH: Computer operating system or program abrupt inactivity prior to reboot; freeze; slang term.

CRAW(LER): A small computer program that searches for information on the Internet; spider; web-crawler; bot; robot; slang terms. Crawlers; software used to index the World Wide Web.

CRAW RESEARCH, INC: Supercomputer maker founded by Seymour Cray in 1977.

CREDIT CARD (CC): Smart card used to immediately access unsecured credit for consumption.

CREEPING FEATURES: The unsystematic and ambiguous improvement of software by adding often unrelated and un-integrated components; slang term.

CRIPPLE WARE: Intentionally incomplete software program distributed as an inducement to purchase the complete and more robust version; slang term.

CRITICAL PATHWAY (CP): Intensive critical care medical, business management or electronic algorithm; clinical pathway; medical pathway; cookbook medicine.

CROSS MAP: A reference from one term or concept to another, in a different lexicon or space.

CROSS PLAFORM: Functionality across more than one platform, computer, or networked system.

CROSS SITE SCRIPTING (XSS): A security exploit in which the attacker inserts malicious coding into a hyper link that appears from a trustworthy source, but the embedded programming is submitted upon activation as part of the client’s Web request allowing the attacker to steal health data or other information.

CROSS SITE TRACING (XST): A sophisticated form of cross-site scripting that can bypass security countermeasures already put in place to protect against XSS allowing an intruder to obtain health or other secure data using simple client-side script.

CROSS TALK: Adjacent electronic signal data overflow with information and transmission distortion.

CROSS WALK: An electronic data map or data base.

CROUNSE, WILLIAM, MD: Global healthcare industry director for the Microsoft Corporation.

CRUNCH MODE: Working toward an approaching deadline; burning the midnight oil; slang term.

Cryptographic key management: Security keys and codes administered when protective functions are implemented in various healthcare electronic services.

CRYPTOGRAPHY: The science and art of keeping health information and other data secret; transforming health information and medical data so that it is secure while transmitted or stored.

CRYPTOLOGY: Any method used to transform intelligible electronic information and transmissions, to an unintelligible format in order to preserve identity and maintain security and prevent unauthorized use.

CTRL+ALT+DEL: Keystroke combination that opens the Windows XP© Task Manager to access its options like: closing, running, switching and viewing applications. 

CUE: Embedded software code that specifies an action. 

CURRENT DENTAL tERMINOLOGY™ (cdt): Dental medicine and procedural code set owned by the American Dental Association.

CURRENT DIRECTORY: The default computer system directory; cd in DOS and WINDOWS© or pwd in UNIX.

Current Procedural Terminology™ (CPT): A standardized mechanism of reporting services using numeric codes as established and updated annually; first produced, owned, and copyrighted in 1961 by the American Medical Association; medical diagnosis or procedure descriptor using a five digit CPT code number.

Current Procedural Terminology™ (CPT) MODIFIER: Additional code descriptors used after a five digit CPT code number to indicate the medical service was altered or extra-ordinary compared to the standard CPT code description for payment:

• 21: prolonged EM services
• 22: unusual procedure services
• 23: unusual anesthesia
• 24: unrelated EM same physician services done post-operatively
• 25: significant and separate EM services by same day physician
• 26: professional component
• 27: multiple same-day, outpatient EM encounters
• 32: mandated services
• 47: anesthesia by surgeon
• 50: bilateral procedure
• 51: multiple procedures
• 52: reduced services
• 53: discontinued procedure
• 54: surgical care only
• 55: post-operative management only
• 56: preoperative management only
• 57: decision for surgery
• 58: staged related procedure, same physician, postoperative period
• 59: distinct procedure service
• 62: two surgeons
• 63: procedures on infants less than 4kg.
• 66: surgical team
• 73: discontinued ASC procedure prior to anesthesia administration
• 74: discontinued ASC procedure after anesthesia administration
• 76: repeat procedure by same physician
• 77: repeat procedure by another physician
• 78: return to OP by same physician during post operative period
• 79: unrelated procedure, same physician, post operative period
• 80: assistant surgeon
• 81: minimum assistant surgeon
• 82: assistant surgeon when qualified resident surgeon absent
• 90: reference laboratory
• 91: repeat clinical diagnostic laboratory test
• 99: multiple modifiers.

CURSOR: Blinking computer screen icon light or tag for typing input identification; cursor control rate, speed, and control.

CUSEEMEE®: Real-time videoconferencing computer program for Cornell University, Ithaca, NY; video medicine fro Windows® PCs and Macs®.

CUT: To highlight and delete a computer text or image.

CUT AND PASTE: To highlight and move a computer text or image from one document to another; copy and paste.

CYBER CAFÉ: A business location where patrons socially browse the Internet.

CYBER CASH: Internet telephony protocol for sending secure cash substitutes over the world-wide-web (WWW); e-money.

CYBER EXTORTION: A form of online criminal activity in which the Web site, e-mail server, or computer infrastructure of an enterprise is subjected repeatedly to denial of service (DOS) attacks who then demand money in return for promising to stop the attacks.

CYBER NETICS: The study of computer information processing in a human-like fashion; cyber life, sex, speak, etc.

CYBER NETICS SYSTEM: Automatic internal feedback for medical data, health or other information; cyber speak.

CYBER PUNK: A malicious online miscreant; cop, dog; slang term.

CYBER SPACE: Term coined by science fiction writer William Gibson in the 1984 book, Neuromancer.  “A new universe, a parallel universe created and sustained by the world’s computers and communication lines. The tablet become a page, become a screen, become a world, a virtual world; A common mental geography, built, in turn, by consensus and revolution, canon and experiment. Its corridors form wherever electricity runs with intelligence. The realm of pure information” .

CYBER SPACE SHADOW: Model of a patient or health organization; medical files or PHI.

CYBER SQUATTER: Online copyright, service and trademark infringement from people seeking profit from pay-per-click advertising.

Cyber terrorisT(m): Attacks by a terrorist group using computer technology and the Internet to cripple or disable a nation’s electronic healthcare system or infrastructure.

CYBRARIAN: A computer network query database and interactive search engine.

CYBURBIA: The community of computer system users in cyberspace; varying internet cultures; slang term

Cycle: A set of health data or other events that is repeated.

CYCLE BILLING: The time period in which health or other accounts receivable invoices, premiums or other medical bills are periodically repeated and sent.

CYCLE TIME: Turn around time from start-to-finish of the medical claims cash conversion cycle.

Cylinder: All tracks that reside in the same location on every computer disk surface; on multiple-platter disks, it is the sum total of every track with the same track number on every surface; on a floppy disk, it is a cylinder comprises the top and corresponding bottom track.

CYRIX CORPORATION®: Founded in 1988 as manufacturer of x86-compatible CPU chips and now involved in healthcare IT.

-D-

dBASE: Ashton-Tate® database which allowed custom built programmable solutions.

dBi: Logarithmic ratio to measure radio antenna gain relative to isotropic antenna gain.

dBm: Logarithmic ratio used to measure power levels relative to one milli-watt unit.

D-CODE: Electronic code set for dental procedures.

DAEMON: A UNIX utility program that executes a background operation such as email handling, when required ; a program that is “an attendant power or spirit” and sits waiting for requests to come in and then forwards them to other processes as appropriate.

DAISY CHAIN: To connect computer devices in sequence.

DAMAGED RECORD POLICY: Standards, methods and protocol used to recover damaged electronic or traditional paper based medical records and/or other private heath data and information.

DANCING BALONEY: Small visually animated images and tiny moving objects that add excitement to an Internet web page; slang term.

DATA: A series of meaningful electrical signals that may be manipulated, transmitted, and stored; a sequence of symbols to which meaning may be assigned; medical information; plural of datum.

DATA ACCESS: The degree to which healthcare data and medical information is securely made available.

DATA ACCURACY: The extent to which medical information and other health data is current, precise and correct.

DATA ADMINISTRATOR: One who manages, controls, and modifies a medical or other secure database.

Data aggregation: Protected or other health information that is created or received by a business associate in its capacity as the business associate of a covered entity, the combining of such protected health information by the business associate with the protected health information received by the business associate in its capacity as a business associate of another covered entity, to permit data analyses that relate to the health care operations of the respective covered entities.

DATA AUDIT: A process to addresses HIPAA security requirements by preserving historical information and transactional details that would otherwise be overwritten; capture of all insertions, updates and deletions to health data in real time, enabling physician-executives and office managers to monitor what was changed, who made the change and when; should also support live, secure data feeds so the audit-trail database is always current, enabling effective querying and reporting.

Data authentication: The corroboration that information has not been altered or destroyed in an unauthorized manner; examples include the use of a check sum, double keying, a medical message authentication code, or digital signature.

Data backup: A retrievable, exact copy of health, medical or other information; mirror image; the process of copying data to another media and storing it in a secure location.

Data backup plan: A documented and routinely updated plan to create and maintain, for a specific period of time, retrievable exact copies of health or other information.

DATA BANK: Any electronic server or repository of medical, health or other information; data base.

DATA BASE: A computerized storage repository or server for medical or other data, with library like index for rapid search functionality and retrieval; data bank.

DATA BASE ADMINISTRATOR: One who manipulates, secures and manages a large computerized database for hospitals, HMOs, insurance companies, health systems, or other enterprise wide conglomeration.

DATA BASE LIFE CYCLE (DBLC): The useful life or timeline of medical information or health data

Data Caching: Temporary storage of new healthcare or other write data or high-demand read data in solid state memory, for the purpose of accelerating performance; after the cached data is written to disk or determined to be of low demand, it is overwritten with newly cached data

DATA CAPTURE: The process of securely recording health or medical information.

DATA COMMUNICATION: The transfer of information from one computer to another using the OSI standard (ISO #7498) seven decision layers; physical, link, network, transport, session, presentation and application.

DATA COMPRESSION: To increase computer file storage space with the elimination of redundancy, empty field, gaps or fragments; stuffit, zip file, Winzip®, pcx utilities, etc; any method to reduce sheer volume of health data by more efficient encoding practices, thereby reducing image processing, transmission times, bandwidth requirements, and storage space requirements; some compression techniques result in the loss of some information, which may or may not be clinically important.

DATA CONDITION: An electronic description of certain medical and PHI data and related information.

DATA CONTENT: All the HIPAA elements, privacy and data code sets inherent to an electronic medical information transmission.

DATA CORRUPTION: The purposeful or accidental destruction of data file integrity.

DATA COUNCIL: Health and Human Service body that is responsible for the AS provisions of HIPAA.

DATA CUBE: A health or other information scheme in tabular structure used for analysis.

DATA DEFINITION LANGUAGE (DDL): A relationship tabular database of health or medical information used as structured query.

DATA Descriptor: All the text defining a HIPAA code or code set.

DATA DICTIONARY: Centralized relational database or integrated repository of electronic health data or medical files.

DATA DIDLING: The unauthorized manipulation of computer or network files, programs or data; slang term.

DATA ELEMENT: The smallest unit of HIPAA protected, approved health or other information.

DATA ENCRYPTION: Clocking device, software program or algorithm used to conceal and protect stored transmitted data; especially through the internet; security measure.

DATA ENCRYPTION STANDARD (DES): An older health or medical data private key cryptology federal protocol for secure information exchange; replaced by AES.

DATA ENTRY: Any method to enter information into a computer system, such as keyboarding, voice or scanning technology.

DATA EXCHANGE: The transmission of secure electronic health or other information over communication channels, like the internet or an intra-net.

DATA FIELD: Limited health data or other information listing area.

DATA FILE: The electronic files used by a computer or on its connected network; a photographic image .jpeg file; a MSFT WORD© file with .doc extension, etc.

DATA GRANULARITY: The degree of health, medical or other information detail and specificity.

DATA INDEPENDENCE: Static application program that allows physical or logical architectural structural changes.

DATA INTEGRITY: Secured health data protected from malicious mischief that has not been altered in an unauthorized manner; covers data in storage, during processing, and while in transit; the property that information has not been altered or destroyed in an unauthorized manner (ASTM E1762-95); precision; correctness; accuracy and timeliness.

DATA INTERCHANGE STANDARD (DIS): X12 HIPAA health data transmission standard format.

DATA INTERCHANGE STANDARD ASSOCIATION (DISA): The organization that provides X12 HIPAA transmission standards and formats.

DATA LEAKAGE: Minute and almost undetectable amounts of computer file storage or program loss.

DATA LINK: The union of two or more pieces of separately recorded electronic healthcare information.

DATA LINK LAYERS: The ISO/OSI reference model or seven tiered standard for computer network communications: application, presentation, session, transport, network, data and physical.

DATA MANAGEMENT: Usually a large sub-sector of a major database management system.

DATA MAP: The integration and matching of one set of health data codes to another set of codes; cross-walking.

DATA MARK: Data base warehouse derivation focused on single topic; medical or other information database that is user-friendly.

DATA MIGRATION: Ability to transfer health, medical or other data from a legacy big-iron and enterprise wide computer system, to PCs or linked networks.

DATA MINING: The electronic analysis of large databases in search of cohort commonalities, patterns and useful trends; medical data and health status outcomes analysis algorithms.

DATA MODEL: The electronic storage, architecture or format required to assist a medical, healthcare or other business entity.

DATA ORIGIN AUTHENTICATION: The verification that the source of electronic data received is as claimed.

DATA ORIGINATOR: One who generates medical, health or other information; patient, provider, payer, CE or healthcare facility.

DATA ORIGINATOR AUTHENTICATION: Verification of healthcare or electronic medical or other information for security purposes.

DATA OVERFLOW: Internal computer file offset time delay.

Data Project Manager (DPM): One responsible for health date for a predetermined period, with the following general security responsibilities:

1. Secures Areas: The clinical workstation, mobile or stationary, is accessed by authorized personnel only. Access is normally controlled using a network-operating system generated password. The password should be changed at given intervals. Some organizations use biometric devices, such as retinal scanners for authentication.
2. Equipment Security: A system of inventory and maintenance is used for all IT equipment, including warranties and maintenance contracts. Servers and mainframes are normally installed and maintained in secure cooled environments.
3. General Controls: In order to prevent unauthorized access, damage, and interference to business premises and information, the following measures should be put in place:

• Provide all personnel with security training.
• Require personnel to report access to a particular area of the healthcare system by anyone who does not have authorized access.
• Document security policies and procedures;
• Secure workstations and personnel security mechanisms to prevent loss, damage, or compromise of assets and interruption to business activities and to prevent compromise or theft of information and information-processing facilities.
• Require IT staff to keep a secure tracking of personnel equipment inventories and secure the workstations so that unauthorized duplication of information is not possible.

DATA RATE: Baud information transfer speed.

Data Recovery: Restoration of physically damaged or corrupt healthcare or other data on a computer disk or tape; older disks and tapes can become corrupted due to hardware failure, bad software and viruses, as well as from power failures that occur while the magnetic media is being written.

Data Repository: The portion of any information system that accepts, files, and stores medical data and other information from various sources.

DATA RETRIEVAL: The extraction or accessibility of protected healthcare storage information.

DATA SECURITY: The authentication and/or access management control process used to protected healthcare information.

DATA SET: Medical, health other information elements suitable for a specific use.

Data storage: The retention of health care information pertaining to an individual in an electronic format.

DATA STREAM: The undifferentiated flow of medical, health or other information across a computer network.

DATA SUBJECT: Patient whose protected electronic health information is stored, manipulated, transmitted, or retrieved.

DATA TAG: A formatted word in JAVA® scripting code that electronically transmits website page scripting information through query string standards.

DATA TERMINAL READY (DTR): Modem access availability to an incoming electronic transmission.

DATA USER: One with an authentic and secure need to used, store, alter or retrieve protected electronic health, medical or other information.

DATA VALIDATION: Any method to determine the accuracy and completeness of health or other data using checksum and check digits tests, key tests and format tests, etc.

DATA WHAREHOUSE: A database, repository, data bank or data mart.

DATUM: Any single medical, health or other fact or bit of information.

DAUGHTER BOARD: A board within another circuit board; additional memory, accelerator card, etc; motherboard.

DeBAYER: To decode a computer image to a full color one.

DeBRANTES, FRANCOIS: National Health Coordinator for Bridges to Excellence

dead bolt lock:  A lock that extends a solid metal bar into the door frame for extra

security.

DEAD LINK: A broken or non-functional HTML web page address.

Dead Lock Condition: The stalemate that occurs when two elements in an electronic process are each waiting for the other to respond; for example, in a health network, if one doctor is working on file A and needs file B to continue, but another doctor is working on file B and needs file A to continue, each one waits for the other, both are temporarily locked-out.

DEAD START: To cold boot-up a computer system.

DEADLY EMBRACE: The impasse that occurs when two data elements are each waiting for the other to respond and are temporarily locked out.

DEADSPOT: Geographic area void of cell phone, wi-fi other mobility signals; slang term.

DEBIT CARD: Smart bank card used to immediately draw cash from a secured checking or other current account; electronic check.

DEBUG: To remove unwanted, erroneous or broken coding errors from a software program; slang term.

DECAY: To reduce signal or electronic charge strength.

DECIBEL: Unit of loudness or signal strength measure (dB); 1/10 of a bell; Alexander Graham Bell.

DECISION TREE: Hierarchical treatment or other algorithm or knowledge-based selection choice system; medical and/or electronic decision support system.

Decision-Support System (DSS): Computer tools or applications to assist physicians in clinical decisions by providing evidence-based knowledge in the context of patient-specific data; examples include drug interaction alerts at the time medication is prescribed and reminders for specific guideline-based interventions during the care of patients with chronic disease; information should be presented in a patient-centric view of individual care and also in a population or aggregate view to support population management and quality improvement.

DECODE: The conversion of coded data or information back to its original form.

DECOMPRESS: To restore compressed data or information back to its original size; lossy.

DECRYPTION: To decode a secure or encrypted message, data, file or program; opposite of encryption; changing an encrypted message back to its original form.

DEDICATED LINE: Always available, always-on, telephone line, data line or data port, etc; a  permanent telephone line reserved exclusively for one patient, accessible all hours of the day; usually offer better quality than standard telephone lines, but may not significantly augment the performance of data communications; a leased or private line.

DEDICATED SERVER: Computer used only as a network system server.

DE FACTO: A standard or widely used format or language.

DEFAULT: Basic computer selection choice without manual intervention.

DEFAULT DRIVE: A non specified computer disk drive.

DEFAULT ROUTE: Alternate network address for unlisted data packets.

DEFENSE-in-DEPth: Multilayered security countermeasures that provide several lines or hurdles of defense.

definition files: Files that contain updated antivirus information.

DEFORD, DREXEL: Former MS-HUG Past-Chairman and VP/CIO, Scripps Health Care Systems.

DEFRAG(GER): A computer software utility program that removes ambient data from a hard or floppy disk, or other storage device.

DEFRAG(MENT)(ATATION): To reorganize the files of a computer disk into contiguous order because the operating system stores new data in whatever free space is available and data files become scattered across the disk as they are updated; this causes the read/write head to move around all over the disk to read back the data; a defragmented disk can speed up backup procedures and facilitate restoration of backed up files.

DEGAUSS: The removal of potentially damaging magnetic fields from a computer system, file or storage unit; gauss is a unit of measure for magnetic strength; Carl Friedrich Gauss.

De-identified Health Information: Protected health information that is no longer individually identifiable health information; a covered entity may determine that health information is not individually identifiable health information only if: (1) a person with appropriate knowledge of and experience with generally accepted statistical and scientific principles and methods for rendering information not individually identifiable determines that the risk is very small that the information could be used, alone or in combination with other available information, to identify an individual, and documents the methods and results of the analysis; or (2) the following identifiers of the individual, relatives, employers or household members of the individual are removed:

• Name; (2) Street address, city, county, precinct, zip code and equivalent geocodes; (3) All elements of dates (except year) for dates directly related to an individual and all ages over 89; (4) Telephone number; (5) Fax number; (6) Electronic mail address; (7) Social Security Number; (8) Medical record numbers; (9) Health plan ID numbers; (10) Account numbers (11) Certificate/license numbers; (12) Vehicle identifiers and serial numbers, including license plate numbers; (13) Device identifiers and serial numbers (14) Web addresses (URLs); (15) Internet IP addresses; (16) Biometric identifiers, including finger and voice prints; (17) Full face photographic images and any comparable images; and (18) Any other unique identifying number, characteristic or code.

DE-IDENTIFY: To remove specific identity descriptors from health or other information; blind.

DejaNews©: A Usenet news-group search engine; Google© group.

DE JOUR: A standards organization for computer languages or file formats.

DEL: Computer keyboard delete button.

DELAY: Time lag between input, and the appearance of selected date or output figures.

DELBANCO, SUZANNE, PhD: CEO, Leapfrog Group.

DELETE: To remove, erase, over-write or destroy a computer file.

DELIBERATE THREAT: Potential willful and malicious security intrusion of a computer, server or network.

DELIMITER: The beginning and end of a computer program or application.

DELINQUENT HEALTH RECORD: An incomplete health file or medical data chart.

DELL COMPUTER CORPORATION®: A leading direct manufacturer of personal computers with large healthcare division founded by Michael Dell of Austin, Texas in 1984.

DELPI©: PASCAL-like object orientated computer language.

DELURK: To remove a chat room visitor who reads and watches conversations without input or conversation.

DEMODULATION: Analog to digital conversion with a modem or similar unit; reverse of modulation.

DEMON DIALER: Automated phone or computer system that attempts a blast phone connection or wireless connection with multiple receiving devices; cell phones, PDAs, etc; war dialer usually for advertising purposes.

DENIAL OF SERVCE (DOS): The prevention of authorized access to resources or the delaying of time-critical operations; the first mass distributed DoS attack hit Amazon®, eBay®, Microsoft® and Yahoo®, in 2000.

DENIAL OF SERVICE ATTACK (DOSA): Purposeful computer network non-availability usually due to simultaneously shared resource overload; wireless bogus content flood in a wired computer network.

DENTAL CONTENT COMMITTEE: ADA committee responsibly for dental billing codes, sets and administrative standards.

DENTAL INFORMATICS: The access, management, storage and secure retrieval of dental information.

Department of Health and Human Services: The federal government department that has overall responsibility for implementing HIPAA.

DERIVATIVE: Reused information at the computer system application level.

DESCRIPTION: 45 CFR 162.103 Text that defines a code set.

DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS: Mathematic data presentation in the form of visual and impressions and verbal descriptions.

Descriptor: The text defining a code in a code set; 45 CFR 162.103.

DESELECT: Computer command to work with another object.

Designated Code Set: A medical code or administrative code set designated by HHS for use in one or more of the HIPAA standards.

Designated Content Committee (DCC): An organization designated by HHS for oversight of the business data content of one or more of the HIPAA-mandated transaction standards.

designated record set: Contains medical and billing records and any other records that a physician and/or medical practice utilizes for making decisions about a patient;  a hospital, emerging healthcare organization, or other healthcare organization is to define which set of information comprises “protected health information” and which set does not; contains medical or mixed billing records, and any other information that a physician and/or medical practice utilizes for making decisions about a patient.  It is up to the hospital, EHO, or healthcare organization to define which set of information comprises “protected health information” and which does not though logically this should not differ from locale to locale.  The patient has the right to know who in the lengthy data chain has seen their PHI. This sets up an audit challenge for the medical organization, especially if the accountability is programmed, and other examiners view the document without cause.

DESIGNATED STANDARD: HIPAA standard as assigned by the department of HHS.

DESKTOP: Computer used on or under a desk or other surface with rectangular base or tower model; only the monitor, keyboard, printer and mouse; placed on the user’s desk.

DESKTOP PUBLISHING: Computer programs and applications used to create documents, tables, graphs and page layouts for electronic and print publishing; MSFT Publisher©, Adobe Indesign©, Serif Page Plus© PageMaker©and QuarkXPress©, etc.

DESTINATION DISK: Computer source file used to copy onto another disk; floppy.

Destruction Due to Disaster: A covered entity or hospital’s attempt to safeguard health information records and other documents in structurally safe, fire-resistant, and water-resistant storage environments; general safeguarding will ensure that combustible and/or hazardous chemicals and materials are maintained in a supervised environment with minimal risk for damage to hospital property; at all times, the CE and hospital will meet building and fire codes and OSHA guidelines:

• Flooding/Water Damage: Health records are maintained in permanent storage in shelves raised from the floor to prevent flooding and/or water damage; should flooding or water damage occur, every attempt is to be made to remove health records from the area with removal beginning on the lower shelves first, working upwards; if records cannot be removed prior to water damage, the health information management specialist and the administrative team will meet to determine what recovery mechanisms are feasible based on age and type of records, insurance coverage, costs, long-term damage, etc; if salvage operations are recommended, the health information management specialist will contact a reputable salvage vendor (AHIMA recommendation).
• Fire and Other Damage: If records cannot be removed prior to fire or other damage, the health information management specialist and the administrative team will meet to determine what recovery mechanisms are feasible based on age and type of records, insurance coverage, costs, long-term damage, etc; if salvage operations are recommended, the health information management specialist will contact a reputable salvage vendor (AHIMA recommendation).

DESTRUCTIVE MEMORY: Computer recollection that loses content after being read.

Detect and Contain: The ability to notice and respond to an IT security breach as an essential portion of an effective health information technology security capability; achieved by incorporating detection, analysis, and response components into the organization’s intranet, as illustrated below.

DETMER, DONALD, E, MD: Professor of Surgery and Business Administration and Vice President for Health Information Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville.

DEV: UNIX directory device link.

DEVICE: Any input/output computer system peripheral component.

DEVICE DRIVER: A software program that controls a peripheral computer device through the operating system.

device lock: A steel cable and a lock used to secure a notebook computer.

DEVICE ID: Unique name given to computer hardware under plug-n-play architecture.

DEVICE MANAGER: OS feature to view and alter software properties attached to a computer and related devices.

DEWEY, FORBES, C; PhD: Director, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA.

DHHS RULE: Attempt to define medical data and PHI security standards as a set of scalable, technology-neutral requirements with implementation features that covered entities, providers, plans, and clearinghouses would have to include in their operations to ensure that electronically maintained or electronically transmitted health information pertaining to an individual patient remains safeguarded.

Diagnosis (DIAGNOSTIC) Code: The first ICD-9-CM diagnosis code describes the principal diagnosis; remaining codes are the ICD-9-CM diagnosis codes corresponding to additional conditions that coexisted at the time of hospital admission, or developed subsequently, and which had an effect on the treatment received or the length of stay.

DIAGNOSIS (DIAGNOSTIC) CREEP: Increased medical acuity coding of an illness, disease, injury or treatment in order to increase reimbursement in a fee-for-service system; diagnostic upgrading; slang term.

DIAGNOSIS AND STATISTICAL MANUAL OF MENTAL DISORDERS, 4th ED., REV. (DSM-IV-R):  American Psychiatric Association manual of diagnostic criteria and terminology.

Diagnosis Related Groups (DRGs): (1) System of classifying patients on the basis of diagnoses for purposes of payment to hospitals. (2) A system for determining case mix, used for payment under Medicare’s prospective payment system (PPS) and by some other payers; the DRG system classifies patients into groups based on the principal diagnosis, type of surgical procedure, presence or absence of significant co morbidities or complications, and other relevant criteria; DRGs are intended to categorize patients into groups that are clinically meaningful and homogeneous with respect to resource use; Medicare’s PPS currently uses almost 500 mutually exclusive DRGs, each of which is assigned a relative weight that compares its costliness to the average for all DRGs.

DIAGNOSTIC: Software algorithm that tests hardware and peripheral computer components.

DIAGNOSTIC PROTOCOL:  Medical pathways, algorithms or diagnosis and treatment recommendations; cook book medicine.

DIALOG BOX: Computer screen pop-up box that requests an input action.

DIALUP CONNECTION: Modem facilitated Internet or computer system connection through POTS; wired slow phone company Internet access; dial-up access, loader, box, etc.

DIALUP LINE: A two way cable used in traditional telephone networks.

DIALUP NETWORK: Process that allows a computer to be connected to a network or the Internet via a web browser using a telephone dial-up modem and land phone line.

DIAMOND, CAROL, MD: Chairman of the New York Based organization: Connecting for Health.

DICHOTOMOUS DATA: Nominal health, medical or other information units.

DIFFERENTIAL BINARY PHASE SHIFT KEYING (DBFSK): Wi-Fi modulation transmission technique.

DIFFIE: HELMAN: Public key data encryption method, protocol; VOIP security system standard.

DIFFIE, WHITFIELD, PhD: VP, Fellow and CSO of Sun Microsystems Inc®, who discovered the concept of public key cryptography in 1975, now used in health data transmissions. He is a fellow of the Marconi Foundation and is recipient of awards from the IEEE, The Electronic Frontiers Foundation, NIST, NSA, the Franklin Institute and ACM.

DIGERATI: Those knowledgeable about computers, software, hardware, peripheral components and networks; digital elite; plural; slang term.

DIGG: An internet news aggregator and medical-social book marking website.

DIGISPEAK: Online communications using acronyms for common phrases.

DIGIT: A single character numbering or binary system.

DIGITAL: Electronic and binary coded date; digital camera, computer, certificate, display, divide, fingerprint, divide, modem, photography, photo, photo, recording, video, signature, standard speech, disk, mark etc; technology that allows communications signals to be compressed for transmissions that are more efficient.

DIGITAL CAMCORDER: A digital camera/video-recorder.

DIGITAL CAMERA: Charged-Couple Device (CCD) with similar photographic/fax scanning technology; with ADC and DSP (Digital Signal Processor) capability, flash storage and optical/digital zoom and focus features; no film camera; an image producing lens system made up of one or more light-sensitive integrated circuits, a myriad of light sensitive elements, and circuits for timing, nonlinear amplification, and encoding color. 

DIGITAL CERTIFICATE: An electronic ID card used in the RSA public key encryption healthcare system; X.509v3 or higher.

DIGITAL CONVERGENCE: The integration and use of computer communications, physicians, and patients.

Digital Data System (DDS): A system for transmitting telephone traffic in digital format between major switching hubs allows digital transmission of voice and data as a component of the analog plain old telephone system (POTS).

DIGITAL DICTATION: Vocal analog conversion to digital form, usually in real-time.

DIGITAL ENVELOPE: An encrypted message that uses public and private key methods.

DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORPORATION® (DEC): Company later acquired by Compaq® in 1998, and then HP that produced the PDP8-11 computer line, VAX minicomputers, and Alpha microprocessors; founded by Ken Olson in 1956.

Digital Exchange (DAX): A computerized digital cross connection that permits specific channels from high capacity lines to split out separately so that they may be directed elsewhere.

DIGITAL FILM: A memory card for an electronic camera; replacement for traditional camera film.

Digital Image: An image formed by independent pixels, each of which is characterized by a digitally represented luminance level; for example, a popular screen size for digital images was a 1024 by 1024 matrix of pixels x 8 bits, representing 256 luminance levels.

Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM): Radiology broadband transmission imaging standards for X-rays, MRIs, CT and PET scans, etc; health IT standard transmissions platform aimed at enabling different computing platforms to share image data without compatibility problems; a set of protocols describing how radiology images are identified and formatted that is vendor-independent and developed by the American College of Radiology and the National Electronic Manufacturers Association. The standard emphasizes point-to point connection of digital medical imaging devices; DICOM 3.0 is the current version.

digital media hub: A device that receives multimedia content streamed from a computer to a stereo or home theater system; usually residing in the same cabinet as the A/V equipment, it plugs into the A/V inputs of the receiver and connects to the home network via wired or wireless Ethernet; popular for audio collections, allowing files in MP3, AAC and other formats to be organized on the computer using full-featured jukebox/player software such as iTunes® and WinAmp®.

DIGITAL RADIOLOGY: Medical digital imaging applied to x-rays, CT, PET scans and related non-invasive and invasive technology; broadband intensive imaging telemedicine.

DIGITAL RESEARCH, INC (DRI): Software company founded in 1976 by Gary Kildall to produce its CP/M computer operating system; a precursor of MS-DOS© and Windows©.

digital rights management (DRM): The control and protection of digital intellectual, medical, health data and related property.

DIGITAL SIGNAL: Discrete transmission of on/off electronic values; opposite of analog waves; public and private keys; an electrical signal in the form of discrete voltage pulses that transmit audio, video, and data as bits, which are either on or off, differing from analog signals, which are continuously varying; Communications signals may be compressed using technology, allowing efficient and reliable transmission rotes.

DIGITAL SIGNATURE: Encrypted electronic authorization with verification and security protection; private and public key infrastructure; based upon cryptographic methods of originator authentication, computed by using a set of rules and a set of parameters so that the identity of the signer and the integrity of medical or other data can be verified.

DIGITAL SIGNATURE STANDARD (DSS): Encryption technology to ensure electronic medical data transmission integrity and authentication of both sender and receiver; date and time stamps; public and private key infrastructure.

DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER LINE (DSL): High speed internet connection.

Digital telecommunications channel: Capable of transmitting high volume voice, data or compressed video signals. DS1 and DS3 are also known as T1 and T3 carriers; early transmission rates were 64 Kbps for DS0, 1.544 Mbps for DS1, and 45 Mbps for DS3.

Digital Versatile Disc (DVD): A technology that permits large amounts of data to be stored on an optical disc.

Digital Versatile Disc – Recordable (DVD-R): An optical disc technology that can record once up to 3.95 gigabytes of data on a single-sided disc and 7.9 GB on a double-sided disc.

Digital Versatile Disc – Rewriteable (DVD-RAM): An optical disc technology that can record, erase, and re-record data and has a capacity of 2.6 GB (single side) or 5.2 GB (double side).

Digital Versatile Disc – Rewriteable (DVD+RW) and Digital Versatile Disc – Rewriteable (DVD-RW): An optical disc technology that allows data to be recorded, erased, and re-recorded.

DIGITAL VIDEO DISK (DVD): Optical reader with writers exceeding X-48 speeds.

DIGITAL WATERMARK: Permanent and imperceptible images embedded into works by copyright owners.

DIGITIZE: To convert an electronic wave signal from analog, to on/off values; the process by which analog, or continuous, information is transformed into digital, or discrete, information; because most computers are only capable of processing digital information and visual information is inherently in analog format, this process is essential in computer imaging applications.

DIJANGO: Open source web application derivative language of the Python computer language; used to build web applications with less code work.

DIMMED: A computer function that is not available for use.

DIP SWITCH: Dual-in-line package alternatives used to configure computer or networked hardware options.

DIRECT ACCESS: Data storage entry that is independent of physical computer locations.

Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS): A satellite designed with adequate power so that inexpensive earth stations, or downlinks; may by used for direct residential, health organization or business reception.

Direct Capture: A procedure by which medical image data are formed directly from the original source allowing a high quality image reproduction; images created from image files are identical to the original, regardless of the device used to capture them, such as a CT, PET scan or an MRI.

DIRECT DATA ENTRY (DDE): The instantaneous and real time input of PHI from one computer source to another.

Direct Digital Imaging: Involves the capture of digital medical images so that they can be electronically transmitted for telemedicine purposes.

DIRECT MEMORY ACCESS (DMA): System that can control computer memory without using the Central Processing Unit (CPU).

DIRECT MEMORY ACCESS CONTROLLER: Independent system switch that can control computer memory without using the Central Processing Unit (CPU); enhancing speed.

Direct treatment relationship: That synergy between an individual and a health care provider that is not an indirect treatment relationship.

DIRECTORY: A hard disk or electronic folder device for computer file name storage; an Internet search engine that organizes indices and topics.

DIRECTORY REPLICATION: To copy or mirror a set of master data directories; from export server to input server.

DIRECTORY WINDOW: The File Manager screen in Windows©

DIRECT-X®: Windows multimedia application program interface which enables developers to access hardware without additional software specific code; optional sound and animation add-on functionality for Windows® multimedia presentations.

DISASTER PLAN: Various back-up methods used to recover lost data, or stay live and online in the event of system or network failure, regardless of source.

DISASTER RECOVERY: Outlines procedures for recovering any loss of health data in the event of fire, vandalism, natural disaster, or system failure.

DISASTER RECOVERY PLAN: A process to restore vital health and/or critical healthcare technology systems in the event of a medical practice, clinic, hospital or healthcare business interruption from human, technical or natural causes; focuses mainly on technology systems, encompassing critical hardware, operating and application software, and any tertiary elements required to support the operating environment; must support the process requirements to restore vital company data inside the defined business requirements; does not take into consideration the overall operating environment; an emergency mode operation plan is still necessary.

DISCLOSURE: Release of PHI outside a covered entity or business agreement space, under HIPAA; the release, transfer, provision of access to or divulging of medical information outside the entity holding the information.

DISCLOSURE HISTORY: The methods in which CEs and BAs have dealt with PHI in the past.

DISCRETE SPEECH: Spoken language with pauses between words used for computer speech recognition software programs.

Discretionary access control (DAC): Limits computer or network access by restricting a subject’s access to an object; generally used to limit a user’s access to a file as it is the owner of the file who controls other users’ accesses to the file.

Dish: An antenna shaped like a parabola that is the essential component of a satellite earth station, or downlink.

DISINFECTANT: A utility program that quickly erases all traces of how a computer system was used; removes user’s tracks and e-fingerprints sites visited, cookies, etc.

DISK: Fast rotating device, usually magnetic, used for the storage of electronic information, files, programs; floppy disk, hard disk, optical disk, Zip-disk; disk copy, crash, directory, farm, interface, jacket, memory, unit, etc.

DISK ARRAY: A computer optimized to be single-purpose storage appliances that can hold 30-50 terabytes, or more, of health information spread over multiple large-capacity hard drives and all managed by a powerful central processing unit.

DISK BURN(ING): CDs optical storage method supported by Windows XP©; not DVDs.

DISK DEFRAGMENTER: A computer software utility program that removes ambient data from a hard or floppy disk, or other storage device and enhances performance and speed.

DISK DRIVE: The motor that rotate a data storage hard drive, as well as the read/write heads and all related mechanisms.

DISK DUPLEXING: Fault tolerant and redundant safe-guard storage device on two hard drives with separate channels and controls, for security and safety; speedy.

DISK FARM: A storage room full of computer disks.

DISK FORMAT: Data organization scheme on a floppy, hard, optical, flash or other drive.

Disk Fragment: A piece of a file written to a hard drive often in multiple fragments because there is no contiguous space available large enough to store the file.

Disk Fragmentation: A condition where data is stored in non-contiguous areas on disk; as files are updated, new data are stored in available free space, which may or may not be contiguous; fragmented files cause extra head movement, which slows disk accesses; a defragmenter program such as Diskeeper® is used to rewrite and reorder the files.

Disk Head (Read/Write Head): A device which reads (senses) and writes (records) data on a magnetic disk (hard disk or floppy disk) or tape by discharging electrical impulses recorded as tiny magnetized spots of positive or negative polarity; when reading, the surface is moved past the read/write head, and the bits that are present induce an electrical current across the gap.

Disk Intensive: Characterizing a process that requires reading from, and writing to a computer disk.

DISK MIRRORING: Fault tolerant storage technique that automatically or independently saves and copies vital electronic date on two physical disks drives on the same channel, for less for security and safety than found in disk duplexing methods; copy.

DISK OPERATING SYSTEM (DOS): A series of IBM compatible programs that control computer and related components; operating system.

DISK PACK: Circular magnetic surfaces for electronic medical information, heath data or other file storage.

DISK STRIP: Fault tolerant security storage technique that distributes data with-parity AID 5) or non-parity (RAID 0) across three or more; or two physical disks, respectively.

Disk Track: The storage channel on a computer disk or tape; on magnetic disks (hard disks, floppy disks, etc.), tracks are concentric (having a common center) circles.

Disk Volume: A physical storage unit, such as a hard disk, floppy disk or CD-ROM, etc.

DISKETTE: Magnetic electronic data memory and circular storage device (floppy) that is small, flexible and transferable; first introduced in 1971 by Alan Shugart of IBM; sizes vary:

• 8.00 inch: A read-only format which later became a read-write format.
• 5.25 inch: Common size for pre 1987 PCs, typically 360K and 1.2MB.
• 3.50 inch: Larger storage capacity than predecessors, from 400K to 1.4MB of data; most common sizes for PCs were 720K DD and 1.44MB HD; Macintosh supported disks of 400K, 800K, and 1.2MB

DISKLESS PC: Computer terminal void of hard-drive functionality and used as an alternative to traditional thin client servers, and blades; hybrid.

DISPLAY CODES: User set parameters for the display of electronic search classification sets.

DISPOSABLE smart card: Plastic card with magnetic strip holding a predetermined amount of electronic money storage and used as cash for transactions; i.e., a $25 cell phone card.

Disposal: The final disposition of health or other electronic data, and/or the hardware on which electronic data is stored.

DISTANCE LEARNING: Obtaining online distance education from a remote teaching site; usually but not always live and asynchronous, but absent a united physical location (www.CertifiedMedicalPlanner.com) and (www.HealthDictionarySeries.com).

DISTRIBUTED COMPUTER ENVIRONMENT (DCE): Independent client server platform with separate operating system and network that is geographically dispersed but connected by a wide are network (WAN), or local area network (LAN).

DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING: A web of many computer users connected to specialized medical system, programs or applications, usually with broadband connectivity.

DISTRIBUTED DATABASE: Database protected and stored in more than one physical location ad server; databank implemented on a computer system server.

DISTRIBUTED DENIAL OF SERVICE ATTACK (DDOSA): Occurs when hundreds of computer systems attempt to simultaneously connect with a network, denying access to legitimate users.

DISTRIBTED INTELLIGENCE: A data base, medical or other data bank distributed among sever computer system servers used to function as part of a larger enterprise wide clinical decision support system; medical specialty specific; distributed network; distributed process or list; distributed health workplace or medical group.

Distributed Intranet: A health organization’s intranet typically dispersed physically and interconnected by circuits that are frequently not controlled by the medical organization, or HIPAA covered entity, as illustrated below.

DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING: Multiple-linked computer-serves using a WAN or LAN architecture.

DISTRIBUTED SECURITY SERVICES: Healthcare organization schematic or cognitive understanding of how medical data services rest upon other services as they are logically and physically distributed across a computer network; such services depend on operating system assurance as a key element surrounding the entire enterprise; a coordinated management approach by IT team, CIO, database administrator, network administrator and all hardware and software engineers and applications that integrate the area.

DISTRO: A ready-to-use version of a complicated software program or sophisticated computer application; slang term.

DITHER: The use of a color pallet outside of the standard 216 browser safe selection; slang term.

DO: The execution keyword in the C computer programming language.

DOARN, CHARLES, R; MD: Associate Professor of Bioengineering and Executive Director for the Center of Surgical Innovation, University of Cincinnati, Ohio; co-Editor-in-Chief of Telemedicine and e-Health journal.

DOCK: To move subordinate computer programs to a new viewing window; MAC OS X® feature that keeps track of frequently used programs, applications or files; to connect a mobile or laptop computer to a base station.

DOCKING STATION: Laptop accessory used at a fixed location to charge a battery, connect to a lager monitor screen or access a network or other peripheral devices, etc.

DOCTOR: A simulated computerized psychotherapy program version of ELIZA bundled into an eMacs® editor.

DOCUMENT: A created computer file that can be modified, stored, and transmitted etc.

DOCUMENT EXCHANGE SOFTWARE: Software program that allows a file to be viewed by those without the original creation application

DOCUMENT IMAGING: The online storage, retrieval and manipulation of electronic photographs such as those used in radiology

DOCUMENTATION: Written security plans, rules, procedures, and instructions concerning all components of an entity’s security.

DO-GOODER: A computer worm, trojan or virus that is released on a network in order to find security flaws, exploits or access points in order to fix, patch or seal them; slang term.

DOMAIN: A collection of networked computers and servers that share a common communications address; the last two parts of an e-mail address or an URL signifying an organizations name on the Internet; for example, ‘aol.com’ refers to America OnLine.

DOMAIN ADDRES: Internet address in readable form.

DOMAIN CONTROLLER: Authentication management device for Windows-NT© servers and workstations.

DOMAIN HIJACK: To register a domain names for resale; hoard or poach.

DOMAIN HOARD: To register multiple unused domain names for resale; hijack or poach.

DOMAIND NAME (ADDRESS): Exact TCP/IP network name for an electronic or computing device connected to the internet; system of IP addresses developed in 1984.

DOMAIN NAME (COUNTRY): Any country web address format within the Internet field:

• United States .us
• United Kingdom .uk
• France .fr
• Finland .fi
• Germany .de
• Canada .ca
• Australia .au
• New Zealand .nz
• Singapore .sg

DOMAIN NAME (DOMESTIC): Any type of haphazard domestic web address format within the Internet field:

• commercial .com
• organization .org
• internet related .net
• international .int

DOMAIN NAME (GLOBAL): Any type of global top-level web address format within the Internet field:

• air transport .aero
• business .biz
• cooperatives .cop
• information .info
• museum .museum
• individuals .name
• professionals .pro

DOMAIN NAME SYSTEM (DNS): An Internet friendly name which converts IP numerical addresses into a URL name.

DOMAIN PARKING: Registered Internet domain names whose main purpose is to secure revenues through pay-per-click advertising.

DOMAIN POACH: To register an internet domain name for resale; hoard or hijack.

DOMAIN REGISTRAR: A company that registers domain names for profit; usually parked site with pay-per-click advertising models; i.e., Godady©.

DOMAIN SYNCHRONIZATION: Authentication device for Widows-NT© servers and workstations where a primary domain controller (PDC) updates all backup domain controllers (BDCs); manual backup also possible.

DONGLE: A mechanism for ensuring that only authorized users can copy or use specific software programs or applications; especially very expensive programs or those that contain PHI; common protective mechanisms include a hardware key that plugs into a parallel or serial port on a computer and that a software application accesses for verification before continuing to run; special key diskettes accessed in a similar manner; and registration numbers that are loaded into some form of read-only memory at the factory or during system setup.

DOORWAY: An internet page that acts as an entry or access point for an Internet site; home page; front page; slang term.

DOS: A single user disk operating system first used for the PC as the underlying control program for Windows©  3.1, 95, 98©  and ME©; Windows NT©, 2000©, XP©, Vista©,  WINDOWS 7, 8, 10  and other versions emulate DOS in order to support existing DOS applications; DOS prompt is the visual cursor indicator for user input for the MS-DOS® and WINDOWS® operating system.

DOT: The character (.) or period used in Internet address and files names.

DOT BOMB: A failed Internet business; bust.

DOT BUST: Period of bankruptcy for many Internet companies (1999-2001); failed internet or technology companies; bomb.

DOT COM: A lawful and successful Internet commercial business enterprise.

DOT COMPOST: A failed Internet business; humorous.

DOT CON: Internet money making scheme; fraudulent; humorous.

DOT GONE: A failed Internet business; humorous.

DOT MATRIX: Type of pin-head impact printer technology.

DOT NET: A business strategy from Microsoft© and its collection of programming support for what Web services or the ability to use the Web rather than a computer for various services; its goal is to provide individual and business users with a seamlessly interoperable and Web-enabled interface for applications and computing devices and to make computing activities increasingly browser-oriented, the .NET platform includes servers; building-block services, such as Web-based data storage; and device software; it also includes Passport©, Microsoft’s fill-in-the-form-only-once identity verification service.

DOT PITCH: Space between computer monitor pixels; smaller is a better indication of clarity.

DOUBLE BUFFER: The net graphic frame in an animation memory displayed while the first is still visible.

DOUBLE CLICK: Left mouse button push and release twice in rapid sequence for program or system input activation.

DOUBLE CLICK SPEED: Time lag allowed in a double-click mouse input process.

DOUBLE POST: To reply to one’s own wiki, website post, blog, etc; to speak to ones’-self; slang term.

DOWN: A computer system not available for use.

Down link: The path from a satellite to the Earth stations that receive its signals; to send electronic information from an earth orbiting satellite to a land station; down remote load server-to-client.

DOWN LOAD: To copy and save files on a computer from the internet or intranet; the process of transferring files or software from another computer to your computer.

DOWN LOADER: Computer program that automatically downloads and runs and/or installs other software without the user’s knowledge or permission; it may download updated versions of itself or constantly check for updated files.

DOWN STREAM: Unidirectional health data or other information sent from server to client.

DOWN TIME: Non functional computer or network system time.

DOWN TIME POLICY: Protocol used when a health or medical information system is inoperable.

DOWNWARD COMPATIBLE: The ability of a computer system to work with order hardware or software; backward compatible.

DRAFT STANDARDS FOR TRIAL USE (DSTU): Older terminology for standard X12 formats.

DRAG: To move an icon, file, program or other object across a computer desktop to a new location by using a mouse input device.

DRAG-DROP: To use a computer mouse to move icons, files or applications on the screen and select commands from a menu; to their destination.

DRAW: Software program to create plans, tables, graphs, diagrams, flow charts, etc: MSFT Visio©, Corel Draw©, Audodesk AutoCAD© and Adobe Illustrator©.DRG 468-470: Diagnostic Related Groups which are especially common in medical workload financial analysis:

• 468- extensive operating room procedures unrelated to primary diagnosis
• 469- primary diagnosis invalidated or not matched to discharge summary
• 470- medical records with un-group-able diagnosis
• 477- simple OR procedure not related to primary diagnosis

DRG CREEP: Slang term for Diagnostic Related Group coding creep, or upgrading / up-coding or exaggeration in order to increase reimbursement in a fee-for-service environment.

DRG RATE: Fixed monetary payment (diagnostic related group) amount based on patient averages in a based year for comparison, and adjusted for factors like inflation, dad debt, specialty, acuity or other economic factors.

DRG RISK POOL: A hospital’s diagnostic related group economic uncertainty.

DRG SPECIFIC PER-CASE PRICE: Fixed diagnostic related group payment rate used by Medicare, with risk-limits through the identification of long length of stay (LOS) cases; global fee or category DRG pricing.

DRG WEIGHT: Diagnostic Related Group assigned index used to reflect relative hospital costs.

DRIBBLEWARE: Software that is previewed and displayed before release; in need of multiple fixes, patches and corrections; vaporware; slang term.

DRILL DOWN: To follow an algorithm, menu or series of steps; checklist of increasingly finer points.

DRIVE: A mechanical-electrical device that spins tapes and computer disks at a specific speed.

DRIVER: A utility program that links an operating system to a computer peripheral device.

DROP: Releasing a mouse button in order to allow a dragged electronic icon or object to fall into its new place.

DROP DOWN LIST BOX: The list of available options from a drop down computer memory box, or icon; menu.

DRUM: A photosensitive cylinder for image receipt and paper transfer; laser printer.

DRUM STORAGE: Addressable computer data storage with magnetic rotating cylinder.

DUAL BOOT: To start-up a bi-directional computer operating system.

DUAL CORE PROCESSOR: Two CPUs that are built into one; Intel®; duo-core; coprocessor,

DUAL HOME: Primary and secondary mission critical enterprise computerized health system networked fault-tolerance level, for increase security beyond primary failure.

DUAL HOME FIREWALL: Security protocol with two different networks (pubic and private) and simultaneously acting as a gatekeeper for health data traffic access and/or secure medical information denial.

DUAL-IN-LINE PACKAGE: (DIP): Two lines used in computers and associated devices to configure hardware options.

Due Care: Health administrators and their organizations have a duty to provide for information security to ensure that the type of control, the cost of control, and the deployment of control are appropriate for the system being managed.

DUMB NETWORK: Term for a network or Intranet without Graphical User Interface (GUI), memory, storage or processing functionality, and usually associated with older mainframes and centralized computing architectures; slang term.

DUMB TERMINAL: Term for a computer without Graphical User Interface (GUI), memory, storage or processing functionality, and usually associated with older mainframes and centralized computing architectures; slang term.

DUMP: To transfer large amounts of health or other data without regard for significance or security; to copy on a large scale.

DUMPSTER DIVING: Trashcan and garbage physical searches for security information such as bank account ID numbers, SSNs, passwords, email address, etc.

DUPLEX: Electronic bidirectional communications; a transmission system permitting data to be transmitted in both directions simultaneously.

DUPLICATE DATABASE: A health information system using a central repository of clinical, non-clinical or other health data.

DURABLE: Health data and storage that is permanent and must sustain attacks and power interruptions, etc.

DURON©: An Intel Pentium© compatibly CPU made by AMD®

DURRANT, CAMERON; MD, MBA: President of PediaMed Pharmaceuticals, Inc., of Greater Cincinnati, Ohio.

DUSTY DECK: Legacy older hardware, software or peripheral electronic computer components that are still in use; slang term.

DVD: Digital Video Disk optical storage device.

DVD RECORDER: A DVD recorder storage device.

DVD ROM: A DVD containing health data or other information files, rather than video files.

DVD+RW: A DVD that can record and write for storage; compatible.

DVD WRITER: Speeds beyond 16X for DVDs and 48X for CDs.

DWEEB: An unsophisticated individual; dufuss; nerd; geek; slang term.

DXPLAIN: A clinical decision support system from the Massachusetts General Hospital which uses signs, symptoms and physical diagnosis to rank associated clinical diagnoses.

DYADIC: A computer mathematical operation on two numbers.

DYNAMIC: An operation performed while a computer program is functional.

DYNAMIC HOST CONFIGURATION PROTOCOL (DHCP): Operating system protocol for IP network information that retinas the assigned address for a timed-period or lease.

DYNAMIC IP: A non-permanent IP address automatically assigned to a host by a DHCP server.

DYNAMIC LINK: The runtime connection from one computer program to another.

DYNAMIC MEMORY ALLOCATION: Computer memory segmentation without prior specification.

DYNAMIC NETWORK: A computer health information system that delivers interactive mobile and fixed access points to freely and securely facilitate medical EDI, both on and offsite.

DYNAMIC PAGE: Am HTML webpage or website with animated icons, JPEGs, JAVA applets, GIFS, audio, visuals, etc; medical specialty specific or user preferred and variable web content and information.

DYNAMIC RAM: The most common type of computer transistor-capacitor memory which loses content when power is terminated.

DYNAMIC RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY (DRAM): Volatile and unstable RAM that needs continuous refreshment.

Dynamic Range: The characteristic of a communications or imaging system to reproduce or transmit various brightness levels.

E-H TERMINOLOGY

-E-

e: Electronic, or electrical.

e-BAY®: A popular online auction house started in 1995 in San Jose, California by Pierre Omidyar.

e-BOOK: A medical text or other tome distributed electronically.

e-Business: The use of electronic information systems (especially health internet technologies) in business processes.

e-CODE: International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Edition, Clinical Modification© code that describes an external injury or adverse medicine reaction, rather than disease or illness for medical reimbursement purposes.

e-Commerce: The use of electronic information systems (especially health internet technologies) to perform buy-sell transactions.

e-DOCUMENT: Information intended to be displayed and read on a computer monitor/screen.

e-FORM: Any electronically automated application, medical invoice, super-bill, etc.

e-Government: The delivery of government services using electronic information systems (especially medical care, politics and health internet technologies).

e-HEALTH: Emerging field in the intersection of medical informatics, public health and business, referring to health services and information delivered or enhanced through the Internet and related technologies; characterizes not only a technical development, but also a state-of-mind, attitude, and a commitment for networked, global thinking, to improve health care worldwide by using information and communication technology. 

e-HIM: Electronic health information management.

e-HIR: Electronic health information records, medical data and PHI.

e-JOURNAL: A personal or professional web based diary similar to a blog; or more traditional journal format delivered to subscribers, electronically. 

e-LEARNING: Education by means of the Internet and distant education electronic platforms (www.CertifiedMedicalPlanner.com) 

e-MAIL: Electronic message transmission from one user to another; not private; uses internet or intra-net technologies to send messages and documents to and from computers around the world in a matter of seconds; sending or receiving e-mail requires internet access and an e-mail address; electronic mail usually using an ISP (Internet Service Provider); created by Ray Tomlinson in the 1970s; health data can be transmitting to anywhere in the world for the price of a local telephone call; an email address is typically made up of a part of your name (your account name), the ‘at’ sign (@), and your domain name.

e-MAIL ADDRESS: Either a personal or web site format in the model of username @ domain name or the web site address of an URL; email address filter.

e-MAIL ATTACHMENT: A file, often malicious, sent with an e-mail message.

e-MAIL BROADCAST: To send the same message to many recipients; blast.

e-MAIL CODE (Agency): Traditionally: .gov; .edu; .com; and .net

e-MAIL CODE (Country): .au; .fr; .it; .uk; .jp; etc.

e-MAIL FORWARDING: Sending an e-mail message to its correct destination.

e-MAIL PROGRAMA: Software to enable email functionality; Mozilla’s Thunderbird©; MSFT’s Outlook and Outlook Express©, and Eudora by Qualcomm©.

e-MAIL TENNIS: Pinging or sending e-mail messages back and forth.

e-MAIL WORM: Blast e-mail delivered malicious code that may be disguised as an anti-virus program, as the Sober worm delivered in both English and German, in 2003. 

e-OFFICE: Electronic and paperless medical practice.

e-PRESCRIBING: The use of electric computers systems to enter, modify, review, output and store patient and DEA controlled-medication information. 

e-PUBLISH: The creation, production and distribution of electronic medical, healthcare and other documents.

e-ZINE: An electronic newsletter, journal or magazine; slang term

Earth Station: The ground equipment essential for receiving and/or transmitting satellite telecommunications signals.

EASTER EGG: Undocumented code hidden in a software program without direct user knowledge; usually not malicious; slang term.

ECHO: Signal repetition in a electronic communication or computer systems line.

ECKSTEIN, JULIE: Director, Missouri Health Information Technology Task Force.

ECKERT, JOHN, PRESPER (1919-1995): Professor from the University of Pennsylvania who collaborate with John Mauchly in the construction of the Electronic Integrator and Computer (ENIAC) and Binary Automatic Computer (BNAIC) using data storage on magnetic tape instead of punch cards.

ECLIPSE©: A JAVA language open source program development tool.

edit: To make changes, additions or deletions to a computer file.

EDITOR: A computer or HIT systems utility program to create and modify text files.

EFFECTOR KEY: A keyboard button that changes the meaning of other buttons or keys.Efficiency: The promises of e-health to increase medical care delivery speed, thereby decreasing costs; for example, the formation of medical error database, electronic health claims submission and through enhanced communication possibilities between health care establishments, and through patient involvement; use of these systems decrease medical errors and morbidity especially as related to prescription interactions.

EGO SURF: An internet search for one’s own name; narcissi-surf; slang term.

EGRESS FILTERING: The blockage of harmful traffic from leaving a secure network.

EHR COLLABORATIVE: Trade association of health IT professionals supporting the HL7 initiatives for electronic health records.

EHR SECURITY SERVICE MODEL: Electronic Health Records (HER) security framework that integrates HIPAA security requirements and takes into account transaction privacy, which is where many of the privacy regulations overlap with the security regulations; according to the following purposes:

• support: generic and underlie most IT security capabilities
• prevent: focused on preventing a security breach from occurring
• recover: focused on detection and recovery from a security breach

EJECT: To remove a diskette, CD, memory stick or peripheral devices etc., from a computer or similar device.

ELECTRONIC ATTESTATION: Signature certified and computer systems linked verification of medical data or PHI transmission.

ELECTRONIC BILLING: Medical, Durable Medical Equipment (DME) and related health insurance bills or premiums submitted though Electronic Data Interchange EDI (non-paper claims) systems.

ELECTRONIC CLAIM: The digital or electrical representation of a medical bill or invoice; the HIPAA 837 transactions.

ELECTRONIC COMMERCE: The purchase of products or services with online payment.

ELECTRONIC DATA INTERCHANGE (EDI): Intercompany, computer-to-computer transmission of business or health information in a standard format; direct transmission from the originating application program to the receiving, or processing, application program; an EDI transmission consists only of business or health data, not any accompanying verbiage or free-form messages; a standard format is one that is approved by a national or international standards organization, as opposed to formats developed by health industry groups, medical practices, clinics or companies; the electronic transmission of secure medical and financial data in the healthcare industrial complex; X12 and similar variable-length formats for the electronic exchange of structured health data. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) regulates security and Electronic Data Interchange (EDI).

Electronic Data Interchange Standards (EDIS): The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) set of EDI standards known as the X12 standards. These standards have been developed by private sector standards development organizations (SDOs) and are maintained by the Accredited Standards Committee (ASC) X12. ANSI ASC X12N standards, Version 4010, were chosen for all of the transactions except retail pharmacy transactions, which continue to use the standard maintained by the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP) because it is already in widespread use. The NCPDP Telecommunications Standard Format Version 5.1 and equivalent NCPDP Batch Standard Version 1.0 have been adopted in this rule (health plans will be required to support one of these two NCPDP formats). The standards are designed to work across industry and company boundaries. Changes and updates to the standards are made by consensus, reflecting the needs of the entire base of standards users, rather than those of a single organization or business sector. Specifically, the following nine healthcare transactions were required to use X12N standard electronic claim formats by October 16, 2003. Healthcare encounter claim and coordination of benefits (COB):

1. Claim payment and remittance advice
2. Healthcare claim status
3. Eligibility for a health plan
4. Referral certification and authorization
5. Enrollment & disenrollment in a health plan
6. Premium payments
7. First report of injury

ELECTRONIC DISCOVERY: Refers to any process in which electronic health or other data is sought, located, secured, and searched with the intent of using it as evidence in a civil (malpractice) or criminal (fraud) legal case; court-ordered or government sanctioned hacking for the purpose of obtaining critical evidence is also a type of e-discovery.

ELECTRONIC FORMS MANAGEMENT (EFM): Automatic and populate-able data gathering systems for medical and PHI or other information.

ELECTRONIC FUNDS TRANSFER (EFT): The non-paper based transfer of funds by electronic means.

Electronic Health care Network Accreditation Commission (EHCNAC): An organization that tests transactions for consistency within HIPAA requirements, and that accredits health care clearinghouses.

Electronic Health Record (EHR): A real-time patient health record with access to evidence-based decision support tools that can be used to aid clinicians in decision-making; the EHR can automate and streamline a clinician’s workflow, ensuring that all clinical information is communicated; prevents delays in response that result in gaps in care; can also support the collection of data for uses other than clinical care, such as billing, quality management, outcome reporting, and public health disease surveillance and reporting; electronic medical record.

ELECTRONIC MEDIA: Refers to the mode of electrical health data transmission for collaborating purposes; regardless of method or medium.

ELECTRONIC MEDICAL (MEDIA) CLAIMS (EMC): Usually refers to a flat file format used to transmit or transport medical claims, such as the 192-byte UB-92 Institutional EMC format and the 320-byte Professional EMC-NSF.

Electronic Medical Record (EMR): Hospital, clinic or medical office information systems that involves accessibility at the patient site or bedside either through bedside terminals, portable workstations, laptops, wireless tablets, and hand-held computers and personal digital assistants (i.e., PDAs, e.g. 3Com®, Palm Pilot®); inputs can either be uploaded into the main computer system after rounds or transmitted immediately to the system in the case of wireless technology; bedside technology obviates the need to re-enter data from notes after rounds are complete and improves recall and avoids redundancy in the work process, saving time that can instead be devoted to patient care; EMRs are not without drawbacks as lists below:

• Operator dependence: The term “garbage in, garbage out” (GIGO) applies to EMRs
• Variable flexibility for unique needs: A “one size fits all” misses the target; even within a hospital whose needs may change rapidly over time given the continued onslaught of external initiatives and measurement demands; systems vary in flexibility and customizability; more flexible systems are expensive.
• Data entry errors: Most notably, patient data can more easily be entered into the wrong chart due to errors in chart selection; in general, simple double-checking and “sanity checks” in the system usually catch such errors, but if unchecked the impact can be significant
• Lack of system integration: Interconnectivity of systems becomes more important with EMRs than with any other system.  Personnel use the data in many different areas.  If there are isolated departmental systems without connectivity, redundant data entry occur leading to confusion in the different departments.

Electronic Erasable Programmable read Only Memory (EEPROM): An electronic storage and memory chip.

ELECTRONIC MEDIA: Health data or medical information that includes:

• electronic memory devices in computers (hard drives) and any removable/transportable digital memory medium, such as magnetic tape or disk, optical disk, or digital memory card; or
• transmission media used to exchange information already in electronic storage media; includes the internet (wide-open), extranet (using internet technology to link a business with information accessible only to collaborating parties), leased lines, dial-up lines, private networks, and the physical movement of removable/transportable electronic storage media.

Note: Certain health data transmission, including of paper, via facsimile, and of voice, via telephone, are not considered to be transmissions via electronic media, because the information being exchanged did not exist in electronic form before the transmission.

ELECTRONIC MEDICATiON ADMINISTRATION RECORD (EMAR): An electrical file keeping computerized system for tracking clinical medication dispensation and use; integrated with TPAs, PBMs, robotic dispensing devices and CPOEs, etc.

Electronic Prescribing (eRx): A type of computer technology whereby physicians use handheld or personal computer devices to review drug and formulary coverage and to transmit prescriptions to a printer or to a local pharmacy; e-prescribing software can be integrated into existing clinical information systems to allow physician access to patient-specific information to screen for drug interactions and allergies.

Electronic Preventive Services Selector (ePSS): A digital tool for primary care clinicians to use when recommending preventive services for their patients unveiled by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), in November 2006; designed for use on a personal digital assistant (PDA) or desktop computer to allow clinicians to access the latest recommendations from the AHRQ-sponsored U.S. Preventive Services Task Force; designed to serve as an aid to clinical decision-making at the point of care and contains 110 recommendations for specific populations covering 59 separate preventive services topics; a real time search function allows a clinician to input a patient’s age, gender, and selected behavioral risk factors, such as whether or not they smoke, in the appropriate fields, while the software cross-references the patient characteristics entered with the applicable Task Force recommendations and generates a report specifically tailored for that patient.

Electronic protected health information (EPHI): All individually identifiable health information that is transmitted or maintained in electronic media.

Electronic Remittance AdviCe (ERA): Any of several electronic formats for explaining the payments of health care claims.

ELECTRONIC SIGNATURE: Various date and time stamped electronic security verification systems, such as passwords, encryption, ID numbers, biometrics identifiers, etc; electrical transmission and authentication of real signatories; signatory attribute that is affixed to an electronic health document to bind it to a particular entity; an electronic signature process secures the user authentication (proof of claimed health identity, such as by biometrics (fingerprints, retinal scans, hand written signature verification, etc.), tokens or passwords) at the time the signature is generated; creates the logical manifestation of signature (including the possibility for multiple parties to sign a medical document and have the order of application recognized and proven) and supplies additional information such as time stamp and signature purpose specific to that user; and ensures the integrity of the signed document to enable transportability, interoperability, independent verifiability, and continuity of signature capability; verifying a signature on a document verifies the integrity of the document and associated attributes and verifies the identity of the signer; there are several technologies available for user authentication, including passwords, cryptography, and biometrics (ASTM 1762-95).

Electronic Software DIstribution (ESD): Providing new software and upgrades by the Internet or over a network instead of individual packaged (shrink-wrapped) installations on each machine. 

ELEVATOR: A vertical roll page and square box scroll bar used to change computer text or screen pages; scroll box; scroll bar.

ELITE HACKER: Highly trained and experienced professionals engineer who possesses great computer system security intrusion skills; intermediate and novice hackers.

ELLIPSEs: The use of three dots (…) to indicate a trailing thought Ellison, IKE: Chairman of MS-HUG® and VP Business Dev NextGen Healthcare Information Systems®.

ELLISON, LAWRENCE, J: The co-founder and CEO of Oracle Corporation® since June 1977; MSFT SQL Server is a major product competitor; Linux OS distributor.

EMBEDDED FONT: Print style or format included in a transmitted file to ensure correct production.

EMBEDDED HYPERLINK: A clickable link as part of a menu or e-mail message.

EMBEDDED LINK: A hyperlink within a text page or webpage.

EMC CORPORATION®: Maker of enterprise-wide intelligent storage and retrieval technology designed for all major server environments; Hopkinton, MA.

Emergency mode operation: Access controls in place that enable an enterprise to continue to operate in the event of fire, vandalism, natural disaster, or system failure.

EMERGENCY MODE OPERATION PLAN (EMOP): A pro-active action plan that defines how a healthcare business entity will operate under less than optimal conditions. The intent is to train and prepare employees in what is required to maintain operational integrity throughout the enterprise.

EMOTAG: An e-text, email message emoticon, attitude, usually within angled brackets, etc., i.e., <humorous>.

EMOTICON: Sideways viewed email or text message characters that convey an attitude, emotion; emotional message typed in an e-mail using standard keyboard characters; a form of electronic smiley or small face made out of keyboard characters; i.e. J or sad ;-).

EMPLOYEE: One who works for another entity, or employer.

EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCEDURE: Establishes a procedure for changing physical or electronic locking mechanisms, both on a recurring basis and when personnel knowledgeable of combinations no longer have need to know or require access to a protected health facility or medical system; includes the removal from access lists to establish a procedure to ensure physical eradication of an entity’s access privileges; remove user accounts and ensure terminating employees turn in keys, tokens, or cards that allow access (preferably before termination).

Employer: The covered health-entity for whom an individual performs or performed any service, of whatever nature, as the employee of that entity except that:

• if the entity for whom the individual performs or performed the services does not have control of the payment of wages for those services, the term “employer” means the entity having control of the payment of the wages; and
• in the case of an entity paying wages on behalf of a nonresident alien individual, foreign partnership, or foreign corporation, not engaged in trade or business within the United States, the term “employer” means that entity.
• any entity acting directly as an employer, or indirectly in the interest of an employer, in relation to an employee benefit plan and includes a group or association of employers acting for an employer in that capacity.

EMPOWERMENT: Patient and evidence based access to health care knowledge; an AMA review of Internet based health information suggested that not all medical information is reliable, and that one needs multiple sites for a correct view of a particular medical condition.

EMULATION: Software program which allows one operating system to mimic another and uses both systems; PC to Macintosh® bridge program.

ENABLE: Healthcare information exchange and communication in a standardized way between health care establishments; HIPAA implementation standardize health information communication formats and e-health coding conventions.

ENABLING TECHNOLOGY: Any new electronic soft or hardware device that facilitates health or other data interchange.

Encapsulated PostScript: A file format that supports both vector graphics and bitmap images and usually used for combination artwork or charts and graphs; encapsulated security payload.

ENCAPSULATION: The technique of embedding or imprinting one network protocol inside of another; to set up a virtual tunnel by using header and trailer transmission packets.

ENCODE: To designate a health data code or to encrypt a message containing PHI or other medical information, etc.

ENCODER: A device that assigns a data code for protected health information.

ENCOUNTER: Face to face interaction between a medical provider and patient; now may be facilitated electronically and in real-time with audio, visual and web cameras, etc.

Encounter Data: Detailed data about individual services provided by a capitated managed care entity; the level of detail about each service reported is similar to that of a standard claim form; sometimes referred to as medical “shadow claims”.

ENCRYPTED VIRUS: Malicious software that is coded to prevent removal or detection; Cascade variant.

ENCRYPTION: The ability to securely change, transmit and receive medical health or other data and the reconstitute it into useable information, regardless of methodology; the most common form of wireless encryption is Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) and Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA); to encode, mix or garble an electronic message for healthcare or other security and authentication purposes; transforming confidential plaintext into cipher medical text to protect it; encipherment; an algorithm combines plaintext with other values called keys, or ciphers, so the data becomes unintelligible; once encrypted, data can be stored or transmitted over unsecured lines; decrypting data reverses the encryption algorithm process and makes the plaintext available for further processing.

ENDPOINT SECURITY: Security strategy where software is distributed to end-user devices but centrally managed and works on a client-server which verifies logins and sends updates and patches when needed; doctors nurses; medical technicians; etc.

ENGINE: A computer systems program that determines how another program manages or manipulates health or medical data or other electronic and archived information.

ENIAC: (ELECTRONIC NUMERICAL INTEGRATOR AND COMPUTER). The first computer built in 1946 with 18,000 vacuum tubes, 8 by 100 feet wide and 80 tons, which could perform 5,000 summation problems in 360 multiplications per second.

Enterprise: An entire healthcare or other organization (including subsidiaries) which implies a large corporation or government agency, but may also refer to an entity of any size with many systems and health information technology users to manage.Enterprise Architecture (EA): A strategic resource that aligns health business and technology, leverages shared assets, builds internal and external partnerships, and optimizes the value of information technology services; Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996.

ENTERPRISE MASTER PATIENT INDEX (EMPI): Electronic communications system used to integrate patient medical, administrative and PHI across multiple business platforms associated with ID management and access.

ENTERPRISE NETWORK: Multiple computers and servers connected over a small or large geographic areas; LAN, MAN and/or WAN

ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING (ERP): The use of medical information technology to facilitate all healthcare entity-wide operations and tasks.

ENTERPRISE SEARCH: Internet/intranet enabled premium and meaning-based, information and access solution search engine; like Vivisimo©, Oracle Search©, Endeca©, Fast© and Autonomy© 

ENTERPRISE USER AUTHENTICATON (EUA): An access control computer management system using  secure sign-in verification and identification; based on the Kerberos (RFC 1510) Needham-Schroeder protocol; and Health Level 7 CCOW standard.

ENTITY: Either a subject (an active element that operates on information or the system state) or an object (a passive element that contains or receives information); a legal business structure type (PC, Inc, LLC, S or C corp., etc).

Entity authentication: The corroboration that a medial or health care entity is the one claimed. (ISO 7498-2); a communications/network mechanism to irrefutably identify authorized users, programs, and processes, and to deny access to unauthorized users, programs and processes

ENUMERATOR: HIPAA issued identification numbers; to identify hardware and peripheral devices of a computer system.

ENVELOPE: The almost invisible outline enclosing an object, icon or symbol.

ENVIRONMENT: A specific hardware or software configuration with operating system.

ENVIRONMENTAL VIRUS: A relatively harmless newsgroup computer code that locates directories where targets reside; first appeared in 1994 as the KAOS4 variant.

EPHI RISK ANALYSIS: Protected Health Information in Electronic Form (PHIEF) protocol that suggests basic steps be considered when conducting a health IT risk analysis, such as an inventory to determine assets needing protection; by using the following as a starting point to identify where EPHI is received, stored and transmitted, and who has access to it:

• Hardware: computers, radiology storage devices, medical equipment, front-end processors, workstations, modems
• Information networks: servers, communication lines, internal and external connectivity, remote access
• Applications: database and application software, operating systems, utilities, compilers, encryption tools, procedure libraries
• Physical facilities: heating, ventilation and cooling systems; furniture; supplies; machinery; fire control systems; storage
• Other assets: records and data, policies and procedures, customer confidence. 

Equal Access: The ability to choose between various long distance telephone carriers; in more remote areas, some local exchange carriers are still serviced by only one long distance carrier.

Equipment control (ingress-egress): Documented security procedures for bringing hardware and software into and out of a health facility and for maintaining a record of that equipment; includes, but is not limited to, the marking, handling, and disposal of hardware and storage media

EQUITY: Suggestion that e-health may deepen the gap between with technology access and those without; possibility that underdeveloped nations or domestic economic sectors that would benefit the most from e-health technology will not be able to access the systems.

ERASE: To delete a medical, healthcare or other data file on an operating system; or to make it available for new data.

ERGONOMICS: Functional Product design and use based on human physical work requirements.

ERISA: Employment Retirement Income Security Act (U.S.C. Title 29, U.S. Code sections 1001)

ERROR MESSAGE: Text that indicates computer system malfunction.

ESCAPE CODE: Computer code for a character or symbol that can not be typed or inputted with a normal keyboard.

ETHERNET: LAN transmission standards, like 10BASE-T, developed jointly by DEC, Intel and Xerox with wired network IEEE 802.3 specifications; developed by Robert Metcalfe in the 1970’s.

ETHICS: Form of e-health that involves patient-physician interaction and poses new challenges and threats, such as online professional practice, informed consent, privacy and equity issues; for example, some suggest that physicians limit email because of liability and security reasons; legal debates for patients and physicians to conduct on-line health systems.

ETHICAL HACK: Attempting to break into a computer system in order to find errors, holes or other security hazards to improve security; protection technique; white hat hacker; slang term.

EUDORA®: An early free email program developed by Steven Dorner in 1988.

EUREKSTER: An online amateur search-engine or mashup; slang term.

European Technical Committee for Normalization (CEN): An international agency responsible for setting standards in health care informatics and medical data manipulation.

EVALUATION AND MANAGEMENT: Medical provider patient contact code for diagnosis, assessment and counseling reported with CPT-4 Codes for payment.

EVEN PARITY: Data parity method set at an even number of “1” bits or words; checksum.

EVEN SMALLS: An all lower case typed message.

EVENT: Computer end user generated response; action or occurrence.

EVENT DRIVEN PROGRAM: A computer system that responds to incidents rather than following a program or application; machine controlled computers.

EVENT LOG: Journal of electronic data, information and error messages; event log.

EVENT REPORT: Any computer or network message indicating operational irregularities in physical elements of a network or a response to the occurrence of a significant task, typically the completion of a request for information.

EVIDENCED BASED MEDICINE (EBM): Scientific evidence of intervention effectiveness that replaces traditional healthcare assumptions; a public-academic collaboration to provide empirical medicine models; only 20% of medical protocols follow EBM, integrating individual clinical experience with the best available external clinical evidence from systematic research and health informatics when making decisions about patient care.

EVIL TWIN: A malicious wireless computer hotspot that appears credible.

EVIL TWIN INTERCEPT: Unauthorized wireless access point used to connect and disclose sensitive medical data or PHI.

EVOLUTION DATA OPTIMIZED (EVDO): A wireless radio broadband standard which takes the form of a PC card slipped into a laptop computer to obtain Internet connectivity anywhere cell phone service is available.

EXABYTE: 1024 terabytes capacity.

EXCEL®: An electronic spreadsheet program from MSFT, first released in 1985.

EXCEPTION: An unauthorized electrical data transmission, void of secure protocol.

EXCHANGE SERVER©: A MSFT collaborative program for email.

EXCITE®: An Internet search engine using Intelligent Concept Extraction (ICE) technology.

EXE FILE: An executable machine language file program for DOS and Windows©

EXECUTE: To initiate computer systems instructions to product work product; a computer program that can be run or used.

EXECUTIVE DASHBOARD: Electronic synopsis of real time managerial data and information; physician, nurse or medical provider specific dashboard.

EXIT: To close a computer file, program, application, etc.

EXL®: Commercial grade Internet access, often bundled with VPNs, anti-spam, virus and pop-up blockers, firewalls, etc.

EXPANDED MEMORY: Addition memory beyond the typical DOS or Windows/Intel© based computer; beyond standard Wintel systems > 1-10 MB

EXPERT SYSTEMS: Software application program with a distinct and deep subject matter knowledge base; as in medicine and healthcare; computer program developed to simulate human decisions in a specific field or fields; branch of artificial intelligence; medical or clinical decision making algorithm; cookbook medicine; sling term.

EXPLOIT: To crack, hack or breach into a secure computer system; sploit; slang term.

EXPORT: To convert or move medical data from one application to another.

EXTENDED ASCII: ASCII 8 bit standard processing code with 256 characters.

EXTENDED MEMORY: Additional memory storage capacity beyond 1-MB DOS computers.

EXTENSIBILITY: The ability to add additional computer system hardware, software, peripherals, or communication functionality, etc; extension.

EXTENSIBLE MARKUP LANGUAGE (XML): Data interchange as structured text as a W3C-recommended general-purpose language for creating special-purpose markup languages, capable of describing many different kinds of medial, health and other data. Its primary purpose is to facilitate the sharing of data across different systems, particularly systems connected via the Internet.   With the help of data analysts, database developers and database administrators versed in structured query language, the identification, method of entry and formatting of protected health information is accomplished. There are multiple vendors well versed in practice management and electronic medical record software, but the successful use of their services depends heavily on the interoperability of your current data scheme and the ability to successfully import it. This new security standard will require covered entities to implement security measures that could be technology-neutral and scalable, and yet integrate all the components of security (administrative safeguards, physical safeguards, and technical safeguards) that must be in place to preserve health information confidentiality, integrity, and availability (three basic elements of security).

EXTENSION: To expand the scope of health care beyond conventional boundaries; for example, clinical trial in Europe, or world information access applied to a certain situation; or the three character terminus to a DOS file name.

EXTERNAL STORAGE: Storage media that is physically separated from a computer or network.

EXTERNAL TRANSACTIONS: Distinction made between health data transactions that are outside an organization, and those that are inside; use of end-to-end encrypted paths, as illustrated below.

Extent: The contiguous area on a computer disk containing a file or a portion of a file consisting of one or more clusters.

EXTORTIONWARE: A malicious computer pop-up program that demands online monetary payment to allow closure.

EXTRACT: To remove medical data, health files or other information from a larger database, to a smaller one.

Extranet: A website that links a health organization with other specific organizations or people; extranets are only accessible to those specified organizations or people and are protected via passwords; intranet.

EYEBALLS: Webpage or website end-users; doctors, nurses, administrators, teachers, laymen and patients, etc; webpage or website viewers.

– F –

F-KEY: A computer keyboard input function button.

F2F: Face to Face

FACE TIME: Personal patient-physician or medical provider healthcare interaction; patient, clinic, hospice or hospital visit; etc.

FACILITY SECURITY: Establish a plan for safeguarding both the exterior and interior of a healthcare building and equipment from those unauthorized to access health information.

Facility security plan: A scheme to safeguard health premises, clinics, hospitals and building(s) (exterior and interior) from unauthorized physical access, and to safeguard the equipment therein from unauthorized physical access, tampering, and theft.

FACSIMILE: The transmission of printed pages between remote locations; telecopying; fax

FAILSAFE: The avoidance of enterprise-wide health computer system compromise in the face of shutdown failure; failsafe computer health system.

Faison, Forest, MD, CAPT, MC, USN: Director, Navy Medicine Technology Integration Office.

FALSE NEGATIVE / POSITIVE: Inappropriately or incorrectly denying or granting computer network security access.

FAMILY SET: A single run of backed-up computer tapes, disks, CD, memory stick or other storage devices.

FARBER, DAVID: Carnegie-Mellon University Professor, “grand-father of the Internet” and opponent of federal meddling with the Internet.

FAST: Asynchronous communication over high quality broadband like internet lines; slang term.

FAT: The original file allocation system used in DOS, Windows© and OS/2© which keeps track of where data are stored on a disk; directory list, which contains file name, extension, date, etc., points to the FAT entry where the file starts, and if a file is larger than one cluster, the first FAT entry points to the next FAT entry where the second cluster of the file is stored, to the end of the file. If a cluster becomes damaged, its FAT entry is marked as such and that cluster is not used again.

FAT 16: A 16 bit file cluster used by MS-DOS©, WINDOWS ©and WINDOWS-NT©

FAT 32: The 32-bit version of the FAT file system, used on most PCs which supports larger disk partitions and file sizes, and has more safeguards than the earlier version of FAT (FAT16).

FAT 64: A 64 bit file cluster used by WINDOWS VISTA© edition and WINDOWS-NT© series.

FAT CLIENT: A client/server machine with little or no server input.

FAT SERVER: A server that performs most all functions with little input from the client.

FATAL ERROR: An electronic process halting or termination condition.

FATHER FILE: A medical file that contains the last validated and secure set of health information; preceded by a grandfather health file, and succeeded by its son.

FAULT: Usually a physical computer system defect.

FAULT TOLERANCE: The ability of a health information technology system to respond gracefully to an unexpected hardware or software failure; there are many levels of fault tolerance, the lowest being the ability to continue operation in the event of a power failure; many fault-tolerant systems mirror all operations as every operation is performed on two or more duplicate systems, so if one fails the other can take over.

FAVORITE PLACE: An ISP feature that allows quick identification of frequently visited websites.

FAX: Electronic reproduction and transmission of a document or image on a telecommunications network; facsimile machine.

FAX BROADCAST: A blast fax; sending the same message to different recipients.

FAX MODEM: A computer with an internal fax modem.

FAX SERVER: LAN, MAN or WAN workstation access to outgoing or incoming electronic fax transmissions.

FDISK COMMAND: A “format disk” input that does not erase health data, but eliminates the operating system’s ability to locate it, while the original data still exists on a hard drive; retrieved using available tools.

Federal Health Architecture (FHA): A collaborative body composed of several federal departments and agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Department of Defense (DoD), and the Department of Energy (DOE).  FHA provides a framework for linking health business processes to technology solutions and standards, and for demonstrating how these solutions achieve improved health performance outcomes.

FEDERAL HIPAA FEATURES: The Federal government required compliance with HIPAA security regulations by April 2005 with the following HIS features:

• Secure password protection performed at multiple levels to ensure that access to PHI is restricted to those who need the information at that time needed.
• Encrypted health data for transmission between systems in order to prevent data intercept and corruption.

FEDERAL PRIVACY ACT 1974 (FPA): HIPAA USC Sec 522a frame for the PHI. Statutes

Federated identity management (FIM): An arrangement that can be made among multiple health enterprises that lets subscribers use the same identification data to obtain access to the networks of all enterprises in the group; such a system is sometimes called identity federation.

Fiber Distributed Data Interface: A high-speed fiber optic network containing state-of-the art bandwidth.

FIBER OPTIC CABLE: Glass line that is more efficient than copper and used for the electronic transmission of digital signals over long distances; wide area networks; produces LEDs or ILDs; cable that is insulated, flexible and consists of a glass core that relies on light sources rather than electricity to transmit audio, medical images, video, and health data signals; permits high capacity transmission at extreme speeds, sometimes billions of bits per second, with very low error rates.

FICHE: Plastic analog data and information image film and data repository method; a microfilm preserving printed text in reduced form; microfiche; ultra-fiche.

FIELD: Unit of medical, health information or other data within a recorded area.

FIELD LEVEL SECURITY: Authorization for use within a specific electronic sector rather than enterprise wide access.

FIFTH GENERATION: A computer system with integrated large scale circuits to use vector processing or pipelining.

FIFTY TERABYTE DVD: Harvard Medical School (HMS) initiative to make a high capacity storage device a reality by using genetically altered proteins from salt marsh microbes that temporarily react to light by converting it to molecules with unique shapes in order to make a binary system for data storage.

FILE: A cohort of computer electronic information; written, graphics, video, audio, etc; electronic data collected in related records usually described by its suffix (.doc; .ppt .pdf or .exe; etc).

FILE ALLOCATION TABLE (FAT): A 16-32-64 bit file cluster used by MS-DOS©, WINDOWS© and WINDOWS-NT©

File Corruption: Alteration of healthcare, medical information or other data on a computer network or program due to hardware or software failure, viruses or power failure.

FILE EXTENSION: Characters that appear at the end of c computer file name; usually a dot (full stop) with 1-3 letters.

FILE FORMAT: Rules or methods of storing computer health, medical or other information.

FILE INFECTOR: A computer virus that is launched upon program file instillation; the Frodo virus variant.

FILE PROTECTION: Any physical or electrical method, such as a diskette notch or copyright protect mechanism, to prevent unauthorized file duplication, transfer, modification or mirroring

File Record Segment. A MFT (Master File Table) file record, or metadata file, indexes all files on a volume and contains the attributes of each file and the root of any index.

FILE SERVER: File handling and storage functionality for networked computers and controlled by server file software and not the embedded operating system.

FILE SHARE: A resource such as a folder or printer that has been made sharable with other computer system users; Gnutella®

FILE SHARING WORM: Fast spreading file sharing malicious code, as with the MyDoom variant of 2004

File System: 1) The way in which files are named and where they are placed logically for storage and retrieval; the DOS, Windows©, OS/2©, Macintosh, and UNIX-based operating systems all have file systems in which files are placed somewhere in a hierarchical (tree) structure; a file is placed in a directory folder in Windows® or subdirectory at the desired place in the tree structure; file systems specify conventions for naming files and include the maximum number of characters in a name, which characters can be used, and, in some systems, how long the file name suffix can be; a file system also includes a format for specifying the path to a file through the structure of directories. 2) May refer to the part of an OS or added-on program that supports a file system, such as the Network File System (NFS) and the Andrew file system (AFS). 3) The hardware used for nonvolatile storage, the software application that controls the hardware, and the architecture of both the hardware and software.

FILE TRANSFER PROTOCOL (FTP): Method used to upload or download files from one networked computer or server to another; anonymous FTP is a file transfer between locations that does not require users to identify themselves with a password or log-in; an anonymous FTP is not secure, because it can be accessed by any other user of the web.

Film Alternator: A radiology imaging device powered by a motor that displays multiple films for interpretation and moves them under the control of an operator; may be thought of as multiple banks moving medical view boxes.

Film Digitizer: An instrument that permits scanning of existing static medical images so that the images may be stored, manipulated, or transmitted in digital form. 

Filmless Radiology: Use of devices that replace film by acquiring digital images and related patient information and transmit, store, retrieve, and display them electronically.

FILO, DAVID: Cofounder of YAHOO! with Jerry Yang

FILTER: To change electronic data or mask selected data; to securely change input-output health or medical data, or other information.

FINDBUGS®: Free software program that uses statistical analysis to identify problems in JAVA® programs and applications, such as difficult language features, misunderstood variants or API methods, typos or incorrect Boolean operator.

FINE GRAIN SECURITY: Computer system that allows user access control and tiered levels of security clearance.

FINGER: UNIX utility identification program.

FIREFOX©: Popular internet browser by Mozilla introduced in 2004; version 2.0 released in 2007.

FIREWALL: The software and hardware systems used to protect computers, servers and networks from malicious mischief and unauthorized access and intrusion; security protection; program which hide a computer’s ports from outside viewing, slang term; Zone Alarm©, Norton©, MSFT,  AVG, Avast©, Panda©, McAfee®, etc. Generally, sits between a remote user’s workstation or client and the host network or server. As the user’s client establishes the communication with the firewall, the client may pass authentication data to an authentication service inside the perimeter. A known trusted person, sometimes only when using trusted devices, can be provided with appropriate security privileges to access resources not available to general users. An example of this application layer firewall would be TCP Wrapper.

FIREWALL SANDWICH: A firewall for both inbound and outbound medical information.

FIREWIRE: A high speed bus interface that connects hardware for very fast electronic transmissions, video and other real time applications; IEEE 1394.

FIRMWARE: Read-only ROM, PROM or EPROM chip, etc.

FIRST GENERATION: Computers built in the 1950’s with vacuum tubes.

FISHBOWEL: To actively monitor a computer system end-user in real-time; to electronically or physically watch; security system methodology; slang term.

FIXED DISK: A non-removable computer disk.

Flag ship: The best or most important product, idea, program or computer application that a healthcare or other organization owns or produces.

FLAME: Excessive and harassing e-mail or text messages; flamer; flame war; flame-bait; flame-fest; slang term.

FLASH: Animated, multi-media and interactive Vector Graphics® file format for the Internet and related URLS and web pages.

FLASH DRIVE: Portable memory device: jump drive, memory key, memory stick, thumb drive, removable drive, etc; developed by Macromedia© for web content and interactive, rather than HTML, presentations.

FLASH MEMORY: Non-volatile, solid-state rewritable memory with read-only functionality that is durable and low-voltage; used for Linux, MAC-OS, Windows© and handheld computer boot-up; Macromedia©; Adobe©, etc; type of EEPROM storage device.

FLAT FILES: Non compressed computer files with similar lengths, regardless of actual data quantity; space not conserved.

FLAT PANEL: Computer or laptop monitor with plasma or LCD technology; flat screen; slang term.

FLAT RATE: An un-metered subscription ISP connection.

FLAW: Security or software error or computer system malfunction; a bug.

FLEURON: An electronic typographic error used as a decorative ornament; slang term

Flexible Display: Portable computer radiology monitor with roll up ability.

FLICKR: Picture and image sharing collaborative website first launched in 2004

FLIP FLOP: One bit memory that can store data or remain in a clear state.

FLOOD: Overwhelming a computer or network system with input data or information in order to crash it; overload.

FLOPPY DISK: Magnetic circular portable electronic storage medium, in a variety of older sizes and capacities: 3.5 inch 720 KB; 5.25 inch 360 KB; 8 inch 270 KB storage (CP/M OS); floppy disk drive.

FLOW CHART: A symbolic graphical representation of expressions or data.

FLUSH: Computer or print screen dialog placed against a margin; flush left or flush right.

FOCUS: An active operating computer system screen window.

FOLDER: Subset or collection of stored computer files, like health data or medical records.

FONT: Characteristic type face, size or style.

FONT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM: A software code for the scale-ability and change of computer fonts.

FONALITY: Open source telephone software.

FOOTPRINT: The about of electronic device-occupying desk space; or the geographic range on the earth beneath a satellite that is in the scope to receive that satellites information.

FOREFRONT (FF): The brand for all technical security products from the Microsoft Corporation (antigen email security: FF Security for Exchange Servers©, FF Client Security©, FF Security for SharePoint©, FF Edge and FF IM©; Forefront Client Security© (FCS).

FOREGROUND: Multimedia functionality or simultaneous use computer application; i.e., internet surfing while using a spreadsheet.

FOREIGN KEY: Primary instrument of one data-table that is placed within another data-table to support relationship navigation.

Forensic Health Accountant (FHA): Forensic healthcare accounting has increased in prominence in recent years as the electronic and financial activities of corporations are more intensely scrutinized by shareholders and government agencies; FHAs are trained to prevent and detect corporate financial fraud such as embezzlement, securities fraud, tax scams and money laundering, HIPAA, STARK, and US Patriot Act violations; accounting firms, security companies, multinational corporations and even the FBI rely on these professionals, who may be called on to examine a health firm’s accounting statements or tapped as expert witnesses at divorce proceedings or intellectual property trials; FHAs usually begin as a certified public accountant (CPA) and learn the health trade through hands-on work while others have a background in law enforcement or investigation; the most marketable professionals have earned the certified health fraud examiner (CHFE) designation.

FORM HTLM: A web site that allows data entry which is returned to its server for later retrieval.FORMAT: To prepare a disk to accept written computer files; to wipe a disk clean or erase prior information; data elements that provide or control the enveloping or hierarchical structure, or assist in identifying data content of a transaction; healthcare information data element structure.

FORMAT STANDARD: HIPAA specificity for electronic health data element security transmissions; does not apply to paper.

FORMATTING: The process used to format a computer disk with tracks and sectors to locate data accurately.

FORMULA TRANSLATOR: A language compiler computer program system that allows software to be written in any type of mathematical language.

FORTEZZA CARD: A plastic data encryption or security authorization pass; low cost cryptographic token used in the military, NSA and federal government.

FORTH: A threaded interpretative computer language developed by Charles Moore in the early 1970’s that is known for simple statements that require few machine resources.

FORTRAN: IBM developed formula transmission computer language of the late 1950s with mathematical calculations.

FORWARD: To send along an email message to another recipient with notification of same.

FOURTH GENERATION: Computers built with integrated circuits, instead of vacuum tubes.

FRACTAL: A lossy color image compression method; infinite amount of fine detail.

FRACTIONAL T-1 LINE: A small portion of a first level broad-band T-Carrier information transmission trunk or telephone line

Fragment: A piece of data file often written in multiple fragments because there is no contiguous space available large enough to store the file.

Fragmentation: A condition where health or other data is stored in non-contiguous areas on a computer disk; as files are updated, new data are stored in available free space, which may or may not be contiguous; fragmented files cause extra head movement, which slows disk accesses.

FRAME: A 64-1518 byte packet with header/data/trailer information to mark the initiation and cessation of transmitted or relayed information; synchronous serial communication; ‘framed’; a Website that divides a Web browser’s screen into smaller sections; each area displays different data, usually to help the user navigate the site, or to display advertisements.

Frame Relay: Created to improve the rate of health data transfer compared to previous transmission protocols, frame relay is a streamlined process of sending and acknowledging transmitted packets of medical data ; a packet orientated method of communication used in public and private LAN, MAN and/or WAN networks; switch; router type device.

FRAMES PAGE: Web site or browser screen which divides a web page into independent scrolling areas.

FRAPPER: A mash-up or combination of website groups for Google® maps.

FRAUD AND ABUSE: Federal and state, Medicare and Medicaid, violations of the Internal Revenue Code, Stark I and II laws, or other codes that proscribe patient referrals to entities in which a family member have a financial interest; abuse is unneeded, harmful, or poor-quality healthcare delivery or services; including e-health and e-medicine.

FRAUD AND ABUSE LEGISLATION: The original Social Security Act, Congressional legislation of 1977, 1981, 1987, OBRA, Stark I, Stark II and HIPAA, etc; including e-health and e-medicine.

FREE: Software void of error checking and debugging codes.

FREE SOFTWARE: Web based software received without monetary charge in return for information, revealed or not; commercial programs, trials and demonstration programs, upgrades and add-on programs; shareware; drivers and freeware; freeware; slang term.

FREE SOFTWARE MOVEMENT: Philosophy that began in 1983 when Richard Stallman announced the GNU project, and the Free Software Foundation, in 1985 to support the movement; its philosophy is to give freedom to computer users by replacing proprietary software under restrictive licensing terms with free software, with the ultimate goal of liberating everyone in cyberspace.

FREE TEXT DATA: Health or medical information in narrative form; unstructured and uncoded.

FREESPIRE®: An open, community driven and free computer operating system by Linspire Inc.

FREEWARE: Downloadable software free of charge; slang term

FREEZE: To seize, stop working or stall; slang term

FREEZE DATE: Date of the last computer software modification after which no additional changes can be made.

Freeze Frame: A way to transmit still images over regular telephone lines; a single image is transmitted every 8 to 30 seconds; slow scan.

Frequency: The rates at which an electromagnetic signal alternates, denoted in Hertz.

FRESNEL EFFECT: Occurs when direct visual line sight obstructs radio frequency line of transmissions.

FRINGEWARE: Questionable or potentially unreliable software; slang term.

FRITTERWARE: Time wasting and unproductive software, game or application; slang term.

FRONTPAGE®: A MSFT Window’s® based web authoring program.

FULL DUPLEX: Electronic transmission channel that allows simultaneous two-way data communication; a standard telephone line is one example of this because both parties can simultaneously speak while listening to the voice on the opposing end.

Full motion Video: A standard video signal, conventionally requiring 6 Mhz an analog format and 90 Mbps when digitally encoded, that is able to be transmitted by a variety of ways including television broadcast, microwave, fiber optics, and satellite.

FULLFILLMENT: To deliver e-commerce products, equipment goods or medical services; DME delivery; telemedicine.

FULLFILLMENT SERVICE PROVIDER: Firm that provides or out-sources e commerce goods or services; patient access management; admissions department, etc.

FULLY SPECIFIC NAME: Complete concept text in SNOMED-CT.

FUNCTION KEY: Computer keyboard buttons F1-F12 which performs software program or special application functions.

FURL: To send an Internet email or website address without explanation; forward URL; slang term.

FUSION©: Software bridge for Oracle acquired programs and applications from companies like Siebel Systems© and PeopleSoft©.

FUZZY DATA: Health, medical or other information that is vague, ambiguous or incomplete.

FUZZY LOGIC: Loose artificial intelligence decision making methodology based on heuristic data and incomplete information that falls between absolute values; imprecise feelings; gut feeling.

FUZZY SET LOGIC: Artificial intelligence theory of logic, disease or treatment tracking that sets heuristic upper and lower data set boundaries; thought process employed before hard data, true statistics and stochasistic dampening methods are available educated guess.

FLY OUT: A secondary or tertiary computer menu that appears on the side of a primary menu when activated for viewing

– G –

<g>: email emoticon for a grin.

Gb (Gigabyte): a measure of the storage capacity and memory of a computer. One gigabyte is equivalent to 1.074 billion bytes or 1,000 Mb; used to express a data transfer rate, (1 gigabit/second =1 Gbps); the bandwidth of optical fiber is often in the gigabit or billion-bits-per second range.

Gbps (Gigabits per second): a measure of bandwidth and rate of data flow in digital transmission. 

Ghz (Gigahertz): One billion cycles per second; measures analog signal transmission.

GAMMA: A root-kit kernel OS anti-virus detection tool from Komoku, College Park, Maryland; non linear response to a computer video screen or game.

GAMMA TEST: A software functionality test done after beta testing, but before commercial product release.

GANTT CHART: Bar chart with horizontal time line depiction used for project management.

GARCIA, GREGORY: US Department of Homeland Cyber Security Czar.

GARETS, DAVID, E: President and CEO of HIMSS Analytics, in Chicago, Illinois.

GASE LINE BROADBAND: High computer system bandwidth frequency ability of natural gas lines to provide Internet access through wireless ultra wideband technology that maintains signal strength.

GATES, WILIAM, H: Chairman, Co-founder and Chief Software Architect for the Microsoft Corporation, and Microsoft Health User’s Group (MS-HUG), whose mission is to provide value through education, communication and access to healthcare information and medical technology experts.

GATEWAY: Method of interconnecting two dissimilar computers, servers, operating systems, or complex networks; router or bridge; a computer used to provide translations between different types of standards or complex protocol suites; for example, different e-mail messaging systems; may describe a ‘door’ from a private data network to the Internet.

GEEK: An electronic stereotype for nerd: slang term.

GELLO: An object orientated expression language for a medical, health or other clinical decision support system.

GENERATIONS OF PROGRAMMING COMPUTER LANGUAGES:

1^st: machine language

2^nd: assembly language

3^rd. procedural language

4^th: problem orientated language

5th: artificial intelligence

6^th: self-adapting applications

GENIE®: An ISP of the General Electric and IDT Company.

GENOME@HOME: A large scale multi computer distributed system that analyzes DNA, chromosomal and genome information; Stanford University.

GENUINE ADVANTAGE®: Anti-piracy program from MSFT alleged to be a type of computer spy ware software.

Geostationary Orbit: Refers to the orbit of a satellite whose location relative to the earth’s surface is constant so it seems to hover over one sport on the earth’s equator.

GESTURE RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY: The recognition of intelligent characters by electrical methods.

GHOST: To mirror, duplicate or burn; secondary monitor or computer screen image.

GIGABIT: One billion bits of electronic storage capacity.

GigabYte: One billion bytes; GB, Gbyte, gig and G-byte.

GIGAHERTZ: One billion cycles per second; computer speed measurement unit; GHz.

GINSBURG, PAUL; PhD: President, Center for Studying Health Systems Change.

GLASER, JOHN, PhD:   CIO, Partners Healthcare System.

GLITCH: A software error, communications, peripheral device or computer system malfunction.

GLOBAL DOMAIN NAME: Top three include: education, military and government.

GLOBAL INFORMATION GRID (GIG): A globally connected computer information system for managing information and health data, on-demand.

GLOBAL INTERNET COMMUNICATION: Architecture systems and protocols that includes email, voicemail, video-mail, and videoconferencing, as well as internet and holographic telephony, and i-pod broadcasts, etc.

GLOBAL MEDICAL DEVICE NOMENCLATURE (GMDN): International standard for medical device descriptors.

GLOSSARY: List of terms, definitions, abbreviations, acronyms and explanations; data dictionary; http://www.HealthDictionarySeries.com.

GLUE LOGIC: Computer inter-connecting logic circuits.

GLYPH: Any electronic or printed character or symbol.

GNOME: Linux open source computer code licensing initiative.

GNU: Copy-left free software of the GNU foundation that must be distributed intact and with its source code included.

Gnu’s Not UNIX (GNU): A project sponsored by the Free Software Foundation that develops and maintains a complete software environment including operating system kernel and utilities, editor, compiler and debugger; many consultants and organizations provide support for GNU software; Richard Stallman.

GNUTELLA: P-2P file sharing standard protocol.

GODWIN’S (MICHAEL) LAW: Online discussion or thread that is circuitous, rambling or meaningless.

GOLD: A CD or DVD ready to be commercially sold to the public; slang term.

GOLDBEG, MARK; MD: CMIO of Perceptive Informatics Inc., of Waltham, MA.

GOODMAN, JOHN, C: President and CEO, National Center for Policy Analysis, father of Health Savings Accounts.

GOOGLE: Mathematical name for a very large number followed by 10 zeros.

GOOGLE©: A popular internet search engine/director started by Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Stanford University in 1996; ranking system driven.

Google® hacking: The use of the search engine to locate security vulnerability on the Internet, such as software vulnerabilities and mis-configurations. Although there are some sophisticated intruders who target a specific system and try to discover vulnerabilities that will allow them access, the majority of intruders start out with a specific software vulnerability or common user mis-configuration that they already know how to exploit, and simply try to find or scan for systems that have this vulnerability; Google© is of limited use to the first attacker, but invaluable to the second; cracking.

GOOGLE® WACK: A word so obscure that it is found on only one indexed webpage after engine search.

GOOGLE WRITELY©: An internet based word processing tool.

GOPHER: Virtually obsolete menu-driven text and document retrieval system that predates Graphical User Interface (GUI) architecture; old HTML protocol; gopher server, gopher site; a predecessor to the World Wide Web using a method of storing and retrieving text and software files on the Internet; more user friendly than FTP, but less so than the Web.

Gosling, JAMES, PhD: Father of the Java programming language whose achievements include engineering the news window system, and the original Unix Emacs; researcher at Sun labs whose primary interest is software development.

GOTCHA: A computer system “feature” that leads to mistakes; slang term.

GOULDE, MICHAEL: Author of the downloadable seminal white paper “Open-Source Software:  A Primer for Healthcare Providers (Forrester Research).

GOYAL, Pawan, MD, MHA: Electronic Data Systems (EDS) Functional Analyst for Healthcare Information Technology.

GRANDFATHER TAPE: A computer system back-up that is two generations older than the current health or other input data; slang term.

GRANGER, RICHARD: CIO, National Health Service, United Kingdom.

GRANULARITY: Level of specific information and discrete data detail; drill down; course-to-more fine medical data or information.

GRAPHIC: Computer screen arrangement of lines, bars and details, etc., to symbolize a picture or image; software programs to create use and edits pictures: i.e., Adobe Photoshop® and Pain Shop Pro®.

Graphical Interchange (INTERFACE) Format (GIF): An image style generated specifically for computer use as its resolution is usually very low making it undesirable for printing purposes; a common medical graphics or radiology image file commonly used on the Web that is most effective when the graphic or image is not a photograph or x-ray.

GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE (GUI): The use of window screens and graphic icons and a mouse, pointer or other input device to issue commands to a computer operating system; post-dates DOS command line demand entry.

Gray scale: A file created by electronic scanning a continuous tone original and saving the information as shades of gray; also, an image containing a series of tones stepped from white to black. Gray Scale; refers to the quantity of various tones or levels of gray than can be stored and displayed by a computer system; the number of gray levels, or gray scale, is directly related to the number of bits used in each pixel, with the number of gray levels doubling for each added bit; for example, there are 64 gray levels in a 6 bits system, 128 gray levels for 7 bits, 256 gray levels for 8 bits, and so forth.

Gray scale Monitor: A visual display with varying shades of gray, extending up to thousands, making it capable of displaying an image; a monochrome monitor.

GRAY, WILLIAM; Deputy Commissioner of Systems for the US Social Security Administration.

GREEN PC: An energy limiting electronic device or computer; slang term.

Greenberg, Ross One of the first commercial anti-virus programs; Flu_Shot©, in 1987.

GREENES, ROBER, A; MD, PhD: Medical Informaticist at Harvard Medical School.

GRID COMPUTING: The use of many separate but connected computers to solve large scale enterprise-wide problems; networked computers.

GRIEFER: One who goes online to participate in chat-rooms, newsgroups or other collaborative activities for the purposes of causing misery; slang term.

GROK: To understand and appreciate; coined by Robert A. Heinlein; slang term.

GROKSTER: An online file sharing serve found liable for copyright violations in 2005.

GROUP: Collection of program items within the Windows® OS Program Manager.

GROUPER: The automatic assignment of medical reimbursement based on clinical codes.

Groupware: Computer software applications that are linked together by networks, allowing healthcare workers to share electronic communications and documents.

GRUNGE: Dead, incorrect or obsolete computer code, medical, health or other database information; slang term.

GUEST: The common name for a newsgroup; wiki, BBS, etc; generic account; generic name.

GUILTYWARE: A software program or online application that repeatedly asks for information, donations, etc; nagware; slang term.

GUNK: Any thing that degrades computer systems performance or security; aware, spy ware, cookies, etc; slang term.

GURU SITE: A powerful or otherwise popular website created by a single expert authority; slang term.

GUTTER: The white space between website, book or newspaper columns; slang term.

GZIP: Software utility used for GNU file compression.

– H-

H4X: A malicious computer hacker, exploiter or cracker; slang term.

H KEY CLASS-ROOT: One of the five Windows-NT© registry keys which contains object linked and embedding information (OLE).

H KEY CURRENT-CONFIG: One of the five Windows-NT© registry keys which contains current computer configuration information.

HACK: To gain unwanted, unauthorized, unethical and often illegal access for malicious purposes into a computer, server, or online network; hacker; hacktivist; hack attack; cracker; slang term.

HACK SPEAK: A type of colloquial communications where one replaces letters with numbers or other characters or symbols; hak-speak; leetspeak; slang term.

HACKER: One who hacks; cracker; hack-attacker; honker; slang term; i.e. Legion of Doom; hacktivist; slang term.

HALAMKA, JOHN; MD: The CIO of Harvard Medical School.

HALF DUPLEX: Bidirectional electronic communications that is not simultaneous; a channel of communication which is capable of both transmitting and receiving information, but only in one direction at a time.

Half tone: A method of generating on press or on a laser printer an image that requires varying densities or shades to accurately render the image and achieved by representing the image as a pattern of dots of varying size; larger dots represent darker areas, and smaller dots represent lighter areas of an image.

HALTING PROBLEM: The difficulty in determining of a computer system bug will terminate or continue repetition in an endless loop.

HAMMOND, EDWARD: Professor Emeritus of Biomedical Engineering, Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University.

HAMR©: Seagate Systems© technology to heat assist magnetic recordings by adding a reserve to disk casings that contain nano-tube based lubricant molecules in order to  boost disk capacity by a factor of ten while data writing to disks; about a terabyte of information.

HAND HELD PC: A pocket PC or Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) that is portable using the Windows Mobile©, Windows CE or other condensed operating systems.

Hand off communications: JCAHO recommendation for patient movement to another unit or turned over to a new nurse or doctor during a shift change, with a communication model known as SBAR – Situation, Background, Assessment and Recommendation – adapted from a program used to quickly brief nuclear submariners.

HANDLE: Identification nickname for email addresses, URLs, links, files or other types of communication; slang term.

HANDSHAKE: High squealing communication signals which establish network connectivity; slang term.

HANG: To lock, freeze or disconnect or stop responding; slang term.

HAPTICS: Human interaction, or the sense of touch, between computer system and end user.

HARD: A permanent, fixed, real or physically defined asset.

HARD CODE: Software code applied throughout an entire healthcare ERP network.

Hard Coded: Unchangeable features built into hardware or software in such a way that they cannot be modified.

HARD COPY: A traditional paper file, medical chart or printed document.

HARD DISK: Circular sealed magnetic digital data storage device platter; speeds may exceed 15,000 RPM with higher SCSI speeds; and/or ATA (IDE, Ultra ATA or SATA) interface.

HARD DRIVE: Electronic storage platter and area for PC contents; in Windows® contains documents and settings folder (My Documents, My Pictures©, systems and applications settings, favorites, Outlook Express© and email), program and applications file folder and Windows folder for XP and Vista© OS

HARD PAGE BREAK: A word processing force bag break or separation.

HARDWARE: Physical tangible components of a computer, server or networked system; not software, programming code or application or related.

HARDWARE ADDRESS: Low level identification address burned into a PC, servers or networked hardware device.

HARDWARE KEY: A security device to prove that a computer system is licensed; may be an alphanumeric code or string.

Hardware / software installation maintenance Audit: Formal, documented procedures for (1) connecting and loading new equipment and programs, (2) periodic review of the maintenance occurring on that equipment and programs, and (3) periodic security testing of the security attributes of that hardware/software.

HARDWIRED: Physical connection to a computer or network.

HARMON, BART, MD: Deputy Director and Colonel, CMIO Medical Corps, US Army.

HARMONIZATION: The prevention or elimination of technical differences in trade, traditional commerce, healthcare technology or e-commerce, etc; standardization.

HARRIS, MARTIN, C; MD: CIO and Chairman of the Information Technology Division for the Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

HASH: To convert a string of computer characters into a number; encryption; hash search, hash code, hash value; slang term.

HASHEM, AHMAD, MD, PhD: Medical informatics consultant, speaker, futurist, author and former Global Manager for Microsoft’s Healthcare and Life Sciences Group; former MS-HUG© advisor; advisor with Informatics Unlimited in Maple Valley, WA.

HASHING: Encrypted security code iterative value for data intrusion alerting; slang term.

Haymaker, MICHAEL: Sun Microsystems Inc® global healthcare industry manager.

HCFA 1450: Health Care Financing Administration (Center for Medicare and Medicaid Service) name for the institutional uniform claim form, or UB-92.

HCFA 1500: Health Care Finance Administration’s (CMS) standard form for submitting physician service claims to third party (insurance) companies.

HCFA Common Procedural Coding System (HCPCS): A medical code set that identifies health care procedures, equipment, and supplies for claim submission purposes; selected for use in the HIPAA transactions: HCPCS Level I contain numeric CPT codes which are maintained by the AMA. HCPCS Level II contains alphanumeric codes used to identify various items and services that are not included in the CPT medical code set; maintained by HCFA, the BCBSA, and the HIAA. HCPCS Level III contains alphanumeric codes that are assigned by Medicaid state agencies to identify additional items and services not included in levels I or II; usually known as “local codes, and must have “W”, “X”, “Y”, or “Z” in the first position. HCPCS Procedure Modifier Codes can be used with all three levels, with the WA-ZY range used for locally assigned procedure modifiers.

Head:  A hardware device which reads (senses) and writes (records) health or other data on a magnetic disk (hard disk, floppy disk, tape, etc); the writing surface of the disk or tape is moved past the read/write head and by discharging electrical impulses at the appropriate times, bits are recorded as tiny, magnetized spots of positive or negative polarity; when reading, the surface is moved past the read/write head, and the bits that are present induce an electrical current across the gap.

HEADER: Early, introductory or preceding health, medical data or other information; usually on a webpage or file.

Health and Human Services (HHS): The federal government department that has overall responsibility for implementing HIPAA.

Health care: Medical services or supplies related to the health of an individual; Health care includes, but is not limited to preventive, diagnostic, therapeutic, rehabilitative, maintenance, mental health or palliative care and sale or dispensing of a drug, device, equipment or other item in accordance with a prescription.

HEALTH CARE CLEARINGHOUSE: A public or private entity that performs functions including, but not limited to: billing services, re-pricing companies, community health management information systems or community health information systems, and “value-added” networks and switches are health care clearinghouses if they perform these functions: 1) Processes or facilitates the processing of information received from another entity in a nonstandard format or containing nonstandard data content into standard data elements or a standard transaction; 2) Receives a standard transaction from another entity and processes or facilitates the processing of information into nonstandard format or nonstandard data content for a receiving entity; HIPAA protocol.

Health Care Code Maintenance Committee: An organization administered by Blue Cross Blue Shield of America that is responsible for maintaining certain coding schemes used in the X12 transactions; include the Claim Adjustment Reason Codes, the Claim Status Category Codes, and the Claim Status Codes.

HEALTH CARE COMMON PROCEDUREAL CODING SYSTEM (HCCPCS): Medicare and other payer codes to describe medical procedures and supplies for payment:

• Level I CPT: Payment for a wide spectrum of medical services and procedures
• Level II CPT: Alpha-numeric and initiated by a single letter with for numbers.
• Level III CPT: Local and regional codes phased out in 2003
• CDT: Current Dental Terminology codes
• Health standards for CPT codes; non-covered equipment, supplies, services and modifiers developed by CMS; and the local codes of Medicare B carriers.

HEALTH CARE COMMON PROCEDUREAL CODING SYSTEM MODIFIERS: Codes that identify and/or augment circumstances that change HCPCS supply or medical service descriptions, for payment.

Health care Financial Management Association (HFMA): An organization for the improvement of the financial management of healthcare-related organizations; CMS.

HEALTH CARE FINANCING ADMINISTRATION (HCFA): The former agency within the Department of Health and Human Services which administers federal health financing and related regulatory programs, principally the Medicare, Medicaid, and Peer Review Organization; maintains the UB-92 institutional EMC format specifications, the professional EMC NSF specifications, and specifications for various certifications and authorizations used by the Medicare and Medicaid programs; maintains the HCPCS medical code set and the Medicare Remittance Advice Remark Codes administrative code set; now CMS.

HEALTH CARE INFORMATICS (HI): The scientific management of health data and information using secure electrical means.

HEALTH CARE INFORMATION: Personal, medical and financial information obtained from patients, healthcare provider, payer and third party intermediary, as a result of a clinical encounter; protected healthcare information (PHI).

HEALTH CARE INFORMATION FRAMEWORK (HIF): A high level and logical electrical model of health care for a modern delivery system. 

Health Care Information Infrastructure (HCII): A subset of the National Information Infrastructure (NII).

Healthcare Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS): A professional organization for healthcare information, CIOs, CTOs and management systems professionals; based in Chicago, Illinois. 

Health Care Information Standards Planning Panel (HCISPP): Established by ANSI to coordinate the evolution of standards using standard-setting organizations in health care.

Health care Leadership Council: Consortium of chief executives of the country’s largest health care organizations who are pressing for new rules to allow medical groups to share their expertise and investment in electronic records with doctors’ offices and CEs.

Health care operations: Includes any of the following activities:

• conducting quality assessment and quality improvement activities.
• reviewing the competence or qualifications of health care professionals.
• evaluating practitioner and provider performance, health care plan performance and conducting training programs of non-health care professionals, accreditation, and certification, licensing or credentialing activities.
• underwriting, premium rating and other activities relating to the creation, renewal or replacement of a contract of health insurance or health benefits and ceding, securing or placing a contract for reinsurance of risk relating to claims for health care.
• conducting or arranging for medical review, legal services and auditing functions including fraud and abuse detection and compliance programs.
• business planning and development, such as conducting cost-management and planning-related analyses related to managing and operating the entity, including formulary development and administration, development or improvement of methods of payment or coverage policies.
• business management and general administrative activities of the entity.

HEALTH CARE OVERSIGHT: An agency or authority of the United States, or a political subdivision of a state, or a person or entity acting under a grant of authority from such public agency that is authorized by law to oversee the health care system or government programs in which health information is necessary to determine eligibility or compliance, or to enforce civil rights laws for which health information is relevant; health care auditor.

Health care plan: An individual or group plan that provides, or pays the cost of, medical care; includes:

• a group health care plan (created pursuant to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 [ERISA]).
• a health insurance issuer.
• an HMO.
• Part A or Part B of the Medicare program.
• the Medical Assistance program.
• an issuer of a Medicare supplemental policy
• An issuer of a long-term care policy, excluding a nursing home fixed-indemnity policy.
• an employee welfare benefit plan.
• the health care program for active military personnel.
• Veterans Administration health care program.
• Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services (CHAMPUS).
• Indian Health Service program under the Indian Health Care Improvement Act.
• Federal Employees Health Benefits Program.
• an approved State child health care plan.
• the Medicare+Choice program.
• a high risk pool that is a mechanism established under State law to provide health insurance coverage or comparable coverage to eligible individuals.

Health care provider: A provider of medical services and any other person or organization who furnishes, bills or is paid for health care in the normal course of business and who transmits any health information in electronic form in connection with a covered function; physician, dentist, podiatrist, osteopath, optometrist, psychologist, nurse, or other allied healthcare provider, etc.

Health Care Provider Taxonomy Committee: An organization administered by the NUCC that is responsible for maintaining the Provider Taxonomy coding scheme used in the X12 transactions; also done in coordination with X12N/TG2/WG15.

HEALTH CARE STANDARDS LANDSCAPE: A repository (prototype) that provides information on health care standards, medical standards development organizations and health organizations that use or implement health care and related IT and similar standards.

Health Care Technical Service (HCTS): A national organization and structure which supports the technology used in the delivery of health care.

Health care technology assessment (HCTA): The systematic evaluation of properties, effects, and/or impacts of health care technology; may address the direct, intended consequences of technologies as well as their indirect, unintended consequences; its purpose is to inform technology-related policymaking in health care; conducted by interdisciplinary groups using explicit analytical frameworks drawing from a variety of methods.

Health Care Technology Package (HCTP): The range of input needs to be addressed if technology is to be successfully transferred into the health care environment, including: management and planning, allocation of financial resources, selection of technology, procurement, preparation for technology use, continued operation, maintenance and repair, personnel, training, technology assessment and research and development, and local production.

HEALTH CLAIM ATTACHMENT: Additional medical or clinical information submitted with a primary claim or invoice for reimbursement.

HEALTH DICTIONARY sERIES© (hds©): First conceived as an ambitious and much needed project by the Institute of Medical Business Advisors Inc (iMBA) in 2005, the illustrated Health Dictionary Series™ contains more than 50,000 entries in four volumes; electronically coupled as an interactive Wiki with iMBA’s Collaborative Lexicon Query Service®; a social network to maintain continuous subject-matter health expertise and peer-reviewed user input (www.HealthDictionarySeries.com).

Health Industry Business Communications Council (HIBCC): A council of health care industry associations that develops technical standards used within the health care IT industry; subgroup of ASC X12.

Health Informatics Standards Board (HISB): An ANSI-accredited standards group that has developed standards for possible HIPAA inclusion.

Health information (HI): Any medical or related administrative information, whether oral or recorded in any form or medium, that is created or received by a health care provider, health care plan, public health authority, employer, life insurer, school or university or health care clearinghouse; or relates to the physical or mental health or condition of an individual, the provision of health care to an individual or payment for the provision of health care to an individual. 

Health Information Exchange (HIE): Commonly used to describe a RHIO as its precursor and used interchangeably with RHIOs.

Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS): A healthcare industry membership organization exclusively focused on providing leadership for the optimal use of healthcare information technology and management systems for the betterment of human health; founded in 1961 with offices in Chicago, Washington D.C., and other locations across the country, HIMSS represents more than 14,000 individual members and some 220-member corporations that employ more than 1 million people. HIMSS frames and leads healthcare public policy and industry practices through its advocacy, educational and professional development initiatives.

HEALTH INFORMATION STANDARDS BOARD (hisb): ansi subcommittee for all those interested in developing HIT and medical data transmission standards.

HEALTH (HOSPITAL) INFORMATION SYSTEMS (HIS): The enterprise wide computer networking system for the gathering, manipulation, verification, dissemination, retrieval and storage of medical and PHI.

Health (HOSPITAL) Information Technology (HIT): The application of information processing involving both computer hardware and software that deals with the storage, retrieval, sharing, and use of health care information, medical data, and knowledge for communication and decision making.

Health Information Technology Auditor (HITA): An expert who evaluate a health organization’s computer systems to ensure the proper safeguards are in place to protect and maintain the integrity of the firm’s data; While the position has existed since the mid-1960s, companies that previously employed just a handful of HIT auditors are now significantly adding to their ranks, sometimes doubling, tripling or quadrupling current staff levels; much current demand is due to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and other legislation aimed at improving corporate governance in the wake of major accounting scandals earlier in the decade; publicly traded hospital systems require the expertise of HIT auditors to meet ongoing compliance requirements; the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), among other regulations, also are fueling the need for HIT auditors. Health IT auditors must have a general understanding of accounting principles and the strategic vision to ensure a health organization’s HIT systems allow it to achieve its short- and long-term objectives. Many hospitals promote from within for this role. Health facilities who look outside the organization for these professionals usually seek candidates with experience, knowledge of healthcare of emerging technologies and issues, and increasingly, certifications such as the certified information systems auditor (CISA) designation.

HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PROMOTION ACT (HITPA): Legislation to accelerate the adoption of interoperable electronic health records by ensuring uniform standards, championed by Rep. Nancy Johnson, R-Conn, (H.R. 4157) which would: codify the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology in statute and delineate its ongoing responsibilities; create exceptions to the fraud and abuse statutes to allow certain providers to fund health information technology equipment and services for other providers; and provide for a study of federal and state health privacy policies.

Health Insurance Association of America (HIAA): An industry association that represents the interests of commercial health care insurers; participates in the maintenance of some HIPAA code sets, including the HCPCS Level II codes.

Health insurance issuer: 2791(b)(2) of the PHS Act, 42 U.S.C. 300gg-91(b)(2) Any insurance company, insurance service, or insurance organization (including an HMO) that is licensed to engage in the business of insurance in a State and is subject to State law that regulates insurance; does not include a group health plan.

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA): Also known as the Kennedy-Kassebaum Act of 1996, HIPAA is federal legislation that mandates the electronic: (1) connectivity, (2) transmission, (3) storage/retrieval, and (4) confidentiality of healthcare information for all covered entities (CE). The shift to Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) was been planned by the federal government and the Health Care Financing Administration for more than a decade; its goal is to reduce the 17 percent administrative cost of healthcare through the standardization of electronic transactions into a single format, replacing the 400-plus disparate platforms previously used. For purposes of HIPAA, the definition of a covered entity includes three classes:

• Individual healthcare providers, pharmacies, hospitals, skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), and home healthcare agencies.
• Medicare, Medicaid, insurance companies, HMOs, MCOs, and other health plans.

Healthcare vendors, clearinghouses, billing firms, internet service providers (ISPs), Web servers and hosting companies, as well as computer software and hardware companies and other third-party vendors facilitating EDI. Full implementation of the EDI components of HIPAA occurred in August 2005 with the following updates for 2006-2008:

• April, 2006: Security compliance for small health plans who must meet HHS standards for the administrative, technical and physical security of electronic health records (EHRs).
• May, 2007: National Provider Identifier (NPI) for all covered entities except small health plans.
• May 2008: National Provider Identifier (NPI) for small health plans presenting a unique identifying number to be used by all insurers and healthcare organizations.

Although non-punitive in nature, civil penalties may be as high as $100 per violation, with a cap of $25,000 per year. Criminal penalties include fines of up to $250,000 and/or imprisonment for up to 10 years.

HEALTH IT RISKS: The net medical mission/ healthcare business impact (probability of occurrence combined with impact) from a particular threat source exploiting, or triggering, a particular information technology vulnerability. Information technology related uncertainties risks arise from legal liability or mission/business loss due to:

• unauthorized (malicious, non-malicious, or accidental) disclosure, modification, or destruction of information.
• non-malicious errors and omissions.
• IT disruptions due to natural or man-made disasters.
• failure to exercise due care and diligence in the implementation and operation of the healthcare informatics.

HEALTH LEVEL SEVEN (HL7): An international community of healthcare subject matter experts and information technology physicians and scientists collaborating to create standards for the exchange, management and integration of protected electronic healthcare information; the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Health Level Seven (HL7) standards developing organization has evolved Version 3 of its standard, which includes the Reference Information Model (RIM) and Data Type Specification (both ANSI standards); HL7 Version 3 is the only standard that specifically deals with creation of semantically interoperable healthcare information, essential to building the national infrastructure; HL7 promotes the use of standards within and among healthcare organizations to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of healthcare delivery for the benefit of all patient, payers, and third parties; uses an Open System Interconnection (OSI) and high level seven healthcare electronic communication protocol that is unique in the medical information management technology space and modeled after the International Standards Organization (ISO) and American National Standards Institute (ANSI); each has a particular healthcare domain such as pharmacy, medical devices, imaging or insurance (claims processing) transactions. Health Level Seven’s domain is clinical and administrative data. Goals include:

• develop coherent, extendible standards that permit structured, encoded health care information of the type required to support patient care, to be exchanged between computer applications while preserving meaning.
• develop a formal methodology to support the creation of HL7 standards from the HL7 Reference Information Model (RIM).
• educate the healthcare industry, policy makers, and the general public concerning the benefits of healthcare information standardization generally and HL7 standards specifically.
• promote the use of HL7 standards world-wide through the creation of HL7 International Affiliate organizations, which participate in developing HL7 standards and which localize HL7 standards as required.
• stimulate, encourage and facilitate domain experts from healthcare industry stakeholder organizations to participate in HL7 to develop healthcare information standards in their area of expertise.
• collaborate with other standards development organizations and national and international sanctioning bodies (e.g. ANSI and ISO), in both the healthcare and information infrastructure domains to promote the use of supportive and compatible standards.
• collaborate with healthcare information technology users to ensure that HL7 standards meet real-world requirements, and that appropriate standards development efforts are initiated by HL7 to meet emergent requirements.

HL7 focuses on addressing immediate needs but the group dedicates its efforts to ensuring concurrence with other United States and International standards development activities. Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, India, Japan, Korea, Lithuania, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Southern Africa, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey and the United Kingdom are part of HL7 initiatives.

HEALTH MAINTENANCE ORGANIZATION (HMO): A legal corporation that offers health insurance and medical care. HMOs typically offer a range of health care services at a fixed price (see capitation); types of HMOs include:

• Staff Model – Organization owns its clinics and employs its docs.
• Group Model – Contract with medical groups for services.
• IPA Model – Contract with an IPA that contracts individual physicians.
• Direct Contract Model – Contracts directly with individual physicians.
• Mixed Model – Members get options ranging from staff to IPA models.

2791(b)(3) of the PHS Act, 42 U.S.C. 300gg-91(b)(3) means a federally qualified HMO, an organization recognized as an HMO under State law, or a similar organization regulated for solvency under State law in the same manner and to the same extent as such an HMO.

Health (HOSPITAL) Management Information System (HMIS): Computerized data-gathering, collating, and reporting system for management indicators throughout the health care industrial complex.

HEALTH OVERSIGHT AGENCY: Any person or entity acting under the authority of the federal government, state, region or political subdivision to oversee the healthcare system of enforcement, relevancy or health information rights; etc., HHS, OCR, CMS, etc.

Health plan: An individual or group that provides or pays the cost of medical care [(2791(a)(2) of the PHS Act, 42 U.S.C. 300gg- 91(a)(2)]: and includes the following, individually or collectively:

• a group health plan.
• a health insurance issuer.
• an HMO.
• Part A or Part B of the Medicare program under title XVIII of the Act.
• Medicaid program under title XIX of the Act, 42 U.S.C. 1396.
• an issuer of a Medicare supplemental policy (as defined in section 1882(g)(1) of the Act, 42 U.S.C. 1395ss(g)(1)).
• an issuer of a long-term care policy, excluding a nursing home fixed-indemnity policy.
• an employee welfare benefit plan or any other arrangement that is established or maintained for the purpose of offering or providing health benefits to the employees of two or more employers.
• the health care program for active military personnel under title 10 of the United States Code.
• Veterans Administration health care program under 38 U.S.C. Chapter 17.
• Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services (CHAMPUS) (10 U.S.C. 1072(4)).
• Indian Health Service program under the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, 25 U.S.C. 1601, et seq.
• Federal Employees Health Benefits Program under 5 U.S.C. 8902.
• an approved State child health plan under title XXI of the Act, providing benefits for child health assistance that meet the requirements of section 2103 of the Act, 42 U.S.C. 1397.
• Medicare + Choice program under Part C of title XVIII of the Act, 42 USC 1395 w-21 through 1395w-28.
• a high risk pool that is a mechanism established under State law to provide health insurance coverage or comparable coverage to eligible individuals.
• any other individual or group plan, or combination of individual or group plans, that provides or pays for the cost of medical care (as defined in section 2791(a)(2) of the PHS Act, 42 U.S.C. 300gg-91(a)(2).

HEALTH RECORD NUMBER: Unique alpha-numeric identifier assigned to a patient chart or other medical record.

HEALTH RECORD OWNERSHIP: Legal theory suggesting that the health entity owns a medical record, but the patient has certain rights of control and confidentiality.

HEALTH SCIENCE LIBRARIAN: One who administers or manages a medical library.

HEAP: A block of computer program or reserved application memory not yet given a formal use

HEAVY BROADBAND: Commercial users of massive amounts of broadband communications networks like EarthLink©, Amazon, eBay©, Google© and Microsoft©; slang term.

HEDIC: Healthcare Electronic Data Interchange Coalition and non-profit association for the collaborative improvement of electronic business (EBusiness) efficiencies in the health care industry; promotes  the use of compatible electronic data processes, standards and rules to automate information sharing and transactions between trading partners with minimum human intervention.

HEEKIN, MICHAEL, JD: Chair, Health Information Infrastructure Advisory Board, Florida.

HEISENBURG: An application or computer program bug that alters its affectations upon discovery or investigation; humorous term

HELLMAN, MARTIN, E, PhD: Professor Emeritus of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, and best known for his invention, with Diffie and Merkle of public key cryptography as the basis for secure transactions on the Internet and related computer privacy issues.

HELLO-WORLD: A computer program or application that merely greets the user with a singular salutation to demonstrate functionality; humorous term.

HELMS, DAVID, W; PhD: President and CEO of Academy Health, Inc.

HELP: A computer system assistance button, key and/or function; onscreen; online or live.

HELP DESK: Administrative, financial, technical and/or customer/patient support for a PC, server, network, or other online encounter; hardware, software or peripheral electronic components.

HENDRICKS, CARL: CIO for the Military Health Systems, DoD.

HERTZ (Hz): Channel speed meter for a Central Processing Unit (micro-chip); one cycle per second unit of frequency; bits per second.

HEURISTIC: Intelligent trial and error; gut feelings

HEWLETT-PACKARD©: A leading manufacturer of computers and printer, based in Palo Alta California,

Hexadecimal: Base 16 number system that represents 4 bits per digit; A-F letters and 0-9 digits to represent 10-15 digits.

HIBERNATE: To power-down and temporarily suspend computer system operations; sleep mode; slang term

HICOM^®: Algorithm-based survey that provide answers to more than 400 questions dealing with mandatory HIPAA compliance privacy, transaction code set and security areas; HIPAA Compliance; Duane Morris, LLP.

HIDDEN FILE: User concealed data usually present only the operating system

HIDDEN LAYER: Neurons clocked and located between input and output neurons in a neural computer network.

HIDE: To briefly remove an onscreen computer system display.

HIEB, BARRY; MD: Research Director for Gartner Healthcare and member of ASTM-E.31

HIERARCHY: The arrangement of computer routing levels; hierarchical file system; hierarchical menu, etc.

HIESTER, GEORGE, MD: Medical director and COO of Midcoast Care, an independent physician practice association in Santa Maria, California.

High definition television (HDTV): A television system with 1125 lines of horizontal resolution, with the ability of creating high quality video images.

High Definition Video Over Net (HDVON): High-bandwidth connections and compression formats, such as H.264, which make radiology images and video over the Internet possible. 

High Density Media Interface: A method used to link high-definition video components and graphics cards to a PC, radiology or HDTV monitor; teleradiology and imaging enhancement.

High Dynamic-Range Display (HDRD): Brightside Technology DR37-P providing a full range of digital colors and shades, for telmedicine, imaging and radiology.

HIGH LEVEL LANGUAGE: Computer language that combines several PC languages into a single abstracted instruction set; BASIC©, Pascal©, C, JAVA© etc.

HIGH LIGHT: A color coded and/or selected computer item, file or application activated for further use.

High Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC):  A program of research coordinated by the Federal Government focused on research and development, created to expedite the introduction and use of the next generation of high performance computer systems; especially for healthcare and HL7 initiatives. 

High Resolution Displays Unlimited Colors (HRDUC): Medical imaging technology developed by the Institute of Technology in Zurich that can reproduce the entire visible spectrum of light.

HIJACK: The ability to use one’s IT talents or malicious software that takes over a computer or network browser; usually in order to redirect the user to pay-per-click search engines; hijack-ware.

HIJACKER: One who hijack’s computer systems; cracker; exploit; sploit; hihack-ware.

HINT: Digitally encoded information for computer printing output; slang term.

HIPAA ACCOUNTABLE ORGANIZATIONS: Office of Civil Rights within the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) regulate privacy rules; while security and EDI rules are regulated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

HIPAA COMPLIANT: Following the HIPAA standards of 1996 for health data and information electronic interchange.

HIPAA COSTS: All the direct and indirect expenses associated with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, such as:

• HIPAA Privacy Official Costs: The final rules required covered entities to designate a privacy official who will be responsible for the development and implementation of privacy policies and procedures; the primary cost affiliated with this function was the personnel-hours to train and to develop detailed policies and procedures, as well as the oversight management such as coordinating between departments, evaluating procedures and assuring compliance; depending on the size of the hospital or covered entity, and the diversity of activities involving privacy issues, staff involved with privacy related issues will need to devote several hours per week to ensure compliance with this effort.
• HIPAA Internal Complaints Costs: The Privacy Rule required that each hospital and covered entity have an internal process to allow an individual to file a complaint concerning the covered entity’s compliance with its privacy policies and procedures; requires covered entities and hospitals to designate a contact person who is responsible for receiving and documenting the complaint as well as the disposition.
• HIPAA Disclosure Tracking and History Costs: The Privacy rule that required hospitals, covered entities and providers were able to produce a record of all disclosures of protected health information, except for such items as treatment, payment, healthcare operations, or disclosures to individuals; required the documentation of a note in the electronic or manual record of when, to whom, and what information was disclosed, as well as the purpose of the disclosure; hospitals must provide an accounting of disclosures to the patient, if requested; a rare occurrence.
• HIPAA De-identification of Certain Information Costs: Hospitals and covered entities are required to assess what information needed to be de-identified, such as information related to driver’s license numbers, specific age, and research data; required hospitals to review and modify existing agreements and/or re-program automated systems to remove key information that needed to be excluded.
• HIPAA Policy and Procedures Development Costs: Required covered entities and hospitals to develop policies and procedures to establish and maintain compliance with the regulation, such as copying medical records or amending records.
• HIPAA Training Costs: The privacy regulation provided each hospital or covered entity with a great deal of flexibility in developing training programs for its staff; each hospital’s training program varied based on the size of the facility, number of staff, types of operations, worker turnover, and in general the experience of the work force.
• HIPAA Notice Costs: The Privacy Regulation required each covered entity and hospital to provide a notice at each admission, regardless of how many visits an individual had to the hospital in a given year; initial cost was training the staff and the only ongoing cost was the cost related to printing the notices.
• HIPAA Consent Costs: Required that all hospitals and covered entities obtain an individual’s consent for use or disclosure of protected health information for treatment, payment, or healthcare operations; most hospitals had already been obtaining consents from patients therefore; the only additional cost to the hospital was in changing the language in the document to conform to the rule; there is no new cost for records maintenance in that the consent form had already been filed in the paper or electronic medical record.
• HIPAA Business Associates Costs: Requires a written contract or arrangement that documents satisfactory assurance that business associates will appropriately safeguard protected health information in order to disclose it to a business associate based on such an arrangement.
• HIPAA Inspection and Copying Costs: Estimated and will continue to be a significant cost to all hospitals and covered entities; the degree of inspection and copying of medical records is not expected to change in the future; most states have given patients’ rights (in varying degrees) to access medical information; the primary cost to hospitals was initially developing the procedures of what information was accessible and who had the right to request that information and the affiliated copying costs.
• IPAA Law Enforcement/Judicial and Administrative Proceedings Costs: This provision allows disclosure of protected health information without patient authorization under four circumstances: i) legal process or required by law, ii) to locate or identify a suspect, fugitive, material witness or missing person, iii) conditions related to a victim of crime, and iv) protected health information may be related to a crime committed on its premises.

HIPAA Data Dictionary (HIPAA DD): A data dictionary that defines and cross-references the contents of all X12 transactions included in the HIPAA mandate; maintained by X12N/TG3.

HIPAA GROUPS: Health plans, health maintenance organizations, physicians, hospitals, pharmacies and any organization that offers health, dental and/or insurances. In August of 2002, The United States Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) published amended regulations to HIPAA governing Standards of Privacy of individual identifiable Health Information. In April of 2003, the privacy rules went into effect. The Privacy Standards control the use and disclosures of protected health information (PHI) and establishes safeguards that must be achieved to protect the privacy of PHI. This includes past, present or future physical or mental condition of an individual or payment for healthcare for that individual, either in an electronic, written or oral format. Presently, information related to treatment, payment, and healthcare operations, such an insurance billing, can be used and disclosed without employee authorization. Since April 2005, hospitals and covered entities must also achieve compliance in five areas:

• Administrative safeguards
• Physical safeguards
• Technical safeguards
• Organizational safeguards
• Security policies and procedures

HIPAA IMPLEMENTATION GUIDELINES: Requirements for HIPAA compliance for standard transactions set forth by the Washington Publication Company (WPC) or the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP).

HIPAA INTENT: Signed into law by President Clinton in 1996 was part of a broad attempt at healthcare reform. Its intent was:

• curtail healthcare fraud and abuse;
• enforce standards for health information;
• guarantee the security and privacy of health information; and
• assure health insurance portability for employed persons

HIPAA PRIVACEY RULES: Regulations mandated for the delivery of high quality healthcare since the entire healthcare system is built upon the willingness of individuals to share the most intimate details of their lives with their healthcare providers, insurers, lawyers, etc; the major impacts on the privacy regulation that had an effect on time and cost to the hospital are:

• defining protected health information that relates to maintaining or transmitting information;
• determining exactly when an authorization is needed by patients;
• establishing a policy and guideline for determining what parts of the health record is owned by the patient;
• ensuring that privacy procedures and agreements are adhered to and updated on a regular basis;
• mandating and assuring that all outside entities meet the same standards as the hospital;
• determining what can and can not be released for research.

HISTORY: A list of visited web hypertext links as a web browser feature.

HISTORY FOLDER: A computer file of websites and pages visited.

HIT: An item found using a website search engine or a website/page visit; recorded each time a Web browser display a page, a hit refers to a single access of a Web page; it is common for a user’s homepage to display the number of hits it has received, and this number is used by Webmasters to determine the popularity of any given Website and thus how much attention it should receive.

HIT ANALYSIS: Website visitor data collection numerics for benchmarks like: hits, downloads, page views, time, clicks, etc.

HIVE: Computer information registry stored in a file on the computer’s hard disk; located on a specified volume or in the user profiles: slang term.

HOAX: An electronically delivered piece of misinformation; meme virus; deliberate prank, worm, trojan, urban legend; hoax virus; hoax worm.

HOLE: Any online, software, communications or Internet security breach; bug; slang term.

HOLLOWELL, TODD, A: Director of Information Technology for the University of Chicago Hospitals.

HOLOGRAM: The reconstruction of any individual electrical component into the whole; laser image or light imprint; three dimensional visual image of health, medical or other data or information.

HOME: The home directory for the UNIX operating system.

HOME BREW: Computer system network, hardware, software or peripheral devices developed by a hobbyist.

HOME PAGE: A webpage or website point of welcome or point of entry to a series of embedded sounds, documents, images or links; home page.

HOMELAND SECURITY PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVES-12 (HSPD-12): October 2006 mandate that required standard forms of identity verification for all federal employees and contractors.

HONEY POT: A pre-set security trap for malicious computer system hackers, crackers, etc.

HONKER: Hacker, cracker or hijacker; Lion worm; slang term.

HOOK: Programming instructions that provide breakpoints for future expansion; may be changed to call some outside routine or function, or may be placed where additional processing is added.

HOP: Distance between one router to another router, or network system node to node; slang term.

HOP COUNT: Number of hops from one router node to another; slang term.

HOPPER, GRACE, BREWSTER, PhD (1906-1992): Rear Admiral and computer scientist from Vassar College and Yale University who coined the term computer “bug” and developed the language COBOL, as a simple linguistically based computer language program.

HOSPITAL IDENTIFICATION: Unique healthcare entity identifier.

Hospital Information System: A secure computer system used to store and retrieve patient information and medical data; integrated computer-based system may include or be linked to laboratory and radiology information systems (LIS and RIS).

HOST: A central PC connected to terminals or a network for processing and control and acts as a source of information or signals; can refer to nearly any type of computer, such as a centralized mainframe which is a host to its terminals, a server which is acting as a host to its clients, or a desktop or networked PC which is acting as a host to its peripherals; in network architecture it is a client station (the healthcare user’s machine) is considered to be a host, because it’s a source of health data and related information to the network (in contrast to a device such as a router or switch which directs traffic).

HOST COMPILER: CPU system that provides services such as database management, word processing, medical or other special programs.

HOST FILE: Text file that maps host names to IP addresses.

HOST NAME: The identifier of a specific computer network server.

HOT BACKUP SITE: Real-time duplication of healthcare entities’ critical IT systems stored in a remote location.

HOT BOT: Inktomi® and HotWired Inc® search engine with Slurp® web-robot database tool.

HOT DESK: Medical office or other operational strategy that allows fewer employee desks than employees often leaving them adrift among phone and web connections linked to specific desks.

HOT FIX: A rapidly delivered software update or fast security patch; slang term.

HOT LINK: A continuously updated shared program connection; slang term.

HOT LIST: A compilation of electronic book marks or favorite URLs; slang term.

HOT MAIL®: MSFT internet based email server launched in 1996.

HOt plug: To add or remove peripheral devices while a computer is still running; USB and FireWire standards support hot-plugging; slang term.

hot site: An alternative backup site that contains the same equipment as found in

the healthcare organization’s actual IT center.

HOT SPOT: Specific non-secure (surf and sip) geographic location in which an access point provides public wireless broadband network services; wireless hot spot for Wi-Fi functionality (i.e., iPas® and Boingo®).

HOT SWAP: A computer system item or device that is replaceable while running; slang term.

HOT SYNC: Palm synchronization and communication application for computer and Palm Pilot®; cable or wireless connection.

HOT ZONE: End of line word processing feature that triggers a hyphen.

HOTELING: Medical office or other operational strategy that allows fewer employee desks than employees through the use of VOIP, and WiFi Lan access.

HOURGLASS: Microsoft© “busy-waiting” icon.

HOVER(ING): To move the mechanical, optical or infrared mouse pointer to a specific location of a computer screen; pointing; hover button.

HOWARD, ROBERT: The VA System’s first centralized CIO.

HSIAO, WILLIAM: Researcher form Harvard University who established the relative value appropriateness of CPT codes, along with Peter Braun.

HTML: Abbreviation for HyperText Markup Language; the major language of the internet’s world-wide-web; Web sites and web pages are written in HTML, which basically comprises a set of instructions for creating web pages.

HTML validator: A quality assurance program used to check Hypertext Markup Language elements for errors.

HUB: Electronic computer network communications device that divides one data channel into two or more channels; a concentrator or receptor; slang term.

HUFFMAN CODE: Statistical compression conversion method for character data into bit strings.

HUMAN COMPUTER INTERFACE: A human being-to-computer network input access device.

human firewall: An employee who practices good security techniques to prevent any security attacks from passing through them.

HUMMEL, JOHN: CIO and Senior Vice-President of Information Services for Sutter Health.

HUNT AND PECK: Untrained typing or keyboard operating style; slang term.

HURD: A collection of servers that run on top of a microkernel (such as Mach) to implement different features.

HYBRID FIREWALL: Computer network security protection technology with firewall features like circuit level proxy, packet filtering, application level proxies, etc in order to protect against multi dimensional attacks.

HYBRID NETWORK: A LAN, MAN or WAN ring, star and topology nodule computer network; computer systems network architecture.

HYBRID RECORD: A combined paper, computer system and electronic healthcare, chart or medical record; medical information multiple formats.

HYBRID SMART CARD: A plastic card with both optical and smart card magnetic tape storage technologies for data transference.

HYBRIS VIRUS: Self-updating email attachment and Internet worm released in 2000.

HYPE CYCLE: Gartner Group flow-sheet for emerging technology stages: trigger, inflated expectations, trough of disillusionment, slope of enlightenment and productivity plateau.

HYPERCARD: Visual tool for building hyperlinked applications.

HYPERLINK: A predefined data element link between electronic objects; basic website navigator; hyper media; we blink.

HYPERTEXT: Non-linear access language which allows entry to and through many different software applications; hyper media; coined by Ted nelson in the 1960’s for document linkage.

Hypertext Link: A link or visual aid, usually signified by highlighting, underlining or graphics, instructs the computer to display a specific Web document; permits users to move easily within a Web site or across Web sites residing on different computers; a ‘bad’ link refers to one that does not work properly and will display an error message rather than the Web page the user was attempting to visit;  bad links are caused because a Web site has changed location without leaving a forwarding address or because the page was simply removed from the Web.

HYPERTEXT MARKUP LANGUAGE (HTML:): Descriptive ASCII based computer language which creates Internet hyper text documents for online display; HTML documents comprise the core of a Web site, and can be identified by a .shtml or .shtm suffix.

HYPERTEXT TRANSPORT PROTOCOL (http): Technology enabling hypertext link usage; the standard by which the World Wide Web operates. 

HYPERTHREAD: The ability of a CPU to follow two instruction streams.

HYPERVISION: Open source language and OS from Xen© and VMware© that can run a micro-kernel attached to the metal of a CPU and can host virtual computers with different operating systems running next to each other.

HYPERWAVE: An Internet server that specializes in multi-media events, health, medical or other data manipulation.

HYSTERESIS: The tendency of a computer system to operate differently depending merely on input change and/or direction. 

I-L Terminology

-I-

iBOOK: Apple® notebook computer of 1999; a portable iMAC®.

iMAC: Apple Corporation® Macintosh computer line with distinctive style and flat screened computer monitor for internet browsing, first introduced in 1998.

iPOD®: A proprietary portable video and audio player from Apple Computer®; MP3 and other music file formats; Shuffle®. But, Jon Lech Johansen of DoubleTwist cracked Apple’s FairPlay copy-protection technology in 2006, allowing other companies to offer content for iPods®.

iTUNES®: Electronic music download channel of distribution model launched by Apple Computer Inc®, in 2001

iPv6: Internet Protocol (IP) version 6 with improvement over version four (iPv4) such as better routing functionality and more addresses.

i-WAY: The Internet or information superhighway; i-away; slang term

I2: The Internet

IA-16: Intel© 16 bit architecture for the 80286 CPU series

IA-32: Intel© 32 bit architecture for the 80386, 80486 and Pentium CPU series

IA:-64: Intel© 64 bit architecture for the Itanium© microprocessor series with explicit parallel instruction computing and backward hardware capacity.

I-BAR: Mouse pointer icon shape

I-PIX: Panoramic view image file with .ipx extension.

IBM PC®:  The first open architecture personal computer that invited third part innovation and transformed the IT and healthcare industry.

ICF LOG FILE: Internet Connection Firewall (ICF) that contains information about lost transmission packets or successful connections in time sequence, and usually in six field records: date, time, action, protocol, source IP address and destination IP address.

ICON: A small visual image or representation used in a graphical user interface (GUI) environment to interface with a computer operating system, application or program.

ICON: A high-level, general-purpose programming language with a large repertoire of features for processing data structures and character strings; imperative, procedural language with a syntax reminiscent of C and Pascal, but with semantics at a much higher level.

ICON NURSING: Nursing clinical and management tool.

ICONIC INTERFACE: The manipulation of icons to achieve designated application, online or computer program navigation results.

IDENTIFICATION NAMING: In order to implement many healthcare IT services, it is essential that both subjects and objects be identifiable; provides the capability to uniquely identify users, processes, and information resources.

IDENTITY: Information that is unique within a security domain and which is recognized as denoting a particular entity within that domain.

IDENTITY BASED SECURITY POLICY: A security policy based on the identities and/or attributes of the object (system resource) being accessed and of the subject (user, group of users, process, or device) requesting access.

IDENTITY MANAGEMENT: Policies and procures for personal or master patient index verification

IDEOGRAM: A symbol or character that represents and idea.

IDLE: A computer system that is in operation, but not currently in use.

IEEE 802.2-802.5: Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers standard for Internet IT data transmissions.

IGLEHART, JOHN: Founding Editor, Health Affairs.

IGNORE LIST: A table of block email, IM or IRC instant chat addresses

ILLEGAL OPERATION: A computer system operation that a current user is not authorized to access or use.

IMAGE: Visual computer representation; electronic picture or icon in three file-formats: .gif; .jpeg; and .png.

IMAGE COMPRESION: To reduce the amount of memory needed for electronic pictures by using methods such as JPEG, iVEX, MPEG or Wavelet technology®.

Image editor: Software program designed for capturing, creating, editing, and manipulating radiology or other images.

IMAGE MAP: Several electronic pictures with more than one link.

Image Processing: Process of modifying medical data representing an image, typically to ameliorate diagnostic interpretation, using algorithms.

Image setter: A device that uses laser light to expose film at high dpi resolution, usually 1200 dpi or higher; maximum dpi of 4000.

Image Technology: The component of computer applications that transform documents, medical illustrations, photographs, and other healthcare images into data that computers and special-purpose workstations are capable of storing, distributing, accessing, and processing.

IMAGING: The process of scanning, capturing, archiving and transmitting digital medical or other images, x-rays, CT or PET scans, etc.

IMPLANTABLE COMPUTER: A surgically place computing device, similar to a pacemaker.

Implementation Guide (IG): A document explaining the proper use of a standard for a specific health business purpose; X12N HIPPA IGs are the primary reference documents used by those implementing the associated transactions, and are incorporated into the HIPAA regulations by reference.

IMPLEMENTATION SPECIFICATION: Refers to the HIPAA guidelines published by WPS or the NCPDP.

IMPORT: To load a file form one native format, to another format

IN-LOOP: To have some control in a medical, health IT or other decision-making process; slang term

incident response team: An employee team charged with gathering and handling the digital evidence of an attack.

INCREMENTAL BACKUP: Partial file copying (backup) since the last modification.

INDEO: Intel® technology for digital video file compression; code name.

Independent Health Record Bank Act (IHRBA): Proposal that allows individual patients to view and edit their own health and medical records.

INDEPENDENT SOFTWarE Vendor (isv): Those smaller medical technology vendors who develop solutions using larger computer system development tools from SUN®, Oracle®, Microsoft® technology, etc for the healthcare industry, or to showcase how organizations are using technology to enhance and transform the quality of patient care; reduce costs; streamline clinical and business processes; drive interoperability; improve productivity and workflow and enable informed decisions; etc:

• Clinical Records – inpatient
• Clinical Records – ambulatory
• Delivery Transformation
• Disease Surveillance
• Interoperability
• Outcomes Reporting
• Etc

Independent Telephone Company: A local exchange carrier that is independent of the Bell system of operating companies (BOCs); in rural locations, many of the independent telephone companies are cooperative.

Independent verifiability: The capability to verify the signature without the cooperation of the signer; accomplished using the public key of the signatory, and it is a property of all digital signatures performed with asymmetric key encryption

INDEX: An organized list of health, medical or other data; usually alpha-numeric.

Indexed Color: A format that contains a palette of 256 colors or less to define and image and can reduce file size while maintaining visual quality; reduction in file size makes it an ideal format for radiology multimedia or web graphics.

INDIGO: Microsoft Corp© design tool for creating Windows Communications Foundation® (WCF) applications; code term.

INDIRECT TREATMENT RELATIONSHIP: Third party medical diagnosis, intervention and/or treatment, as seen in a procider-2-provider environment; rather than a provider-2-patient environment.

Individual: A person or patient who is the subject of protected health information according to HIPAA statutes.

INDIVIDUALLY IDENTIFIABLE DATA (IID): Person or patient specific medical or health information.

Individually Identifiable Health Information (IDHI): Information that is created or received by a covered entity; relates to the physical or mental health condition of an individual, provision of health care or the payment for the provision of health care; identifies the individual or there is reasonable belief that the information can be used to identify the individual.

INDUCTIVE REASONING:  The process of observations leading to conclusions.

INFECTION: The presence of malicious computer code, such as virus, trojan worm or other electronic miscreant.

INFERENCE ENGINE: The electronic matching of data to pre-selected information.

INFERENTIAL STATISTICS: The ability to make cohort generalizations based on sample characteristics; mathematical statistics.

INFILTRATION: Unauthorized entry into a computer, server, network on online application without detection, usually with malicious intent.

INFOBAHN: The German information super-highway; internet.

INFOBUTTON: An on-demand computer information alerting system.

Informatics: The study of the impact that technology has on people or the science of information and information technology; refers to the creation, recognition, representation, collection, organization, transformation, communication, evaluation and control of information in various health contexts; health informatics.

INFORMATION: Meaningful fractal data for decision support purposes; data to which meaning is assigned, according to context and assumed conventions. (National Security Council, 1991)

INFORMATION ACCESS CONTROL: Established formal, documented policies and procedures for granting different levels of access to health care information; includes information on who gives authorization for access, to what types of information, and to what groups of individuals; policy should state any access limitations and ensure that users have access to information needed to perform their jobs.

INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE: A useful combination of computers, programs and applications, servers, networks, peripherals, internet and mainframes legacy systems.

INFORMATION ASSET: Data with organizational or enterprise benefit.

INFORMATION COMPROMISE: The degradation or disclosure of information.

INFORMATION EXTRACTION: Computer assisted human language retrieval and ultimate interpretation.

INFORMATION HIGHWAY (SUPER): The internet; the National Information Infrastructure; Infobahn; slang.

Information Infrastructure Task Force (IITF): An organization, established by the Clinton Administration, and comprised of Federal agencies specializing in information and telecommunications technology development and application, with the goal of outlining and implementing a plan for the National Information Infrastructure (NII).

INFORMATION MODEL: Business concept to support a commercial health function or other system.

INFORMATION SECURITY: The effective safeguard of protected healthcare information; digital, analog or paper platforms; a computer or network that is free from threats against it.

INFORMATON SYSTEMS: All the components of a network, server, or computerized knowledge management and data platform; mainframe, PC, legacy, Mac, UNIX, open source or other; an inter-connected set of health information resources under the same direct management control that shares common functionality.

Information Technology (IT): Processing information by use of a computer, network or Internet; information processing industry term used after other titles such as electronic data processing (EDP), management information systems (MIS) and health information systems (HIS).

INFORMATION WARFARE: A deliberate attack in order to compromise protected healthcare or medical information.

INFOSEEK®: An Internet full text search engine.

INFRARED: Invisible light with computer ports for laptop and wireless machines and printers.

INFRARED FILE TRNSFER: Wireless medical, health data or other information file transfer.

INHERITANCE: One similar computer object defined in a slightly dis-similar fashion compared to another.

INITIALIZE: To store a health data variable, medical information segment or other information for the first time; to prepare for use.

INOCULATE: To protect a computer system against worms, viruses, intruders, sploits, malicious conduct, etc; HIPAA security measure; etc.

INPRISE CORPORATION®: The Borland International Company.

INPUT: Medical data or other information to be processed or manipulated.

INPUT DEVICE: An instrument that makes information available for computer or network data processing; keyboard, mouse, finger-pad, joystick, game-pad, wheel, and voice recognition, etc.

INPUT LAYER: Input form examples and cases in a neural computer network; not networked neurons.

Input/Output: Transferring data between computer CPU and a peripheral device.

Input/Output Express: Executive Software’s Automatic Data Caching utility for Open VMS.

InPut/OutPut Wait Monitor Utility: A utility available from Executive Software® used to determine I/O bottlenecks on an open VMS system.

INSERTION ATTACK: The ability to connect a wireless computer client to an access point without authorization because of password authentication absence.

INSERTION POINT: Blinking vertical cursor identification and location bar within a program or application.

INSTANT MESSAGE(ING) (IM): Real time instantaneous email communications and conversation; text messaging fro computer, cell phone, pagers, etc; files, voice or video; ICQ, AOL or Windows Messenger©; IMing; slang term.

INSTANTIATE: To create or initialize computer systems operations.

INSTITUTE OF ELECTRICAL and electronics ENGINEERS (IEEE): Group that sets Ethernet or wired computer network standards.

INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL BUSINESS ADVISORS©: A leading professional health economics consulting and valuation firm and focused provider of textbooks, CDs, tools, templates, onsite and distance education for the health economics, administration and financial management policy space (www.MedicalBusinessAdvisors.com).

INSTRUCTION: Set of characters with addresses that define a computer or network operation.

INTEGRATE: The combination of programs, applications or actives into a functional computer system unit.

INTEGRATED CALL MANAGEMENT: Electrical system to improve the speed and efficiency of medical and healthcare information and support services.

INTGRATED CIRCUIT (IC): A single silicone, germanium or similar wafer chip that contains many millions of transistors and circuit elements; a solid state microcircuit comprised of interconnected semiconductor components diffused into a single instrument.

INEGRATED CLIENT: Seamlessly meshed technology applications to support healthcare organization electronic record functionality using HL7 v3 messaging and standards and protocols.

INTEGRATED PROGRAM: A combination or suite of software applications, such as MSFT Office® 2007.

INTEGRATED SERVICES DIGITAL NETWORK (ISDN): Digital land line telephone network with channels for high speed video, voice and data transmission over public phone lines; a completely digital telephone system enjoying more popularity throughout the United States which permits the integrated transmission of voice, video, and data to users at a higher speed than would be possible over typical telephone lines; provides connections to a universal network; currently requires special installation and equipment.

• ISDN: Basic Rate: 128 kbps, 64K-B channels with one 16-K channel that replaced conventional phone lines
• ISDN: Primary Rate: 65K-B channels with one 16-K D-channel for control signaling.

INTEGRATION TESTING: To benchmark computer systems and components for use-ability, functionality, performance and efficiency.

INTEGRITY: The security objective that generates the requirement for protection against either intentional or accidental attempts to violate data integrity (the property that data has not been altered in an unauthorized manner) or system integrity (the quality that a system has when it performs its intended function in an unimpaired manner, free from unauthorized manipulation); to determine if medical information or PHI has been accessed, altered or tampered.

Integrity controls: Security mechanism employed to ensure the validity of health information being electronically transmitted or stored.

INTEL®: A first and leading manufacturer of 8080, Z80, 4004 and 8008 CPUs, and then of PC compatible CPUs from the 8088, 8026, 8036, 846, Pentium®, Celeron®, and Centrino® series, to the Duo® and Quad-Core processor series, etc; Santa Clara, California.

INTEL® 4004: Manufacturer that produced the first microprocessor chip in 1972; programmable, handled 4-bit word processor that contained 2,250 transistors; designed by engineer Marcian “Ted” Hoff; computer on a chip.

Intel® 8086: A 16-bit microprocessor introduced in June 1978 and followed a year later with the 8088, a lower-cost and slower version; IBM® used the 8088 for its first PC.

INTEL® i386 PROCESSOR: Defined the 32 bit standard and paved the way for desktop computer virtualization n multitasking formats.

INTEL® CELERON® CPU: A 90 nm microprocessor built in a 478-pin package and an FC-LGA775 land package that expanded Intel’s series of CPUs into the value-priced PC market with an integrated L2 cache, fast system bus and multimedia power.

INTEL® CENTRINO® CPU: Mobile technology laptop CPU that features fully integrated wireless LAN+ capabilities while enabling significant battery life.

intellectual property: Works created by others such as books, music, plays, paintings, and photographs; etc.

Intellectual Property Litigator (IPL):  An attorney diligent about protecting health or other patents copyrights and trademarks; previously the exclusive realm of small boutique firms IP litigation is increasingly being handled by large national and global firms.

INTELLIGENT AGENT: A software program or utility that offers intuitive suggestions and judgments based on prior use; spiders, bots, etc.

INTELLIGENT HUB: A central computer network connecting device.

INTELLIGENT TERMINAL: Network or computer peripheral that allows input and output functionality.

INTERACTIVE: Immediate communication between computer/network or user and its output/input.

INTERCAP: Upper case letters in the middle of a single word.

Interexchange Carrier (IXC): A long-distance telephone carrier; a telephone company that carries long-distance calls.

INTERFACE: The boundary which two computer systems cross and function; hardware, software, peripheral, programs and applications, LANs, WANs, MANs or internet, etc; connection between two devices; applies to both hardware and software.

INTERIX: MSFT utility application joining the Window® and UNIX operating systems for improved functionality.

INTERLACED: An illuminated CRT screen that displays odd then even lines with noticeable motion.

INTERLACED GIF: A downloaded and optimized BITMAP file.

Internal audit: The in-house review of the records of system activity (for example, logins, file accesses, security incidents) maintained by a health or other organization; part of administrative procedures to guard data integrity, confidentiality, and availability on the matrix.

INTERNAL STORAGE: Electronic storage capability or device that is physically integrated with a computer or network.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES© (IBM): The former industry leading mainframe computer maker of the 1950’s, and leading PC industry icon based in Armonk, NY, until PC division sale to Lenovo® in 2006; introduced the IBM PC in 1981

International Classification of Diseases (ICD): A medical code set maintained by the World Health Organization (WHO) whose primary purpose is to classify causes of death; the US extension, maintained by the NCHS within the CDC, identifies morbidity factors, or diagnoses; ICD-9-CM codes were selected for use in  HIPAA transactions.

International Classification of Diseases, Ninth edition: Numeric (usually) codes used for statistical and payment reporting in the USA.

International Classification of Diseases, tenth edition: Alpha-numeric codes used for statistical reporting by the World Health Organization (WHO), but not the USA.

International Classification of Diseases, tenth edition-CLINICAL MODIFICATION: Clinical modifications of ICD-10 codes developed for the USA.

International Organization for Standardization (ISO): An organization that coordinates the development and adoption of numerous international standards.

International Organization for Standardization / Open Systems Interconnections (ISO/OSI): A typical reference archetype for a local area network (LAN) architecture model made up of several hierarchical levels (physical, data link, network, transport, session, presentation, and application) that address LAN design, from the specification of the physical transmission medium to the abilities of user interaction with LAN services.

International Telecommunications Union (ITU): Governed by a treaty and comprised of government telecommunications agencies responsible for setting standards for radio, telegraph, telephone, and television.

International Telecommunications Union Consultative Committee for Telecommunications (ICUCCT): Formerly the Consultative Committee on International Telephone and Telegraph (CCITT); An international agency responsible for developing standards for telecommunications, including FAX and video coder-decoder devices.

INTERNET: Global network of interconnecting computers and systems interfaced with hypertext markup code, JAVA or similar languages; a vast system of computers that are ‘networked’ (linked together) to exchange health information and resources; the internet makes it easy for people all over the world to communicate with each other through telephone lines or wirelessly, a shared global resource that is not owned or regulated by anyone; internetwork.

INTERNET 2: A group of business, governments and universities collaboratively working to create a high-performance next generation successor to the Internet, since 1996; based in Ann Arbor, MI.

INTERNET ADDRESS: A unique 32 bit, four-octet moniker, assigned to each computer accessing the Internet.

INTERNET APPLIANCE: A single purpose non PC device built solely for web access and related tasks.

INTERNET BACKBONE: A group of commercial networked communication companies that provide national high speed electronic links; National Science Foundation high-speed network; Cisco Systems®, Juniper Networks®, Lucent Technologies®, Sycamore Networks®, etc.

INTERNET BROWSER: Software client interface that supports messages, visuals, hyperlinks, searches and audio information transmissions on the World Wide Web (WWW); IE., AOL, Firefox©, Mozilla©, Netscape Navigator©, etc.

INTERNET CAFÉ: Usually a coffee house or local pub selling Internet access or service, WiFi hotspots, etc.

INTERNET CONTROL MESSAGE PROTOCOL (ICMP): A computing network IP standard for control, error and informational messaging; usually features PING command host detection functionality.

INTERNET EXPLORER® (IE): Windows® GUI web browser from Microsoft released in 1995 ; version 7.0 released in 2007; bundled with the Vista® OS, or as a free internet download providing search functionality with sound, graphics, texts, movies and JAVA® applets; available for UNIX and Macintosh environments.

INTERNET DATAGRAM: The basic unit of digital information that passes across the Internet, with data, source and destination information and security material.

INTERNET FAX: Facsimile server routing a digital fax server as a destination fax machine.

INTERNET KEY EXCHANGE (IKE): Network management protocol standard used with and IPS for security and authentication purposes.

INTERNET PROTOCOL (IP): Connectionless best-efforts digital packet delivery methodology for Internet access; based on the Web site’s technical address, it is another way for accessing Web sites; the formal for this protocol is a four-part number, such as 206.17.253.48.

INTERNET PROTOCOL ADDRESS (IPA): The basic sequence of computer networking to locate a specific website (version IPv4 for 32 bit binary numbers grouped in four eight bit octets); some are private and used only for internal networks and not into the Internet from a router.

INERNET PROTOCOL SECURITY (IPSec): An encryption standard for Virtual Private Networks (VPNs).

INTERNET RADIO: The transmission of radio signals and waves, to PCs, over the Internet.

INTERNET RELAY CHAT (IRC): Real-time internet computer conferencing by typing back and forth; “talking”; developed by Jarkko Oikarinen in 1988, IMing; a form of instant Internet communication designed for group (many-to-many) communication in discussion forums called channels, but also allows one-to-one communication; created to replace a program called MultiUser® talk on a Finnish BBS called OuluBox®; IRC chat room.

INTERNET SECURUITY AND ACCELERATOR SERVICE: Security utility and SAAS from MSFT for enhanced Internet reliability and management.

INTERENT SECURITY ASSOCIATION AND KEY MANAGEMENT PROTOCOL (ISAKMP): An early precursor to IKE.

INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER (ISP): Firm that provides Internet connectivity services to end users though an internet dial-up connection, DSL or cable modem, along with other services like web hosting, security features and domain names, etc; AOL, Comcast®, Microsoft®, InsideInternet©, BellSouth, Verizon®, Earthlink, ® Qwest®, Net Zero©  and Sympatico©, etc.

INTERNET SMALL COMPUTER System Interface (iSCSI). Ethernet network standard to boost data transfer speed among interconnected storage devices and computers running on traditional networks; avoiding more expensive fiber channel health data communications pipelines.

INERNET SOCIETY: An Internet Architecture Board of members based in Reston, VA.

INTERNET TELEPHONY (IP): Digitized point-to-point telephone calls or video images (internet TV and radio) transmitted over the Internet; VOIP; Vonage®, Skype®, etc.

INTEROPERABILITY: The ability of a computer to operate under different operating systems and platforms while maintaining the same functionality and interface experience; the applications used on either side of a communication, between healthcare partners and/or between internal components of a medical entity, being able to read and correctly interpret the information communicated from one to the other.

INTERPRETED LANGUAGE: Non-compiled, line-by-line, slowly functioning computer code.

INTERPRETER: High level computer programming language which runs and translates simultaneously.

INERPRATER RELIABILITY: Health or other data consistency between or among various abstractors.

Interrupt: A signal that gets the attention of the CPU and is usually generated when I/O is required; software interrupts are generated by a program requiring disk input or output; hardware interrupts are generated when a key is pressed or when the mouse is moved; control is transferred to the OS which determines the prioritized action to be taken.

INTERSTITIAL: Pop up Internet add between web pages

INTRANET: Digital communications network used solely within an organization as an enterprise-wide private application; LAN, MAN and WAN functionality without the Internet and often use in hospital systems, HMOs, etc; any private healthcare network that uses some or all of the protocols of the Internet; intranet nodes interact in a hub-client relationship, nodes are identified by using (IP) addresses, and files are identified by universal resource locators (URLs); the health data being exchanged are typically formatted using HTML and is controlled and displayed using a browser; an intranet system may be connected to the Internet via firewalls, or it may be totally separate schematic system, as illustrated below.

INTRAWARE: Private health or other group middleware or software; value added program.

INTRUDER: An unauthorized on non-security cleared, and usually malicious computer system user; attacker; hacker, cracker, or honker.

Intrusion containment: Detecting insecure computer or network situations in order to respond in a timely manner; effective response, isolation and eradication.

INTRUSION DETECTION: Applications, tools and code used to detect unauthorized and unwanted computer, server, or network break-ins or entries.

Intrusion detection System (IDS): A type of security management system for computers and networks that gathers and analyzes information from various areas within a computer or a network to identify possible security breaches, which include both intrusions (attacks from outside the organization) and misuse (attacks from within the organization). ID uses vulnerability assessment (scanning), which is a technology developed to assess the security of a computer system or network.

Intrusion prevention: A preemptive approach to network security used to identify potential threats and respond to them swiftly; like ID, an intrusion prevention system (IPS) monitor network traffic; however, because an exploit may be carried out after the attacker gains access, intrusion prevention systems also have the ability to take immediate action, based on a set of rules established by the network administrator.

IOMEGA CORP®: Mass storage company and maker of portable electronic computer devices like Zip© and Jazz© drives.

IOS: Programmable platform from Cisco Systems® that augmented computer networking and intelligence.

IOTUM: Presence management software.

IP ADDRESS: Physical binary number address of a computer TCP/IP network.

IP NUMBER: Internet protocol address consisting of four numbers, separated by periods (dots).

IP-NG: A unique 128 bit, 16 byte moniker, assigned to each computer accessing the Internet; internet protocol, next generation IP address.

IP-SEC: Minor internet protocol (IP) encryption and authentication packet.

IRC CHAT WORM: Malicious IRC code infecting channels through Plug-n-Play modules in 2005.

ISM: License exempt Industrial, Scientific and Medical radio band that is divided into 11 transmission channels in the USA and 13 in the UK.

ISO/IEC 17799: The Code of Practice for information security management is a generic set of best practices for the security of information systems and considered the foremost security specification document in the world, the code of practice includes guidelines for all organizations, no matter what their size or purpose; originally published in the United Kingdom as DT Code of Practice, and then later as BS 7799.

ISOLATION: A blind transaction that remains invisible until another transaction is executed.

ISS: Internet Security Systems® Inc; public company formerly located in Atlanta that produced the Proventia© network protection software product and RealSecure© server security system; acquired by IBM® to focus on end-to-end security for healthcare organizations and large enterprise-wide systems; Thomas Noonan CEO.

IT SECURITY ARCHITECTURE: A description of security principles and an overall approach for complying with the HIPAA and protection principles that drive a healthcare technology system design; i.e., guidelines on the placement and implementation of specific security services within various distributed computing environments.

ITANIUM®: A 64-bit Intel® CPU implementing the IA-64 architecture first developed in 2001.

-J-

J#: A computer language similar to JAVA and C+J-Codes: A subset of the HCPCS Level II code set with a high-order value of “J” that has been used to identify certain drugs and other items; dropped from HCPCS; NDC codes are used to identify pharmaceuticals and supplies.

JABBER: A random or continuous stream of medical or other transmitted computer network data transmissions; slang term.

Jaggies: Effect caused by images or lines being rendered at too low a resolution and easily defined as a stair-stepped effect giving the line or images a rough appearance; increasing the resolution reduces the effect; slang term.

JAMMING: A wireless computer network 2.4 GHz band shutdown attack with radio frequency interface; slang term.

JARGON FILE: The Stanford University collection of computer terms and definitions first begun in 1975, enlarged by MIT and published as the New Hacker’s Dictionary (MIT Press, 3^rd edition, 1996), edited by Eric Raymond.

JAVA®: A powerful computer language from Sun Microsystems© Inc., that allows web page and internet interactivity across a whole host of different topologies, operating systems, languages and software applications; web page java virtual machine and applet production language; JavaScript is an interpreted programming language and Internet development tool; designed to have the “look and feel” of the C++ computer language but it is simpler and enforces OOP applications that may run on a single computer or be distributed among servers and clients in a network or to build a small application module or applet for use as part of a Web page. Java Virtual Machine© (JVM) was introduced in 1995 and instantly created a new sense of the interactive possibilities of the Web. Both of the major Web browsers include a Java virtual machine and almost all major operating system developers (IBM®, Lenovo®, Microsoft®, and others) have added Java compilers as part of their product offerings; JAVA applet, card, virtual machine, chip, browser, hotspot, mail page, etc; developed by James Gosling and code named “Oak”.

JAVA BEAN: Any software component, application or program written in the JAVA computer language; Sun Microsystems, Inc®.

Java Cryptography Extension (JCE): An application program interface that provides a uniform framework for the implementation of security features in JAVA, often using techniques like:

• Symmetric ciphers
• Asymmetric ciphers
• Stream ciphers
• Block ciphers
• Key generation
• Key storage
• Key retrieval
• Secure streams
• Sealed objects
• Digital signatures
• Message Authentication Code (MAC) algorithms

JAVASCRIPT®: The executable commands of a webpage written in a slightly different JAVA code language combined with HTML; permits augmented functionality of and enhancements to a Web site; if one’s browser is unable to use these languages, the enhancements or features found in the Web site will usually not be displayed; Netscape® and Microsoft® support this language.

JIGSAW: An online electronic business contact database.

JINDAL, PAWAN; MD: Healthcare Managing consultant for Quiology® Inc.

JOILET FILE: ISO 9660 variant for CD-ROM recording made by Microsoft® to support longer file name extensions.

JOINS: A SQL data base management operation performed on relationship tables combining elements into a common table.

Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO): A subset of the HCPCS Level II code set with a high-order value of “J” that has been used to identify certain drugs and other items; the final codes were dropped from the HCPCS, and the NDC codes used to identify the associated pharmaceuticals and supplies.

JOINT CONSENT: An organized healthcare arrangement for healthcare Covered Entities s to use and disclose PHI and IIHI for the treatment and payment of healthcare operations.

Joint Healthcare Information Technology Alliance (JHITA): A healthcare industry association that represents AHIMA, AMIA, CHIM, CHIME, and HIMSS on legislative and regulatory issues affecting the use of health information technology.

JOINT PHOTOGRAPHIC EXPERTS GROUP (JPEG): A coding standard for transmitting and storing full color and echo grey-scale electronic images.

JONES, THOMAS, M; MD: Member of HL7 and vice president and chief medical officer, Oracle Corp., Redwood Shores, California.

JOO: The interrogative query, “you?” slang term.

JOTSPOT: Online service provider of Wiki’s, website services and spreadsheets.

JOURNAL(ING): A list of the recording of all computer, server, network and/or Internet browsing activities, such as video and email, chat and webcam functions, instant messaging, i-pod casts and search functions.

JOY, WILLIAM: Creator of the interactive UNIX format known as C-Shell, from the University of California; co-founder of Sun Microsystems, Inc®.

JOY STICK: A computer game input device.

JPEG COMPRESSION: A generic computer algorithm that condenses and stores electronic images.

JUKEBOX: A mass storage device library of digitized music formats; slang term.

JUMPDRIVE®: A flash drive from Lexar®.

JUMP LINK: An Inernet web page that consists mainly of hyperlinks to other URLs.

JUNK FAX: Unsolicited facsimile transmissions.

JUNK MAIL: Unsolicited e-mail messages; slang term.

JYTHON®: The predecessor to Python®, a high-level, dynamic, object-oriented computer language based on JAVA®

-K-

K: Kilobytes; KB; Kbps; kilobytes per second.

Kb: Kilobyte; a measure of computer storage and memory capacity; equivalent to 1,024 bytes; often applied to 1,000 bytes as well. 

Kbps: Kilobits per second; a measure of bandwidth and rate of data flow in digital transmission; one Kbps is 1,024 kilobits per second.

K-NEAREST NEIGHBOR: Common associations between numeric data.

K-6 CHIP: A CPU made by the AMD® Corporation in 1996, to compete with the Intel Pentium® CPU.

K-56 FLEX: Modem transmission standard of 56,600 bps, now replaced by the v90 standard.

KASPER, KARL: Touted ringleader of the formerly infamous, now often praised, security hacker organization known as the L0pht.

KEATON, BRIAN, MD: Director, Emergency Medicine Informatics, and Project Chair Northeastern Ohio, RHIO.

KENNEDY-KASSEBAUM BILL: The HIPAA Act of 1996.

KENTSFIED: Intel® quad-core extreme microprocessor chip series capable of executing four simultaneous threads; code name.

KERBEROS: Computer network security protection and authentication system for distributed environments and high level applications; from MIT.

KERMIT: A health data or other information transmission protocol without using the Internet; developed by Columbia University; flexible X, Y and Z modem.

KERNEL: The core key software component of a computer operating system (OS) that provides communication to manage files, memory resources, peripheral and hardware devices.

Kernel Mode Trap: The in(famous) “blue screen of death” is a display image containing white text on a blue background generated by the Windows operating systems when suddenly terminated with an error; the system is locked up and has to be restarted; the blue screen may include hexadecimal values from a core dump (a display or printout of the contents of memory) that may help determine what caused the crash.

KETCHERSIDE, JOSEPH, W; MD: Chief Medical Officer and VP of Corporate Strategies for Theradoc, Inc.

KEY: Data transmissions and input encryption controller; an input that controls the transformation of health data by an encryption algorithm (NRC, 1991); keyboard or computer button; key pair; key master.

KEY BOARD: Alpha numeric input buttons, like a QUERTY typewriter, with function buttons, programmable keys, mice and touch-pads; usual additions beyond the traditional typewriter include enter, control, enhance, escape, page up/down/insert/delete/home/end, arrow and print screen buttons; keyboarding; keying.

KEY DISK: Non-copy-able diskette needed to run a computer program or application; loaded disk.

KEY ESCROW- To place a cryptographic key with a trusted third party.

KEY FIELD: Each specific row in a database.

key-in-knob lock: A basic lock that has the lock mechanism embedded in the

knob or handle.

KEY LOG: Software that records computer keystrokes or other input information.

KEY LOGGER: One who logs computer input key-strokes.

KEY MANAGEMENT: The creation, storage, transmission, and maintenance of a secret electronic cryptographic key.

KEY STROKE: A computer keyboard input execution; typing; keyboarding, keying.

KEY STROKE LOGGER: A systems monitor device or small program that monitors each keystroke a user types on a specific computer’s keyboard.

KEY STROKE VERIFICATION: Data entry verification from a computer keyboard.

KEYWORD: A word assigned to a document or in a text search or reserved in a programming language; search engine tag; key pair; keyword master.

KILBOURNE, BRETT: Director of the United Power Line Council.

KILDALL, GARY: The first scientist to interface a disk system to a microcomputer and create an operating system for what had previously been a circuit; Intergalactic Research, Inc.

KILL: The UNIX language command to stop a micro-process.

KILLER APPLICATION: A massively popular computer program or Internet application that drives related products and life cycles; slang term.

KILL FILL: To automatically delete e-fax, e-mail or instant messages; etc.

KILOBYTE: Capacity; 1,024 bites.

KIN: To mark, title, and attach a significant image, note, file consult, etc; key image note.

KINGSHAW, RUBEN, JR.: Deputy Administrator and Chief Operating Officer at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Baltimore, Maryland.

KLEINBERG, KEN: Former e-health analyst at Gartner, Stamford, Conn., and now lead research for the healthcare group at Symbol Technologies, Holtsville, NY.

KLOSS, LINDA, L: CEO of the American Health Information Management Association.

KLUGE: An inelegant computer system, cobbled program, application or patch: slang term.

KNOWLEDGE: The objective, subjective, tangible and intangible, heuristic facts and assumptions used to formulate formal data interpretation and analysis; decision-making methodologies and inputs.

KNOWLEDGE BASED SYSTEM: Expert computer system or network; medical decision-making algorithm.

KNOWLEDGE WORK(ER): One who relies on deep specific knowledge and subject matter expertise, rather than skills to perform a job; term coined by the Peter Drucker.

KOLODNER, ROBET, M; MD: Chief Health Information Officer, US Veterans Health Administration until September 2006; when he replaced David Brailer MD as national coordinator for Health Care Information Technology (HCIT) for the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C.

KORN, DAVID: UNIX expert, computer scientist, and professional electronic engineer.

KORN SHELL: A higher level Stephen Bourne Shell, developed by David Korn; UNIX $ prompt.

KRAKAUER, HENRY: Director, Office of Program Assessment and Health Information, Health Standards and Quality Bureau, Health Care Financing Administration, Baltimore, Maryland.

KRUEGERAPP: A downloaded computer application that diminishes performance: slang term.

KVEDAR, JOSEPH, C; MD: CIO of Partners Telemedicine, Inc., of Boston, MA.

KYLIX®: A Delphi® C ++ programming environment under the Linux OS; Borland International®

– L –

L@@K: To LOOK; humorous term.

1 CACHE: Memory that is closed to a computer’s CPU.

L2 CACHE: Memory that is open to a computer’s CPU.

L33T: Leetspeak, hackspeak or hakspeak; from the word elite; slang term.

LABEL: An identified, name, number, character or symbol in a computer program.

LABELER CODE: Initial potion of the National Drug Code assigned to a healthcare firm by the FDA.

LAG: A delayed computer network transmission; any time delay.

LANDHOLT, THOMAS; MD: Patient Care Director of Family Care for the Kryptiq Corporation®.

LANDSCAPE: The vertical or horizontal orientation of a webpage; background, color, designs, etc.

LANGUAGE: A standardized set of characters used to form meaningful symbols.

LANGUAGE TRANSLATOR: Program or application language conversion to computer language.

LANROVER: Shiva exemplar of the virtual private network technology that made public networks suitable for private transactions.

LAPTOP: A portable PC about the size of a sheet of paper with integrated keyboard, LCD screen, DVD/CD drive, PCI card, expansion slots and input device; usually wireless enabled; a larger notebook computer that also may have a desktop docking station; Osborne I, 1981; hand-held computer; pocket PC; pen-top computer.

LARENG, LOUIS; MD: Healthcare Informaticist at the Institute of European de Telemedicine.

LASER DISK: Optical recording medium with laser light interpreted pits burned into a plastic disk; CDROM or CDROM.

LASER-JET®: A popular ink jet printer, with built-in fonts, from the HP Corporation.

LASER PRINTER: A device that uses a xerographic printing process with dry toner to produce a hardcopy paper image.

LASER SMART CARD: An optical smart card.

LASSO: Highlighting a collection of icons or objects with a mouse for activation movement or further use; slang term.

LAST KNOWN GOOD (LKG): The most recent time period when a computer system was functioning optimally; a checksum slang term.

LAST MILE: The copper connection from computer to coaxial networks of telephone and cable companies; copper wire between POTS and end user; DSL, WiFi or WiMAX, etc.

Last Stage of Delirium: A hacking group that discovered the flaw which caused the Inernet Blaster worm.

LAT: Non-routable protocol by DEC® to support terminal bridged services; local area transport.

LATENCY: Time delay between initiation and actual data transfer.

LAVENTURE, MARTIN, PhD: Director, Center for Health Informatics, Minnesota.

LAYER: IP suite or the class of health or other information exchange events of specific computer system functions: physical, data-link, network, transport, session, presentation and application (low-to-high).

LAYER TWO TUNNELING PROTOCOL (L2TP): Network standard used to route non-IP traffic over an authenticated IP network; combined with IPSec for enhanced security features for protected health data or medical information.

Layout Program: Software designed primarily for the creation of pages although they have the ability to create, draw, or manipulate images.

LEAK: Memory loss in a computer application or program, especially upon termination and reboot; slang term.

LEAPFROG ATTACK: To use a stolen ID or password to avoid hacker, or computer system intrusion detection.

LEASED LINE: Dedicated and permanent telephone line for computer transmissions; rented from a telephone company by a customer to have exclusive rights to it.

LEAVITT: MARK, MD, PhD: Certification Commission for Health Information Technology Chairman.

LEAVITT, MICHAEL, O: Secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHSS).

LEETSPEAK: A type of colloquial communications where one replaces letters with numbers or other characters or symbols; hackspeak or hakspeak; slang term for elite speech.

LEFT CLICK: To press the left mouse button in the standard fashion.

LEGACY: Medical information or health data that was in existence prior to a certain point in time.

LEGACY FREE: Un-burdened PC or software design requirement for backward compatibility needs.

LEGACY SYSTEM: Traditional mainframe computers, software, hardware, peripheral, storage, retrieval and transmission integrated components; often non PC based computers; older HIS configuration or software applications that may perform adequately.

LENOVO®: A Chinese manufacturer of computers; former IBM PC division.

Leopard: Mac OS X OS; slang code term.

LETTERBOMB: An e-mail message security breach; email exploit, malicious intrusion, virus or worm; slang term.

LEVEL 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP):  PPTP variation used to secure a VPN.

LEXICON QUERY SEVICE® (LQS®): Read-only interface to access secure and standardized medical terminology database; electronic health collaborative dictionary; social health wiki; (www.HealthDictionarySeries.com).

LICENSE: The formal authorization to use a software product or online subscription service.

License Compliance Tracking: The act of using software or hardware according to the license as granted by the copyright owner of the product; violation include counterfeiting, corporate copying and hard disk loading; license compliance tracking software, such as Executive Software’s Sitekeeper® or MSFT-XP Activation® enables compliance simplicity.

LIEBER, STEPHEN, H.: Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) President and CEO.

LIGHT PEN: Mouse like input and computer communication device.

Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP): A software protocol enabling anyone to locate organizations, individuals, and other resources such as files and devices in a network, whether on the public Internet or a corporate intranet.

Limited Data Set: Protected Health Information (PHI) that excludes the following identifiers of the Individual, or of relatives, employers or household members of the individual: names, postal address information other than town or city, state and zip code, telephone numbers, fax numbers, electronic mail address, social security number, health plan beneficiary number, account number, certificate/license number, vehicle identifiers and serial numbers, including license plate numbers, device identifiers and serial numbers, web universal resource locators (URLs), Internet Protocol (IP) address numbers, biometric identifiers, including finger and voice prints and full face photographic images and any comparable images.

LINDBERG, HENRY, DONALD, B: Director, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.

LINDOWS: A full featured computer operating system by Linspire Inc®; commercial LINUX; Freespire®

Line Art: Electronic computer artwork made of solid blacks and whites, with no tonal (gray) values.

LINE SIGHT: Electronic data propagation along a direct unobstructed straight line path; ISM band; Fresnel Effect.

Lines Per Inch (LPI): The number of lines per inch on a halftone computer screen/monitor- the higher the LPI – the higher the printed hard copy resolution.

LINK: Connection between two or more networked computer devices, LAN, MAN, WAN, Internet, etc; anchor; hotlink; hyperlink.

LINKROT: Tendency of hypertext links to become useless or broken as other sites cease to exist or remove or reorganize their Web pages; slang term.

LINUX®: A free version of the UNIX operating system with Red Hat© open source systems offerings, designed by Finnish engineer Linus Torvalds and supported by thousands of programmers worldwide who continually update and improve it; a PC running the LINUX® operating system; slang term.

LINUX® KERNEL: Core software component that catalyzed a technology revolution in open GNU/Linux sourcing.

LION WORM: UNIX shellscript and password retrieving virus released in 2001.

LISP: A computer language developed in the 1950’s used for complex structures and artificial intelligence needs.

LIST BOX: Window items list for computer programs, applications, files, etc.

LIST SERVE: An electronic mailing list management software program with “subscribe” and “unsubscribe” features for online discussions.

LIVE JOURNAL®: A free commercial online service for public journal and personal diaries; blog; blog site; blogger.

LIVE MEETING®: A MSFT web conferencing service.

LOAD: To put medical or other data into internal storage.

LOADER: An off-line to on-line computer program initiator.

Local Access Transport Area (LOTA): The local telephone districts that were created by the divesture of the Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs) formerly associated with ATT.

LOCAL AREA NETWORK (LAN): A geographical small computer users group connected to a short-distance sever, host or network hub; wired 10BaseT Ethernet or wireless 802.11b or Wi-Fi connection; WAN; MAN.

Local Code: A nebulous term for code values that are defined for a state or other political subdivision, or for a specific payer; most commonly for HCPCS Level III Codes; general term for code values defined for a state or other political subdivision or for a specific payer; most commonly used to describe HCPCS Level III Codes, but it also applies to state-assigned Institutional Revenue Codes, Condition Codes, Occurrence Codes, Value Codes, etc; eliminated in 2003 to comply with HIPAA.

Local Exchange Carrier (LEC): A telephone company that carries local calls.

Local Health Information Infrastructure (LHII): Used synonymously with RHIO by the Office of the National Coordinator of Health Information as the technology to describe the regional efforts that will eventually be linked together to form the NHII.

LOCK: To mark a computer file as unchangeable.

Locking a Disk: The process of setting a disk or data storage element (Syquest cartridge, optical disk, diskette) into a mode that will prevent computers from writing on to, or deleting from the media, the files that are saved onto the disk (write protect).

LOCKOUT: To deny computer access to a health, medical or other information database system or file.

LOGIC BOMB: A software program written to release an unexpected result upon activation of a certain usually previously unknown condition or input; keystroke, virus, worm or time bomb.

LOGICAL DRIVE: The subdivision of a large physical drive, such as a hard drive, into smaller sectors or component drives; B and D drives partitioned from C drive.

LOGICAL OBSERVATION Identifiers Names and Codes (LOINC®): A database to facilitate the exchange and pooling of laboratory results, such as blood hemoglobin, serum potassium, or vital signs, for clinical care, outcomes management, and research; most laboratories and other diagnostic services use HL7 to send their results electronically from their disparate reporting systems to their care systems; LOINC codes are universal identifiers for laboratory and other clinical observations that solve this problem; the Regenstrief Institute maintains the database and its supporting documentation.

LOGICAL THREAT: Software destruction or alteration uncertainty activated by a normal but unknown input process; logic bomb.

LOGICAL UNIT (LU): A CPU with ALU coordination architecture.

LOGIN: To achieve successful computer, server, network or online access via some sort of triage or security clearance measure; jack-in. LOGIN CONTROL: The specific switch or conditions for a successful computer login.

LOGIN MONITOR: Provides user education in the importance of monitoring log-in success or failure and how to report discrepancies.

LOGOFF: Terminating or closing a server, computer or open online network session; jack out.

LOGON: Opening or commencing a server, computer or open online network session.

LOGON PROCESS; The process or methodology to commence or open a server, computer or open online network session.

LOGOUT: To formally exit from a computer system.

LONGHORN: MSFT Windows Vista® OS; code name.

LONGITUDINAL DATA: Linear data function that evolves over time.

LONGITUDINAL HEALTH RECORD: Birth-to-death patient record in chronological order, developed over time; lifetime medical records.

LOONSK, JOHN, MD: ONCHIT Director of Interoperability and Standards.

L0PHT: Internet security organization that merged with @stake in 2000 and represented a group of sophisticated hackers that first assaulted the security of Microsoft’s Windows NT® operating system by retrieving NT network-domain user names and passwords and display them in plain text.

L0pht-crack: A graphical user interface-executable program that adds a spreadsheet-like interface that decrypts passwords; hacking tool from the L0pht group, slang term.

LOOP: To repeat a computer process or sequence, without end.

LOOPHOLE: Incomplete data, software or hardware control, or computer access program error; a bug; slang term.

LOSSLESS: To compress electronic digital data; slang term.

LOSSLESS COMPRESSION: Condensation or data compression algorithm in a 2:1 ratio.

LOSSY COMPRESSION: Condensation or data compression algorithm in a 100-200:1 ratio; incomplete decompression.

Lost Cluster: Disk records that have lost their identification with a file name as when closed improperly, like when the computer is turned off without quitting the application first.

LOTUS 123®: Spreadsheet with early user interface innovation and fast PC clone compatible code; Mitch Kapor 1983; now IBM®.

LOTUS NOTES®: Created by Ray Ozzie of Microsoft as a leading collaborative groupware word processing application; now IBM.

LUDDITE: One who is opposed to health IT, EDI or EHRs, etc; technophobe, slang term.

LUMPER VOCABULARY: Non-definitional health lexicon that used codes for combined specific multiple concepts.

LUMINOSITY: Level of brightness for a computer monitor, plasma screen, LED, etc.

LURK: Non participation in an internet chat room or newsgroup; slang term.

M-P Terminology

-M-

M: Megabyte, or 1.024 kilobytes; MB

Mb: Megabyte; a measure of computer storage and memory capacity; one Mb is equivalent to 1.024 million bytes, 1,024 thousand bytes, or 1.024 kbs; the term is also applied to the more rounded term of 1 million bytes.

Mbps: Megabits per second; a measure of bandwidth and rate of data flow in digital transmission; one Mbps is equivalent to one million bits per second.

Mhz: Megahertz; a measure of bandwidth and rate of information flow for analog transmission; one Mhz equals 10 to the sixth power cycles per second

M-TECHNOLOGY: Write once-run anywhere functionality.

MAC: Nickname for the Apple Macintosh PC®; slang term.

MAC BOOK PRO®: A family of laptop computers from Apple Inc., introduced in 2006 as the first Macintosh portable computer to use Intel CPUs; the first Mac Book Pro included the Core Duo chip running at clock rates from 1.8 to 2.16GHz

MAC OS-X®: Operating system that is a UNIX variant for the Apple Macintosh® line of PCs; the tenth (X) version includes minor updates like Jaguar v10.2; Panther v10.3 and Tiger v10.4

MAC PRO^®: Apple computer with two Intel Xeon^® microchips, space for 4 hard-drives with 2 terabytes of data storage.

MAC ViruS:  First widespread Apple Computer® Inc., viruses in 1988; the MacMag and Scores variants.

MACHINE CODE: Basic language of all computer systems, consisting of a series of 0s and 1s.

MACHINE DEPENDENT: Software dependent design to run on only one computer or family from the same architecture.

MACHINE INDEPENDENT: Software dependent computer design to run on more than one computer, or family from different architectures.

MACHINE LANGUAGE: Native computer language in binary-coded CPU instructions, entirely of numbers, created by assemblers, compilers and interpreters.

MACHINE READABLE: Health data or other information accessible by a computer regardless of input mechanism.

MACINTOSH: A PC from Apple Computer® Inc., with a GUI and OSX, that was first introduced in 1984; two basic laptop product lines exist; Powerbooks® and iBooks® while desktop models include Power Macs®, eMacs®, iMacs®, and Mac mini®.

Macintosh Portable: An unpopular but portable version of the Macintosh® computer released in 1989; was essentially a fast Mac SE with a floppy disk and optional hard disk; used a 16MHz Motorola 68000 CPU and monochrome LCD screen.

MACRO: A variety of keystrokes, commands or menu selections that can be assigned a name or key combination; an automatic function for an application; user designed utility sequence of instructions for a PC.

MACROMEDIA®: Producer of Internet website audiovisual products like; Flash Freehand® and Dreamweaver®; acquired by Adobe Systems® in 2005.

MACROMEDIA FLASH PLAYER^® A high performance, lightweight, highly expressive client runtime that delivers powerful and consistent user experiences across major operating systems, browsers, mobile phones and devices; now Adobe Systems, Inc®.

MACRO RECORDER: A program that converts digital file selections into a macro function.

MACRO VIRUS: Malicious small fragments of a computer program code written in a macro language within a document; potentially very virulent as they can be embedded in traditional word processing software applications and programs.

MAGIC NUMBER: An important number or mathematical formula secretly embedded in software code where users, programmers and writers are unlike to find it; slang term.

MAGNETIC DISK: Coated disk used for computer medical information or other data storage.

MAGNETIC STRIPE CARD: A plastic smart card with health or other data contained on an electromagnetic storage strip.

MAGNETIC TAPE: A continuous flexible electronic health data or other storage medium that accepts medical or other information in polarized spots.

MAIL: electronic mail; e-mail; slang term.

MAILBOMB: Sending massive quantities of e-mail often for retaliatory purposes; spam; slang term.

MAILBOT: An auto-responder; automated email message; e-letter bomb.

MAIL MERGE: The integration of a contact information database with a letter template for mass mailings.

MAIL SERVERS: Electronic post office and message facilities for a computer network.

MAIL SLOT: The Windows© NT messaging interface between server and clients.

Mailing List: Conducted exclusively through e-mail as a discussion group open to the public; or private; once a user subscribes to a mailing list, all messages s/he sends to the list and copied and sent to all other members of the mailing list; a popular method of engaging in on-line topic-specific discussions; often referred to as “listservs” or ‘majordomos,’ named after the types of software used to maintain them.

MAINFRAME: Large scale computer with legacy systems able to support many users and peripheral devices, concurrently; IBM 370 and 3090 series.

Mainframe systems:  Computer configuration that is highly centralized and most applicable to large hospitals and healthcare systems as this powerful computer performs basically all the information processing for the institution and connects to multiple terminals that communicate with the mainframe to display the information at the user sites; Hospital Information Technology (HIT) departments usually use programmers to modify the core operating systems or applications programs such as billing and scheduling programs.

Maintenance OF records: Documentation of repairs and modifications to the physical and IT components of a health care facility, for example, hardware, software, walls, doors, locks.

Maintenance of Record Access Authorizations: Ongoing documentation and review of the levels of IT access granted to a user, program, or procedure accessing health information.

MAJORDOMO: A UNIX internet list program or free open source software; slang term.

MALWARE: Malicious computer or network software, like spy-ware and ad-ware; slang term.

Malicious software: Any virus, worm, Trojan horse, or computer code designed to damage or disrupt a system; malware; slang term.

Man in the middle attack: Occurs when an attacker intercepts messages in a public key exchange and then retransmits them, substituting his own public key for the requested one, so that the two original parties still appear to be communicating with each other; the intruder uses a program that appears to be a valid and secure client/server network.

Mandatory Access Control (MAC): Any means of restricting computer user access to objects that is based on fixed security attributes assigned to users and to files and other objects; cannot be modified by self-users or their programs.

MANDELBROT SET: A famous shape or fractal containing an almost infinite degree of detail; mathematical computer system security equation discover by Benoit Mandelbrot

MAP: To link health data or other information or content from one scheme to another. MAP DRIVER: Feature that allows quick computer user network navigation. MARBUGER, JOHN, H, III: Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. MARCHIBRODA, JANET, M: CEO of the eHI (e Health Initiative and Foundation). MARIETTI, CHARLENE: Editor of the magazine, Healthcare Informatics. MARK I: First general purpose digital computer built at Harvard University under the direction of Howard Aiken; used by the Navy for ballistic calculations. MARK UP LANGUAGE: Any computer language that indicates word processing features like page breaks, italics, page settings, page footers and headers; etc.

Marketing: To disseminate information about a health product or medical service for the purpose of encouraging patients and recipients to purchase or use the product or service; does not include communications made by a HIPPA covered health entity.

MARTIAN: Incorrect computer network routing information.

MASHUP: Hybrid Internet application development approach using Web applications built from many different vendors and sources (blogs, news-feeds, maps and wikis) but combined into a seamless interface for a new experience; best of breed computer programming to build on-the-spot medical and business applications (i.e., Google Maps®, Windows Live®, Office Live®, etc.); slang term

MASQERADE: Unauthorized access to a computer, server, Internet or network under a legitimate user password, ID number or name.

MASS MAILER VIRUS: A fast spreading malicious macro virus; such as the Melissa variant of 1999; and the ILOVE YOU, LOVELETTER and LOVE BUG social engineering variants of 2000.

Massachusetts Health Data Consortium (MHDC): An organization that seeks to improve healthcare in New England through improved policy development, better information technology planning and implementation, and more informed financial decision making.

MASSIVE PARALLEL PROCESSING (MPP): The independent clustering of multiple computer servers managed by its own operating system, for enhanced functionality.

MASTER: The control unit in a pair of linked computers, LAN, MAN or WAN; host; not a slave, thin or bade device; slang terms.

MASTER BROWSER: Network that archives all servers and computers available on the network.

MASTER FILE: A file of periodically updated semi-permanent medical data, health or other information

Master File Table (MFT): A list of files in a Net Technology File System volume, which contains the name, size, time and date, etc. for each file.

Master Patient (Person) Index (MPI):  Healthcare facility composite that links and assists in tracking patient, person, or member activity within an organization (or health enterprise) and across patient care settings; hardcopy or electronic identification of all patients treated in a facility or enterprise and lists the medical record or identification number associated with the name; can be maintained manually or as part of a computerized system; typically, those for healthcare facilities are retained permanently, while those for insurers, registries, or others may have different retention periods; a database of all the patients ever registered (within reason) at a facility; name, demographics, insurance, next of kin, spouse, etc.

MATH COPROCESSOR: Integrated auxiliary computer chip addition to the main CPU that performs mathematical functions while the Central Processor Unit (CPU) performs operating system functions. MAU: A token-ring computer network hub configuration.

MAUCHLY, JOHN: (1907-1980) Physicist who attended Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland and collaborated with John Eckert in the construction of the Electronic Integrator and Computer (ENIAC).

MAXIMIZE: To increase or visually enlarge a window on a computer screen/monitor.

Maximum Defined Data Set: All required HIPAA data elements for a particular standard based on a specific implementation specification; a health entity creating a transaction is free to include whatever data any receiver might want or need; the recipient is free to ignore any portion of the data that is not needed to conduct their part of the associated business transaction, unless the inessential data is needed for coordination of benefits; Part II, 45 CFR 162.103.

McAFFE, JOHN: Producer of the commercial anti-virus program; Virus Scan in 1987.

McCALLISTER: President and CEO; Humana.

McCLELLAN, MARK; MD, PhD: Former administrator of CMS, and Former Commissioner, Food and Drug Administration, who resigned in 2006.

McCORMICK, WALTER: CEO of the United States Telecommunication Association.

McENERRY, KEVIN, MD: Associate head of informatics for diagnostic imaging at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, Texas.

MCNEALY, SCOTT: Founder and CEO of Sun Microsystems, Inc®, who was replaced by Jonathan Schwartz as CEO in 2006.

McSLARROW, KYLE: CEO of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association.

MDI-X PORT: Cross-over computer hub configuration that reverse transmissions and receiver wirer pairs to mitigate cross-over cable need.

MEAD, CHARLES, N; MD: Member HL7 Board of Directors and senior director, healthcare strategy, Oracle Corporation.

MEAN TIME BETWEEN FAILURES: Average electronic device operating time between system outages.

MEAT WARE: Portions of a computer or software system made of meat; human user; humorous term.

MEDIA ACCESS CONTROL ADDRESS (MACA): The hardware address for a computer network connection.

MEDIA CENTER PC: A PC equipped with Windows XP^® or Vista XP^® Media Center Edition for TV, with recording and speaker channels and DVD drive.

MEDIA CONTROLS: Tracks how health media flows in and out of an organization and what is to occur before media is disposed; includes tracking of who can perform various PHI various manipulations and tasks, how accountability is tracked, and how hardware and/or software is disposed.

MEDIA ERROR: Bug or storage unit malfunction.

MEDIA PLAYER: Software used to listen to music or view computer digital videos, like: Windows Media Player^®, RealNetworks RealPlayer^®, WinAmp^®, Macromedia ShockWave^® and Apple QuickTime^®

MEDICAID: A Title 19 Federal program, run and partially funded by individual states to provide medical benefits to certain low-income people; each state under broad federal guidelines, determines what benefits are covered, who is eligible, and how much providers will be paid; historically, all states but Arizona have Medicaid programs.

• MEDICAID 1115 WAIVER: state administration exemption to speed claims processing.
• MEDICAID 1915(b) WAIVER: alternate local, regional or state managed care model.

Medical Advanced Technology Management Office (MATMO): Developed and implemented by the Department of Defense as a medical imaging system that combines PACS and teleradiology networks.

Medical Code Sets: Computer and hardcopy codes that characterize a medical condition or treatment and maintained by professional societies and public health organizations; compared to non-clinical administrative code sets.

i-MEDICAL BUSINESS ADVISORS, INC© (iMBA, Inc):

Health education institution with online virtual university located in Norcross, Georgia, and one of North America’s leading professional healthcare consulting firms, and provider of textbooks, CDs, tools, templates, onsite and distance education for the health economics, administration and financial management policy space; as litigation support activities increase and the cognitive demands of the global marketplace change, the firm is well positioned with offices in five states and Europe, to meet the needs of medical colleagues, related advisory clients and corporate customers.

MEDICAL COGNITION (HEURISTICS): The integrated filed of medicine and computer science which studies human reasoning, logic, decision-making, and problem solving skills and ports it to health information system settings.

Medical Data Interchange Standard (MEDIX): Established by the IEEE as a health and other data communication protocol that is utilized at the applications level.

MEDICAL ECONOMIC VALUE ADDED© (MEVA©): Concept that combines finance, and accounting to determine medical practice, clinic, hospital or other healthcare business-enterprise entity value as an on-going concern; medical economic value added; economic medical value added; iMBA, Inc®.

MEDICAL EXPERT SYSTEM: Electronic healthcare clinical decision-making support system or algorithm; clinical path method.

MEDICAL IMAGING: The computerized filed of radiological digitalization, storage, retrieval and transmission of x-rays, MRI, CT and PET scans, etc.

MEDICAL INFORMATICS: The use of healthcare management information, computer systems and digital data capture, storage and transmission to facilitate medical and clinical patient activities; a  system comprised of computer science, information science, and health sciences created to assist in the management and processing of private protected data to support the execution of health care.

MEDICAL INFORMATION BUS (MIB): IEEE open standard for electronic patient monitoring device connectivity.

MEDICAL INVESTMENT POLICY STATEMENT© (mipS©): A blue print draft between investment advisors and client (individual medical provider or health organization) that defines the terms of engagement for both parties; defines goals, strategies, asset allocation, risk tolerance, benchmarks reporting duties, fiduciary responsibility etc; especially focused on electronic delivery for the healthcare industry.

MEDICAL NOMENCLATURE: Preferred healthcare terminology and definitions; health industry lexicon; health ontology index; http://www.HealthDictionarySeries.com.

Medical Records Institute (MRI): A professional organization which promotes the development and acceptance of electronic health care record systems and PHI integrity.

MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTIONIST: One who convert medical reports into written verbiage; electronic health data and information translator.

MEDICALLY UNBELIEVABLE EVENT (MUE): Implemented on Jan. 1, 2007, the CMS blockage of payments for medical services that make no sense based on “anatomic considerations” or medical reasonableness when the same patient, date of service, HCPCS code or provider is involved; unlike other National Correct Coding Initiative (NCCI) edits, MUEs can’t be overridden by a modifier because there will never be a scenario where the physician had a good reason to submit a claim for removing a second appendix from the same person; etc.

MEDICARE: A nationwide, federal health insurance program for those aged 65 and older; covers certain people under 65 who are disabled or have chronic kidney disease; acting CMS Deputy Administrator is Herb Kuhn; Medicare Part A is the hospital insurance program while Part B covers physicians’ services; created by the 1965 Title 18 amendment to the Social Security Act:

• MEDICARE PART A: Medicare compulsory hospital compensation program, financed through payroll taxes shared by employers and employees alike. Most folks do not pay a premium because they or a spouse have 40 or more quarters of Medicare-covered employment. It is provided free to anyone who qualifies for Medicare benefits but the deductible that pays for inpatient hospital, skilled nursing facility, and some home health care, was $912 in 2005. The Part A deductible is the beneficiary’s only cost for up to 60 days of Medicare-covered inpatient hospital care. However, for extended Medicare-covered hospital stays, beneficiaries paid an additional $228 per day for days 61 through 90 in 2005, and $456 per day for hospital stays beyond the 90th day in a benefit period. For beneficiaries in skilled nursing facilities, the daily co-insurance for days 21 through 100 was $114 in 2005. However, seniors and certain persons under age 65 with disabilities who have fewer than 30 quarters of coverage may obtain Part A coverage by paying a monthly premium set according to a formula in the Medicare statute at $343 for 2004. In addition, seniors with 30 to 39 quarters of coverage, and certain disabled persons with 30 or more quarters of coverage, are entitled to pay a reduced premium of $189. All indexed annually (www.hhs.gov/news/).
• MEDICARE PART B: Medicare physician compensation program. This is supplementary medical insurance and covers most of what isn’t covered by Part A and is paid for by the insured individual via an enrollment program. For 2005 the monthly premium was $78.20 and the coverage also involved a $110 annual deductible and a 20 percent per service co-insurance (indexed annually).
• MEDICARE PART C: Medicare managed care compensation program, known as Medicare + Choice and initiated in 1997. If a beneficiary chooses Part C, it takes the place of Parts A and B. Part C is basically a Medicare HMO plan. In 2000-2004 many carriers ceased offering this type of coverage and those individuals who had elected to go with a Medicare HMO had to backtrack and re-enroll in the original Medicare fee-for-service program (Parts A and B). This may again change beyond 2005 as traditional Medicare premiums continue to increase. Another name for this program is Medicare Advantage.
• MEDICARE PART D: Medicare Prescription Drug Benefits program which began on January 1, 2006; most seniors are eligible to participate and most drugs are covered; economics benefits, premiums, and deductibles will vary and will be indexed annually.

Medicare Remittance Advice Remark Codes: A national administrative code set for providing either claim-level or service-level Medicare-related messages that cannot be expressed with a Claim Adjustment Reason Code and used in the X12 835 Claim Payment & Remittance Advice transactions, and maintained by HCFA (CMS).

MEDISTICK®: A 128-Mbyte USB drive for medical information storage and portable health history information; password protected in multiple languages.

MEDIX: To regulate medical devices throughout the product lifecycle.

MEDLARS: The Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System more than 50 computer databases managed by the U.S. NLM.

MEDLINE: Bibliographic database that is the most used of about 40 MEDLARS medical databases managed by the US.

Megabyte: One million bytes, or 1,048,576 bytes; meg, MB, Mbyte and M-byte.

MEGAHERTZ (MHz): Computer processing speed measured in millions of clock-ticks-per second; a gigahertz (GHz) means one billion times; used to refer to a computer’s clock to measure the speed of the CPU; for example, a 900MHz machine processes data internally twice as fast as a 450MHz machine.

MELANI, KENNETH; MD: President and CEO of Highmark, Inc.

MELISSA: Macro virus of 1999 that attacked MSFT Word® files

MELTDOWN: Healthcare organization network system collapse due to computer system information data overload or above normal traffic; slang term

MEME: Philosophy, idea, skill, habit or group-think mentality that quickly spreads; sweeping Internet, healthcare or computer fad; term coined in 1976 by Richard Dawkins.

MEMEPOOL: An idea and play on the phrase gene pool; slang term.

MEMORY: The electronic storage of medical information or digitized data; core; Random Access Memory or Read Only Memory, etc.

MEMORY RESIDENT PROGRAM: A loaded program that remains in computer memory and continues to function while other programs run; a terminate-and-stay resident computer program.

MEMORY SPOT: A tiny wireless compute chip from Hewlett-Packard® that can attach data to physical objects.

MEMORY STICK: USB flash or non-volatile storage device; Sony CompactFlash®, pen or mini-drive; flash card, smart media, slang terms.

MEMPHIS: MSFT OS Windows 98®; code name.

MENU: A list of computer applications or software programs.

MENU BAR: The pull down applications of a menu list or task bar of computer applications or programs.

MENU INTERACTION: Computerized user interface using pictorial or graphical icons for operator input.

MERCHANT STATUS: A credit, debit or smart-card authorized healthcare or business entity.

MERGE: To insert health data or other information into a document within a separate file.

MERON: The mobile version of Intel’s© Core 2 Duo micro-processor for notebook computers; code name.

MERRELL, RONALD, C; MD: Director of the medical informatics and technology applications consortium for the Virginia Commonwealth University; Co-Editor-in-Chief of Telemedicine and e-Health journal.

MeSH: Medical Subject Headings, the controlled vocabulary of about 16,000 terms used for MEDLINE and certain other MEDLARS databases.

Message: A digital representation of medical or other information.

Message authentication: Ensuring, typically with a message authentication code, that a message received (usually via a computer network) matches the message sent.

Message authentication code: Data associated with an authenticated message that allows a receiver to verify the integrity of the message.

MESSAGE BOARD: An Internet based communications forum or discussion group usually in RSS format; electronic bulletin board system (BBS).

MESSAGE DIGEST: The product of a hashing function

MESSAGE, INSTANT: An instant electronic message; instant almost live email.

Message integrity: The assurance of unaltered transmission and receipt of health information, medical data or other message from the sender to the intended recipient.

Message Switching: A message either in image or text form that is separated into multiple parts that are then transmitted independently to the receiver where they are put back together to form the message.

MESSAGE SYNTAX: Rules and definitions for text arrangements.

MESSAGING: Publishing-scribes and point-to-point health information or other data transmission across a computer network

MESAGING SERVICE: A company that creates, parses, serializes, encrypts and decrypts, transforms, delivers and routes the electronic mass mailings of electronic messages.

META CRAWLER: Utility program that sends search inquires to Internet search engines like Lycos® or Google® with results summary; crawler; slang term

META CUSTOMER: Those healthcare providers, or covered medical entities in need of meta-data access

META-DATA: The electronic structure of a computer database program; application data; may refer to detailed compilations such as data dictionaries and repositories that provide information about each data element, and may also refer to any descriptive item about data, such as the content of an HTML meta tag or a title field in a media file; commonly spelled as one word, “meta-data” (with the hyphen) is the proper, generic spelling, as the Metadata Company® has trademarked the name, metadata®.

META FILE: An information file that consists of other health or similar data files.

META LANGUAGE: A computer language used to explain or describe another computer language; LISP and Prolog.

META REGISTER: A list of metadata files, usually for some commercial purpose.

META SPOILT FRAMEWORK: The open source exploit project that created the public tool Metaspoilt, in order to search for data strings within malicious software code; term coined by HD Moore.

META STEWARD: One who organizes and maintains a meta-register.

META TAG: A HTML command for web page or website URL information.

META THESAURUS: The integration of several related thesauri into a massive database; a compendium of thesauri.

METERED RATE: A measured or clocked subscription ISP connection.

Metropolitan Area Network (MAN): A network of computers whose reach extends to a metropolitan area; used to link telemedicine applications at a data rate similar to DS1; in some cases may be used by cable companies to offer links to off-network services such as the internet, airline reservation systems, and commercial information services, in addition to data exchange abilities; compared to a LAN or WAN, is intermediate.

MEZZANINE BUS: A PC-to-peripheral device connection.

MICHAEL: An eight-bit Message Integrity Code for WPA; MIC slang term.

MICKEY: A minute mouse movement; slang term.

MICROBROWSER: A less memory intense internet web browser used for smaller computer devices, laptops, handhelds, palmtops, PDAs, etc; Wireless Application Protocol (WAP).

MICROCHANNEL: 32-bit IBM PS/2multiprocessing computer system.

MICROCHUNK: Surgically precise and removed clip of a digitalized TV program or other broadcast for portable distribution, email, linkage, download or remix; slang term.

MICROCOMPUTER: A small and usually personalized computer system with I/O.

device, single micro-processing unit, storage medium and related peripheral devices; a desktop or laptop PC.

MICROCONTROLLER: A small-task dedicated computer.

MICROPROCESSOR: An integrated circuit with a CPU for a computer; the engine of a PC; Intel© 8080 first launched in 1973.

MICROSITE: An informative but niche specific webpage within a larger generalized web site.

MICROSOFT© CORPORATION: The world’s leading software application, word processor, and visual application producer; ISP, online network and browser provider; online collaborator and on-demand SAS developer, founded in 1975 by William Gates and Paul Allen who wrote a version of the BASIC language for microcomputers, in Redmond, WA; involved in healthcare productivity challenges and solutions.

Microsoft Healthcare Users Group® (MS-HUG): Mission Statement: “To be the healthcare industry forum for exchanging ideas, promoting learning, and sharing solutions for information systems using Microsoft technologies. MS-HUG will leverage this forum to provide industry leadership, drive appropriate standards and develop associated requirements in support of healthcare solutions. MS-HUG’s ability to fulfill this mission is predicated on a broad-based membership which includes CIOs, healthcare end-users, care-givers from provider organizations, and payers; but MS-HUG is primarily focused on information technology professionals and developers from healthcare providers, solution providers, and ISVs. This diverse membership is unified by a shared interest in implementing vendor and user-developed software based on Microsoft technology to improve quality and efficiency in healthcare.”

MICROSOFT MALICIOUs SOFTWARE REMOVAL TOOL (MMSRT): A free tool used to scan PC hard disks and remove certain variants of known worms and viruses.

MICROSOFT OFFICE 12: Code-name for the successor to its office business application franchise, which packages together or mash-ups word processing, spreadsheet, presentation and other programs.

MICROWAVE: High frequency radio waves with spectrum above 2 gigahertz (GHz).

Microwave Link: A system of communication using high frequency radio signals, exceeding 800 megahertz, for audio, video, and data transmission; require line of sight connection between transmission antennas.

MID SiZE COMPUTER: Minicomputer or small mainframe computer.

MIDDLE WARE: Software interface or bridge between two computer programs of applications; a common application of middleware is to allow programs written for access to a particular health database to access other databases; slang term.

MIDRANGE: A computer with greater processing power than a PC, but less than a mainframe.

MIGRATE: To replace an older computer legacy system, with a newer system, over time.

MINI COMPUTER: Personal Computer often with dumb terminals or between mainframes and microcomputers; DEC VAX© and IBM 400© series; replaced by LANS, WANs, and MANs.

MINI MAC: Apple computer with 1.66-GHz Core Duo Intel^® processor, 8X super drive (DVD=R, DVD+RW/CD-RW), 80-GB hard drive, DVI external display output, optical/digital inputs, infrared Apple remote control and Mac OSX Tiger^®, Front Row^®  and Bonjour^® software.

MINIMIZE: To shrink or decease the size of a window or computer screen.

Minimum Necessary: The amount of protected health information shared among internal or external parties determined to me the smallest amount needed to accomplish its purpose for Use or Disclosure; the amount of health information or medical data needed to accomplish a purpose varies by job title, CE or job classification.

Minimum Necessary RULE: HIPAA regulation that suggests any PHI used to identify a patient, such as a social security number, home address or phone number; divulge only essential elements for use in transferring information from patient record to anyone else that requires the information; especially important with financial information; changes the way software is written and vendor access is provided.  The “Minimum Necessary” Rule states the minimum use of PHI that can be used to identify a person, such as a social security number, home address or phone number. Only the essential elements are to be used in transferring information from the patient record to anyone else that needs this information.  This is especially important when financial information is being addressed.  Only the minimum codes necessary to determine the cost should be provided to the financial department.  No other information should be accessed by that department.  Many institutions have systems where a registration or accounting clerk can pull up as much information as a doctor or nurse, but this is now against HIPAA policy and subject to penalties.  The “minimum necessary” rule is also changing the way software is set up and vendor access is provided.

Minimum Scope of Disclosure: Suggestion that individually identifiable health information should only be disclosed to the extent needed to support the purpose of the disclosure.

MIRROR(ING): To copy electronic information or make redundant; back-up; mirror site.

MIRROR SET RAID LEVEL 1: A shadow disk in a 2 disk array system for instant redundancy.

mirror site: A secondary physical location identical to the primary health IT site that constantly receives a copy of data from the primary site; a process is typically used to expedite access because the original site resides on another continent; for example, a Web site may be set up in America duplicating an already existing Web site in Europe so that American medical professionals can quickly access the site.

MISCELLANEOUS CODE: National medical supplier submitted identifier for which there is no existing code.

MISFEATURE: An erroneous, wrong, buggy or ill conceived software feature without benefits; slang term.

MISSION CRITICAL SYSTEM: Healthcare computer information management system that is considered vital to core medical operations and patient safety and treatment.

MITCHELL, ROBERT: Senior Associate Editor of ADVANCE for Health Information Executives.

MOBILE DEVICE: A portable computing system, or PDA, that is enabled with wireless technology for transmissions and reception; mobile computing; mobile information server.

MODE: To define the present operating sate of computer software, hardware or peripheral equipment.

MODEL: To define a concept or architecture.

MODEM (modulator-demodulator): A hardware device that converts digital data to analog signals over a regular telephone line for transmission, and analog conversion to digital data for electronic reception; modem ready; modem bank; modem emulator; usually identified by the speed (in bits per second or bps) of communication; the higher the bps, the faster the modem.

MODERATED: Internet electronic communications network subject to censor, review or editing; live or automated; monitored; used to refer to either mailing lists or newsgroups, a moderated forum is one in which every message sent to the forum is first analyzed by an individual called the ‘moderator’ if the message is germane to the forum’s topic, and is appropriate, it will be approved and published on that forum; if not acceptable, the message is returned to the author; distinguished from open and closed.

MODIFIER: Two digit codes to indicate an altered CPT code or unusual medical service usually submitted with enhanced code narrative descriptions; modifier key.

MODULE: Part of a large electronic ecosystem.

Modular PC:  A PC in which upgrading is a simple matter of pulling out old components and dropping in new modular parts.

MODULARITY: Separate, independent, cohesive computer systems construction pieces.

Moiré: The noticeable, unwanted pattern generated by scanning or prescreening a piece of art that already contains a dot pattern; may be caused by the misalignment of screen angles in color work.

MON, DONALD: Vice President, AHIMA.

MONADIC OPERATION: Manipulating a singe piece of health data, medical or other information.

MONEY MULE: Any fraudster who contacts a victim by computer, persuades him or her to be recruited to receive funds, and then forward them for a commission; slang term.

MONTECITO: Code name for the dual core Itanium® CPU chip series from the Intel Corporation®: Model number: 9050, 9040, 9030, 9020, 9015 and 9010 (cache size: 24, 18, 8, 12, 12 and 6 MB respectively).

MONITOR: Computer screen; cathode ray tube (CRT), light emitting diode, liquid crystal display (thin film display), high-definition, plasma, etc.

MONITORING: Active form of health information system or information system surveillance for detection, education, and utilization.

Monochrome: A single color; usually refers to a black-and-white or green.

Monochrome Monitor: A gray-scale monitor for visual display on a computer that presents images as various shades of gray, ranging from black to white.

MOORE, GORDON, E: Engineer and co-founder of the Intel Corporation®.

MOORE, HD: In(famous) creator of the open-source penetrating test tool Metasploit which disclosed Internet vulnerabilities.

MOORE’S LAW: Empirical observation that integrated circuit complexity doubles in about 18 months; first postulated in 1967; law of transistor density; Gordon Moore.

MORPHING: To transform one digital image into another; morphed; metamorphoposing.

MORRIS, THOMAS, Q. MD: Professor of Clinical Medicine, College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, and Past President, Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, New York, New York.

MOSAIC: An internet GUI browser created at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1993, which was freely distributed and launched the era of browse-able content and broad adoption of re-purpose-able markup computer language; precursor to MSFT Internet Explorer®.

MOTHERBOARD: Main integrated circuit board of a computer which houses its CPU and cooling unit, CMOS, battery, BIOS bus, expansion slots (AGP and PCI) and peripheral ports, etc.

MOTION PICTURE EXPERTS GROUP (MPEG): Standardized movie/audio format creation, manipulation, storage and transmissions.

MOTOROLA®: Maker and provider of analog and digital two-way voice and data radio products and systems for conventional as well as wireless communications; cell phone, electronic equipment and chip maker based in Shaumburg, Illinois; its microprocessors include the early 6800 and 68000 series for Apple Computer Inc®; subsidiary unit is now Freescale Semi Conductor® Inc., in Austin Texas.

Mount: To make a group of files in a file system structure accessible to a user or user group; a Unix mount command attaches discs, or directories logically rather than physically; a Unix mount command makes a directory accessible by attaching a root directory of one file system to another directory, which makes all the file systems usable as if they were subdirectories of the file system where they are attached; Unix recognizes devices by their location, as compared to Windows®, which recognizes them by their names (D: drive, for example); Unix organizes directories in a tree-like structure, in which directories are attached by mounting them on the branches of the tree. The file system location where the device is attached is called a mount point; may be local or remote; a local mount connects disc drives on one machine so that they behave as one logical system, while a remote mount uses Network File System (NFS) to connect to directories on other machines so that they can be used as if they were all part of the user’s file system.

MOUSE: Hardware desktop input device for GUI control execution features; point and click operating system interface with pointer cursor; roller-ball, infrared, remote, mini and optical types; rubber ball, infrared, or optical control; developed in 1964 by Douglas Engelbart.

MOUSE POTATOE: An Internet user addicted to aimless browsing; slang term. 

MOUSE TRAP: JavaScript© web page with functionless “back” button usually used to compel advertiser viewing; slang term. 

.MOV: Internet files extension for the QuickTime® movie or file format.

MOZILLA: Netscape© open source free web browser; Firefox©

MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3: Often referred to as MP3; a popular digital audio encoding and lossy format that reduce the quantity of data required to represent audio; compression technique invented by German engineers who worked in a digital radio research program that became an ISO standard in 1991.

MP3 PLAYER: Digital music format and related generic devices with Internet download capability; Apple iPod^®, iPod Photo^®, iPod Shuffle^®, ZUNE^® and v-Pod^®, etc; connects to a PC by a USB or FireWire port.

MQ Series: IBM compatible software family whose components are used to tie together other software applications so that they can work together; business integration software; middleware.

MS-DOS: Microsoft Operating Systems first developed in the early 1980s for the 8086 series of CPUs from the Intel ^® Corporation and the IBM PC of 1981.

MULTI-CAST: Networked computer transmission meant for many reception nodes.

MULTI-HOMED HOST: A computer or server physically connected to more than two networks, with multiple IP addresses and interfaces.

MULTI-MEDIA: Voice, video, and graphical digital information that requires broad bandwidth for multiple transmissions on one compressed line and much storage capacity.

MULTI-PARTITE VIRUS: A worm, trojan or malicious computer system code that combines types of boot sector and files miscreants; Ghostballs variant.

Multi-point Control Unit (MCU): A centrally located service offered by switch network providers allows three or more users to be connected, allowing audio and video teleconferencing.

MULTI-PLEXOR:   Hardware peripheral device that allows multiple voice-video or graphical data source transmissions; by combining and interweaving low-capacity channels in discrete time or frequency slices, this equipment allows transmission of multiple lines of audio, video or data information in one high-capacity communications channel. 

MULTI-PROCESSING: Computer or system with two or more CPUs.

MULTI-PROGRAM VIRUS: Macro virus first infecting several MSFT Word©, Excel© and PowerPoint© files at once; originally appeared in 1999 as the TriState variant.

MULTI-SITE TEST: An application or program stress beta-review for many geographic locations.

MULTI-TASK: The ability of an operating system to run multiple computerized tasks or applications simultaneously; i.e. Windows-NT© etc.

MULTICS: Precursor computer language program to UNIIX, with MRDS relational database.

MUNDIE, CRAIG: Chief Research and Strategy Officer of the Microsoft Corporation.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT DIGITAL INTERFACE (MIDI): Musical information interchange standardized transmission protocol.

MY COMPUTER: Windows© drive feature; accessed from Start Menu.

MY DOCUMENTS: MSFT Windows© desktop computer file folder.

MY NETWORK PLACE: MSFT Windows© computer folder of available network resources.

MYSQL: Open source data base software utility program.

– N –

NAG SCREEN: The first page of a shareware computer program listing its maker, credentials, requests for donations, etc.; nagware; slang term.

NAGIOS®: Open source computer security network host and service application monitoring system; by GroundWork^®.

NAME: Linguistic expression of an object-file designation.

NAMED PIPES: Used for uni-directional or bi-directional connectionless messaging between clients and computer servers.

NAME RESOLUTION: Mapping, identifying or connecting a computer machine name to its corresponding IP address.

NAME SPACE: Individual objects that are named in a computer networking environment; XML identifying attributes.

NANDA TAXONOMY: List of nursing diagnostics that identify and code medical problems or life processes; second version.

NANO MEMBRANE: Ultra thin flexible semi-conductor CPU chip developed at the University of Wisconsin, at Madison.

NANO MEMORY: A single molecule trapped between electrodes that may be switched between conductive sates and serve as stored medical data or other information.

Nano second: One billionth of a second.

NAPSTER: Defunct utility provider of P2P music file shareware applications; 1999-2001

NARROWBAND: Electronic communication transmission rates below 64 Kbps; a telecommunications medium that uses low frequency signals, not exceeding 1.544 Mbps; slow.

NARROWCAST: Electronic transmission to invited individuals.

NASTYGRAM: Malicious e-mail message which targets security poles of a targeted computer system; slang term.

National Association of Health Data Organizations (NAHDO): A group that promotes the development and improvement of state and national health information systems.

National Center for Health Services Research (NCHSR): Former name of the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR).

National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS): A federal organization within the CDC that collects, analyzes, and distributes health care statistics; maintains ICD-n-CM codes.

National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS): A Federal advisory body within HHS that advises the Secretary regarding potential changes to the HIPAA standards.

National Council for Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP): An ANSI-accredited group that maintains a number of standard formats for use by the retail pharmacy industry, some of which are included in the HIPAA mandates.

National Drug Code (NDC): A medical code set that identifies prescription drugs and some over the counter products, and that has been selected for use in the HIPAA transactions.

National Employer ID: A system for uniquely identifying all sponsors of health care benefits.

National Health Information Infrastructure (NHII): A healthcare-specific lane on the Internet described in the National Information Infrastructure (NII) initiative.

National Health Information Network (NHIN): The technologies, standards, laws, policies, programs and practices that enable health information to be shared among health decision makers, including consumers and patients, to promote improvements in health and healthcare; vision for the NHII began more than a decade ago with publication of an Institute of Medicine report, The Computer-Based Patient Record. The path to a national network of healthcare information is through the successful establishment of Regional Health Information Organizations (RHIO).

National Information Infrastructure (NII): A United States government policy developed by the Clinton Administration that involves the synthesis of hardware, software, and skills that will make it easy and affordable to connect people with each other, with computers and with a wide variety of services and information resources.

National Information Technology Coordinator (NITC): Operates under the Secretary for Health and Human Services (SHHS); Dr. David Brailler helped develop and implement a standardized, secure, comparable electronic health record (EHR) for both the private and public health sectors; even though EHRs are being utilized across the United States in some form or manner and in the government with Veterans Affairs (VA), Department of Defense (DoD) facilities, and Indian Health Services (IHS), modifications, enhancements and changes constantly occur to provide more consistency and uniform definitions, terminology and functions for the clinical information tool in order to more effectively share and communicate patient clinical information across various healthcare spectrums; HIPAA Security and Privacy Regulations have a significant impact on the design, integration, interface, implementation and management of the system nation-wide; Federal, State and private hospitals as well as vendors and insurers will also have to absorb additional cost to adapt to the architecture, as well as security and privacy requirements.

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST): A unit of the U.S. Commerce Department formerly known as the National Bureau of Standards (NBS), to promote and maintain measurement standards; it also has active programs for encouraging and assisting industry, medicine and science to develop and use these standards.

The NIST SP 800-35 Guide for IT Systems

SP 800-30: Risk Management Guide for Information Technology Systems

SP 800-32: Introduction to Public Key Technology and the Federal PKI Infrastructure

SP 800-33: Underlying Technical Models for Information Technology Security

SP 800-34: Contingency Planning for Information Technology Systems

SP 800-41: An Introduction to Firewalls and Firewall Policy

SP 800-42: Guideline on Network Security Testing

SP 800-48: Wireless Network Security: 802.11, Blue tooth, and Handheld Devices

SP 800-50: Building an Information Technology Security Awareness and Training Program

SP 800-53: Recommended Security Controls for Federal Information Systems

SP 800-55 Security Metrics Guide for Information Technology Systems

SP 800-64 Security Considerations in the Information System Development Life Cycle

SP 800-66 An Introductory Resource Guide for Implementing the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Security Rule

Of particular interest to health IT stakeholders are:

• SP 800-36 offers guidance on selecting IT security products. This document provides criteria used to evaluate security products, for the following categories: Identification and Authentication, Access Control, Intrusion Detection, Firewalls, Public Key Infrastructure, Vulnerability Scanners, Malicious Code Protection, and Forensics. This will be especially useful for product consideration.
• SP 800-55 explains the measurement of security performance. This summary provides guidance on how an organization, with metrics, identifies the adequacy of in-place security controls, policies, and procedures.
• SP 800-30 deals with IT risk management. Every organization has a mission. In this digital era, as organizations use automated information technology (IT) systems1 to process their information for better support of their missions, risk management plays a critical role in protecting an organization’s information assets, and therefore its mission, from IT-related risk.

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE (NLM): The computer version of the printed Index Medicus; citations for 7.5 million articles published since 1966 from about 3,700 health and biomedical journals are compiled in MEDLINE, which is updated at a rate of 6,600 articles every week; about 75% of citations are for English-language articles.

National Patient ID: A system for uniquely identifying all recipients of health care services and often referred to as the National Individual Identifier (NII), or as a Healthcare ID.

National Payer ID (NPID): A system for uniquely identifying all organizations which pay for health care and medical services.

National Provider (PATIENT) File (NPF): A database for use in maintaining a national provider registry for doctors and patients.

National Provider (PATIENT) ID (NPID): A numerical system for uniquely identifying all providers of health care services; patients; supplies, and equipment.

NATIONAL PROVIDER (PHYSICIAN-PRACTITIONER) IDENTIFIER (NPI): Originally was an eight-digit alphanumeric identifier. However, the healthcare industry widely criticized this format, claiming that major information systems incompatibilities would make it too expensive and difficult to implement. DHHS therefore revised its recommendation, instead specifying a 10-position numeric identifier with a check digit in the last position to help detect keying errors. The NPI carries no intelligence; in other words, its characters will not in themselves provide information about the provider. More recently, CMS announced that HIPAA-covered entities such as providers completing electronic transactions, healthcare clearinghouses, and large health plans, must use only the NPI to identify covered healthcare providers in standard transactions by May 23, 2007. Small health plans must use only the NPI by May 23, 2008. The proposal for a Standard Unique National Health Plan (Payer) Identifier was withdrawn on February, 2006. (According to CMS, “withdrawn” simply means that there is not a specific publication date at this time. Development of the rule has been delayed; however, when the exact date is determined, the rule will be put back on the agenda.)

National Provider Registry (NPR): The organization for assigning National Provider IDs.

National Provider System (NPS): The administrative system for supporting a national provider registry.

NATIONAL SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD FOR BIOSECURITY (NSABB): Established in 2004 to advise all federal departments and agencies that conduct or support life sciences research that could fall into the “dual use” category: Its objectives are:

• advise on strategies for local and federal biosecurity oversight for all federally funded or supported life sciences research.
• advise on the development of guidelines for biosecurity oversight of life sciences research and provide ongoing evaluation and modification of these guidelines as needed.
• advise on strategies to work with journal editors and other stakeholders to ensure the development of guidelines for the publication, public presentation and public communication of potentially sensitive life sciences research.
• advise on the development of guidelines for mandatory programs for education and training in biosecurity issues for all life scientists and laboratory workers at federally funded institutions.
• provide guidance on the development of a code of conduct for life scientists and laboratory workers that can be adopted by federal agencies as well as professional organizations and institutions engaged in the performance of life sciences research domestically and internationally.

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION (NSF): Federal US government agency that promotes and funds electronic communications causes and projects.

National Software Testing Laboratory (NSTL): One of the first independent organizations to evaluate computer hardware and software; used controlled testing methods to ensure objective results, and publishes its findings in Software Digest Ratings Report, PC Digest, and later generations of same.

National Standard Format (NSF): Generically applies to any nationally standardized data electronic health transmission format, but it is often used in a more limited way to designate the Professional EMC NSF, a 320-byte flat file record format used to submit professional claims.

National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA): The federal agency in the Department of Commerce responsible for the National Information Infrastructure (NII) initiative.

National Television System Committee (NTSC): An independent panel that is involved in setting the standards for broadcast television in the United States; standards are sometimes considered a composite video because all video information is combined into one analog signal.

National Uniform Billing Committee (NUBC): An organization, chaired and hosted by the American Hospital Association, that maintains the UB-92 hardcopy institutional billing form and the data element specifications for both the hardcopy form and the 192-byte UB-92 flat file EMC format.

National Uniform Claim Committee (NUCC): An organization, chaired and hosted by the American Medical Association, that maintains the HCFA-1500 claim form and a set of data element specifications for professional claims submission via the HCFA-1500 claim form, the Professional EMC NSF, and the X12 837; also maintains the Provider Taxonomy Codes and has a formal consultative role under HIPAA for all transactions affecting non-dental non-institutional professional health care services.

NATIVE FORMAT: Computer readability by a specific application with translation using bridges or filters.

NATURAL LANGUAGE: Fifth generation computer language using human speech.

NAVIGATION: Interacting with a complex computer system; software applications, program etc.

NAVIGATION TOOL: A multi media Web presentation and search utility.

NAVIGATOR: An Internet browser developed by the Netscape^® Corporation

NCPDP Batch Standard: A NCPDP standard designed for use by low-volume dispensers of pharmaceuticals, such as nursing homes.

NCPDP Telecommunication Standard: A NCPDP standard designed for use by high-volume dispensers of pharmaceuticals, such as retail pharmacies.

Neaman, MARK: President and CEO of Evanston Northwestern Healthcare, Ill.

Need-to-know (NTK): A personal health information security principle stating that a user should have access only to the medical data he or she needs to perform a particular function.

NELSON, IVO: Director of IBM’s health care business consulting services group, Armonk, NY.

NERD: One interested in computer engineering and health or other systems IT systems to the exclusion of human interaction; geek; slang term.

NESSUS: A security scanner for Linux that offered high end security for the mid-tier computer user; by Tenable Network Security®.

NEST(ING): Document input within the body of another document for non-linear access.

.NET FRAMEWORK: An architecture framework and business strategy from Microsoft^® and its collection of programming support for web services or the ability to use the Intent rather than a PC; platform includes servers, building-block services like XML Web-based data storage, device software and MS Passport® (fill-in-the-form-only-once identity verification service); vaguely similar to Java.

NET: The www or Internet; slang term.

NETBios: The BIOS code for a computer network.

NET CAFÉ: A casual meeting place for Internet access; Internet café; slang term.

NET CAST(ING): Pod casting or web casting; electronic broadcast clips.

NET CENTRIC: An intra or inter-networked focused environment for seamless productivity.

NET HEAD: Internet addicted user; web head; net surfer; etc., slang term.

NET PASSPORT: MSFT^® online service to use a password and email identifier to sign on to any .NET participating website.

NETIQUETTE: Online manners and propriety; such as not spamming or using CAPITAL letters which is the internet equivalent of shouting; net speak.

NETIZEN: An upright righteous citizen or proper user of the internet; slang term.

NETMEETING: Electronic collaborative network conferencing functions with groupware capabilities.

NETNEUTRALITY: The inability of telephone lines carriers like Verizon^® and AT&T® to charge extra for premium delivery of Internet content; save-the-internet .

NetPhone: Commonly referred to as the “Internet telephone” and refers to the equipment used to permit two users to talk to one another using the Internet as the connection; Net-2-Phone^®.

NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR^®: A Netscape Corporation® web browser with varying GUI formats, acquired by AOL® in 1998.

NETSPEAK: Ouvre of internet linguistics; netiquette; slang term.

NETWORK: To connect computers or hubs with wireless or wired connectivity to share and manipulate common information; Cisco Systems^®, Juniper Networks^®, Lucent Technologies®, Cingular^® and Verizon^®

NETWORK ADDRESS TRANSLATION (NAT): To secure internal health network data by changing entering and exiting IP addresses; firewall and router functionality.

NETWORK ADMINISTRATOR: One who manages an electronic computer network with servers and client work stations; expert IT system manager.

NETWORK APPLICATION: A shared and connected program, software code or operating utility or development tool for a LAN, MAN, WAN, or the Internet, intra net, etc.

NETWORK ATTACHED STORAGE (NAS): Architecture that attaches disk arrays to computers throughout a department, giving multiple computers access to high-capacity storage resources; economical because it relies on older, well-established technologies, such as the hard drive standard (American Telemedicine Association) ATA and Internet Protocol (IP) data networking.

NETWORK COMPUTER (NC): A thin client type personal computer with a CPU but little storage capacity running health applications and medical programs over a connected ring of computers.

NETWORK INTERFACE CARD (NIC): Computer-to-network sharing adapter PCI adapter; Windows XP^® allows a wide range of network sharing resources like pictures and music files to printer scanner and hard-drives.

NETWORK LAYER: Internet routing destination layer for data and switching functionality; third layer of an OSI model; internet layer.

NETWORK PRINTER: A shared printing peripheral device available to connected nodule users.

NETWORK REDIRECTOR: Operating system interception function that transfers input requests to a local or remote computer system or machine for processing.

NETWORK TOPOLOGY: The geometry of networked computers and related devices (usually serial bus or star); pattern of links and modes in an interconnected multiple computer network system.

NETWORK TRAFFIC: Amount of linked computer use, usually excessive, from nodule user, and to user.

NETWORK WEAVING: To enter a computer communications network, avoid detection, and trace-back.

NEURAL NETWORK: Non-linear predictive model for pattern matching and interactive learning.

NEUTRICIDE: Telephone company destruction of Internet neutrality; slang term.

NEVER EVENT (NE): Are incidents like surgery on the wrong body part or a mismatched blood transfusion, which causes serious injury or death to beneficiaries, and result in increased costs to the Medicare program to treat the consequences of the error; no longer financially reimbursable.

NEW MEDIA: Nontraditional electronic health data and other communication methods with features like low cost, centrality, volatility and multimedia functions.

NEWBIE: A first time computer, network or internet user; slang term.

NEWSFEED: Automatically updated website link; Really Simple Syndication (RSS).

NEWSGROUP: A topic focused internet message board or discussion group; sometimes referred to collectively as ”Usenet” with discussion groups open to the public, or private, where users can read the information posted and add new messages, or articles; uses a hierarchical topic structure to make it easy for the user to find the information; messages posted to newsgroups are sent to every computer connected to the Internet, where it is stored for a few days to give interested users the chance to read it; individual users have the option whether they would like to subscribe to newsgroups; currently, over 29,000 newsgroups exist and are available for subscription, although most users only subscribe to, read, and respond to a few of them.

Newsgroup Reader: The software used to access, read, and post to medical or other newsgroups.

NEWSLINE: A collaborative electronic publisher.

NEWSREADER: A utility program to use, read and post electronic messages to a newsgroup.

NIAGRA: Sun Microsystems UltraSPARC^® T1 microprocessor chip; code name.

NIBBLE: Half of an eight-bit byte (four bits); slang term.

NIMDA WORM: Malicious computer system code that slows or delays email messages, and first released in 2001 and with more current variants.

NODE: Host computer of a link system or connected network.

NOISE: Any healthcare, medial data or other computer system electronic transmission interference; slang term.

NOM-DE-HAQUE: Pseudonym or anonymous name used by a computer, network or Internet hacker.

NOMENCLATURE: The systematic naming of elements in a system; codified terms and abbreviations; ontology, common language; wwwHealthDictionarySeries.com

NON-COMPUTING SECURITY METHODS: Safeguards that do not use the hardware, software, and firmware of a healthcare information technology infrastructure; include physical security (controlling physical access to computing resources), personnel security, and procedural security.

NON-OVERWRITING VIRUS: Software extension code or appendix that moves an original malicious computer code to another location.

Non-repudiation: Computer system accountability protocol which depends upon the ability to ensure that senders cannot deny sending medical or other information and that receivers cannot deny receiving it; spans prevention and detection and used as a prevention measure because the mechanisms implemented prevent the ability to successfully deny an action; service typically performed at the point of transmission or reception; public and private key infrastructure; ensures that PHI can not be disputed; third part proof.

NON-VOLATILE MEMORY: Storage data that remains when power circuitry is disconnected; stable electronic data memory stick, flash card, etc.

NOONAN, THOMAS, E: Former President & Chief Executive Officer of Internet Security Systems® (ISS) in Atlanta, responsible for the overall strategic direction, growth and management of the company; launched in 1994 with Christopher W. Klaus to a preeminent position in the network security industry; holds a mechanical engineering degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a CSS in Business Administration from Harvard University; now part of IBM®.

NORDA, RAYMOND: Deceased co-founder of Novell®, Inc., and developer of NetWare® who acquired WordPerfect® Corporation and the Quattro Pro® spreadsheets business of Borland International; father of network computing who coined the term co-opetition.

NORMALIZATION: Uniform standards or formats for computer operability or use.

NORMALIZATION SERVICE: A firm that provide normalization processes, such as for EHRs, EMRs, CPOEs, etc.

NORRIS, JOHN, A: Corporate Executive Vice President, Hill and Knowlton, Inc., Waltham, Massachusetts, and Lecturer in Health Law, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts.

North Carolina Healthcare Information and Communications Alliance (NCHICA): A medical organization that promotes the advancement and integration of information technology into the health care industry.

NOTEBOOK: A small portable PC.

notebook safe: A special safe secured to a wall or the trunk of a car used for storing a notebook computer.

NOTEPAD: A limited Windows® text editor.

Notice of Intent (NOI): A document that describes a subject area for which the Federal Government is considering developing regulations; may describe the relevant considerations and invite comments from interested parties and then used in developing an NPRM or a final regulation.

Notice of privacy practice (NPP): A notice to the individual of the uses and disclosures of protected health information and the individual’s rights and the covered entity’s legal duties with respect to protected health information covered entity disclosure. In its most visible change, the privacy regulations require covered entities to provide patients with a Notice of Privacy Practices (NPP). The NPP replaces the use of consents, which are now optional, although they are recommended. The NPP outlines how PHI is to be regulated, which gives the patient far-reaching authority and ownership of their PHI, and must describe, in general terms, how organizations will protect health information.

The NPP specifies the patient’s right to the following:

• Gain access to and, if desired, obtain a copy of one’s own health records;
• Request corrections of errors that the patient finds (or include the patient’s statement of disagreement if the institution believes the information is correct);
• Receive an accounting of how their information has been used (including a list of the persons and institutions to whom/which it has been disclosed);
• Request limits on access to, and additional protections for, particularly sensitive information;
• Request confidential communications (by alternative means or at alternative locations) of particularly sensitive information;
• Complain to the facility’s privacy officer if there are problems; and
• Pursue the complaint with DHHS’s Office of Civil Rights if the problems are not satisfactorily resolved.

A copy of the NPP must be provided the first time a patient sees a direct treatment provider, and any time thereafter when requested or when the NPP is changed. On that first visit, treatment providers must also make a good faith effort to obtain a written acknowledgement, confirming that a copy of the NPP was obtained. Health plans and insurers must also provide periodic Notices to their customers, but do not need to secure any acknowledgement. Most Health Information Management departments which oversee the clinical coding of medical records also manage the NPP documentations and deadlines, but this may very from hospital to hospital.

Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM): A document that describes and explains regulations that the Federal Government proposes to adopt at some future date, and invites interested parties to submit comments related to them; may be used in developing a final regulation.

NOVICE HACKER: An unskilled computer or network person acting as an electronic miscreant; script kiddies; slang term.

NT File System: An optional file system for Windows NT^®, 2000^®, XP^® and later operating systems; a more advanced file system than FAT16-32-64.

NTLDR: A program that is loaded from the hard drive boot sector which displays the Microsoft Windows NT® startup menu and helps Windows NT® load; short for NT Loader.

NTLDR’S $DATA Attribute: NTLDR attribute that contains actual health or other medical data or information for a file.

NUBC EDI TAG: The NUBC EDI Technical Advisory Group, which coordinates issues affecting both the NUBC and the X12 standards.

NULL MODEM: Modem simulator for direct connection between computers, servers or nodes.

NULL MODEM CABLE: Serial cable with bidirectional crossed pins for direct connection simulation.

NUMERIC DATA: Continuous and discrete medical, health or other data.

NUSING INFORMATICS: The use of healthcare management information computer systems and digital data capture, storage and transmission to facilitate nursing activities.

– O –

OBJECT: A passive computer entity that contains or receives medical information or health data; note that access to an object potentially implies access to the information it contains.

OBJECT CODE: Machine computer code generated by source code language processors, assemblers or compilers; source code.

OBJECT IDENTIFIER: A sting of numbers to identify a unique item in computer programming.

OBJECT LINKING EMBEDDING (OLE): Method of combining different information from different computer application programs, such as inserting a spreadsheet, figure, medical or radiology image etc.

OBJECT ORIENTATED PROGRAMMING (OOP): A software development methodology that combines both health information or other data and procedures into a single packet; rapid and flexible software engineering.

OBJECT REUSE: Existing computer software code objects used to create new-to-the-world code objects.

O’BRIEN, PARICK: CIO and CFO of Ivinson Memorial Hospital, Laramie, Wyoming.

OCTAL: Base zero to eight numbering system.

OCTET: Eight bits, or one byte of electronic data information.

ODD PARITY: Odd number of 1 bit data parity technique for each byte or word of information.

OFFICE LIVE: MSFT real-time communications server.

OFFICE SUITE: Integrated programs with several business applications, like word process, spreadsheets, and database, etc: MSFT Office^®, Corel WordPerfect Office^®, Sun Star Office^® and Lotus SmartSuite^®.

OFFLINE: Not connected or controlled to another computer, server, and internet or intranet nodule system.

OFFLINE NAVIGATOR: Utility to download email, sort, retrieve and read message while not network enabled; offline reader; offline storage.

OFFSITE PROCESSIONG: Remote hospital contracting with a vendor external to the hospital; the hospital sends data over to the vendor site where the actual processing takes place; upon completion, the vendor sends the data back to the hospital, usually in electronic form.

OGG VORBIS: Digital music encoding format; reportedly superior to MP3.

O’LEARY, Dennis, MD: Longtime President and CEO for the JCAHO who retired in 2007.

OLSEN, KENNETH: Co-founder and CEO of Digital Equipment Corporation® (DEC) launched in 1957, faltered in the 1990s and was sold to Compaq® (in turn bought up Hewlett-Packard® in 2002); famously opined in 1977, “there is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home.”

OLSSON, SILAS; MSc: Medical Informaticist for the European Commission and Informatics Society of Brussels, Belgium.

OMNI-DIRECIONAL ANTENNA: A 360 degree beam-width transmitter in all directions.

ON-CHIP APPLICATION: Programs that resident or are embedded in an integrated circuit micro chip.

ON-DEMAND COMPUTING (ODC): A bifid software delivery model similar to SAAS (software-as-a-service). The hosted application management (hosted AM) model is similar to ASP in that a provider hosts commercially available software for customers and delivers it over the Web. The software on demand model gives customers network-based access to a single copy of an application created specifically for SAA distribution; benefits include:

• easier administration
• automatic updates
• patch and security management
• compatibility and collaboration
• global accessibility.

The traditional model of software distribution, in which software is purchased for and installed on personal computers, is sometimes referred to as software as a product; shrink wrapped software.

ON-DEMAND THREATS: Various online Internet security vulnerabilities, “holes” and security breaches:

• Injection Flaws: Malicious commands embedded in external and internal web application communications.
• XSS Flaws: Malicious code push from web applications to PCs; unauthorized local PC controls.
• Un-validated Input: Untested web application information sent back to individual PC users.
• Denial of Service (DOS): Web application use prevention, manipulated Web traffic to exhaust bandwidth

ONLINE: Connected or controlled to another computer, server, inter or intranet nodule system; online medical communities; online games; online healthcare networks, online services, online information systems, etc.

Online IdentitY: A caller ID service for the Web used to create multiple identities online.

ONLINE SERVICE PROVIDER (OSP): A company that provides internet based commercial computer services; dial-up services.

ONTOLOGY: Conceptual knowledge domain standard which describes dictionary elements and vocabulary expressions of a common language or lexicon.

ONYX: On-demand CRM service provider.

Open: Refers to a type of mailing list and signifies a system which permits anyone to post a message to it, independent of their member status; different than a closed or moderated system.

Open Prepress Interface: Image-swapping technology that allows low resolution images inserted into a page layout program to be swapped with the high resolution version for film or plate setting.

OPEN SOURCE CODE: UNIX or LINUX® based software code now on desktop computers loaded with collaborative tools such as Google Maps^® or Gmail; or the Free Software Foundation’s Gnu C Compiler; Make, a C programming utility; or Apache Ant^®, an open source code for assembling JAVA® applications; open standards; open systems.

Open source software (OSS): Refers to software developed, tested, or improved through public collaboration and distributed with the idea that the must be shared with others, ensuring an open future collaboration; especially those in the academic environment, in developing various versions of Unix; Richard Stallman’s idea of a free software foundation and the desire of users to freely choose among a number of products; LINUX.

OPEN SYSTEM: A vendor independent interconnected computer network.

OPEN SYSTEMS ARCHITECTUE: Generic, usually free and standardize technology for hardware, software, peripheral and online operating systems, databases, programs, communications, storage and applications; non-proprietary computer systems; i.e., Linux was developed by Finnish engineer Linus Torvalds, and is supported by thousands of programmers worldwide who continually update and prove it.

OPEN SYSTEMS ENVIRONMENT: Software systems that operate on different open hardware platforms and computers and networks.

Open SystemS Interconnection (OSI): A multi-layer ISO data communications standard that is industry specific, and HL7 is responsible for specifying the level seven OSI standards for the health industry; a standard reference model for local area network (LAN) systems, MANs and WANs.

Open VMS: An operating system that started out on Digital Equipment Corporation’s first produced systems (PDP®); migration through the years was to VAX and Alpha systems; VMS had a file system that supported fairly long names, was hierarchical in directory structure and supported multiple versions of the same file with the same name.

Open VMS Alpha: A family of RISC-based, 64-bit CPUs and computer systems originally developed by Digital, acquired by Compaq® and then by Hewlett-Packard®.

OPEN VPN: A virtual private networking application.

Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP): An organization that provides unbiased and practical, cost-effective information about computer and Internet programs and applications to assist individuals, doctors, nurses, businesses, agencies and healthcare organizations in finding and using trustworthy computer systems software. The OWASP Top Ten is a list of the most dangerous Web application security flaws, along with effective methods of dealing with them:  

1. Unvalidated input: Information from web requests is not validated before being used by a web application; attackers can use these flaws to attack backend components through a web application.
2. Broken access control: Restrictions on what authenticated users are allowed to do are not properly enforced; attackers can exploit these flaws to access other users’ accounts, view sensitive files, or use unauthorized functions.
3. Broken authentication and session management: Account credentials and session tokens are not properly protected; attackers that can compromise passwords, keys, biometrics, session cookies or other tokens can defeat authentication restrictions and assume other users’ identities.
4. Cross site scripting (XSS) flaws: Web application can be used as a mechanism to transport an attack to an end user’s browsers; a successful attack can disclose the end user’s session token, attack the local machine, or spoof content to fool the user.
5. Buffer overflows: Web application components in some languages that do not properly validate input can be crashed and, in some cases, used to take control of a process; components can include CGI, libraries, drivers, and web application server components.
6. Injection flaws: Web applications pass parameters when they access external systems or the local operating system; an attacker can embed malicious commands in these parameters, the external system may execute those commands on behalf of the web application.
7. Improper error handling: Error conditions that occur during normal operation are not handled properly; an attacker can cause errors to occur that the web application does not handle, they can gain detailed system information, deny service, cause security mechanisms to fail, or crash the server.
8. Insecure storage: Web applications frequently use cryptographic functions to protect information and credentials; such functions and the code to integrate them have proven difficult to code properly, frequently resulting in weak protection.
9. Denial of Service (DOS): Attackers can consume Web application resources to a point where other legitimate users can no longer access or use the application; Attackers can also lock users out of their accounts or even cause the entire application to fail.
10. Insecure configuration management: Having a strong server configuration standard is critical to a secure web application; servers have many configuration options that affect security and are not secure out of the box.

OPERA: A web browsing program.

OPERATING SYSTEM (OS): The set of basic programs and utilities that make a computer run. At the core of an operating system is the kernel, which performs allows the computer to start or boot-up and run applications or programs; Linux / Variants, MacOS^®, CP/M, MS-DOS^®, IBM OS/2 Warp^®, UNIX / Variants, Windows CE^®, Windows 3.x, Windows 95^®, Windows 98^®, Windows 98 SE^®, Windows ME^®, Windows NT^®, Windows 2000^®, Windows XP^®, Vista^®, and Solaris Enterprise System, from Sun Microsystems Inc®, etc. And now WINDOWS 7, 8 and 10.

OPERATING SYSTEM CERTIFICATION: Standard or bench mark of computer kernel functionality and performance efficiency.

operating system hardening: Steps that can be taken to make a personal computer operating system more secure.

Operator: A character used to limit or broaden a search; characters such as and, or, and not are referred to as a Boolean operator.

OPT OUT: To deselect from mass email communications, newsgroups, RSS feeds, etc.

OPTICAL CARD: Memory card with updateable laser recorded and read data; laser smart plastic card. 

Optical Character Recognition (OCR): Automatic scanning the translation of printed characters to computer-based text.

OPTICAL DISK: A laser disk used for computer medical data or other information storage; a disc that uses laser technology to record data; used for large quantities (Gbs) of medical data.

OPTICAL FINGERPRINT SENSOR: The most prevalent and mature biometric format that has a delicate interface surface to read human fingerprints but struggles through dirt, oils, inks and abrasions on the skin.

OPTICAL IMAGE BASED SYSTEM: Paper medical record that is scanned and stored in electronic format; usually .PDF.

OPTICAL READER: Device whose special shaped characters is recognized by a reading device.

OPTICAL RESOLUTION: A measure of image detail within a given distance; picture sharpness or crispness meter.

OPTION BUTTON: Two or more circular groups of input dialog boxes.

ORACLE^®: The world’s largest enterprise software company that supplies comprehensive business intelligencer products like: database with interactive dashboard, embedded analytic applications, real time predictive decision-making and monitoring, uniform meta- data and data warehousing as well as a range of proprietary and open-source software to manage, share and protect healthcare data and other information; based in Redwood Shores, CA; CEO Larry Ellison.

ORANGE BOOK: Compilation of CD format standards; USG Trusted Computer Systems Evaluation Criteria; first published in 1985 and defined computer standards for the industry; slang term.

ORDER ENTRY SYSTEM: Any process for requesting and securing items; such as computerized physician order entry (CPOE).

Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS): A nonprofit, international consortium whose goal is to promote the adoption of product-independent standards for information formats such as Standard Generalized Markup Language, Extensible Markup Language, and Hypertext Markup Language; working to bring together competitors and industry standards groups with conflicting perspectives to discuss using XML as a common Web language that can be shared across applications and platforms for health information transmissions and related technologies.

Organized health care arrangement: A clinically or virtually integrated care setting in which individuals typically receive health care from more than one health care provider or an organized system of health care in which more than one covered entity participates, and in which the participating covered entities hold themselves out to the public as participating in a joint arrangement and participate in joint activities.

ORIGAMI: Mobile PC project from MSFT; device that resides between a PDA and a laptop for enhanced health data, medical and information connectivity; code name.

ORLOV, OLEG; MD, PhD: CMIO for the Telemedicine Foundation of Russia.

ORYX INITIATIVE: JCAHO program that integrates outcomes data with accreditation.

OSBORNE, ADAM: Created the Osborne Computer Corporation® in 1980 to produce the first commercially successful portable personal computer, the Osborne 1; a self-contained unit that included 64K of memory, a monochrome monitor, a keyboard, and a disk drive and sold with bundled software packages; Compaq® inherited the design and produced their first portable machine in 1983.

OS/2: IBM 32 bit multi-tasking GUI function operating system for 80286-80-386 series PCs.

OTELLINI, PAUL: Intel Corporation® CEO and promoter of Woodcrest CPU technology.

OUTLOOK®: MSFT email calendar software application; Outlook Express®

OUTPUT: The end product of a computer or network electronic data manipulation process.

OTHER PROVIDER NUMBER (OPN): Medical provider identification number.

often used by physicians and allied healthcare providers, such as: UPIN, SS, DEA, OSCAR, PIN, Payer, Medicaid State Number, etc.

OUTPUT DEVICE: Electronic machines that display the end product of computer processed input date and information.

Output Resolution: The resolution of the device used for the final output of a digital file expressed as dots per inch (dpi).

Over clocked: A desktop PC in which the processor is set to run faster than the manufacturer’s speed rating.

OVER-HAGE, MARC, J; MD, PhD: CEO, Indiana Health Information Exchange and Senior Investigator Regenstrief Institute.

OVER LAPING SECURITY DOMAIN: Key health IT elements include flexibility, tailored protection, domain inter-relationships, and the use of multiple perspectives to determine what is important in information technology security.

OVER WRITE: Top save or write over health data or other information on a floppy disk, CD, memory stick or other portable storage device; hard-disk, etc.

OVER WRITING VIRUS: Malicious computer code that destroys host or server data and replaces source coed with viral code.

OZZIE, RAYMOND: One of three Chief Technical Offices for the Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA, who is now chief software architect; creator of Lotus Notes^®, and the Groove Network^®.

– P-

P2P: Patient to Patient

P2P: Peer to Peer

P2P: Patient to Physician

P2P: Patient to Provider

P3P: Platform for Privacy Preferences

P4P: Pay for Performance

P6: Intel^® Corporation name for the 686 Pentium-Pro CPU.

POP3: A type of email server.

PACKAGE CODE: Manufacturer or private label software or computer code.

PACKET: Small block of digital health information or other data transmitted over a switching network; packet radio; packet monitor; packet filer; packet flood; packet sniffer, packet switch, etc; a basic message unit for communications in networks; a short block of data comprised of data, call control signals and error control information and containing information on its source, content and destination that is transferred in a packet switched network.

PACKET FILTER FIREWALL: Individual data-block, reviewed by individual data-packet security filtering and screening/

PACKET FORMAT: A digital packet of three standard items: header, information data and trailer.

Packet Network: A connected computer system that gives out health data bits in packets.

PACKET SNIFFING: Information pirating, theft or malicious alteration or data copying.

PACKET SWITCH: Data information sent along multiple destination paths.

Packet Switching: The procedure of transmitting digital health or other information from addressed packets so that a channel is occupied only during the transmission of the packet. 

Packet Switching Network (PSN): Refers to the transmission of digital health or other information using addressed packets that are transmitted along various routes in a network; more efficient than modem transmission where the channel is occupied throughout the transmission, because the occupation in the channel is limited to packet transmission.

PADLOCK: Computer icon that indicate secure computer network connectivity.

Page File, Paging File, pagefile.sys: A Windows swap file.

PAID AS BILLED: Medical invoice, usually electronic, satisfied as submitted without change or adjudication.

PAID CLAIMS: Medical reimbursement that meets contracted terms and conditions; a clean-claim.  

PAINT: A Windows® image editing and drawing program.

PALM: A PDA with by the Palm Operating System®

PALM PILOT®: A personal digital assistant (handheld computer) with minimal software and hardware complexity, since 1996.

PALM OS: The operating system for a Palm Pilot® with stylus or mini-keyboard inputting; from PalmSource® of Sunnyvale CA, since 2003.

PALM TOP: Generic term for a small computer held in one hand.

PAQUIN, MICHAEL, D: A former MS-HUG Chairman. 

PARALLEL PORT: PC socket used to connect a parallel port printer or other device.

PARALLEL PROCESSING: Simultaneous use of many individual computers to solve a problem, or run an application, etc.

PARAMETER: A symbol, word or number keyboarded or input into a computer or PDA, after a command, for additional functionality.

PARENT, Jaime B: CPHIMS Vice President Information Systems and CIO, Maryland General Hospital, Baltimore.

PARITY: A transmission integrity data check; electronic checksum; parity check; parity error; parity bit, etc.

PARK, HK: Chairman of Biomedical Engineering for the Kyunghee University School of Medicine.

Parkerian Hexad: Six fundamental, atomic, non-overlapping attributes of medical, health or other information that are protected by information security measures; defined by Donn B. Parker, they are confidentiality, possession, integrity, authenticity, availability and utility.

• Confidentiality: Restrictions on the accessibility and dissemination of medical and health information.
• Possession: The ownership or control of medical information, as distinct from confidentiality.
• Data integrity: The quality of correctness, completeness, wholeness, soundness and compliance with the intention of the creators of the health data. It is achieved by preventing accidental or deliberate but unauthorized insertion, modification or destruction of data in a database.
• Authenticity: The correct attribution of origin such as the authorship of an e-mail message or the correct description of medical information such as a data field that is properly named.
• Availability: The accessibility of a health system resource in a timely manner; for example, the measurement of a system’s uptime.
• Utility: Usefulness; fitness for a particular use. For example, if medical data are encrypted and the decryption key is unavailable, the breach of security is in the lack of utility of the data (they are still confidential, possessed, integral, authentic and available).

PARSER: An initial step for assembly compilation, interpretation of computer language syntax analysis.

Participant: Any employee or former employee of an employer, or any member or former member of an employee health organization, who is or may become eligible to receive a benefit of any type from an employee benefit plan that covers employees of that employer or members of such an organization, or whose beneficiaries may be eligible to receive any of these benefits; includes an individual who is treated as an employee under section 401(c)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. 401(c)(1)).

Partition: A reserved part of disk or memory which is set aside for some purpose; for example on a PC, new hard disks must be partitioned using the Fdisk utility before they can be formatted for the operating system; one may create just one partition, creating one drive letter for the entire disk (i.e., “C:”), or several partitions such as drives C:, D: and E: (all located on the same physical disk, but acting like three separate drives to the operating system and end-user).

PASCAL: Computer programming language developed in the 1970’s by Nick Wirth; modern version of the ALGOL language.

PASSIVE HUB: A central network connecting device void of processing or regeneration signals; passive node.

PASSIVE THREAT: A potential computer network security breach without the alteration of system status.

PASSPORT: MSFT personally identified online suite of applications, programs and services; single sign-in functionality.

PASSWORD: String of symbols, characters or alphanumeric code word for computer, or network, or internet security verification, access and use; confidential authentication information composed of a string of characters. (ISO 7498 – 2).

PASSWORD CRACK(ER)ING: To breach a security access code, guess, determine or steal a password; password hacker or cracker; password attack; password protection; password authentication; password password(ing); slang term.

PASSWORD MANAGEMENT: Provides user education on creating and changing access keys and on the need to keep such keys confidential; password sniffing.

PASTE: To insert cut data or clipboard information into a document.

PATCH: Internet based update programs used to fix loopholes in browsers, applications, program, etc (SP1 and SP2); i.e., patch Tuesday; slang term.

patch management: Tools, utilities, and processes for keeping computers up to date with new software updates that are developed after a software product is released.

PATIENT CARE INFORMATION SYSTEM (PCIS): Clinically focused computer network or internet based medical, facility, office, clinic and/or integrated hospital electronic information system.

PATIENT IDENTIFIABLE DATA (PID): Personal protected and secure health information, as per HIPAA.

Patient (PROVIDER) Information Control System (PICS): An online transaction processing program from IBM® that, together with the programming language COBOL, has formed over the past decades into the most common set of software tools for building patient and provider transaction applications in the world of large enterprise-wide mainframe or hospital legacy computing.

PATIENT RECORD: The entire healthcare history of an individual patient and medical encounters.

Patient Relationship Management (PRM): Modular and integrated software application designed to streamline patient flow, workflow and cash flow in medical practices; helps providers manage the relationship with patients from initial contact through all clinical stages to billing and collection;  seamlessly integrated, combining Practice Management, Electronic Health Records, Electronic Data Interchange and Mobile PDA Solutions including: user-defined dashboard, scheduling, patient prep, e-chart, patient summary, document management, encounter note management, E/M advisor, voice recognition, electronic superbill, order management, e-prescribing, HL7 interfaces to lab and equipment, billing, collections, managed care contract administration and reporting.

PATIENT SENSItivE INFORMATION: Clinical information with medical-legal security identity, access, reimbursement and transmission implications; bona fide need to know basis.

PATIENT SPECIFIC DATA: Information that can be traced to an individual; Protected Health Information.

PATENT TELEMANAGEMENT: Networked or internet facilitated clinical and medical care, information access or knowledge management.

PATENT TROLL: An individual or company that amasses a portfolio of patents with no intention of developing or licensing the involved technology, but makes money by suing companies on the verge of releasing products using legal injunction power to extract monetary settlements.

PATH: Computer code or input information that names and locates a medical or other electronic file.

Patriot act: Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA Patriot Act) Act of October 26, 2001.

PATTERSON, TIMOTHY, PhD: Creator of an operating system for use with Seattle Computer Products’ 8086-based computer, a precursor to DOS.

PAYLOAD: The harmful content of a worm, virus or other malware instrument.

PAY-PER-CLICK: Advertising models that generates revenue as website visitor activate or click-on paid website ions.

PAYER ID: CMS term for a pre-HIPAA National Payer ID initiative.

PAYMENT: The billing and invoicing activities undertaken by:

• A health plan to obtain premiums or to determine or fulfill its responsibility for coverage and provision of benefits under the health plan; or

• A covered health care provider or health plan to obtain or provide reimbursement for the provision of health care; andDeterminations of eligibility or coverage (including coordination of benefits or the determination of cost sharing amounts), and adjudication or subrogation of health benefit claims;
• Risk adjusting amounts due based on enrollee health status and demographic characteristics;
• Billing, claims management, collection activities, obtaining payment under a contract for reinsurance (including stop-loss insurance and excess of loss insurance), and related health care data processing;
• Review of health care services with respect to medical necessity, coverage under a health plan, appropriateness of care, or justification of charges;
• Utilization review activities, including precertification and preauthorization of services, concurrent and retrospective review of services; and
• Disclosure to consumer reporting agencies of any of the following protected health information relating to collection of premiums or reimbursement:

PC CARD: A circuit board of memory chips, fax, modem, network parts or other peripherals usually used in laptop computers.

PDF/ACROBAT: A platform independent rendering of data content and tools from Adobe Systems Inc® that liberated users from paper.

PDF FILE: The electronic facsimile of a paper document (.pdf file extension).

PEACH(Y) Virus: Malicious computer code or worm in 2001 that spread through .pdf files.

PEER: A sand alone computer, hub, node or network server.

PEER-TO-PEER NETWORK: WAN, MAN or LAN without a central computer server; a workgroup or network.

PENETRATION: The unauthorized access to protected healthcare information, medical database, billing statements, insurers, third-parties, etc.

Penetration testinG: The security-oriented probing of a computer system or network to seek out vulnerabilities that an attacker could exploit; the testing process involves an exploration of the all security features of the system in question, followed by an attempt to breech security and penetrate the system; ethical hacking.

PENTIUM©: Intel® performance brand CPU.

PENTIUM©:  Fifth generation IBM compatible Central Processing Unit with 64 bit internal architecture made by the Intel Corporation©.

PENTIUM II©: Fifth generation IBM compatible Central Processing Unit with 300 bit internal bus, 64 bit external bus and 64 bit cache system made by the Intel Corporation©.

PENTIUM III®: Intel® CPU released in 1999 with super scale floating point mode.

PENTIUM IV®: Intel® CPU released in 2000 with enhanced RAM bus speed.

PENTIUM 4©: The seventh-generation X86 architecture CPU from Intel© and new CPU NetBurst© design architecture since the Pentium Pro© of 1995. Unlike the P-II and P-III, and Celeron©, the architecture owed little to the Pentium Pro/P6© design, and was new from the ground up; the original Pentium 4©, codenamed “Willamette”, ran at 1.4 and 1.5 GHz and was released in November 2000. As is traditional with Intel’s flagship chips, the Pentium 4© also came in a low-end Celeron© version (often referred to as Celeron 4) and a high-end Xeon© version for SMP configurations. The Pentium 4© line of processors was retired in July 2006, replaced by the Intel Core 2© line, using the “Conroe” core.

PENTIUM M®: Intel CPU®, similar to the PENTIUM III®, with mobile functionality.

PENTIUM PRO©: Sixth generation IBM compatible Central Processing Unit with 300 bit internal architecture made by the Intel Corporation© with speeds > 150 MHz and optimized for 32 bit software applications and programs; series 686 made by the Intel Corporation©.

PENTIUM CELERON©: Any of several different budget x86 CPUs produced by Intel© as a complement for its higher-performance and more expensive Pentium©family introduced in1998; the first Celeron was based on a Pentium II© core with later versions on P-III©, P-4 and P-Mobile©

PENTIUM CENTRINO©: A CPU platform initiative from Intel© that covered a particular combination of P-M©, motherboard chipset and wireless network functionality for interface in the design of laptop PCs; released March 2003.

PERIODIC SECURITY REMINDER: Provides recollections and memory aides in which employees, agents, and contractors are made aware of security concerns on an ongoing basis (posters, screen savers, oral reminders, etc.).

PERIPHERAL DEVICE: Any piece of computer hardware distinct from the CPU, central server, or mainframe; scanner, printer, modem, router, etc.

PERL: Practical Extraction and Report Language developed by Larry Wall; a dynamic computer language.

PERMISSION: User access ability into a secure health information computer system network, medical or other database; permission level; permission class, permission log, etc.

PERRY, MAURICE: Software and PC visionary, doctor, surgeon, teacher and co-founder of a privately held firm that created one of the first interactive programs for computer based physician education.

PERSONAL COMPUTER (PC): Introduced by IBM in 1981, followed in 1983 by the PC/XT built around an 8-bit Intel 8088 microprocessor. The PC/XT used PC-DOS with a hierarchical filing system with hard disc capability; IBM introduced the IBM PC/AT® in 1984, around the Intel^® 80286 16-bit microprocessor offering parallel processing but not multi-tasking or multi-user environments. Compatible PCs makers next introduced a 32-bit bus for the 32-bit Intel 80386 to avoid royalties, and a consortium led by Compaq®, responded with 32-bit EISA bus with major compatibility advantages. IBM with Microsoft then produced 16-bit OS/2 for the PS/2 series designed with a GUI to overcome MS-DOS^® limitations. Later, the introduction of 80486 CPUs cleared bus bottleneck for graphics adaptors, Windows, and SCSI interfaces used by CD-ROMS, scanners and hard drives. A number of manufacturers, including Compaq®, Dell® and Hewlett-Packard developed proprietary local bus systems followed by the 32-bit VESA voluntary standard which some manufacturers partially implemented for a 64-bit wide data path of the Pentium^® CPU and PCI Intel product line. DMA and IRQ configuration troubles ultimately disappeared when Windows dispensed with DOS. Currently, there is a range of different computer disk sizes, graphics adaptors and hardware add-ons, such as mice, modems and memory boards available, but the IBM-PC set the standard until 1995;

manufacturer’s today include Dell®, Gateway®, Hewlett-Packard®, and Lenovo® Group after the exit of IBM®.

PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANT (PDA): A small wireless mobile and handheld computing system for email, web surfing, calculator, phone, address book, or calendar functionality, etc; such as the first Apple Newton^®, Palm Pilot^® or BlackBerry^®

Personal (PROTECTED) Health Record (PHR): An electronic application through which individuals can maintain and manage their secure health information (and that of others for whom they are authorized) in a private, secure, and confidential environment.

PERSONAL HOME PAGE (PHP): A script language and interpreter that is freely available and used primarily on LINUX Web servers; originally derived from PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor, a “recursive acronym.” PHP is often used as an alternative to Microsoft’s Active Server Page technology and is embedded within a Web page along with HTML and before the page is sent to a user, the Web server calls PHP to interpret and perform the operations called for in the PHP script. An HTML page that includes a PHP script is typically given a file name suffix of “.php” “.php3,” or “.phtml”. Like ASP, PHP can be thought of as “dynamic HTML pages,” since content will vary based on the results of interpreting the script. PHP is free and offered under an open-source license.

Personal Identification Number (PIN): A number or code assigned to an individual patient or medical provider and used to provide verification of identity.

PERSONAL INFORMATION (PI): A patient’s first name or initial combined with last name plus any one of the following: (1) Social Security number, (2) driver’s license number or California identification card number, or (3) account, credit card or debit card number in combination with security code or password that enables access to the account; If both the patient’s first name and the accompanying identifier are encrypted, the data does not constitute personal information.

Personal representative: A person authorized by law to act on behalf of an individual patient; treated as the individual for purposes of disclosure of protected health information.

PERSONAL WEB SERVER: MSFT web server application functionality for a computer hosting websites or web pages.

PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE HEALTH INFOMATION (PIHI): Medical and related business information that includes patient identifiers, like name, address, telephone and SS number, etc.

PESONNELL CLEARANCE: Establishes a procedure to ensure that medical personnel are cleared prior to receiving access by using various methods such as criminal background checks, verification of references, etc.

Personnel clearance procedure: A health information protective measure applied to determine that an individual’s access to sensitive unclassified automated information is admissible; the need for and extent of a screening process is normally based on an assessment of risk, cost, benefit, and feasibility as well as other protective measures in place; effective screening processes are applied in such a way as to allow a range of implementation, from minimal procedures to more stringent procedures commensurate with the sensitivity of the data to be accessed and the magnitude of harm or loss that could be caused by the individual (DOE 1360.2A).

PERSONNELL SECURITY: Establishes a procedure to ensure that all healthcare personnel who have access to sensitive information have the required authority as well as appropriate clearances and supervision; ensures that an authorized knowledgeable person will supervise maintenance personnel when near health information pertaining to individuals (including technical maintenance personnel).

PERVASIVE COMPUTING: The philosophy of ubiquitous access to electronic information, anywhere and anytime.

PHAGE VIRUS: Malicious computer system code that affects the Palm Operating System through doc system or infrared beaming connectivity.

PHANTOM BILLING: Billing for medical services not actually performed; fraudulent medical claim submissions versus CPT code creep.

PHARM(ER)(ING): A hacker or cracker who implants hidden software into a computer or network server in order to redirect the user to a fake and malicious copycat site in order to extract private information.

PHARMACY INFORMATION SYSTEM (PIS): Drug tracking and dispensation related health management information system for hospitals and healthcare organizations.

PHIS(ING): An attempt to fraudulent gather confidential information by masquerading as a trustworthy entity, person or business in an apparently official email, text message or website; carding or spoofing; video vishing; phis-tank; vish-tank; slang terms.

PHOENIX BIOS: Basic Input Output System; ganglia of the IMB PC which invited clones and compatibility.

Phosphor: The elemental coating on the inside of a cathode ray tube (CRT) or monitor that produces light when hit by an electron beam.

PHP: A dynamic computer language originally designed as a scripting serer side software application language.

PHRACK(ER): One of the first computer hacker magazines.

PHREAK(ER): One who defrauds telephone, Internet or other electronic communications companies; slang term.

PHYSICAL ACCESS: The ability to use any computer hardware, software or internet related electronic or physical healthcare information system.

Physical access control: Those formal, documented policies and procedures to be followed to limit physical health data access to an entity while ensuring that properly authorized access is allowed.

Physical Access Control Policies: Tracks and records the movement of hardware and software into and out of a cover healthcare facility; evaluates the information on the equipment and secures the information before the equipment is moved. Ensures that access to health information is allowed only to those authorized.

PHYSICAL LAYER: First layer link between communicating computer devices in an OIS model.

Physical safeguards: Protection of physical computer systems and related buildings and equipment from fire and other natural and environmental hazards, as well as from intrusion; includes the use of locks, keys, and administrative measures used to control access to computer systems and health facilities; physical layer of seven ISO/OSI reference layers used to standardize computer communications; brick and mortar measures, policies, and procedures to protect patient information or a covered medical entity’s electronic information systems.

physical security: The process of protecting a computer, itself; all the tangible measures taken to protect clinical data and PHI from inappropriate manipulation, use, theft or destruction; alarms, cables, screws, enclosures and plates.

PHYSICIAN DASHBOARD: A GUI that allows doctors to designate information inter-operability and construct a personal patient information computer interface.

PHYSICIAN ONLINE DIRECTORY: Electronic yellow pages for doctors and medical professionals.

PICASA: Facial recognition technology by Google®; slang term.

PICOSECOND: One trillionth of a second.

PICT: An image format that contains black and white, color, or grayscale information in a language called QuickDraw^® to render the graphic.

Picture Archiving and Communications System (PACS): A system capable of acquiring, transmitting, storing, retrieving, and displaying digital medical images and relevant patient health data from various imaging sources and communicates the information over a network; teleradiology and imaging.

PICTURE DIGITAL FILE FORMATS: Digital imaging formats:

• GIF: Lossless; small files with poor quality
• BMP: Windows standard lossless picture format
• TIFF: Lossy or lossless flexible image format with excellent picture quality
• JPEG: High quality images

PIGGYBACK: The unauthorized use of a healthcare management information system’s architecture gained through anonymous access when a current legitimate user remains online, but has not logged-off; “hijacking”; slang term. 

PING(ING): A test for wireless computer network connectivity by sending an echo data packet request to the target IP address and time the reaction response.

Ping of death (POD): A DoS attack caused by a deliberate IP packet larger than the 65,536 bytes allowed by the IP protocol, as a feature of TCP/IP is fragmentation to allow a single IP packet to be broken down into smaller segments. In 1996, attackers began to take advantage of that feature when they found that a packet broken down into fragments could add up to more than the allowed 65,536 bytes. Many operating systems didn’t know what to do when they received an oversized packet, so they froze, crashed, or rebooted. PODs are very bad because the identity of the attacker sending the oversized packet can be spoofed and because the attacker didn’t need to know anything about the machine they were attacking except for its IPA address. By 1997, operating system vendors made patched available although many Web sites continue to block Internet Control Message Protocol ping messages at their firewalls to prevent any future variations of this DoS attack. POD is also known as “long ICMP.”

PIPELINE: To read computer instructions before executing them in order to enhance electronic transmission speeds.

PIXEL: The smallest unit of electronic imaging data that a CRT is able to display, and is symbolized by a numerical code in the computer; appear on the monitor as dots of a specific color or intensity; there are many, many pixels in a single image; picture element. 

PIXEL SKIP: Image resolution reduction by deleting pixels.

PKZIP^®: A software compression utility program; PKUNZIP^® is used for reverse decompression; PKWare^® Inc.

PLAIN TEXT: Readable or clear original electronic computer text.

PLASMA: Glowing bright gas, as in a plasma computer screen or monitor.

Platter: One of the disks in a hard disk drive; each platter provides a top and bottom recording surface.

PLENUM: Common fire resistant wall or area for hardware security and protection.

PLONE^®: Content Medical Management System for the UNC School of Medicine, in Chapel Hill, built on the open source application server Zope^® and accompanying content management framework.

PLOTTER: A computer device for producing graphics.

Plug and Play (PnP): Automatic computer recognition and installation of parts, software applications or peripheral devices with IRQ and DMA resources; slang term.

PLUG-IN: Software utility tool that allows more efficient web browsing, internet downloads, videos, audio, etc.

PODCAST: A digital audio file usually placed on a website to be downloaded later, usually to a stored computer file, PDA, MP3 player or as a Web-feed; i-podding, broadcast, or Web-casting.

POINTCAST: Personalized Internet news services that deliver pre-selected medial data, health or other information or knowledge content to end-user subscribers via push technology.

POINTER(ING): To move the mechanical, optical or infrared mouse pointer to a specific location of a computer screen; hovering.

POINT CLICK: To move the mechanical, optical or infrared mouse pointer to a specific location of a computer screen, and then activate the right or left mouse buttons or input triggers.

POINT-TO-POINT TRANSMISSION PROTOCOL (PPTP): Secure health or other data transmission standardized capability for a VPN.

POINT-TO-POINT TUNNELING PROTOCOL (PPTP): Standard secure serial medical or other data transfer with internet communications between computers.

Policy guideline Work Station: Documented instructions/procedures delineating the proper functions to be performed, the manner in which those functions are to be performed, and the physical attributes of the surroundings, of a specific computer terminal site or type of site, dependant upon the sensitivity of the health information accessed from that site.

POLYMORPHIC VIRUS: A computer virus capable of change, disguise or alteration after infestation; 1260/V2P1 variant.

POP: Post Office Protocol for internet servers and email delivery.

POP DOWN BOX: GUI interface that appears after icon selection with various selection options and choices; drop down menu.

POP DOWN MENU: GUI interface that appears after icon selection with various sub-boxes, selection options and other choices; drop down box.

POP MAIL: Regular email service; POP3

POP-UP: A separate web program window that instantaneously occurs when certain web pages are viewed; usually an advertisement.

POP-UP/DOWN BLOCKER: A software utility program to reduce or prevent unwanted computer pop-up ads; pop-under blocker.

POP-UNDER: A separate web program window that instantaneously occurs behind the web page being viewed; usually an advertisement; pop-up variant.

PORT: The plug in connection socket for a peripheral computer device (COM1) or CMO2); printer port (LPT); PS/2 or USB ports; small computer system interface (SCSI) or FireWire (IEEE1394 or Sony iLink®) high speed connection ports, etc

PORT 80: The port that a server “listens to” or expects to receive from a Web client, assuming that the default was taken when the server was configured or set up; HTP daemon.

port scanning: Sending a flood of information to all of the possible network connections on a computer.

PORTABILITY: The ability to run on different computer systems and architectures.

PORTABLE: Mobile, wired or wireless computer system interconnectivity; medical or other EDI.

PORTABLE DOCUMENT FORMAT (FILE) (.PDF): Adobe® Acrobat Systems Inc., family of electronic document readers and writers; fixed format; permits the user to read a document and print it out using Adobe’s Acrobat® reader, a free piece of software; PDF files may only be read or printed using this software.

PORTAL: A website consisting of links to other or related information; not a destination website.

POST: Top place an electronic message or response on a newsgroup, email, website, social network, BBS, RSS feed, etc; post office protocol; post master utility program, etc; the process of adding a new message or article to a newsgroup, conference, or mailing list discussion area online.

PostScript®: A page description programming language created by Adobe Systems Inc® that is a device-independent industry standard for outputting documents and graphics.

POTTER, CHARLES: CIO of Strang Cancer Prevention Center and Associate Computer Scientist in Surgery for the Weill Medical College of Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.

POWERBOOK^®: A family of popular laptop computers from Apple Inc introduced in 1991; originally used Motorola CPUs and subsequently changed to PowerPC^® chips.

POWERPC^®: An IBM®, Apple® and Motorola® conceived, reduced instruction set 32 and 64 bit computer, with microprocessor emulation; G1, G2, G3 series, etc., released in 1994 for Apple only; non-Windows PC based.

POWERPOINT^®: MSFT visual presentation application.

POWER SUPPLY UNIT (PSU): AC to DC voltage conversion unit.

PREDICATE MIGRATION: The conversion of pre-existing health or other data to a computer system of map able vocabulary.

PRE-EMPTIVE MULTI-TASKING: Occurs when an operating system controls computer applications.

PREFERRED TERMINOLOGY: The most commonly used description attributed to a concept; SNOMED-CT

PRESENTATION LAYER: The sixth layer of the OSI model for computer network redirection.

preset lock: A basic lock that has the lock mechanism embedded in the knob or handle.

PRETEXTING: Illegal impersonation and fraud.

PRETTY GOOD PRIVACY (PGP): Public key encryption process for digital signatures.

PREZIOSI, PETER: Executive Director of the American Association for Medical Transcription (AAMT) in Modesto, CA.

PRIMARY ACCOUNTABILITY SERVICE: The maintenance of health data security for user actions as performed primarily by an audit and non-repudiation services; access control enforcement is usually included as the primary generator of records of user actions.

PRIMARY ASSURANCE SERVICE: Confidence that health IT security objectives are met and encompass both correct and sufficient capabilities; requires consideration of both “what” is provided and “how” it is provided (the architecture, design, and implementation); most impacted by those services that directly impact the correct, on-going security capabilities of the system; presence of an effective restoration capability can provide significant grounds for confidence and an audit can be of great benefit in achieving assurance if used effectively and with recognition for its weaknesses.

PIMARY KEY: Primary health data element that identifies a row or value in database record.

PRIMARY MOUSE BUTON: Key to select a primary cursor action; a secondary mouse button usually calls up a menu action.

PRIMITIVE: Insufficient defining characteristics to its immediate super-type.

PRINTER: A peripheral device capable of producing hardcopy of computer or networked output material (printout); impact, inkjet, laser (b/w and color).

PRINT SERVER: A computer that manages printer requests from a network in serial queue fashion.

PRIVACY: The quality or state of being hidden, encrypted, obscure, or undisclosed; especially medical data or PHI.

PRIVACY ACT: Federal legislature of 1974 which required giving patient some control over their PHI.

PRIVACY ENHANCED MAIL (PEM): Email message standard protocol for enhanced medical, health data or other security.

Privacy officer. A medical entity’s protected client information and security officer; required by each covered entity, to be responsible for “the development and implementation of the policies and procedures” necessary for compliance. Covered entities must also designate a “contact person or office” to be responsible for the administration of such tasks such as:

• Creating, posting and distributing the NPP;
• In facilities with direct treatment providers, securing and recording each patient’s acknowledgement of receiving it;
• Processing authorizations for certain kinds of research, marketing, fundraising, etc;
• Meeting requests for correction/amendment of health records;
• Considering requests for additional protection for, or confidential communications of, particularly sensitive health information;
• Providing information to patients (or staff) who have questions about HIPAA or state privacy protections; and
• Handling any complaints from patients (or staff) about possible HIPAA violations

Privacy rule: The Federal privacy regulations promulgated under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 that created national standards to protect medical records and other protected health information. The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) within the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) regulates the privacy rules.

PRIVACY STANDARDS: Any protocol to ensure the confidentiality of PHI.

Private Branch Exchange (PBX). A computerized private telephone switchboard with an extended scope of data and voice services; generally serves one healthcare organization and is connected to the public telephone network.

PRIVATE KEY: Asymmetric and restricted computer, server, network or Internet security algorithm used within an organization; secret key.

PRIVATE KEY CRYPTOLOGY: Security measure where the encryptor and decryptor share the same secure password identifier “key”.

private key system: A means of cryptography where the same key is used to both encrypt and decrypt a message.

PRIVILEGE: The right to access secure and confidential PHI.

PRIVILEGED COMMUNICATION: Protected information between clients, patients and supplicants and others; with attorneys, doctors and the clergy and others; person-to-professional confidentiality.

PROBLEM DOMAIN: The medical field or specialty under consideration in a computer or other architecture modeling process.

PROBLEM ORIENTED V-CODE: ICD-9-CM code that notates potential situations that might affect a patient in the future, but are not a current injury or illness.

PROCESS: A series of tasks or operations initiated by an input command.

PROCESSING DEVICE: Machines that conduct the electronic procedures requested; microprocessors; CPU.

PROCESSOR: The CPU of a computer system.

PROCMAIL: UNIX or Linux open source email network transmission standards.

PRODIGY®: Proprietary ISP of Sears® and IBM® that was merged with SBC communications® in 1999.

PRODUCT CODE: Second portion of the National Drug Code (NDC) identifier.

PROFESSONAL COMPONENT (PC): The portion of a procedure (CPT code) performed by a medial professional or physician.

PROFILE: A statistical and electronic technique used to compare clinical and financial medical provider data.

PROGRAM: A series of electrical statements, structures or algorithms that inform a computer CPU to operate and perform useful work; software application usually with .exe; .bat; .shs; .com; .vbs; or .scr extension.

PROGAM FILE: Computer software that runs applications.

PROGRAM LANGUAGE: A code set used by computer software writers to produce applications for work productivity and output;

• artificial intelligence programs: prolog and LISP, etc

• business programs: C, RPG, BASIC and COBOL, etc

• general purpose small programs: BASIC, VISUAL BASIC, Pascal and Python

• general purpose large programs: PL/I, C, C++, Pascula, Ada, Modula-2, Java®, and C#

• math and science programs: APL, FORTRAN, and Maple, etc.

• string programs: JavaScript® and VBSCRIPT, SNOBOL, REXX, Awk, Perl and Python®, etc.

PROGRAM LANGUAGE VIRUS: Macro virus created specifically for applications with their own programming such as the original MS Office Suite^®; first seen in 1995.

Program office coordinator: A medical office’s privacy, client or patient liaison for protected health information.

PROGRAMMER: One who programs and creates line of software codes for a computer.

PROJET SENTINEL: National Bio-surveillance testing program for the collection of de-identified of HIPAA compliance data for national benchmarking of bio-terror threats.

PROMPT: An input que symbol seen on a computer monitor awaiting further instructions or commands.

Proof of Wholeness: Evidence of health data integrity compromise or the ability to detect a beach when information or system states are potentially corrupted; proven system security and integrity.

Protected communications: The ability to accomplish health IT security objectives dependent on trustworthy communications; a protected communications service ensures the integrity, availability, and confidentiality of information while in transit. In most situations all three elements are essential requirements, with confidentiality being needed at least for authentication information.

Protected health information (PHI): § 164.502(j) (1). Any Individually identifiable health information held by a HIPAA covered entity. Complying with HIPAA’s security and privacy regulations require most covered entities to adopt policies and procedures for handling PHI and to make some hard choices about how these policies will be implemented. For example, HIPAA suggest hiring a health security officer (HSO) to oversee protection of PHI and also eliminates the use of role-based access to the electronic health record (EHR) system (for example, logging into a system as a doctor, as opposed to a patient registrar or nurse).  Implementation of the security safeguards as outlined in the final security regulation will not only require information technology (IT) infrastructure changes, but will also require that other database fields be programmed into the software.

Protected Health Information Flow Chart: A documented path of patient information as it moves between registration, medical use, accounting, and storage and retrieval; useful in providing a patient with the security policy procedures used by a covered healthcare entity.

PROTETCED HEALTH INFORMATION PRIVACY ACT (PHIPA): Clinical and related business information that includes patient identifiers, such as name, address, telephone and SS numbers, and whose privacy that must be electronically and traditionally safeguarded, according to HIPAA mandates and the Privacy Act of 1974.

Protected patient: Those individuals with known risk of injury by others must be protected. Their identification will be protected by the assignment of an alias on the Admission/Discharge/Transfer (ADT) system; however, the health record number may remain unchanged and valid for the patient.

PROTOCOL: Rules, definitions and standards for PC hardware, software, and wired (802.3 – Ethernet) or wireless networks, usually by the IEE, ISO or OSI, that governs the transmission of secure electrical data in a network, intranet or internet. The OSI model included seven layers of related tasks for networking protocols: physical, data, network, transport, session, presentation and application.

PROTOTYPE: Blocks or lines of software code, programs, or algorithms that enhance speedy application development.

Provider: A supplier of services as defined in section 1861(u) of the HIPAA; a supplier of medical or other services as defined in section 1861(s) of the HIPAA.

Provider Taxonomy Codes: An administrative code set for identifying the provider type and area of specialization for all health care providers; a provider may have several Provider Taxonomy Codes used in the X12 278; Referral Certification and Authorization and the X12 837 Claim transactions are maintained by the NUCC.

PROXY: A server that acts as an intermediary between a workstation user and the Internet so that the enterprise can ensure security, administrative control, and caching service; associated with or as part of a gateway server that separates the enterprise network from the outside network and a firewall server that protects the healthcare enterprise network from outside intrusion.

PROXY SERVER: A firewall application that disconnects server and receiver with third party forwarding and porting.

PS/2: The second generation of IBM Micro Channel® computer architecture.

PSEUDO CODE: A computer application written in some programming language as well as English.

PUBLIC DIRECTORY: FTP user addressable and retrievable by anonymous users; public files.

PUBLIC DOMAIN: Non-copyrighted software programs and applications, music, literature or whose copyright has expired and not been renewed.

PUBLIC INFORMATION: Non secure and non-protected information or data.

PUBLIC KEY: Asymmetric and restricted computer, server, network or Internet security algorithm that links two or more facilities or nodes outside an organization; digital signatures.

PUBLIC KEY ALGORITHYM: Public key encryption with private key decryption security standards.

public key certificate: A digitally signed health data or information document that serves to validate the sender’s authorization and name and consists of a specially formatted block of data that contains the name of the certificate holder and the holder’s public key and digital certificate for authentication; the certification authority attests that the sender’s name is the one associated with the public key in the document; a user ID packet, containing the sender’s unique identifier, is sent after the certificate packet and there are different types of public key certificates for different functions, such as authorization for a specific action or delegation of authority. Public key certificates are part of a PKI that deals with digitally signed protected care data documents. The other components are public key encryptions, trusted third parties (such as the certification authority), and mechanisms for certificate publication and issuing.

PUBLIC KEY CRYPTOLOGY: Security measure where a linked pair of encryptor and decryptor keys share the same secure password identifier; digital signatures.

PUBLIC KEY INFRASTRUCTURE (pki): Digital certifications and authentications for electronic data and health information transmission that verify both sender and receiver.

public key system: A means of cryptography where two keys are used.

Public Health Authority: An agency or authority of the United States, a State, territory, political subdivision of a State or territory, Indian tribe, person or entity acting under a grant of authority from or contract with such public agency including the employees or agents of such public agency, its contractors or delegated persons that is responsible for public health matters as part of its official mandate.

Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN): A public telephone network

PUCK: A computer GUI icon used for digital drawing; slang term.

PULL: To actively request and/or receive health data or other information from a computer network system as retrieved by the end user.

PULL DOWN: Drop down icon used to access a subgroup of applications, programs, features, etc.

PULL DOWN MENU: Hidden list or collection of computer input options or commands.

Pulse Code Modulation (PCM): A process of encoding audio signals.

PUNCH CARD: 80 column stiff paper card of IBM® compatibility that can be feed into a mechanical computer and read fro data professing purposes.

PURGE: To securely eliminate medical data or delete PHI or other files or data.

PUSH: The active giving or placement of input data, rather than requesting or passively allowing it; to put data on a stack; to passively receive health data or other information from a computer network system that is forced on the end user.

Push-Install: A proprietary feature of Executive Software® that eliminates the time and cost of manual installation or uninstalls, keeping a site’s technology current with fast, two-click central control; without a learning curve it is easily installed/uninstalled software, updates, upgrades and patches, which are logo-compliant for Windows 2000^®, XP^®, and Vista^® or are Microsoft-Installer compliant on selected machines throughout a site from a central location. PushInstaller can be used to install Windows XP^® and Vista^® itself.

PUSH WARE: Software program automatically delivered at prescribed intervals without request.

PUSKIN, DENA; ScD: CIO for the Advancement of Telemedicine, Rockville, Maryland.

PYTHON: A dynamic small computer string programming language used in Zope^® application servers and Mnet^® and BitTorrent^® file sharing and embedding systems; resembles Java® and C.

Q-T: Terminology 

-Q-

Q-BASIC: A Microsoft compiler program often provided with DOS and Windows©

QUAD CORE PROCESSOR: A four-core micro-processor made for dual-processor computer servers; essentially eight-processor servers (two processors x four cores each); such core expansion is a dominant theme for Intel© and AMD© with tens of cores possible within a decade; Xeon 5300®; Tigerton; Barcelona, etc.

QUADRATURE PHASE SHIFT KEYING: (QPSK): A 4-phase state wireless 802.11b radio modulation technique.

QUALIFIED MEDICAL EXPENSE: Defined by IRS Code 213(d) as an expense used to alleviate or prevent a mental defect, illnesses or physical defects.

QUALITY OF SERVICE (QOS): The concept idea that Internet or network transmission rates, error rates, and other characteristics can be measured, improved, and to some extent, guaranteed in advance; transmitting this kind of content dependably is difficult in public networks using ordinary “best effort” protocols; not suitable for PHI.

Quant: One who is mathematically inclined to apply applies various numerical and IT approaches in analyzing or performing healthcare or other EDI functions; statistician or mathematician; slang term.

QUANTUM COMPUTING: Electro-magnetic ion (electrically charged atoms) trap that is ideal for use as bits and qubits; which unlike a standard computer bit represented by a 0 or 1; may be both 0 and 1, simultaneously.

QUANTUM CRYPTOGRAPHY: Health data and medical information security technology using photons and fiber-optic channel transmission.

QUANTUM ENCRYPTION: Encoded server information on an individual photon or electron, sent to a recipient with particle information like size or polarization allowing interpretation.

QUERY: An Internet client request to a Web server, or request for health information or other data; action to ask for additional operations on health care EDI such as medical data insertion, updating, or deletion; languages used to interact with databases are called query languages; Structured Query Language SQL is the well-known standard.

QUERY LANGUAGE: Computer program that allows selected data base or other health records acquisition.

QUERY MANAGEMENT FACILITY (QMF): To retrieve data from a mainframe or legacy healthcare, or other, IT system.

QUERY PROGRAM: Software algorithm that counts sums and retrieves selected records from a health, medical or other data base.

QUEUE: Serial microprocessor waiting system; temporary holding place for health data; electronic prioritized storage concept like the inventory costing FIFO method.

QUICKEN©: A popular financial management program for computers useful in small to mid-sized medical offices.

QUICKTIME®: Methodology to create, edit, sort and view digital sound and video on a Macintosh computer.

QUICK TIME VIRTUALITY (QTVR): Panoramic digital computer screen scene image file, with .mov format extension.

QUI-TAM: The method in the Federal False Claims Act which allows lawsuits against the healthcare fraud and medical EDI abuse; wrongdoers in “the name of the king, as for himself, who sues in this matter.” (Latin phrase) 

QUINN, JOHN: CTO and senior executive for Accenture Health and Life Sciences.

QUIT: To end a computer or network EDI session; clear a program or application from core memory.

QWERTY: The first six letters of an English language typewriter keyboard layout.

-R-

R/3: A comprehensive set of integrated business applications from SAP, a German company that provides client/server ability to store, retrieve, analyze and process corporate health, medical and other data for financial analysis, production, operations, human resource management, billing and most other business or healthcare EDI processes.

rPATH: Linux platform that combine virtualization technology with computer appliances for ISVs, medical and business platforms.

RACKETEER INFLUENCED AND CORRUPT ORGANIZATION ACT (RICOA): Federal legislation used against individual accused of healthcare, billing or medical fraud.

RADIO BUTTON: A small computer screen icon which can only be activated at a given time; on/off toggle switch.

RADIO FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION (RFID): Automatic device recognition technology void of physical contact; early adopters in healthcare include: Beth Israel Hospital for equipment, Aramark Healthcare® for online DME tracking, Purdue Pharma® for OxyContin® bottles, GN Diamond® for data; and Pfizer Pharmaceuticals® for drugs.

RADIO FREQUENCY INTERFACE: Electromagnetic wave interference.

Radiology Information System (RIS): A synthesized system for the electronic processing, storage and transmission of radiographic images; allows the remote interpretation of radiographic image-teleradiology and may be connected to a Hospital Information System (HIS) and/or Laboratory Information System (LIS).

RAMBUS®: High speed computer memory interface manufacturer based in Los Altos, California.

RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY (RAM): The read-write or operating memory used to execute computers, network programs or applications; a group of memory chips, typically of the dynamic RAM (DRAM) type, functioning as the computer’s primary workspace; RAM chips require power to maintain content, which is why information or heath data must be saved onto a hard disk or other storage device before turning off a computer; DDR-SDRAM (Double Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory); DDR2-SDRAM (more expensive and performance) and DDR3-SDRAM (video enabled).

RANKED DATA: Ordinal information listed from lowest to highest, etc.

RANUM, MARCUS: Computer security system design and implementation expert recognized as the inventor of the proxy firewall, and the implementer of the first commercial firewall products like the TIS firewall toolkit, the Gauntlet® firewall, and NFR’s Network Flight Recorder® intrusion detection system; CSO of Security for Tenable Security, Inc®.

Raster: The process of rendering an image or a page using the technology that helped create the cathode ray television tube or computer monitor/screen. 

RASTER GRAPHICS: Digital images created on a grid with files types like: TIFF, GIF, JPEG and BMP.

RASTER IMAGE: A horizontal or vertical grid of pixels comprising an electronic picture. 

Rasterized Type: Computer image that has rough or stair-stepped edges because it has been rendered at a resolution that is too low.

RDISK: Command in Windows NT® to create an emergency repair disk (ERD).

READ: The flow of meaningful data (language) from object to subject; to transfer electronic information or health data.

READ CODE: UK CTV 3 code; clinical medical terminology in the UK.

Read Only Memory (ROM): A memory chip that permanently stores medical instructions, health or other data and control routines in PCs (ROM BIOS), peripheral controllers and other electronic equipment.

READER/WRITER: Smart card to-CPU, with CPU-to-smart card functionality.

README: First file to review upon opening a new software program or application; instruction manual updates.

REALAUDIO®: A popular internet real-time audio streaming technology protocol of Real Networks®; RealPlayer®

REAL MEDIA©: A popular streaming media technology for the Internet.

REALSYSTEM G2®: An open platform protocol for rich and real time media streaming over the internet; Real Networks®.

REAL TIME: Online platform of simultaneous input/output systems; it refers to an immediate control response process and embedded systems; for example, surgical robot computers must respond instantly to changing operating conditions; it also refers to fast transaction processing systems as well as any electronic operation fast enough to keep up with its real-world counterpart (such as transmitting live audio or video); real time protocol; real time streaming; real time operating system, real video, etc; signals received at rates of 30 frames per second. 

REALLY SIMPLE SYNDICATION (RSS): Internet technology used to enable syndicated content which is a popular way to distribute medical information from websites using a news site or blog that feeds content to a group of subscribers automatically.

REALLY SIMPLE SYNDICATION READER (RSSR): Software designed with user interfaces that resemble e-mail inboxes instead of browsers; used to collect, update, and display RSS feeds.

REBOT: To reload and restart a computer operating system.

REBUILD: Desk top utility operation for Macintosh® computers.

RECEIPT NOTIFICATION: Email sender feedback and automated message confirmation.

Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROCs): A procedure involving statistics used to analyze the ability of a medical diagnostic tool to determine whether an individual is healthy or diseased; serves are most often used in observer performance evaluations of the feasibility and performance of diagnostic imaging systems.

RECORD: A collection of related information fields, health data or other information.

Records (MEDICAL): 20 U.S.C. 1232g(a)(4)(B)(iv), all:

• Psychotherapy notes recorded (in any medium) by a health care provider who is a mental health professional documenting or analyzing the contents of conversation during a private counseling session or a group, joint, or family counseling session and that are separated from the rest of the individual’s medical record; excludes medication prescription and monitoring, counseling session start and stop times, the modalities and frequencies of treatment furnished, results of clinical tests, and any summary of the following items: diagnosis, functional status, the treatment plan, symptoms, prognosis, and progress to date.
• Public health authority means an agency or authority of the United States, a State, a territory, a political subdivision of a State or territory, or an Indian tribe, or a person or entity acting under a grant of authority from or contract with such public agency, including the employees or agents of such public agency or its contractors or persons or entities to whom it has granted authority, that is responsible for public health matters as part of its official mandate.
• Required by law means a mandate contained in law that compels a covered entity to make a use or disclosure of protected health information and that is enforceable in a court of law; includes but is not limited to, court orders and court-ordered warrants; subpoenas or summons issued by a court, grand jury, a governmental or tribal inspector general, or an administrative body authorized to require the production of information; a civil or an authorized investigative demand; Medicare conditions of participation with respect to health care providers participating in the program; and statutes or regulations that require the production of information, including statutes or regulations that require such information if payment is sought under a government program providing public benefits.

RECORDS PROCESSING: Establishes a method of logging data, transmitting, modifying, storing, and disposing of health records.

RECORDS PURGING (REMOVAL-RETENTION) POLICY: Standards of off-site medical information storage, maintenance and destruction for PHI and similar patient charts.

RECURSION: Calling and recreating a new copy of a procedure, algorithm, application or computer program.

RECYCLE BIN: A waste icon used for deleting files in Windows©.

RED BOOK: Audio CD standard from the Philips Corporation®, ISO and Sony Corporation®; US NSA protocol (A-D) secure to non-secure, for trusted computer networks.

Red-Green-Blue: Color process used by computer displays, as all three colors light waves are perceived by the eye as white; the absence of light is perceived as black or additive color; amount of color generated by RGB mode is much larger than those generated by CMYK.

RED HAT®: Enterprise Linux is a leading platform for open source computing; sold by subscription and certified by enterprise hardware and software vendors; from the desktop to the datacenter, Linux couples open source technology with business enterprise stability; based in Raleigh, NC.

REDIRECT: To go directly to another URL or webpage without user input or mouse click.

RED-HERRING: A deliberating misleading or disingenuous technical term, machination, suggestion, programs, icon, code, etc; fraudulent technology; slang term.

REDmedic®^:  Launched in October 2004 as a consumer-driven healthcare service firm providing secure and immediate access to personal healthcare information in emergencies and other medical situations via the Internet with nation-wide call or fax center.

REDUCED INSTRUCTION SET COMPUTR (RISC): Non-microcode computer instructions; IBM Power-PC®, DEC Alpha©, RISC and MIPS machines; computer architecture that reduces chip complexity by using simpler instructions.

REDUNDANCY: The process of computer or network data back up; mirroring; copying.

Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID): A computer storage disk subsystem used to increase performance and/or provide fault tolerance as a set of two or more ordinary hard disks and a specialized disk controller that contains its functionality; during the late 1980s and early 1990s, RAID meant an array of “inexpensive” disks (compared to large computer disks or Single Large Expensive Disks); but as hard disks are now cheaper, the RAID Advisory Board changed the name to mean “independent”.

REFACTOR: T reorganize or improve the efficiency of a computer program or application without altering its functionality.

REFERENCE INFORMATION MODEL: The ultimate static model and source for HL7 and RIM 3 protocol specifications and standards.

REFERENCE MODEL: Description of a logical system.

REFERENCE MONITOR: The security engineering term for healthcare IT functionality that (1) controls all access, (2) cannot be by-passed, (3) is tamper-resistant, and (4) provides confidence that the other three items are true.

REFERENCE TERMINOLOGY: Standard terms and codified definition used throughout a similar industry space, such as healthcare; www.HealthDictionarySeries.com

REFLECTION: Computer system ability to internally diagnosis and self correct.

REFREEZE: Change integration within a stable computer environment.

REFRESH: To update an URL or webpage; to update health data or other information.

Regenstrief Institute: A research foundation for improving health care by optimizing the capture, analysis, content, and delivery of health care information; maintains the LOINC coding system for use as portion of the HIPAA claim attachments standard.

REGEX: “Regular expression” is a way for a computer user or programmer to express how a computer program should look for a specified pattern in text and then what the program is to do when each pattern match is found. 

Regional Bell Operating Company (RBOC): Refers to one of seven regional companies formed by the AT&T divestiture in 1984.

Regional Health Information Organization (RHIO): A multi-stakeholder organization that enables the exchange and use of health information, in a secure manner, for the purpose of promoting the improvement of health quality, safety and efficiency; the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services see RHIOs as the building blocks for the national health information network (NHIN) that will provide universal access to electronic health records; other experts maintain that RHIOs will help eliminate some administrative costs associated with paper-based patient records, provide quick access to automated test results and offer a consolidated view of a patient’s history.

Regional Health Information Organization ARCHITECTURE: There are three architecture types: 

• Federated architecture (decentralized): An approach to the coordinated sharing and interchange of electronic health information emphasizing partial, controlled sharing among autonomous databases within a RHIO; independent databases (decentralized) connected to share and exchange health information; components in a federated architecture represent the various users, applications, workstations, main frames and other stakeholder components in a RHIO; each controls its interactions with other components by means of an export schema and an import schema. The export scheme specifies the information that a component will share with other components, while the import schema specifies the non-local information that a component wishes to manipulate. The federated architecture provides a means to share data and transactions using messaging services, combine information from several components and coordinate activities among autonomous components.
• Centralized architecture: An approach to RHIO data sharing and inter-change of electronic information emphasizing full control over data sharing through a centralized repository; components in a centralized architecture refer to the Central Data Repository (CDR) and the requestor. The CDR authenticates the requestor through a technological means, authorizes the transaction and records it for audit and reporting purposes.
• Hybrid architecture: A combination of the two architecture types where various data transactions occur based on a decentralized or centralized method. For instance, a RHIO may have pharmacy transactions occurring within a federated model while lab data is shared through a centralized database. The providers in hybrid architecture may decide to share patient data through a CDR or peer-to-peer.

REGIONAL SETTING: PC operating settings for a specific user.

REGISTER: A row of flip-flop (on/off) binary toggle like switchers.

REGISTRY: In the Microsoft Windows© operating systems beginning with Windows 95®, it is a single place for keeping such information as what hardware is attached, what system options have been selected, how computer memory is set up, and what application programs are to be present when the operating system is started; somewhat similar to and a replacement for the simpler INI (initialization) and configuration files used in earlier Windows© (DOS-based) systems; INI files are still supported, however, for compatibility with the 16-bit applications written for earlier systems; a central hierarchical database.

REGRESSION MODEL: Statistical method of data mining correlated between two independent vectors.

REGRESSION TEST: To hypothetically determine a causal relationship between variables.

REINHARDT, UWE; PhD: Professor, Woodrow Wilson School of Princeton University, Princeton, NJ.

REISCHAUER, ROBERT; PhD: President, Urban Institute.

RELATIONAL DATABASE: A database of columns and rows which are electronically joined.

RELATIONSHIP DATA MODULE: The sharing of common health data or other database.

RELATIVE ADDRESS: An IP or other address in relation to another address; non absolute address.

RELATIVE URL: Document locator for the same information directory, as a current document location.

RELATIVE VALUE (RV): The economic merit of one health data security measures versus another; computer security ROI; RV is determined by dividing the Vulnerability Index (VI) by the Cost of Protection (CP).

RELEASE: Software application, program edition or version.

Release Candidate. A pre-release or beta version of software.

RELEASE OF INFORMATION (ROI): The disclosure of PHI, medical or other health data or information.

RELEASE OF PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION POLICY: Standards and protocol schemes for how patients may obtain their own medical data and health information.

RELIABILITY: Measure of consistent and efficient performance.

RELOAD: Multiple use microprocessor; smart card; to obtain or input new health data or other information.

REMAIL: Automatic but anonymous email forwarding messaging service.

REMOTE ACCESS SOFTWARE: Mobile user network access pass with functionality.

REMOTE ACCESS SERVER (RAS): Windows NT© computer dial-in functionality combined with network broadcast ability to enhance IP address resolution.

REMOTE ACCESS TROJAN (RAT): A computer network enabled tojan horse virus.

REMOTE BOOT: Computer server start-up across a WAN or LAN; remote log-in; MS-DOS, Windows 95© and Windows NT©

REMOTE DESKTOP: MSFT Windows 2000/Vista® feature that allows one computer to serves as the screen, mouse and input keyboard for another remote computer.

REMOTE MONITORING: Patient electronic examination from a remote location; telemedicine.

REMOTE STORAGE: A firm that retains and backs-up electronic health information or other data offsite or internet based for protection in case of disaster such as fire or flood.

• hot: real-time backup
• cold: periodic regular backups

Removal from access list: The physical termination of a health entity’s access and user privileges.

Removal of user account(s): The termination or deletion of an individual’s access privileges to the health information, services, and resources for which they currently have clearance, authorization, and need-to-know when such clearance, authorization and need-to-know no longer exists.

REMOVABLE DISK: A transferable module inserted into a disk drive for writing and reading.

RENDER: To format a print job prior to output device printer deliver.

REPEAT: To re-input a computer command; a repetitive active LAN, MAN or WAN hub which extends network signal reach.

REPEATER: Device to extend LAN, WAN or MAN functionality; a bi-directional instrument used to amplify or regenerate signals.

REPEAT RATE: Speed of computer character or command input activation.

REPLICATE: The push duplication of health data or other information from one network to another.

REPLICATION VIRUS: Malicious software designed to capture password, security information and credit-cards numbers, etc., and email them back to its creator; as with the BadTrans variant of 2001.

Report procedure: The documented formal mechanism employed to archive security incidents.

REPOSITORY:   To store, access, and retrieve health or other data from a central location.

REPUDIATE: Electronic communication system or email message receipt denial; the denial of a computerized action, especially the sending or receipt of medical data or PHI.

Research: A systematic investigation, including research development, testing, and evaluation, designed to develop or contribute to medical, health or IT knowledge.

RESEAT: To remove and reinsert/replace an integrated circuit board from its socket to improve connectivity.

RESIDENT VIRUS: Malicious software code embedded into an operating system.

RISIDUAL RISK: The remaining, potential uncertainty after all healthcare IT security measures are applied, and associated with each threat.

RESOLUTION: Benchmark of graphical picture image sharpness, acuity, density and pixel count; refers to the ability of a device to distinguish between various factors; for example, spatial resolution is the ability to distinguish between adjacent structures, while contrast resolution is the ability to discriminate between shades of gray.

RESOURCE ACCESS DECISION (RAD): Health data transmissions standards designed by security specialists specifically for healthcare industry requirements to provide a uniform way for application systems to enforce resource-oriented access control policies and let health organizations define and administer a consistent enterprise-wide security policy; standardizes the interface but leaves implementation details to the vendors who supports the use of various access control policies, provides a framework for diverse policy enforcement engines, and allows the following:

• • Architectural separation of business and security functionality, creating an access control policy that is manageable and auditable
  • Identification of caregivers’ privileges using credentials supplied by diverse security mechanisms (e.g., CORBASec®, Secure Socket Layer®, Kerberos, Lightweight Directory Access Protocol)
• • Delivery of a product specifically for healthcare, with access control rules shared by all RAD-compliant healthcare components
• • • A simple interface for requesting access control decisions
    • Grouping of secured resources to define access control rules
• Definition of access control rules to include the relationship between patient and caregiver
• Consultation of multiple access control policies and control of how decisions governing access to the same resource are reconciled
• Specific standards for how secured resources are identified to ensure consistent names among vendors.

Response procedure: The documented formal rules/instructions for actions to be taken as a result of the receipt of a medial data or health information security incident report.

RESTORE: To resize a computer web or application page back to its original size.

Restore secure state:  Security breach adjustment back to a known state of integrity.

RETENTION: Acquisition, maintenance and preservation of electronic data and PHI.

RETRO COMPUTE: To collect, restore, buy, sell and trade older PC or legacy computers, as a hobby.

RETRO VIRUS: Malicious computer software code that avoids detection by attacking another anti-virus security program; an anti-anti-virus utility program.

REUSE: The ability to store and repeat software code or components for various applications or programs; Java class.

REV DRIVE: Removable media drive from Iomega® with USB, SCSI or FireWire port connections.

REVENUE CODE: A 3-4 digit Medicare charge master billing form.

REVERSE ADDRESS RESOLUTION PROTOCOL (RARP): Internet protocol (IP) address network request locator.

REVERSE ENGINEER: The extraction of legacy software information from its source code; to disassemble and examine a computer system, peripheral device or product.

REVERT: To reinstall or reload from a backed-up (saved) computer storage disk or other medium.

REVOCATION: To withdrawal or remove permission or computer system access authorization.

REXX®: A computer operating system command language.

RIBBON BAR: A computer user command interface.

RIBBON CABLE: A flat, thin, multi-conductor used in electronics to connect peripheral devices to an internal computer.

RICH E-MAIL: E-mail annotated with audio and visual images.

RICH TEXT: Text that contains word processing codes for pagination, fonts, etc.

RICH TEXT FORMAT (RTF): Interchange standard for text electronic messaging with minimal file formatting; a series of word processing directions that are able to be read by the majority of word processing programs in order to retain the formatting rules of the document.

RIGHT-CLICK MENU: Right-hand mouse button Windows© technique to open a menu with a range of options, like: front, bullets, and paragraph.

RING NETWORK: Nodule configuration of linked closed looped computers; circular topology.

RIP(PER): To convert an audio file to MP3 or other music format; to burn, copy or save a CD; analog to digital conversion; slang term.

RISHEL, WES: Member of the Healthcare Informatics editorial board and chairman of HL7 and vice president and research area director, Gartner Healthcare Industry Research and Advisory Services, Alameda, Calif.

RISK: Uncertainty in all healthcare IT applications, programs, labor, computers, servers, and networks, etc; synonymous with IT uncertainty and probability, to include:

• Unauthorized (malicious, non-malicious, or accidental) disclosure, modification, or destruction of information.
• Non-malicious errors and omissions.
• IT disruptions due to natural or man-made disast
• Failure to exercise due care and diligence in IT implementation and operation.

RISK ANALYSIS: The process of identifying the uncertainty to healthcare computer system security and determining the probability of occurrence, the resulting impact, and the additional safeguards that mitigate this impact; part of medical risk management and synonymous with IT uncertainty assessment; a process whereby cost-effective security/control measures may be selected by balancing the costs of various health information security and control measures against the losses that would be expected if these measures were not in place; risk assessment analysis.

Risk Assumption. To accept the potential risk and continue operating a health IT system or to implement controls to lower the risk to an acceptable level.

Risk Avoidance. To avoid health system IT risk by eliminating its risk cause and/or consequence (e.g., forgo certain functions of the system or shut down the system when risks are identified)

Risk Limitation: To limit IT risk by implementing controls that minimize the adverse impact that a health data threat is exercising vulnerability (e.g., use of supporting, preventive, detective controls)

RISK MANAGEMENT: The total process of identifying and controlling health information technology related risks; includes risk analysis; cost-benefit analysis; and the selection, implementation, test, and security evaluation of safeguards; an overall system security review that considers both effectiveness and efficiency, including impact on the mission/business and constraints due to policy, regulations, and laws such as HIPAA, SARBOX and the Patriot Act; the mitigation of IT uncertainty from attack by technical means, both internally and externally.  In general, the strategies employed include transferring the risk to another party, avoiding the risk, reducing the negative effect of the risk, and accepting some or all of the consequences of a particular risk. Traditional risk management focuses on risks stemming from physical or legal causes (e.g. natural disasters or fires, accidents, death, and lawsuits). Financial risk management, on the other hand, focuses on risks that can be managed using traded financial instruments. Regardless of the type of risk management, all large healthcare corporations have risk management teams and small groups and corporations practice informal, if not formal, risk management. In ideal IT risk management, a prioritization process is followed whereby the risks with the greatest loss and the greatest probability of occurring are handled first, and risks with lower probability of occurrence and lower loss are handled later. In practice the process can be very difficult, and balancing between risks with a high probability of occurrence but lower loss vs. a risk with high loss but lower probability of occurrence can often be mishandled.

RISK MITIGATION: The neutralization of healthcare data security attacks, holes, flaws and/or breaches, intentional or non-malicious; involves prioritizing, evaluating, and implementing the appropriate risk-reducing controls recommended from the risk assessment process. Because the elimination of all risk is usually impractical or close to impossible, it is the responsibility of senior management and functional and business managers to use the least-cost approach and implement the most appropriate controls to decrease mission risk to an acceptable level, with minimal adverse impact on the organization’s resources and mission. According to the NIST risk mitigation is a systematic methodology used by senior management to reduce mission risk. Risk mitigation can be achieved through any of the following risk mitigation options:

• Risk Assumption: To accept the potential risk and continue operating the IT system or to implement controls to lower the risk to an acceptable level
• Risk Avoidance: To avoid the risk by eliminating the risk cause and/or consequence (e.g., forgo certain functions of the system or shut down the system when risks are identified)
• Risk Limitation: To limit the risk by implementing controls that minimize the adverse impact of a threat’s exercising vulnerability (e.g., use of supporting, preventive, detective controls)
• Risk Planning: To manage risk by developing a risk mitigation plan that prioritizes, implements, and maintains controls
• Research and Acknowledgment: To lower the risk of loss by acknowledging the vulnerability or flaw and researching controls to correct the vulnerability
• Risk Transference: To transfer the risk by using other options to compensate for the loss, such as purchasing insurance:
• Flaw exists-Remedy: implement assurance techniques to reduce flaw likelihood.
• Flaw is exploitable-Remedy: apply layered protections and architectural designs to prevent exploitability.
• Attacker’s cost is less than gain-Remedy: apply protections to increase attacker’s economic costs.
• Loss is too great-Remedy: apply design principles, architectural designs, and technical protections to limit extent of attack, and reduce loss, as illustrated below.

Risk Planning: To manage risk by developing risk mitigation plan that prioritizes, implements, and maintains controls.

Risk Transference: To transfer health data IT risk by using other options to compensate for the loss; such as leasing a live hot-backup system.

RIVEST, RONALD, L, PhD: Andrew and Erna Viterbi Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT, whose research interests in cryptography, computers and network security, electronic voting and algorithms provided the basics for HIPAA electronic health data transmissions.

RIVEST, R; SHAMIR, A; ADELMAN, L (RSA): Developers a leading public key asymmetric algorithm encryption system. 

ROADMAP: The technical steps toward achieving a major goal; business, strategy or transition plan.

ROBINSON, JAMES, C; PhD: Professor, University of California Berkeley, CA.

ROGUE DIALER: An automated program that changes computer modem settings so that a network connection occurs by an expensive, insecure or toll location.

Role-based access control (RBAC): An alternative to traditional access control models (e.g., discretionary or non-discretionary access control policies) that permits the specification and enforcement of enterprise-specific security policies in a way that maps more naturally to an organization’s structure and business activities; rather than attempting to map a health organization’s security policy to a relatively low-level set of technical controls (typically, access control lists), each user is assigned to one or more predefined roles, each of which has been assigned the various privileges needed to perform that role.

ROLL BACK: To return a malfunctioning computer system back to a time when it was running well.

ROLL UP: To reduce the size of a dialog box or menu but maintain its visibility

ROMAN, MARK: Healthcare global IT leader for the EDS Corporation

Root: The highest level in an index; the top level (i.e.  C:\ is usually the root of the disk); health or other root account, root name, root web or root name.

ROOT DIRECTORY: Computer systems base which commands other files and non-root directories organized as a hierarchy or tree that includes all other directories; for Unix well as in other operating systems the root directory has no name and is simply represented by the special character that separates directories in a file system as: /. Only a few special users of a shared operating system are given the authority to access all file directories and files under the root directory and in a UNIX environment, the special user is known as an avatar.

ROOT-KIT: A set of software to conceal running processes, files or system data, thereby helping an intruder to maintain access to a system while avoiding detection and known to exist for a variety of operating systems such as SUN Solaris®, Linux, and Windows®; often modify parts of the operating system or install themselves as drivers or kernel modules; the word “root kit” came to public awareness in the 2005 Sony CD copy protection scandal, where a surreptitiously placed root-kit was placed on MSFT Windows® PCs when a Sony® Music-CD was played without mention, referring only to security rights management measures.

ROOT SERVER: A primary domain registry updated daily by Networks Solutions, Inc®.

ROUNDTABLE: MSFT digital video camera with 360 degrees video zoom capability.

ROUTER: Triage switch and IP address delivery gateway between complex computer networks and around the Internet; electronic switch.

ROUTER SERVICE: Commercial application to sort messages through internal computer system integration channels.

ROUTINE:  Sequential instructions to direct computer or network performance.

ROUTING: The assignment of a path of digital communication.

ROUTING TABLE: List of network routing destinations.

RSA: A public key, prime number asymmetric algorithm security system, developed by engineers; Ronald Rivest, Ade Shamir and Leonard Adelman.

RSS: A collection of really-simple-syndication Internet feed formats in the XML software language and used for Web syndications like blogs, e-logs and podcasts with several standards:

• Really Simple Syndication (RSS 2.0)
• Rich Site Summary (RSS 0.91, RSS 1.0)
• RDF Site Summary (RSS 0.9 and 1.0)
• Real-time Simple Syndication (RSS 2.0)

RUBY: A dynamic scripting computer language used with syntax for Perl and its object oriented features; Perl, Python© and Ruby on Railes©.

RUBY ON RAILES© (ROR): A full-stack framework for developing database-backed web applications according to a model-view-control pattern; from Ajax in the view, to the request and response in the controller, to the domain model wrapping the database, Rails is a pure-Ruby development environment that can go-live with an added database and a web server.

RULES ENGINE: Algorithm and math based healthcare decision support system.

RULE BASED EXPERT SYSTEM: Medical algorithm, critical pathway or electronic treatment protocol.

RULE BASED SECRITY POLICY: A healthcare data security policy based on global rules imposed for all subjects; usually rely on a comparison of the sensitivity of the objects being accessed and the possession of corresponding attributes by the subjects requesting access.

RUN: The performance of a computer, network, peripheral device or the Internet, etc; to operate or use a program or application.

RUN CHART: Data points of emerging patterns or health trends.

RUN TIME: A running or executable computer program and in some programming languages, certain reusable programs or “routines” are built and packaged as a “runtime library.” Some programmers distinguish between what gets embedded in a program when it is a compiler and what gets embedded or used at runtime; sometimes called “compile time.”

RUNNING HEADER: Small headline that appears on the bottom footer or top of each website page; usually an advertisement or site page placement reminder.

Rural Area Network (RAN): Shared-usage networks designed to include a wide scope of users in rural communities, such as educational, health, medical and business entities.

RxNORM: FDA nomenclature for HL7 to provide standardized names for drugs and doses.

– S –

SABOTAGE: Intentionally induced computer system damage.

SABRE: Computer language program that revolutionized the airline reservations industry.

SAD MAC: Macintosh computer emoticon to identify an internal operating error or problem.

SAFE BioPharma Association: Industry initiative launched in 2005 and sponsored by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association (PRMA) to deliver digital identity and signature standards increasingly adopted by drug companies.

SAFE GUARD: Any and all protective mechanism to promote computer system security.

SAFE MODE: Running Windows® OS with many features disabled as a diagnostic feature for integrity testing purposes.

SALAMI: Incremental theft of computer data, files, programs, information etc; slang term.

SAMBA: A file server network and free software utility that provides print, file sharing and authorization services.

SAMMY: One of the first web application worms released in October 2005; followed by an AT&T DSL sales site hack in August 2006.

SANCTION: A formal process of verbal warning or notice of disciplinary action placed in personnel files, removal of system privileges, termination of employment, and contract penalties, etc.

Sanction Policy: Health organization policies and procedures regarding disciplinary actions which are communicated to all employees, agents and contractors, for example, verbal warning, notice of disciplinary action placed in personnel files, removal of system privileges, termination of employment and contract penalties; in addition to enterprise sanctions, employees, agents, and contractors must be advised of civil or criminal penalties for misuse or misappropriation of health information; employees, agents, and contractors, must be made aware that violations may result in notification to law enforcement officials and regulatory, accreditation and licensure organizations.

SANDBOX: A computer system security feature to prevent the internal change or modification of system features, memory or disk space, etc; JAVA® virtual machine secure area.

SANDERS, JAY, H; MD: Partner, the Global Telemedicine Group, McLean, VA.

SANITIZE: The deletion or erasure of electronic passwords, or other identifiers; slang term.

SANTY WORM: Malicious software code that exploited certain Google bulletin board systems, in 2004.

SAP: A German developer of electronic business software based in Walldorf Germany; systems-applications-products.

SARBANES OXLEY ACT (SAR-BOX): States that all business records, including electronic medical records, PHI and electronic messages must be saved for “not less than five years.” with consequences for non-compliance as fines, imprisonment, or both; federal act that enforces reporting requirements and internal controls on electronic financial reporting systems.

SATA: Type of ATA hard-drive interface to transfer data to a hard disk.

SATELLITE: An electronic retransmission space instrument serving as a repeater, which is a bi-directional device used to amplify or regenerate signals, placed in orbit around the earth in geostationary orbit for the purpose of receiving and retransmitting electromagnetic signals; typically receives signals from a single source and retransmits them over a wide geographic area, known as the satellite’s footprint. 

Satellite Connections: A system of communications that uses radio signals sent to and from a satellite orbiting the earth; benefits of this mode of communication are that it allows connection between points at a great distance from each other on the Earth’s surface, between which direct transmission is difficult, as well as to remote areas that lack cables for telephone lines.

SAVE: To transfer health data or other information from one storage medium to another; retrieving or leading is the reverse process.

SCALABLE: The ability to change sizes; minimize or maximize.

SCALABLE FONT: Input typeface characteristics that are fluid and changeable.

SCALAR PROCESS: A computer capable for processing only one piece of health data or information at a time.

SCAN: To input into an optical imaging system.

SCANNER: Electronic device used to digitalize a document or image; similar to fax technology: handheld, sheet feed.

scanning: The act of locating a computer security breach that can be broken into or exploited.

SCAVENG: Search through discarded electronic files or hard-copy material in search of personal identifiers or confidential information; dumpster diving; slang term.

SCHADE, SUSAN: CIO, Brigham & Women’s Hospital.

SCHEDULAR: The operating system movement of input ready computer programs.

SCHEMA: Abstract representation of inter-related objects usually defined within a set of XML or HTML tags.

SCHERER, WILIAM, P: Software and PC visionary, doctor, surgeon and co-founder of a privately held firm that created one of the first interactive programs for computer based physician education.

SCHMEIST HEAD: The execution of an executable computer command without knowing its outcome; slang term.

Schmuland, Dennis: M.D., director of Microsoft’s health plan industry solutions.

SCHNEIER, BRUCE: Internationally renowned information technologist and author described by The Economist as a “security guru,” and best known as a candid security critic and commentator.

SCHROEDER, CHRIS: CEO of the HealthCentral Internet portal site.

SCHROTH, WILLIAM, C: Chair, Working Group for Health Information Technology, New York State, Department of Health.

SCHUMACHER, SCOTT: Chief Scientist and Senior VP for Initiate Systems.

SCHWARTZ, JONATHAN: CEO of Sun Microsystems, Inc., who replaced former CEO and Founder Scott McNealy, an innovator of the SunSHINE® concept (Sun Solutions for Healthcare Information, Networking, Education).

SCRAP: A copied file that can be dropped or dragged across a computer screen; a bit of electronic information.

SCRATCH DISK: An erasable or reusable backup disk or tape that does not contain any important health data or other information.

SCREEN: Computer system monitor, LCD, plasma or display.

SCREEN CAPTURE: A still-shot computer screen image; screen shot.

SCREEN ESTATE: Amount of available space on a computer monitor/ screen.

SCREEN NAME: AOL or other ISP or computer system ends user name tag, identifier or name.

SCREEN SAVER: The default image on an inactive computer system’s monitor/screen.

SCREENING ROUTER: A computer network traffic governor configured to reject non-admissible information packets for security protection; first line of defense against network hacks and attacks.

SCRIPT: A set of web page instructions invisible on the screen but which helps Internet Explorer© to function; sometimes used to mean a list of OS commands that are stored in a file and performed sequentially by the operating system’s command interpreter whenever the list name is entered as a single command; a multimedia development programs to mean the sequence of instructions entered to indicate how a sequence of files will be presented; font style.

script kiddies: Younger and less IT sophisticated users who break into a computer with malicious intent; slang term.

SCRIPT LANGUAGE: A computer program or sequence of instructions that is interpreted or carried out by another program rather than by the computer itself; some languages have been conceived expressly as script languages, as are Rexx® (IBM Mainframes), PERL or JAVAScript; script languages are easier and faster to code in than the more structured and compiled languages such as C and C++, however, it takes longer to run than a compiled program since each instruction is being handled by another program first rather than directly by the basic instruction processor.

SCROLL: To slowly search, or view a computer screen, intranet or internet.

SCROLL BAR: Bottom computer screen bar that contains a scrolling input and manipulation feature; scroll lock.

SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY, INC®: A maker of hard drives and electronic storage, access and management devices. 

SEARCH ENGINE: A software program or algorithm the scours the Internet for specific websites, pages, key words or phrases, or other information needs; Google®, ASK©, Lycos©, Altavista©, Yahoo!, Excite©, etc; a Website that indexes an online resource and makes that index available to other users for searching; typically applied to a site that has indexed Web documents, but search engines also index mailing lists and other online resources; an internal search engine index only includes the documents of that particular Web site, which permits the user to find information on that site more easily and quickly.

Search Engine Optimizer: An expert who increases a healthcare or other firm’s Web site traffic by improving its search-engine page rankings; especially important task where many patients first learn of an organization and its services through the Web; most are self-taught, learning the trade by researching trends, attending conferences and seminars, participating in discussion forums, and experimenting with sites; courses and certifications in this specialty are being offered by an increasing number of organizations; however, consensus on the value of these programs does not yet exist.

SEAT LICENSE: A per-user concurrent fee paid to a vendor supplied copies of copyrighted material or software services, programs, applications, etc.

SECOND GENERATION: Transistor based computers of the 1950’s and 1960’s.

SECOND LEVEL DOMAIN: Any moniker beneath a primary level Internet domain name system.

SECONDARY DATA: Health data and medical information derived from the patient chart.

Secondary mouse button: The clickable action menu call-up or retrieve input button device.

SECONDARY RECORD: Patient record derived from the primary medical chart with selected information for non-clinical assistance.

SECONDARY RELEASE: PHI or medical information disclosure without prior patient authorization.

SECONDARY SOURCE: Summary of original source medical and health information.

SECONDARY STORAGE: Additional electronic memory distinct from a CPU.

SECRECY: Purposeful concealment of medical information or health data.

SECRET KEY: A protective symmetric algorithm encryption protocol or identifier to access information or initiate use; log-in password; slang term.

Sector: The smallest unit of electronic storage, read or written, on an electronic computer disk.

SECURE CHANNEL: Any electronic means of conveying health information from one entity to another such that an adversary does not have the ability to reorder, delete, insert, or read; secure medical data transmission.

SECURE ELECTRONIC TRANSACTION: An algorithm or cryptographic protocol for protected electronic health data and medical information transmission or monetary transactions across the Internet; SSL protocol.

SECURE LOCKER©: A secure download mechanism from Microsoft.

SECURE MESSAGING: Confidential email with personalized and traceable messages; instant message.

SECURE SITE: Any website with protected healthcare information, medical or other data integrity measures; secured wide area network (SWAN).

SECURE SOCKET LAYER (SSL): A secure web server-browser data transmission protocol encryption method; indicated by a padlock icon or https:// address.

Secure VIRTUAL PRIVATE NETWORK (SVPN): Use cryptographic tunneling protocols to provide the necessary health data confidentiality (preventing snooping), sender authentication (preventing identity spoofing), and message integrity (preventing message alteration) to achieve the medical privacy intended. When properly chosen, implemented, and used, such techniques can provide secure communications over unsecured networks.

SECURE WEB SERVER: A WAN, LAN, MAN, Internet program or security computer hub with algorithm or cryptographic protocol to send protected electronic health data transmissions or monetary transactions across the Internet; SSL protocol.

Secure work station location: Physical safeguards to eliminate or minimize the possibility of unauthorized access to information, for example, locating a terminal used to access sensitive information in a locked room and restricting access to that room to authorized personnel, not placing a terminal used to access patient information in any area of a doctor’s office where the screen contents can be viewed from the reception area.

SECURITY: A set of healthcare information technology system characteristic and mechanisms which span the system both logically and physically; electronic access control against unauthorized intervention, both friendly or malicious; encompasses all of the safeguards in an information system, including hardware, software, personnel policies, information practice policies, disaster preparedness, and the oversight of all these areas; the purpose of health information security is to protect both the system and the information it contains from unauthorized access from without and from misuse from within; through various security measures, a health information system can shield confidential information from unauthorized access, disclosure and misuse, thus protecting privacy of the individuals who are the subjects of the stored data; security life cycle.

Security administration:  The physical and electrical protection features of an IT health system needed to be managed in order to meet the needs of a specific installation and to account for changes in the healthcare entities operational environment.

SECURITY ADMINISTRATOR: One who enforces electronic network security matters.

SECURITY ADMINISTRATOR TOOL FOR ANALYZING NETWORKS (SATAN): A computer network vulnerability scanning tool developed by W. Venema and D. Farmer in 1995.

SECURITY ASSOCIATION (SA): Agreed upon security parameters of conduct for VPNs, key strengths, algorithms, etc., for an IPSec tunnel.

Security awareness training: Customized education programs that focus on issues regarding use of health information and responsibilities regarding medical data confidentiality and security.

SECURITY COMPROMISE: Physical or electronic data, file, program or transmission error due to malicious miscreants or software interventions; confidentiality breach.

SECURITY CONFIGURATION: Measures, practices, and procedures for the safety of information systems that must be coordinated and integrated with each other and other methods, practices, and procedures of the organization established in order to credential safekeeping policy; provides written security plans, rules, procedures, and instructions concerning all components of a healthcare entity’s security; procedures must give instructions on how to report breaches and how those breaches are to be handled within the organization.

Security configuration management: The measurement of practices and procedures for the security of information systems that is coordinated and integrated with each other and other measures, practices and procedures of the organization so as to create a coherent system of health data security (NIST Pub 800-14).

SECURITY DOMAIN: A set of subjects, their information objects, and a common security policy; foundation for IT security is the concept of security domains and enforcement of data and process flow restrictions within and between these domains.

SECURITY GOAL: The empowerment of a healthcare facility or medical IT organization to meet all mission/business objectives by implementing systems with due care consideration of related risks to the organization, its partners, and its patients; the five health IT security goals are integrity, availability, confidentiality, accountability, and assurance.

Security incident: The attempted or successful unauthorized access, use, disclosure, modification, or destruction of information or interference with system operations in an information system.

Security incident procedure: Formal, documented instructions for reporting security breaches; security log; security journal, etc.

SECURITY LEVEL: Controlled authorization of specific healthcare data input users.

Security management: A process that encompasses the creation, administration and oversight of policies to ensure the prevention, detection, containment, and correction of health security breaches; involves risk analysis and risk management, including the establishment of accountability, management controls (policies and education), electronic controls, physical security, and penalties for the abuse and misuse of its assets, both physical and electronic.

SECURITY OBJECTIVES: The five health-care IT and medical information security goals and objectives are integrity, availability, confidentiality, accountability, and assurance:

• Integrity is dependent on confidentiality, in that if the confidentiality of certain information is lost (e.g., the super-user password), then the integrity mechanisms are likely to be by-passed.
• Availability and Accountability are dependent on Confidentiality and Integrity, in that: if confidentiality is lost for certain information (e.g., super-user password), the mechanisms implementing these objectives are easily by-passable; and if system integrity is lost, then confidence in the validity of the mechanisms implementing these objectives is also lost.
• Confidentiality is dependent on Integrity, in that if the integrity of the system is lost, then there is no longer a reasonable expectation that the confidentiality mechanisms are still valid.
• Assurance is achieved by defining and meeting functionality requirements in each of the four objectives with sufficient quality; highlights the fact that for systems to be secure, they must not only provide intended functionality, but also ensure undesired actions do not occur.

Security Objective Interdependency: Integration of healthcare data security objectives by consideration of all other dependent objectives, as depicted below. 

SECURITY OFFICER: One responsible for an enterprise wide medical and health data information security; chief security officer; CSO; CTO; CTO; etc.

SECURITY OVERHEAD: Total financial costs of all healthcare data and information and protection features.

SECURITY POLICY: A statement of the required healthcare IT protection of information objects like patient protected health information; the framework within which a health care organization establishes needed levels of information security to achieve the desired confidentiality goals; a policy is a statement of information values, protection responsibilities, and organization commitment for a system (OTA, 1993); the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) recommends that security policies apply to all employees, medical staff members, volunteers, students, faculty, independent contractors, and agents.

Security Policy Entire HEALTHCARE Organization Established enterprise-wide requirements for protecting patients’ individually identifiable health information; install supporting technology.

SECURITY POLICY ENTIRE HEALTHCARE ORGANIZATION FOR ELECTRONIC HOSPITAL INFORMATION SYSTEMS (sample):

Mission: The hospital is dedicated to developing and providing the highest quality, compassionate healthcare to serve the needs of the community. Key to the delivery of quality healthcare is the design and implementation of programs that support and enhance appropriate access to health information according to HIPAA rules and regulations.

Vision: All information regarding patients and employees is considered confidential and is considered protected healthcare information (PHI). The hospital will develop consistent approaches to the handling of data across the system that will balance the patient’s right to privacy and confidentiality with legitimate uses of data.

Scope: ASP, reverse ASP, electronic medical records (EMRs) and computer-based information systems, or similar, including information and data in any format (i.e., paper, electronic, or produced electronically) must be protected from unauthorized access, modification, destruction, or disclosure, whether accidental or intentional. Such protection will be consistent with the sensitivity and the value of the data. Protection can be provided through equipment, software, and procedures that address processing, transmission, and storage of data.

Policies:Accountability and responsibility

1. Accountability: It is the responsibility of all hospital employees to consider themselves accountable for the protection of the data, which begins with accessing the database and continues with the use of the information regardless of format. Policies and procedures support the confidentiality and integrity of the information systems within the corporation.
2. Responsibility: The information maintained in the computer-based information systems of the hospital is an asset of the corporation. Managers are responsible for the timeliness, security, and integrity of the data maintained within the scope of their position through the use of appropriate control measures and the support of hospital policies.
3. Access
4. ID / password / secure socket layer (SSL) encryption / Biometrics
5. Unique identification and password assignments will be made to staff members for access to information on a need-to-know basis, only upon written authority of the owner of the data. Need-to-know is determined by the individual’s supervisor. Generally it can be categorized into these areas:
   • access by care providers to individual patient data, for use in patient care or specific hospital operations
   • access for research, planning, and quality improvement processes within the hospital
   • access by those employees in the Health Record Department whose role includes record processing-maintenance
   • use of PKI infrastructure for public and private sectors, as needed, along with SSL technology and bio-metric encryption
   • individual IDs/passwords may not be shared with another user.
   • passwords are changed frequently, as designated by system design.
   • users are limited to one log-on at a time, as designated by individual platform design.
   • an individual’s multiple attempts to sign on with an improper access code will result in a lock-out status of the individual until access privileges are restored by Information Services.
   • access of all users is monitored by identification/password assignments. Warning notices are to be displayed on each screen to inform staff of the confidential nature of the information and that their access is being monitored.
   • maintenance of the access assignments will be completed with employee change in status (i.e., termination, change of position).
   • employee’s information
   • each system employee may choose whether his/her personal data will be accessible or restricted for view by medical staff only in the hospital system. The option of requesting restricted access on selected systems and not others will not be available.
   • an employee’s access to his/her own patient information must follow the process as defined in the release of information policies and procedures.
   • pre-employment data will be retained only in the local employee health database.
   • sensitive information (psychiatry, substance abuse, VIP, protected patients) is defined in the release of information policies and procedures.
   • protected patients: Those patients with known risk of injury by others must be protected. Their identification will be protected by the assignment of an alias on the Admission/Discharge/Transfer (ADT) system. However, the health record number will remain unchanged and valid for the patient.

Integrity of database

• A process must exist for each database by which information is validated within the system.
• Integrity of data copied and transferred to another system is the responsibility of the receiving system. Responsibility for the correct transfer and validation of data lies with both systems and information services.

Security

• Administration and maintenance

Appropriate Information Services Departments will monitor and log access to the various systems within the hospital. A description of the methods used is available with each system’s documentation.

If misuse is suspected, the health information management specialist and/or department director should be notified. If appropriate, the director of security should be contacted for proper investigation.

• Dissemination

Secondary disclosure of individual patient information must be in keeping with the process, as defined in the release of information policies and procedures.

Internal or external dissemination of data linking patient identifiers with clinical data should be evaluated against the recipient’s need to know that information.

Compliance with confidentiality and data security policies

• Failure to comply with confidentiality and data security policies, standards, and procedures will result in disciplinary action in accordance with human resources policies, which may include termination or suspension of employment. Compliance means conformity to data security policies and standards as well as the data security procedures developed to meet user needs.
• Improper conduct includes, but is not limited to:
  • lack of discretion or unauthorized disclosure of any information concerning patients, visitors, or employees
  • attempting to obtain another person’s password or security code
  • using or attempting to use another person’s password or security code or allowing the use of one’s code by another
  • unauthorized modification of information or database structure
  • unauthorized access, whether internally or from a remote location
  • unauthorized release of patient information
  • monitoring compliance of security policies and procedures will be through collaboration between the systems administrator and appropriate management staff.

SECURITY SCANNER: Software or internet based data security detection tool identifying potential bugs, viruses and holes.

SECURITY STANDARDS: HIPAA requirements adopted by HHS or ANSI to preserve and maintain transmitted or stored medical data and PHI.

SECURITY SUPPORTING SERVICES: Healthcare IT and medical data protection service that is pervasive and inter-related with other services, such as:

• identification (and naming)
• cryptographic key management
• security administration, and system protections
• prevention and protected communications
• authentication and authorization
• access control enforcement
• non-repudiation, and transaction privacy
• detection and recovery (contingency
• audit, intrusion detection and containment
• proof of wholeness, and
• restoration of secure state

Security Systems: Any physical, personal, or electrical methodology used to protect healthcare information and medical data through these five security objectives:

• availability-addressed by physical and technical safeguards of HIPAA regulations;
• integrity-system and data;
• confidentiality-addressed by HIPAA privacy regulations;
• accountability-to the individual level;
• assurance-coordinates security measures both technical and operational, and works as intended to protect the system and the information it processes.

Security testing: A process used to determine that the security features of a health care system are implemented as designed and that they are adequate for a proposed applications environment; hands-on functional and stress testing, penetration testing, and verification.

SECRURITY THREAT: Potential confidential breaches in healthcare data by users, authorizers, physical, environmental or technical failures.

SECURITY TOOL: Software program or algorithm to check, enhance or monitor a computer security system.

SEGMENT: Related elements in an electronic health data transmission.

SELECT: To activate a computer system object, database, file, etc.

SELF EXTRACTING ARCHIVE: A health or other data file converted into an executable program which decompressed when run.

SELF EXTRACTION: Software utility program used to de-condense (un-zip), transport and archive programs with the file extensions: .exe: .hqx; .sea; .sit; .gz; .z; .tar or .gtar.

SELF HEALING: Any computing device or system that has the ability to perceive that it is not operating correctly and, without human intervention, make the necessary adjustments to restore itself to normal operation; self-protecting and self-managing.

SEMANTIC DATA MODEL (SDM): To express the structure or scheme of a healthcare application information model; LOINC

SEMANTICS: Symbolic meanings within a given computer code, language nuances, terms, or words.

SEMAPHORE: An electronic flag used to indicate computer activity status and/or security.

SEMICONDUCTOR: Any manipulate able material that is neither a good electrical insulator nor conductor; silicone, germanium; diodes, transistors, ICs and CPU devices, etc.

SENDMAIL: Type of electronic mail that searches messages for IP address in order to embed malicious codes, viruses, worms, etc.

SENSITIVE:  Data or medical electronic information that is considered potentially harmful, embarrassing or damaging; protected health information (PHI).

SENSITIVITY LEVEL: Triage level for protected or open electronic data associated with content, input or end-user authority, or information appropriateness.

SEQUENCE DIAGRAM: Interaction scheme between user and healthcare medical management information system.

sequential processing: Medical or other health records that are accessed serially.

SERERS: Internet users, laymen or medical professionals, and others; slang term.

SERIAL ATA (SATA): The ATA (American Telemedicine Association) standard for disk drives that could be a disruptive technology by bringing manufacturing efficiencies to storage vendors; SATA drives often shuttle data at rates of 150 MB – 600 MB per second, or more.

SERIAL DATA: Any method of transmitting health or other electrical information over a wire, one bit at a time.

SERIAL FILE: A medical record or chart with unique identifiers assigned with each subsequent medical encounter.

Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP): A kind of computer protocol used by modems for online communication.

SERIAL MOUSE: An input device attached to a computer system by a serial port.

SERIAL PORT: A computer information transmission socket used to connect a serial interface peripheral device; usually replaced by USB ports; most PCs s have 2 ports labeled COM1 and COM 2.

SERVER: Centralized WAN, LAN, MAN computer or Internet based hub which provides services to affiliated client and/or connected dumb terminals; computer system in a network shared by multiple users; stand-alone PCs and Macs can function as a server to other users on the network, even though they serve as a single workstation to one user (“peer-2-peer” network); this is common in small clinics and medical offices, but servers are usually standalone stations; term may refer to both the hardware and software or just the software that performs a particular service. For example, “Web server” may refer to the Web server software in a computer that also runs other applications, or it may refer to a computer system dedicated only to the Web server application; a large Web site could have several dedicated servers or one very large server; server appliance.

SERVER FARM: Computers connected and housed in a single location; server cluster.

SERVER SIDE APPLICATION: A computer program that uses a LAN, MAN, WAN or other network rather than a PC.

SERVER SOFTWARE: Computer network server which responds to a dumb or connected terminal request.

SERVICE: A computer program or application that runs unseen by the end user.

SERVICE EVENT: The process or activity of providing a medical service, healthcare procedure or intervention, diagnosis or other activity.

SERVICE LINE CODE: One who codes for a particular medical specialty service, such as dental, podiatry, pediatrics, etc.

SERVICE PACK (SP): A MSFT or other update program used to fix loopholes in Internet Explorer®; the first SP focused on security while the second SP2, increased functionality with wireless enhancements.

SERVICE SET IDENTIFIER (SSI): A type of health data or information packet identifier for a wireless computer network.

SERVICE V-CODE: icd-9-cm code for medical examinations, aftercare or reimbursable ancillary healthcare services.

SERVLET: A small Java utility program that runs on a web server, rather than a web browser client.

SESSION: A period of medical interaction, as with a patient, or the internet, etc.

SESSION HIJACK: A false traffic computer network transmission connection which overtakes a client TCP session.

SESSION KEY: An encryption/decryption code that is randomly generated to ensure the security of a communication interaction between a user and another computer or between two computers; sometimes called symmetric keys, because the same key is used for both encryption and decryption; may be derived from a hash value, using the CryptDeriveKey function; transmitted along with each message and is encrypted with the recipient’s public key, but because much security relies upon the brevity of use, session keys are changed frequently; a different session key may be used for each message.

SESSION LAYER: OSI model and fifth layer of computer system file management, check points, synchronization and termination.

SESSION PREDICTION: A method of surreptitiously obtaining data about an authorized visitor to a Web site; normally stored within an URL or cookie.

SEVEN DIMENSIONS OF HIT DATA QUALITY: Accuracy, consistency, currency, granularity, precision, timeliness, and relevancy.

SEVERITY SYSTEM: Statistical probability of disease progression; or information system contamination.

SHAMIR, ADI, PhD; The Paul and Marlene Borman Professor of Applied Mathematics at Weizmann Institute of Science, whose main area of research is making and breaking computer security codes motivated by the explosive growth of computer networks and wireless communication, the Internet and HIPAA; developer of cryptographic paradigms such as broadcast encryption, ring signatures and T-functions; new cryptanalytic attacks against block ciphers, stream ciphers, and number theoretic schemes, along with new protective techniques against side channel attacks such as power analysis.

SHARE(D): To make a medical file, health folder, application or program available for use by others; shared directory, memory folder, medium, memory; resources, machines, etc.

Shared Decision Making (SDM):  A style of decision-making in health care where the patient is able to take a more active role in decision making, especially by offering them increased control over the choice of treatment, and, as a result, giving them a greater sense of responsibility for their care and health; shared decision medical program.

SHARED ENVIRONMENT: To provide IT health processing for several clients; client-server relationship.

SHARED SERVICES: A full range of healthcare clinical and medical business organization IT systems that are supplied by a single covered entity.

SHARED SPACE: Computer storage within a network boundary; shared memory and remote storage.

SHAREPOINT®: Microsoft collaborative workgroup software application service.

SHAREWARE: Internet software distributed on an honorary trial basis; computer software that the author gives license to the user to try before buying; users are encouraged to try the software, copy it and distribute it to other users; if users continue to use the software after the initial sampling, a voluntary payment of a specific sum of money is required; failure to pay the requested fee is a legal violation of the author’s copyright. 

SHELL: Protection interface used for insulation and protection; a program that accepts OS commands for execution.

SHOCKWAVE®: Non-volatile, solid-state rewritable memory file format processing with robust functionality that is durable and low-voltage; Macromedia Flash©.

SHOESHINE: To move a computer or storage tape back and force to enhance connectivity; slang term.

SHOPPING CART: Icon driven invoicing and billing software used by online merchants.

SHORT CUT: Push button icon for directly initiating a pre-arranged computer action or function.

SHORTLIFFE, EDWARD, H, MD: Professor of Medicine and Computer Science; Head, Division of General Internal Medicine; and Director, Medical Information Sciences Training Program, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, California.

SHOULDER SURF: To peek over the head and shoulders of a computer system user in order to discern PWs, account numbers, or other confidential information; low tech; slang term.

SHOUT(ING): An uppercase e-mail or text message; slang term.

SHOVELWARE: Bloated excessive software code, program or application; slang term.

SHRINKWRAP: Retail commercial software sold in pre-manufactured and plastic covered packages; clear plastic box coating.

SHUGART, ALAN: Co-developer of the first floppy disk, from IBM in 1971.

SHUT DOWN: The command to save settings, files or other objects and turn off a computer.

SICONOLFI, FRANCINE: Senior Healthcare IT Project Manager, Aetna Assurance Company.

SIGHT MAP: A web site hierarchal diagram of its pages. 

Signaling System 7: A recent development in control systems for the public telephone network enabling faster processing and more efficient telephone service, making more services available to patients and consumers.

SIGNATURE: Computer, network, IM, IRC or e-mailer identification code; computer miscreant pattern or identifier; digital electronic fingerprints.

SIGNATURE FILE: Automated text file added to an e-mail message typically including contact information; signature block or file; files that contain updated antivirus information etc.

SILICONE SUBURBS: Geographic locals where important computer device makers, manufactures, researchers, developers and universities exist:

• Alley: Manhattan, NY
• Creek: Atlanta, Dunwoody and Norcross, Georgia
• Fen: Cambridge, England
• Glen: Edinburgh, Glasgow, Scotland
• Silicorn: Rural Iowa and the Mid-West
• Valley: Santa Clara, Cupertino, Sunnyvale, Palo Alta, San Jose and San Francisco, California

SIMPLEX: Uni-directional electronic communications channel.

SIMPLY HIRED®: A job and employment search engine; healthcare IT employment agency.

SIMULATION: Statistical data or information electronic modeling technique; to mimic real life; or to mimic a patient medical session or encounter.

SINGER, SUANNE: Project Director, Maine Health Information Network Technology.

SINGLE AFFILIATED COVERED ENTITY (SACE): Legally separate CEs for purposes of the HIPAA rules and regulations if under common ownership and control, in order to share common consents, etc.

SINGLE DOMAIN: WINDOWS© NT system which is independent and void of other domain connections.

SINGLE MASTER DOMAIN: WINDOWS© NT system with other trust and domain connections and resources administered by those domains.

SIPphone®: Internet telephone software; VOIP provider.

SIRCAM WORM: Malicious code that sent out personal health information and other data and documents from machines by email; 2001.

Site: An area or location online, typically on the Web, where an organization, medical practice, healthcare organization, individual or business stores its information.

SITE LICENSE: Permission for use of a fixed number of copyrighted subscriptions, applications, programs, copies, downloads, etc.

SKIN: To change the share, appearance, fonts, color and graphics of a website, webpage, URL, application or program.

SKUNK: Dedicated computer engineers or software programmers isolated from peers in order to enhance morale, special project efficiency, etc; pirates; slang term.

SLAMECKA, Vladimir: Early ‘60s computer visionary from The Georgia Institute of Technology, who founded its department of computer science and foresaw the use of digital information for the common good; especially in medical, educational and urban planning applications.

SLASHDOT: Internet based company that provides engineering news to computer hobbyists.

SLAVE: Any independent electrical unit; computer, storage device, peripheral or linked machines, etc; slang term.

SLIMEWARE: Software that interferes with the end user experience by changing key computer system settings in order to gain profit; spy-ware; ad-ware; slang term.

SLOAN, Alexander, M: MD: Former Surgeon General USAF and Medical Director for DIANAssociates, University of Maryland Medical Systems.

Slow-scan: The speed of still video image transmission, which is typically over narrow communications channels such as standard telephone lines.

Slow-scan Video: A device that transmits and receives still video images over a narrow communications channel, such as a standard telephone line.

SMALL BUSINESS SERVER (SBS): MSFT web-based application server for medical, healthcare or other small offices using less than about networked 50 PCs

Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI): An interface system of rules and procedures used to connect peripherals such as disk drives, scanners, and tape back-up units, to computers; referred to as skuzzy.

SMALL FORM FACTOR PC: PC with smaller case compared with an ATX tower in a standard desktop type PC.

Small Health Plan: Traditional or electronic health plan with annual receipts of $5 million or less; Part II, 45 CFR 160.103

SMART CARD: Plastic card with CPU or magnetic data strip to read, write and store electronic information, such as patient, financial, insurance or clinical data; access control for computer systems, servers, or networks; smart device; smart reader; smart phone, etc.

SMART MEDIA: A type of medical data or other information storage device for non-volatile flash memory.

SMART PHONE: A cellular phone with email, mobile Bluetooth© and/or USB cable and/or docking station; with secure digital memory card, MP3 photo, video and instant message functionality.

SMART SUITE®: Lotus business application conglomeration of computer programs and business efficiency tools: spreadsheet, word processing, database, graphics, time management and internet publishing offerings.

SMILEY: A form of electronic emoticon; a small diagrammatic “face” made out of keyboard characters; i.e. J or sad ;-).

SMOKE TEST: To activate a computer system, software, hardware or peripheral device for the first time; slang term.

SMURF(FER): To rapidly interrupt, send unwanted data, interrupt or otherwise ping a computer maliciously; a denial of service attack; slang term.

SNEAKER: A professional computer systems hacker or crack; security system expert.

SNEAKNET: To transfer health disk, CDs or other stored data across the room, from one computer to another; slang term.

SNEAKERWARE: The physical removal and transportation of a secondary computer storage device, such as an external hard or flash drive, instead of using a networked system; slang term.

SNIFFER: Network traffic data collection, monitoring and optimization tool; eavesdropping programs; slang term.

Sniffing: Listening to the traffic on a computer network and then analyzing it.

SNOOP: Usually a self-contained software program used to monitor other programs, users or systems without prior knowledge.

SNOWFLAKE TECHNOLOGY: The LUMINETX© format for a type of infrared vein palm-scan viewing for biometric security identification; veins may be used to replace photo ID’s, PIN’s, passwords, signatures or keys with the following HIT security advantages:

• Access Control and Attendance – Use biometrics for controlling access to facilities and monitoring employee attendance. Biometrics will replace time cards.
• Criminal Identification – Veins offer an additional means to track criminals as they are processed through the criminal justice system.
• Civil Identification – Broad range of applications include activities such as international border control, airport security, authentication of welfare recipients, and voter registration.
• Consumer Identification – From banking to retail, veins can be used to help people securely transact while protecting their identity.
• Device and System Access – Venous recognition can be used to replace passwords for access to computers and other critical devices on which businesses and consumers rely.

SNYDER, David H: Albany Medical Center, VP of Health Information Systems Technology Management.

SOAP: A Simple, Object, Access Protocol for exchanging XML messages over a computer network using HTTP and providing a basic messaging framework that abstract layers can build upon.

SOBIG.f: Mass emailer computer worm that infected PCs through insecure network sharing in 2003.

social engineering: Relying on personal trickery and human deceit to break security and gain access to computers; to goad or manipulate human computer systems users; shoulder surfers.

SOCKET: The local address endpoint connections between a communications access point; client server relationship.

SOCKS: A circuit level proxy against a wide range of computer system hack attacks.

SOFT COPY: Electronic data storage files only viewable on a computer screen.

SOFT RETURN: Text document software code inserted to mark the end of a line.

SOFTWARE: Electronic programs used to direct useful computer functions; operating system, programming and application types, etc.

SOFTWARE ACCESS: Ability to communicate with an electronic computer program.

SOFTWARE AS A SERVICE (SAAS): A distribution model in which applications are hosted by a vendor or service provider and made available to customers over a network, typically the Internet and is increasingly prevalent in underlying technologies that support various web services and service-oriented architectures, as well as mature and new developmental approaches, such as Ajax; closely related to the application service provider and on-demand computing delivery models; the Writely© word processor, Gmail and Google Spreadsheet are example of this model; non prepackaged, shrink-wrapped software.

SOFTWARE BOMB: Malicious software code planted as an inside job; to computer detonate at some predetermined future trigger-time, in order to deliver a destructive load.

SOFTWARE MAINTENANCE: Changes performed on computer software after entering implementation.

SOFTWARE RE-ENGINEERING: Changes performed on older legacy computer software program in order to update or reconfigure it for increased functionality; PC functionality.

SOFTWARE SECURITY: Hardware devices integrated with software and certified as safe and protected from malicious or accidental access.

SOLARIS©: A UNIX multi processing operating system for Sun Microsystems Inc®, SPARC® computers.

SOLE VENDOR: Computer or network applications developed with common design architecture.

Solid State: An electronic component or circuit made of solid materials, such as transistors, chips and bubble memory without mechanical action, although electromagnetic action takes place within; for health and other data storage, solid state devices are much faster and more reliable than mechanical disks and tapes, but are more expensive.

SOLID STATE FLOPPY DISK CARD (SSFDC): Plastic smart card configured with Flash EEPROM, NOR and/or NAND memory chips and used as a [patient identifier, or in electronic scanners, digital cameras, sound and video recorders, etc: Toshiba^®, Intel^® and Micron^®

SOUND BLASTER®: PC sound-care from Creative Labs, Inc., of Milpitas, CA.

SOUND CARD: An audio analog to digital converter; this FM Wavetable synthesis is a lower quality sound while newer MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is better and more compressed (24-bit).

SOUND FILE FORMAT: The most commonly used audio formats:

• WAVE (.wav): High quality but large size
• MP3 (.mp3): High quality and low size
• Compact Disc Digital Audio (.cda): Used solely for commercial CDs
• WMA (.wma): Windows Media Audio Internet streaming .mp3 analog.
• .midi; .aif; .au; and .snd; etc.

SOURCE OF ADMISSION CODE: CMS 1450 form-locator 20

SOURCE CODE: Refer to the “before” and “after” versions of a computer program that is compiled before it is ready to run in a computer and consists of the programming statements that are created by a programmer with a text editor or a visual programming tool and then saved in a file; programming language (C, C++, Pascal, etc).

SOURCE LANGUAGE: Input programming language (C, C++, Pascal, etc) for a specific computer process.

SOURCE ORIENTATED HEALTH RECORD: Healthcare data arrangement, medical record or chart according to patient care department.

SOURCE SYSTEMS: An application system where PHI is collected, extracted and transformed for use in an EHR feeder system.

SPAGHETTI CODE: Inefficient, incorrect, wrong, poorly written or disorganized computer code; slang term.

SPAM: The mass electronic mailing of unsolicited messages; junk e-mail; trash mail; slang terms; spam bot.

SPAMDEXIG: Internet algorithm used to fool a search engine indexing program; slang term.

SPAM FILTER: Utility program to reduce or purge email boxes of spam mail; spam blocker.

SPAMMER: One who send spam or blasts unwanted email messages; key word surfer; spam indexer.

SPARKLE: Microsoft© design tool for creating Windows Vista© and certain Web applications; code name.

Spatial Resolution: Characteristic of being able to distinguish two equal sized adjacent objects in the same place; represents the number of pixels in a specified area of a matrix.

SPAWN: Automated software help application.

SPEECH RECOGNITION: The technology to translate human speech to written text.

SPEECH SERVER: MSFT voice recognition of speech-enabled touch tone applications.

SPIDER: Internet utility search program; web-crawler, robot or bot, etc.

Spindle: A rotating shaft on a computer disk drive, and with a fixed disk, the platters are attached to the spindle; but in a removable disk, the spindle remains in the drive.

SPLASH SCREEN: Introductory computer application screen display prior to program launch.

SPLOG: A spammed blog; slang term.

SPLOIT: To exploit or breach a computer security system; slang term.

SPOLIATION: Destruction of electronic data, medical or other information; evidence.

SPOOF: Fake electronic responses used to keep an online computer session active preventing timeouts; type of computer virus.

SPOOL: Overlapping low speed electronic computer operations.

SPOOLER: A low transmission speed outlet device or buffer service.

SPREAD SHEET: Electronic and manipulate able, row and column worksheet, for automatic math calculations, accounting or other data processing determinations.

SPREAD SPECTRUM: Data encryption or encoding technique that disperses radio signals away from interference.

SPRITE: Animated and malleable pixel or moving graphical element. 

Spy: A person who has been hired to break into a computer and steal data.

SPYWARE: Programs which collect and transmit unauthorized information from a computer about the user; usually associated with internet freeware or shareware programs; to captures activity without user knowledge; slang term.

SQL SLAMMER WORM: Code that delivered no malicious payload but overloaded computers networks and severs in order to slow Internet connectivity, in 2003.

SRINI, JAY: VP of Emerging Technology, for the University of Pittsburgh Medical College.

STAAG: One of the original viral programs to infect Linux, in 1996.

STACK: A computerized data, file or health information holding structure that follows the inventory costing concept of LIFO.

STAGES VIRUS: Malicious software code hidden in email attachments that appear to be benign .TXT extensions but are dangerous .EXE executable extensions; first seen in 2000.

Stallman, RichArd: Founder of the GNU project who resigned from the Artificial Intelligence laboratory at MIT to produce and distribute free computer software.

Standard Deviation: A measure of volatility, risk, or statistical dispersion. It is the positive square root of the variance, calculated by:

• computing the (average) mean of the series
• then taking the deviation by subtracting the mean from each observation,
• squaring the differences or deviations for each observation,
• dividing the sum of the squared deviations by the number of observations
• and, calculating the positive square root of the sum of squared deviations.

Related terms for computer science include:

• Standard Normal Distribution or Standardized Normal Distribution: Situation that occurs when the underlying normal distribution is converted by changing its scale. The importance of this is that different normal distributions can now be compared to one another. Otherwise, separate tables of values would have to be generated for each pairing of mean and standard deviation values. This standardized variant term is often expressed as Z is N (0,1 ), or Z is a normal distribution with a mean value of zero and variance equal to one.
• Static Analysis: An approach to study market conditions at a moment in time. It also a “snapshot view” of the market, corporate financial condition or other economic time series. It reflects one moment such as, the end-of-the-day, end-of-the-month, end-of-the-year, the opening or any other chronologically defined point.
• Stationary: A time series which has a natural mean or tendency towards one. Over time and given larger samples, some economic time series tend to converge towards a natural level with stable volatilities.
• Statistical Analysis: A mathematical approach that quantifies securities market action. In its general form, it is reliant on large sample statistics and linear analysis. It assumes independence. Its popular sub-terms are: mean, variance, standard deviation, alpha and beta.
• Stochastic: A condition in computer science, engineering, finance or economics whereby changes occur on a more abrupt basis than those expected to be “normally” encountered. In some ways stochastic have infinite variance and/or non-converging means implications.

STANDARD PRESCRIBER IDENTIFICATION NUMBER (SPIN): Medical drug or pharmaceutical provider ID number, or identifier.

STANDARD SETTING: An organization accredited by the American National Standards Institute that develops and maintains standards for medical information transactions or data elements, or any other standard that is necessary for, or will facilitate the implementation of health related data.

Standard Setting Organization (SSO): An organization accredited by the American National Standards Institute that develops and maintains standards for health information transactions or other data elements; also set by organizations like the IEEE, Open Software Foundation, Unix International, OIS, and POSIX.

Standard Transaction: HIPAA transaction that complies with applicable standards.

Standard Transaction Format Compliance System (STFCS): An EHNAC-sponsored WPC-hosted HIPAA compliance certification service.

Standard Unique Employer Identifier: Consists of the EIN or employer identification number assigned by the Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Department of the Treasury; the EIN is the taxpayer identifying number of an individual, covered entity or other entity (whether or not an employer) assigned under one of the following:

• 26 U.S.C. 6011(b), which is the portion of the Internal Revenue Code dealing with identifying the taxpayer in tax returns and statements, or corresponding provisions of prior law.
• 26 U.S.C. 6109, which is the portion of the Internal Revenue Code dealing with identifying numbers in tax returns, statements, and other required documents.

STAR DOT STAR: *.* characters that symbolize wild card sequences that match.

DOS and MSFT Widows® file names.

STAR NETWORK: LAN/WAN topology with stellate shape or hub and spoke configuration; smart server-to-dumb-terminal geography.

Stark, FORTNEY “Pete”: U.S. representative (D-Calif.); ranking member, Ways and Means health subcommittee.

STARK I: January 1992, from 1989 OBRA (42-USC 1395nn), precludes patient self referrals by a physician or medical provider to another healthcare entity of interest; formerly Patient in Ethics Referral Act (PERA).

STARK II: August 1993, strengthens Stark I and further precludes patient referrals to an expanded list of medical services and physician/providers and family members having a financial interest in the entity.

STARRED PROCEDURE: Specific surgical procedures listed in a CPT code book; an asterisk-term indicating a special CPT denotation; slag term.

START BUTTON: Activation button to initiate a computer system operation or menu.

START UP MENU: List of computer options, programs, settings, files, peripheral devices, specifications etc., initiated with a start button; its six sections include: permanent, personal, systems and frequently used folders, all-programs and on/off button.

STARVE: The lack of necessary computer system resources to complete a task; slang term.

State Uniform Billing Committee (SUBC): A state-specific affiliate of the medical NUBC.

STATIC AUDITING TOOL: A scanner that searches for computer system security breaches, or “holes”; slang term.

STATIC / DYNAMIC: Static means fixed while dynamic usually means capable of action and/or change; both terms can be applied to a number of different types of health IT items such as programming languages, Web pages, and application programs.

STATIC / DYNAMIC IP ADDRESS: A static IP address is a number that is assigned to a computer by an Internet service provider to be its permanent address on the Internet and locate and communicate with each other; but in as much as there are not enough IP numbers to go around, many Internet service providers limit the number of static IP addresses they allocate, and economize on the remaining number of IP addresses they possess by temporarily assigning an IP address to a requesting Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol computer from a pool of IP addresses; this temporary IP address is called a dynamic IP address. Requesting DHCP computers receive a dynamic IP address for the duration of that Internet session or for some other specified amount of time; once the user disconnects from the Internet, their dynamic IP address goes back into the IP address pool so it can be assigned to another user; Even if the user reconnects immediately, they will not usually be assigned the same IP address from the pool.

STATUS LINE: Computer screen activation bar that indicate current settings, systems information and cursor position, etc.

STATIC MEMORY: Fast non-power refreshable computer memory.

STATIC RAM: A memory chip that requires power to maintain data contents.

stealth signal transmitter: Software installed on a notebook computer that sends a signal that can be traced.

STEALTH virus: Concealed malicious code embedded in computer files.

STEALTH virus FILE INFECTOR: Malicious computer code released when  users take a directory listing of infected systems that illustrate uninfected length.

STEGANOGRAPHY: To embed, hide or infect computer files in order or steal electronic PHI, medical or other data.

STEMMING: Lexicology process that determines the morphological root of a word, code set or IT language.

STOCHASIC: Unpredictable and random; meandering.

STORAGE: A device able to receive, retain and supply health or other data, on demand; portable or internal floppy, zip or hard drives, CD/DVD/optical/laser drives, and USB flash drives (key, pen, mini-drive or memory stick), etc.

STORAGE AREA NETWORK (SAN): Computer servers with a fast communications technology, known as fiber channels, to create communications bandwidths of 1 or 2 GB; allows health IT executives to interconnect storage resources across wider physical distances into a shared data pool and still maintain split-second response times for end users; potential to relieve service and logistical problems of separate data repositories in individual departments, or with individual patient files and within enterprise wide hospital or healthcare entity data storehouses.

STORAGE MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE (SMS): Computer programs and application that allow hospitals to acquire and use high-capacity storage hardware as a prime health tool for coping with all data platforms more efficiently.

STORAGE VIRTUALIZATION (SV): A health technology that opens data pooling for widely dispersed storage devices, and promises to work across multiple computing platforms and types of storage media; for example, a single computer may access medial image data on a disk array built by one vendor and call up a text file archived in a tape cartridge housed in a different vendor’s cabinet, all accomplished without the need for custom interfaces to translate data between two different environments; architecture that uses network-switching hardware to efficiently link end users to far-flung data.

Store and Forward (SAF): A telemedicine interaction type that creates a multimedia electronic medical record; medical data and images are captured and stored for later transmission, consultation or downloading; static images or audio-video clips may be transmitted to a remote data storage device, from which they may be retrieved by a medical practitioner for review and physician consultation at any time, obviating the necessity of simultaneous availability of the consulting parties and reducing transmission costs due to low bandwidth requirements.

STORED PROCEDURE: A set of Structured Query Language statements with an assigned name that’s stored in the database in compiled form so that it can be shared by a number of programs.

STORED VALUE CARD: Plastic card with magnetic strip or CPU use to store economic value; money funds.

STREAM ALGORITHM: A byte by byte data encryption process.

Stream(ING): Data stored on NTFS in continues real time streams with names; a file can have more than one data stream, but exactly one must have no name; continuous flowing medical information, health or other data; technology to play audio or video files from the Internet; Windows Media Player^®, Apple QuickTime^® player and RealPlayer^®.

STREAMING SOUND: Real-time audio formats, extension designated as: .ra; .ram; or .wma.

STRING: A continuous set of alpha numeric characters that do not contain calculatable numbers.

STRONG ENCRYPTION: A security method using very large numbers such as 128 or 256 bits as its cryptographic key; SSL.

STRONG NAME: Any identifier strengthened by security encryption technology; public key digital signature.

Structured Data Entry (SDE): A method of medical data collection that constrains the content and format of clinical descriptions for the purpose of ensuring consistent, unambiguous, interchangeable messages.

STRUCTURED QUERY LANGUAGE (sql): Fourth generation DDM and DDL computer language used for relational databases, although SQL is both an ANSI and an ISOP standard, many database products support SQL with proprietary extensions to the standard language; queries take the form of a command language that allows the user to select, insert, update, locate data, etc.

STUB: Spacer for computer code not yet written or incorporated into a program or application.

STUMPF, Steven; EdD: Director of project development and management, the Advanced BioTelecommunications and BioInformatics Center, University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles.

STYLUS: Sharp pen-like pointer or computer keyboard input device.

SUBDIRECTORY: Computer files organization within an existing directory; directory within another directory.

SUBJECT: An active healthcare entity, generally in the form of a caregiver, patient, process, or device that causes protected information to flow among objects or changes the system state; an active health entity, generally in the form of a person, process, or device that causes information to flow among objects or changes the system state.

Subject / object separation: The computer security concept that suggests access to a subject does not guarantee access to the objects associated with that subject.

SUBNET MASK: 32-bit IP network address within a sub-network computer system.

SUBROUTINE: A function, method or procedure to instructions with a given name and used by the main program or computer system application.

SUBSCRIPTION SITE: A health information or other information based e-commerce website that requires membership; Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery; JAMA, www.HealthCareFinancials.com; etc.

SUBSTITUTE CIPHER: Electronic encryption replacement security program.

SUBSTITUTION: Security health data or information cryptology method used by replacing each letter, number or symbol with another.

SUBSYSTEM UNIX APPLICATION (SUA): Online enterprise functionality designed to allow UNIX applications to run on MSFT Vista® OS machines.

SUITE: Integrated desktop software applications bundled with several business programs from a single vendor, like word process, spreadsheets, and database, etc: MSFT Office^®, Corel WordPerfect Office^®, Sun Star Office^®, Lotus Symphony SmartSuite OpenOffice^®; and smaller applications like Office, ThinkFree^®, and AjaxLaunch^® which are Internet-based, as well as GNOME Office which is installed on the Desktop computer, and AppleWorks^® on the Mac OS X®.

SUNDIAL: A type of Internet email.

SUNSHINE: An international community for healthcare IT innovation created by HIMSS and Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Sun Microsystems, Inc®. Since its inception in 1982 with a singular vision: “The Network Is The Computer”, SUN is leading provider of industrial-strength computer hardware, software and services that make the Internet work in more than 100 countries and on the World Wide Web; makers of SOLAIS® (SunOS) with SPARC-Sun 4 descendent CPUs based in Mountain View, CA.

Sun Solutions for Healthcare: Information, Networking, Education (SunSHINE): A SUN Microsystems, Inc., forum created to promote choice and innovation in information technology for healthcare; a radiant network of professionals committed to looking beyond the obvious for the best solutions to pressing healthcare IT issues.

Superbill: An invoice form that specifically lists all of the services provided by the physician; cannot be used in place of the standard American Medical Association form.

SUPER COMPUTER: A massive legacy and fast parallel processing computing machine, usually for math calculations, such as the IBM series, Cray vector and Intel® iPSC series; hard-iron; big-iron.

SUPER TWIST: Liquid crystal display (LCD) screen with increased light wave visibility and polarization.

SUPER USER: One who advocates for a new health information management or other medical data computer system.

SUPER ZAP: The computer security crime of unauthorized utility use to modify existing programs or applications; slang term.

SURF: To search the Internet or intranet for URLs and other data; to browse the web; To aimlessly view web pages; slang term.

Surface-Conduction Electron-Emitter Display (SED): Computer monitor that offers the bright colors of a CRT in a screen for digital radiology.

SURGE PROTECTOR: Suppression device used against unexpected power outs or spikes for computer or electrical device protection.

SURVEILLANCE: The technical observation of electronic equipment for functional utility and security purposes.

SUSE: Software-und System-Entwicklung is a privately owned company founded in 1992 by four German software engineers whose mission was to promote open source software; now owned by Novell®.

SUSPEND: To remove the input/output devices and CPU from a computer system but leave core memory intact for reboot ease; hibernate.

SWAP FILE SPACE: Usually hidden computer operating system space substituted for additional memory.

SWISH®: A flash authoring tool.

SWISH-Enhanced: A fast, powerful, flexible, free, and easy to use system for indexing collections of Web pages or other text files.

SWITCH: Networked throughput communications device that controls and directs electronic packets; hub; electrical current route; switch box; switch configuration; switch hub, etc; mechanical or solid state device that opens or closes circuits, varies operating parameters, or chooses paths or circuits on a space or time division basis. 

Switched Line: Communication link for which the physical path, established through dialing, may change with each use.

Switched Network: A system of telecommunications where each user has a separate address and any two points can be linked directly, using any combination of available routes in the network; throughput electronic communications device where each user controls and directs electronic packets between two or more nodes or points.

Switched Service: A telecommunications service based on telephone technology that switches circuits to connect multiple points.

SYMBOL: Concept or idea designation using letters, numbers, icons, etc.

SYMMETRIC KEY: An Internet health data security measure where the sender and receiver of a message share a single, common unit (key) that is used to encrypt and decrypt the message; a public-key utilizes two keys – a public key to encrypt messages and a private key to decrypt them; symmetric – key systems are simpler and faster, but a major drawback is that the two parties must somehow exchange the key in a safe way; public-key encryption avoids the problem because the public key can be distributed in a non-secure way, and the private key is never transmitted.

SYMMETRIC KEY ALGORITHM: Cryptographic and medical data security method where the same access key is used by sender and receiver.

Synchronous DRAM: Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) that runs at higher clock speeds than conventional memory by integrating itself with a computer’s CPU bus.

Synchronous Optical Network (SONET): A broadband, wide area communications service capable of transmitting extremely high capacity data, such as interactive medical video or images, at very high speeds ranging from 150 Mbps to 10 Gbps; convenient for real-time digital telemedicine applications.

SYNCHRONOUS TRANSMSSION: Real time health, medical information or other data communications in timed intervals; i.e., instant messaging; a method by which bits are transmitted at a fixed rate with the transmitter and receiver unified, extinguishing the need for start/stop elements, with the result of providing increased efficiency.

Syntax: The conventions in order to validly record medical information, or interpret previously recorded health information, for a specific purpose; X12 transactions, including data-element separators, sub-element separators, segment terminators, segment identifiers, loops and loop identifiers, and repetition factors, etc.

SYSTEM: The methods, procedures or routines integrated for some form of health or other date integration.

SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR: One responsible for the functionality and security of a multi-user enterprise-wide healthcare or other computer system.

SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE: The infrastructure that supports electronic business processes, storage, transmission and communications.

System File Hive / System Hive: A section of registry that is stored in a file on a computer’s hard disk located on a specified volume or in the user profiles containing a copy of the entire system branch of the registry, and usually one of the biggest components loaded into memory during boot; because of frequent modification, it can get fragmented and not load correctly.

SYSTEM INFECTOR: Virus that affects the systems of a computer or network; such as hard drives.

SYSTEM INTEGRITY: The quality that a system has when it performs its intended health care IT function in an unimpaired manner, free from unauthorized manipulation of the system, whether intentional or accidental. 

System Management: Software that manages computer systems in a healthcare or other business enterprise, which may include any and all of the following functions: software distribution and upgrading, version control, user profile management, backup and recovery, job scheduling, printer spooling, virus protection and performance and capacity planning.

SYSTEM PROGRAMMER: Expert who writes computer applications, files, programs, compilers and codes for networked health or other information systems.

System protections: A core base of confidence in technical healthcare IT implementation that represents quality from both the perspective of the design processes used and the manner in which the implementation is accomplished; residual information protection (object reuse), privilege access, process separation, modularity, layering, and minimization of what needs to be trusted.

SYSTEMS RESTORE: MSFT Windows® failsafe feature that reconfigures a computer to a previous state or setting.

SYSTEM SECURITY: The result of data integrity safeguards intended for healthcare IT functions in an unimpaired manner, free from unauthorized manipulation of the system, whether intentional or accidental.

SYSTEM SECURITY ADMINISTRATOR: One who manages physical integrity and electronic data for safe-keeping.

SYSTEM SOURCES: Small memory area located in a window storage facility for tracking and location purposes.

-T-

t = time

Tb: Terabyte; a measure of computer memory and the quantity of storage capacity available on a computer; one Tb is equivalent to one trillion bytes, or ten to the twelfth power bytes.

Tbps: Terabits per second; a measure of bandwidth and rate of information flow in digital transmission; One Tbps is equivalent to one trillion bits per second

T-carrier: A series of transmission systems using pulse code modulation technology at different channel capacities and bit rates to transmit digital information over telephone lines or other transmission medium.

T-LINE: High speed broadband communication telephone line or point-to-point line identified by varying levels of increasing pipe size; T1-T4 lines; T1-T12 are common carrier lines with speeds beyond 274.176 Mbps (megabits per second); T-line carrier, etc. 

T1 LINE: A type of telephone line service offering high-speed data or voice access, with a transmission rate of 1.544 Mbps; also known as D1.

T3 LINE: A digital transmission system for high volume voice, data, or compressed video traffic, with a transmission rate of 44.736 Mbps; also known as D3.

TABLE: Data base structure with roles and columns.

TAGS: Webpage information formatted with hyperlink capability; material between HTML angled bracket; <>

Tagged Image File Format (TIFF). The quality of an image or electronic picture determined by its resolution in grayscale; too low produces a jagged or have a stair-stepped effect.

TALIGENT^®: Company founded in 1992 between IBM® and Apple Computer® to develop a Macintosh microcomputer operating system based on object-oriented technology from the “Pink” project started in 1988; Hewlett-Packard® was partner in 1994, but in 1996 the company became a wholly-owned subsidiary of IBM® that later disbanded in 1998.

TAMPER: To inappropriately modify a computer system, file, program, server, network or smart card.

TAPE: Flexible plastic magnetize material that stores health or other data.

TAPE DRIVE: An electronic data storage device, or streamer, that writes health or other data stored on a punched or magnetic tape; typically used for archival storage of data stored on hard drives; tape media generally had a favorable unit cost and long archival stability but has been largely replaced by newer data storage methods.

TARGET: The place where health data or other digital information is copied onto and stored in a computer system.

Tariffs: Pricing guidelines for communication facilities, governed by federal or local governments, intended to permit telephone companies a fair rate of return on their capital investments.

TASKBAR: List of currently running programs or open folders in the Windows^® OS.

TASK MANAGER: Provides computer system CPU related information.

Technical security services: The processes that are put in place (1) to protect health information and (2) to control and monitor individual access to protected health information.

Technology Advisory Committee: (TAC): A body established to advise senior management on general technology issues (such as selection, evaluation, and performance assessment), and comprised of members from the various medical disciplines that play a part in the life of equipment; a committee present at any level (facility, district, regional, and ministerial) to advise the senior management at that level on such health technology issues.

Technology Assessment (TA): A process of evaluating the efficiency and efficacy of existing health information technology equipment available on the market and the new and ever-evolving technologies arriving on the market.

TECHNORTI: An internet blog search engine.

TELECOMMUNICATION: The use of radio waves, wire, laser, ruby, silicone, germanium, optical, magnetic, infrared or other channels to transmit information.

TELECOMMUNICATION: The use of a modem to communicate with another computer or network over telephone land lines; telecommute; telematics.

TELECONFERENCE: Interactive communication facilitated by the use of radio, wire, laser, optical, magnetic, infrared or other transmission channels; electronic medical conference; healthcare pod cast, etc.

Teleconsultation: The physical separation between multiple medical providers during a patient consultation.

TELECONSULTING: A medical examination or opinion using interactive electronic communication transmission channels; electronic patient image use as in diagnostic tele-dermatology; medical tele-worker.

Telediagnosis: The detection of a disease as a result of evaluating data transmitted to a receiving station from instruments monitoring a remote patient. 

TELEHEALTH: Use of electronic communication methods, as well as diagnostic and treatment software algorithms to facilitate medical care and optimal patient well being; use of electronic communications networks for the transmission of information and data focused on health promotion, disease prevention, diagnosis, consultation, education, and/or therapy, and the public’s overall health including patient/community education and information, population-based data collection and management, and linkages for health care resources and referrals; sometimes considered broader in scope than telemedicine, there is no clear-cut distinction between the two.

TELEIMAGE: Electronic transmission of photographs, x-rays, MRI, CT or PET scans from one location to another.

Telematics: The use of information processing based on a computer in telecommunications, and the use of telecommunications to permit computers to transfer programs and data to one another.

TELEMEDICINE: Derives from the Greek ‘tele’ meaning ‘at a distance’ and the present word ‘medicine’ which itself derives from the Latin ‘mederi’ meaning ‘healing’; first coined and used in the 1970’s by Thomas Bird, referring to health care delivery where physicians examine distant patients through the use of telecommunications technologies; prominent medical specialty tele-forms include: dermatology, internal medicine, neurology, cardiology, radiology and robotic surgery; the use of audio, video, and other telecommunications and electronic information processing technologies for the transmission of information and data relevant to the diagnosis and treatment of medical conditions, or to provide health services or aid health care personnel at distant sites. 

Telementoring: The use of audio, video, and other telecommunications and electronic information processing technologies to provide individual guidance or direction; for example, a physician consultant aids a distant clinician in a new medical procedure.

Telemetry: The science and technology of automatic measurement and transmission of data via wires, radios, or another medium from stations based in remote locations to receiving stations for recording and analysis.

Telemonitoring: The process of using audio, video, and other telecommunications and electronic information processing technologies to monitor the health status of a patience from a distance.

TELENET: Non-GUI supported terminal to terminal computer transmission protocol standard for UNIX.

TELENURSING: Long distance nursing practice through health information system telephony, or any electronic communication methodology available. 

Telephone callback: A method of authenticating the identity of the receiver and sender of information through a series of “questions” and “answers” sent back and forth establishing the identity of each; for example, when the communicating systems exchange a series of identification codes as part of the initiation of a session to exchange information, or when a host computer disconnects the initial session before the authentication is complete, and the host calls the user back to establish a session at a predetermined telephone number.

TELEPHONE HOTLINE: Patient medical demand management system using care paths, medical protocols or algorithms as an acuity care triage system; usually a medical provider referral system.

TELEPRESENCE: A method of using robotic and other instruments that permit a clinician to perform a procedure at a remote location by manipulating devices and receiving feedback or sensory information that contributes to a sense of being present at the remote site and allows a satisfactory degree of technical achievement; for example, this term could be applied to a surgeon using lasers or dental hand pieces and receiving pressure similar to that created by touching a patient so that it seems as though s/he is actually present, permitting a satisfactory degree of dexterity. 

Teletext: A broadcasting service utilizing several otherwise unused scanning lines (vertical blanking intervals) between frames of TV pictures to send data from a central database to receiving television sets.

Telmatics Applications Supporting Cognition (TASC): International healthcare IT organization in Denmark and Sweden that was an early user of JAVA® applications installed on client-server systems and using large icons to help the cognitively impaired with daily living tasks, while monitoring the location of patients; medical provider software monitor of real-time patient needs and activities with co-incident computer information system settings.

Telnet: An application program that permits users to logon to any computer on the Internet for interaction with other users; for example, a telnet program may be used to peruse medical library holdings and receive results.

TEMPORAL KEY INTEGRITY PROTOCOL (TKIP): WPA security element defined by the IEEE for 802.11i wireless encryption; encryption standard that changes and manages encryption keys across a wireless computer network.

TEQUILA VIRUS: One of the first stealth, multi-partite, polymorhpic, armored, variable encryption viruses with master boot ignition; 1991.

TERABYTE: Electronic storage capacity of one trillion bytes.

TERMINAL: A computer keyboard, screen and storage device allowing smart and dumb date input functions; not a PC; input/output device; terminal server; terminal session.

TERMINAL DIGIT FILE: Health record filing system that uses the last digits to determine final placement.

TERMINAL SERVER: WAN, LAN, MAN or Internet hub device with peripheral nodule computer connections.

Termination procedure: Formal, documented instructions, which include appropriate security measures, for the ending of an employee’s employment, or an internal/external user’s access.

Terrestrial Carrier: A telecommunication transmission system using land-based facilities such as microwave towers, telephone lines, coaxial cable, or fiber optic cable as differentiated from satellite transmission.

TEST LOG: Computer system examination and follow-up.

TEXAS INSRUMENTS® (TI): Semiconductor manufacturer founded by Jack S. Kilby developer of the first integrated circuit (IC), in Dallas, Texas.

TEXT BASE: Computer onscreen text using prerecorded fonts or designs.

TEXT BOX: A screened off area for input messages or commands.

TEXT EDITOR: A text-only file editor.

TEXT FILE: Health information or other data file of text characters.

TEXT MINE: The management of free text data.

THEAD: Most minute data packet retrieved by a CPU scheduler.

THIN CLIENT: A client-terminal that performs little health or other data processing, but operates off a central server as it retains OS functionality on the desktop; little storage capacity.

THIN SERVER: A client-terminal where most health, medical or other data processing occurs on the client machine.

THIRD GENERATION: Computers originally made with integrated circuits, rather than earlier vacuum tunes, or later CPUs.

Thompson, TOMMY: Former Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary and former governor of Wisconsin who joined the pharmacy benefits manager, Medco Health Solutions, Inc., in December, 2006.

THRALL, JAMES, H; MD: CMIO for the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA.

THREAD: An online discussion theme or topic; series of messages and responses; threaded discussion; threaded site; threaded newsreader, etc.

THREAT: The potential for a source to exploit intentionally, or trigger accidentally, a    specific computer, network or online vulnerability (interruption, alteration, steal or disclose and destruction).

THREAT ANALYSIS: The examination of threat sources against system vulnerabilities to determine the risks for a particular healthcare IT system in a particular operational environment.

THREAT MANAGEMENT: Integrated comprehensive approach to healthcare network security that addresses multiple types of malware, blended threats and spam, and protects from intrusion at both the gateway and the endpoint levels; components of an integrated threat management system are part of a centrally administered HIT architecture.

THREAT MODEL: A process for optimizing health network security by identifying objectives and vulnerabilities, and then defining countermeasures to prevent, or mitigate the effects of, threats to the system, malicious or incidental, that can compromise the assets of the enterprise.

THREAT SOURCE: Either (1) intent and method targeted at the intentional exploitation of a computer, network or online vulnerability or (2) the situation and method that may accidentally trigger a vulnerability.

THREAT Vulnerability: A flaw or weakness in system security procedures, design, implementation, or internal controls that could be exercised (accidentally triggered or intentionally exploited) and result in a security breach or a violation of a health system’s security policy.

THREE FINGER SALUTE: Simultaneously pressing the computer input keys: control-alternate-delete with three manual digits, to terminate DOS and/or Windows® OS; slang term.

THROUGHPUT: Amount of electrical computer system information delivered per given time period; the amount of medical data that is actually transmitted over a network in a given period of time, expressed in bits per second; rates are related to baud rates, but are generally little lower due to imperfect transmission conditions; usually, higher baud rates will permit higher throughput.

THUMB: An elevated scroll bar box used to navigate a webpage or computer screen image.

THUMBNAIL: A small representation of an image that is expandable upon activation.

THUMBDRIVE®: USB flash drive that was the world’s first and smallest portable storage drive, based on Trek’s patented technologies which combines flash memory technologies and encryption technologies with an USB connection to create a self-contained and highly secured drive and media package; plugs directly into the USB port of any computer and can store virtually any digital data from documents, and presentations, to music and photos.

THUNK(ING): An electronic 32 to 16 bit code translation; slang term.

Tie Line: A telephone circuit leased or dedicated to an individual which is provided by common carriers that connect two points together without using the switched telephone network.

TIGER: A security expert charged with discovering computer system flaws, sploits, or bugs in order to correct them; tiger team; slang term.

TILE: A divided computer screen.

TIME BOMB: Logical information release that activates or explodes upon some pre-set condition or date, usually maliciously; automatic access termination; slang term.

Time Division Multiplexing: Transmission of more than one lines of health information in one high-capacity communications channel using time as the means to separate channels.

Time-of-day: Access to health data is restricted to certain time fames, i.e., Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 pm.

TIME OUT: The end of a response waiting period.

TIME SHARE: The use or sharing or a CPU for two or more operations during the same time period.

TIME SLICE: The brief increment allotted to a multitasking computer system.

Time stamp: A notation that indicates, at least, the correct date and time of an action and the identity of the person that created the notation.

TITLE BAR: The top line of a window or screen with identification nomenclature.

TOGGLE: A simple back and forth; on/off switch.

TOKEN: Physical context authorization or authentication used to provide identity; typically, an electronic device that can be inserted in a door or a computer system to obtain access; special message; token bus; token pass; token ring, etc.

TOKEN RING: LAN /WAN network priority transmission protocol system.

TOOKER, JOHN; MD PhD: CEO, American College of Physicians, and President eHealth Initiative Foundation.

TOP LEVEL DOMAIN (TLD): The terminal portion of an URL or email address; .com; .edu; .gov, etc.

TOPOLOGY: The architecture, physical geography or layout of a computer network.

TOR©: Anonymous internet communication system for web browsing and publishing, instant messaging, IRC, SSH, and other applications that use the TCP protocol; also a platform on which software developers can build new applications with built-in anonymity, safety, and privacy features; onion network; TorNetwork® and Anonymizer©

Torpark®: Internet browser designed to disguise an originating IP address, based on Mozilla’s Firefox® 1.5 using a worldwide network of encrypted routers to randomly choose a different IP address.

Torrenza®: AMD technology to connect computer processors to coprocessor devices that handle tasks such as digital video for more realistic radiology images and/or patient-physician simulations; code name.

TORVALDS, LINUS, B: Finnish engineer who initiated the development of the Linux® kernel and now acts as the project’s coordinator; inspired by Minix (an operating system developed by Andrew Tanenbaum to develop a capable Unix surrogate operating system that could be run on a PC; Linux now also runs on many other platforms; Red Hat®, Oracle® and VA Linux® are both leading developers of Linux-based software.

TOUCH PAD: A stationary flat surface digital computer pointing device.

TOUCH SCREEN: Interface command, or access control input device induced by physically touching a CRT, LED or similar activation screen.

TRACE ROUTE: A source-to-destination computer path router.

TRACER: Email attachment that when opened, sends the IP address of the recipient back to the sender.

TRACK BACK: The ability of a blog to interact, link, post and affiliate with another related blog.

TRACK BALL: A round moveable rotating pointing device.

TRACKING COOKIE: Usually malicious and unknown computer utility program that sends web page and Internet reports back to the main cookie fro advertising and sales purposes.

TRAFFIC ANALYSIS: The inference of healthcare information from observation of traffic flows (presence, absence, amount, direction, and frequency).

TRAFFIC FLOW CONFIDENTIALITY: A security service agreement to protect against online or other traffic analysis.

TRAFFIC SPEED: The rapidity at which a cursor, mouse bar or other input device moves across a computer screen and activates an input command.

Transaction: The exchange of information between two parties to carry out financial or administrative activities related to health or medical care; the transmission of information between two parties to carry out financial or administrative activities related to health care and includes the following types of information transmissions:

• health care claims or equivalent encounter information.
• health care payment and remittance advice.
• coordination of benefits.
• health care claim status.
• enrollment and disenrollment in a health plan.
• eligibility for a health plan.
• health plan premium payments.
• referral certification and authorization.
• first report of injury.
• health claims attachments.

Transaction Change Request System: A system established under HIPAA for accepting and tracking change requests for any of the HIPAA mandated transactions standards using a single web site.

TRANSACTION CODE SETS: A set of common HIPAA standards for electronic transmission of clinical health data; in time, standardized data sets may provide building blocks that enable national connectivity among all healthcare databases.

Transaction privacy: Protects against loss of privacy with respect to transactions being performed by an individual patient or healthcare system or provider, covered entity, etc.

TRANSACTION STANDARD: The set of rules, requirements or conditions for secure data element and code set HIPAA communications.

TRANSCRIPTIONIST: A medically trained typist or computer input operator.

TRANSISTOR: A type of electrical current switch, amplifier or logic gate.

TRANSLATION PROGRAM: Software that converts programming language to machine language or binary codes.

Translator: A broadband network operation; an instrument, located in a central retransmission facility to filter incoming microwave signals and retransmit them in a higher frequency band.

TRANSMISSION: The exchange of electronic data between sender and receiver.

TRANSMISSION CONTROL PROTOCOL (TCP): A common internet IP standard.

Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP): The underlying communications rules and procedures that allow computers to interact with each other on the Internet.

Transmission Speed: The rate at which information passes over a communications channel; generally given in either bits per second (bps) or baud.

Transponder: A microwave receiver and transmitter in a satellite that receives signals being transmitted from Earth, amplifies them, and sends them back down to Earth for reception purposes.

TRANSPORT LAYER: The fourth OSI strata between computer hardware and software for correct end-flow processing.

TRANSPOSE: Scrambled character in a message for security purposes.

TRANSPOSITION: Scrambling computer characters, symbols or language for security encryption purposes.

TRAP DOOR: Unauthorized software or hardware access gate or method; back door; slang term.

TRASH: Storage bin for old deleted computer files; recycle bin.

TRAY: Small icon screen area located right of the task bar on Windows® for printer icons, volume control, program icons, clock, etc.

Treatment: The provision, coordination or management of health care and related services by one or more health care providers, including the coordination or management of health care by a health care provider with a third party; consultation between health care providers relating to an individual or the referral of an individual for health care from one health care provider to another.

TREE: Data structure linked together in a hierarchical manner; computer system network configuration of resources or topology.

TRI-GATE RESISTOR: Three dimensional transistors from the Intel Corporation® for health data and other high-volume manufacturing: vPro^®; Core Duo^®; Centrino^®; and VIIV.

TRIGGERR: To induce a computer system action to be launched automatically; automatic virus, worm or similar activation methodology.

TRIPATHI, MICKY, PhD; CEO, Massachusetts, eHealth Collaborative.

TRIPLE DES:   A three step, 56-bit key, DES encryption/decryption algorithm.

TROJAN HORSE: A non-self replicating software computer program with a hidden universal malicious function; hidden or covert scam from a known externally delivered function, a Trojan; slang term.

TROLL(ING): Aimless negative web surfing or online user malicious response baiting; slang term.

TRULIA: A commercial and healthcare real estate mashup.

TRUNK: Single computer system circuit with many channel switches; a large capacity, long-distance channel that common carriers use to transfer information between its customers. 

TRUST: Window© NT-to-Windows© NT domain resource sharing; health information or medical database entry and security rights and mutual administrative permissions; secure two-way electronic relationship.

TRUSTED SYSTEM: A standardized set of security and safeguard attributes; trusted third party (TTP).

TRUSTED USER ACCESS LEVEL: One who requires access to protected healthcare or other confidential information. 

TRUSTWORTHY COMPUTING: Term coined by William H. Gates, CEO of the Microsoft Corporation, to indicate a high level of confidence and assurance in computer software coding and data transmission; a long-term, collaborative effort to provide private and reliable computing experiences; a core company tenet at Microsoft built on four pillars: security, privacy, reliability and integrity.

TUKEY, JOHN, W, PhD: (1915-2000). Coined the term “bit” in 1949 and made math and computer science contributions during a long career at Bell Labs and Princeton University.

TULSA: An Intel Xeon® micro processor platform for mutli-processor server implementation with NetBurst© architecture; code name.

TUNNEL: A private and secure WAN, LAN or MAN computer system communications link or network; tunneling; tunnel service, etc.

TURBO: High speed computer operations and transmissions mode; slang term.

TURBO PASCAL: A Pascal computer language compiler program with object oriented extensions, made popular for PCs by Borland International®.

TURING MACHINE: Theoretical “thinking machine” created by mathematician Alan Turing in the 1950’s.

TURING TEST: An examination to distinguish a computing machine from a human being; thinking intelligence test.

Turn in keys, token: Formal, documented procedure to ensure all physical items that allow a terminated employee to access a healthcare entity, property, building, clinic or equipment are retrieved from that employee, preferably prior to termination.

Turnkey systems:  Vendor provision of a hospital with computer and software systems that are “pre-packaged” so that hospital-based system development is minimal; limited customization using systems analysts or programmers; an integrated method of telecommunications in which all of the installation services and components needed for operational teleconferencing have been provided by a single vendor or contractor.

TURTLE: A cursor that leaves a lighted tail or serves as a pointer for drawing; slang term.

TWEENING: Electronic animation technique; slang term.

TWIDDLE: To make small computer network or operating system changes; without real efficiency improvements; to aimlessly diddle around; slang term.

TWISTED PAIR: The most common type of medium in PSTN’s (public switched telephone network) local loops, insulated copper wires are wrapped around each other to void the effects of electrical noise; can transmit voice, data, and low-grade video.

TWO FACTOR AUTHENTICATION: A health data or medical information security process in which the user provides two means of identification, one of which is typically a physical token, such as a card, and the other of which is typically something memorized, such as a security code; two factors involved are sometimes spoken of as something you have and something you know.

TYPE FACE: The distinctive appearance of letters, symbols or numbers; Courier, Arial, Times New Roman, etc.

TYPE SIZE: The height or size of a particular font style.

TYPO SQUATTER(S): Those who register website addresses, either with trademarked terms or common misspellings, in order to benefit from pay-per-click advertising, but place nothing on the website pages sans advertisements; cyber-squatter; domain name or URL squatter, etc.

U-Z Terminology

-U-

UB-92 Uniform Bill 1992: Bill form used to submit hospital insurance claims for payment by third parties. Similar to HCFA (CMS) 1450 and 1500, but reserved for the inpatient component of health services; hardcopy and electronic formats

UBIQUITOUS COMPUTING: Philosophical concept that patient healthcare will be improved, more pervasive and efficient with the universal use of secure and natural language healthcare information systems and computers, anytime and anywhere; ubicomp; slang term.

UBUNTU®: Linux based operating system, freely available with both community and professional support; Ubuntu® is suitable for both desktop and server use; current versions support PC (Intel© x86), 64-bit PC (AMD64©), UltraSPARC© T1 (Sun Fire T1000 and T2000) and PowerPC© (Apple iBook© and Powerbook©, G4 and G5) architectures.

UCR: A method of profiling prevailing medical fees in an area and reimbursing medical providers based on that profile; usual, customary and reasonable.

Ultrahigh Frequency (UHF): A radio frequency in the second highest range of the radio spectrum, from 300 to 3,000 MHz.

Ultraviolet Lithography: Technology to help shrink computer chip features even more than the 45-32 nanometer process that Intel launched in 2007. 

Undelete: Computer file-recovery functionality or utility with provides real-time data protection and instant recovery for PCs, servers and workstations.

UNDERCODE: Incomplete medical record billing and invoicing documentation usually due to missing information.

UNDERRUN: An abrupt lack of medical information or health data.

UNICODE: 16-bit standard character set with UT-F8 encoding for efficient ASCII characterization.

UNIDIRECTED MESSAGE: Blast email broadcast information without regard to its recipient.

UNFREEZE: Health data or information that discontinues current behavior.

UNIFIED MEDICAL LANGUAGE SYSTEM (UMLS): Protocol lexicon standard, sponsored by the United States National Library of Medicine (US-NLM), for clinical medical terms and nomenclature use with electronic health database management functionality.

UNIFIED MESSAGING SYSTEM (UMS): The handling of rich text messages with voice, graphics, audio and video functionality, in a single email transmission and mailbox.

UNIFORM BILLING CODE OF 1982: See UB-82; healthcare claim form; hardcopy and digital.

UNIFORM BILLING CODE OF 1992: See UB-92; healthcare claim form; hardcopy and digital.

Uniform Claim Form: A single claim form and standardized format for electronic medical claims.

Uniform Claim Task Force (UCTF): An organization that developed the initial HCFA-1500 Professional Claim Form whose responsibilities were assumed by the NUCC.

UNIFORM COMMERCIAL CODE (UCC): A state-wide, not federal, legal codification of commerce involving tangible and intangible healthcare and other business transactions.

UNIFORM PRACTICE CODE (UPC): A code established and maintained by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) Board of Governors that regulates the mechanics of executing and completing securities transactions in the OTC market between members; including publicly traded healthcare companies.

UNIFORM PRACTICE COMMITTEE: A National Association of Securities Dealers district subcommittee that disseminates information and interpretations landed down by the Board of Governors regarding the Uniform Practice Code (UPC).

UNIFORM RESOURCE LOCATOR (url): Address identification mechanism for Internet surfing and web browsing; a naming convention, like: http// or ftp// etc; the standard form for an address on the Internet; for example, http://www.base.com/ indicates a Hypertext Transport Protocol (http) address on the World Wide Web (www) with location “base” and the type of owner (com); other valid guidelines may include ftp and gopher; unlike most e-mail addresses, URLs are always case sensitive, that is, whether a character is upper or lower case does make a difference.

UNINTERRUPTIBLE POWER SUPPLY (UPS): Device to temporarily maintain computer power during a blackout or brownout.

UNION: Data value spacer or electronic computer code place-holder; variant.

Unique PHYSICIAN) user identification NUMBER (UPIN): The combination name/number assigned and maintained in security procedures for identifying and tracking individual user identity (ASTM).

UNIT FILES SYSTEM: Medical chart that records inpatient and outpatient visit information together.

UNIT NUMBER SYSTEM: Medical chart that records the first through last medical encounter with a unique alpha-numeric code or other or designation.

UNIT NUMBERING: A method for tracking patient records in a medical office or healthcare facility.

UNIT RECord: A single location for all individual patient healthcare data or information.

United Nations CenteR for Facilitation of Procedures and Practices for Administration, Commerce, and Transport (UN/CEFACT): An international organization dedicated to the elimination or simplification of procedural barriers to international commerce and global healthcare electronic data information exchange (EDI).

United Nations Rules for Electronic Data Interchange for Administration, Commerce, and Transport (UN/EDIFACT): An international HIPAA EDI format; interactive X12 transactions use the EDIFACT message.

UNIVERSAL CHART ORDER: A similarly formatted medical or healthcare record for both inpatient and outpatient encounters.

UNIVERSAL CLIENT: A computer or blade-sever that can access many network applications.

UNIVERSAL DESCRIPTION DISCOVERY AND INTEGRATION: (UDDI): An XLM based registry for businesses worldwide to list themselves on the Internet and whose ultimate goal is to streamline online transactions by enabling companies to find one another on the Web and make their systems interoperable for e-commerce and e-healthcare, etc.

UNIVERSAL IDENTIFIER: A single, secure and absolute recognition number for protected health information (PHI).

UNIVERSAL MEDICAL DEVICE NOMENCLATURE SYSTEM (UMDNS): Regulatory terms for medical device communications, e-commerce and procurement.

UNIVERSAL PRODUCT CODE (UPC): Twelve digits number assigned to retail merchandise, instruments and durable medical equipment as a bar code numerator.

UNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS (USB): A standard protocol to connect peripheral computer devices, but also commonplace on videogames, PDAs, TVs, home stereo equipment, MP3 players and other memory devices; spectrum-based USB implementation is known as wireless USB.

UNIX: Machine independent (mini, midi and microcomputers) modular and extensible open source code computer operating and networking system developed by Bell Labs, in the late 1960s, that supports multi-tasking, multi-user and networking functionality; replacement for Multics; Solaris® and Linux® are variants; mainframe or legacy computer language.

UNSHIELDED TWISTED PAIR (UTP): Wireless Ethernet cable connection.

UNSTRUCTURED DATA: Human readable and non-binary health, medical or other electronic information.

UNSUBCRIBE: To become removed for a RSS feed, list-service, BBS or newsgroup, etc.

UNZIP: To uncompress a compressed or archived data or information file.

UPCODE: CPT codes that represent higher healthcare provider payment rates than those medical procedures or treatments actually rendered.

UPLEVEL: A later version of a software product or electronic device.

UPLINK: An electronic channel from a satellite to an earth station; referring to a transmitting earth station.

UPLINK PORT: A type of hub or switch for computer network expansion.

UPLOAD: To copy and save files from the internet or intranet to a computer; the link, or path, from a transmitting earth station to the satellite; transferring files or software from one computer to another.

UPSTREAM: Un-directional electronic health data or other information transmission from client to server.

UPWARD COMPATABLE: Compatible with newer product versions; software, hardware, networks and peripheral computer devices.

URETZ, MICHAEL: Executive Director of the Electronic Health Record Group.

USA Patriot Act: A federal act designed to broaden the surveillance of law enforcement agencies to enhance the detection and suppression of terrorism.

USAGE ANALYSIS: Website or web age benchmarking monitoring and reporting system.

USB FLASH DRIVE: A small flash non-volatile memory stick or similar device with USB computer interface; thumb-drive
USB HARD DRIVE: Portable hard disk with USB computer port connection.

Use: The sharing, employment, application, utilization, examination or analysis of PIHI within a covered medical entity that maintains such information.

USENET: A public Internet discussion forum or newsgroup; slang term for user network. Top level topical categories include:

• alternative: alt
• computing: comp
• miscellaneous: misc
• recreation: rec
• science: sci
• social: soc
• discussions: talk
• usenet: news

USER: One who accesses a computer, smart card, server, network, cell phone, fax machine, or other electronic communications device, etc.

USER ACCESS: One authorized to gain entrance and use a computer, smart card, server, network, and or cell phone, fax machine, or other communications device, etc.

USER ACCOUNT: Established end-user or identifier in a multi-user medical database or health information computer system.

USER AUTHENTICATION: Security verification for one who uses a computer, smart card, server, network, cell phone, fax machine, or other communications device, etc; optional under the 802.11 standard, but required under WPA.

User based access: A health data security mechanism used to grant users of a system access, based upon the identity of the user.

USER DATAGRAM PROTOCOL (UDP): Transmission standard like TCP used for VOIP or video/audio streaming; connectionless.

USER DEFINED KEY (UDK): Video terminal keyboard buttons F6-F20 for frequently used video computer commands.

User Education Concerning Virus: Training relative to user awareness of the potential harm that can be caused by a virus or similar miscreant; how to prevent the introduction of a virus to a computer system, and what to do if a virus is detected.

User Education in Importance of Monitoring: Training in user responsibility to ensure the security of healthcare data or medical information.

User Education in Password Management: A type of training about the rules to be followed in creating and changing computer system passwords and the need to keep them confidential.

USER FRIENDLY: Computer system that is easy for medical and allied healthcare providers, and non IT professionals to implement and use.

USER GROUP: A loose organization of online hobbyists or professionals drawn together by a common interest, such as medicine, healthcare, economics and finance, etc; blog; slang term.

User identification: Assurance of the claimed identity of a healthcare or other covered entity (ASTM E1762 -5); part of digital signature on the matrix; user name; user profile.

USER INTERFATCE: Electronic input device or access methodology; GUI, language, touch-screen or computer driven menu; design components of a Web page that directs users on how to access the information contained on a Web site.

Usual, Customary and Reasonable (UCR): A physician’s full charge if it is reasonable and does not exceed his or her usual charges, and the amount customarily charged for the service by other physicians and medical providers in the area.

UTILITY PROGRAM: Software traditionally used for repetitive tasks like disk defragmentation, security verification, disk compression, etc; includes internet form filler RoboForm©; USB mini-drive password bookmarker Pass2Go©; conference line provider FreeConferenceService©; data compressor SendThisFile©; pcAnywhere© surrogate Radmin©; Google Desktop; and computer specification reader; Belarc Advisor©, etc.

-V-

V.32 bis: International standard for data communications using a modem at speeds of up to 14,400 bits per second.

V.34 bis: International standard for data communications using a modem at speeds of up to 28,800 bits per second.

vCARD: An electronic business card with contact information, etc.

vPRO©: Intel© Core 2 Duo microprocessor with integrated technology for enterprise wide computer systems management, such as remote-heal during power-down, for health information and EDI network management.

V-CODE: Descriptors of patient health status and justification for medical encounters other than disease or injury already classified in the ICD-9-CM codes; for fiscal reimbursement.

V-FAST CLASS: Introduced prior to 34; a proprietary modem modulation used for 28.8 Kbps connections, is no longer a supported standard.

VACUUM TUBE: Evacuated glass tube that conducts electricity; cathode ray tube.

VALIDATE ACCESS: Verifies work authorizations and entry to workstations and computers before granting physical access, including a procedure to track input, maintenance and security of health or other business records.

VALIDATION: Specification evaluation, and integrity testing of a computer system.

VALIDATOR: Quality assurance program used to check Hypertext Markup Language for errors; a useful tool for an HTML user who receives health data or other information electronically from a variety of input sources.

VALIDITY: The extent to which medical, health or other data represents the actual facts and circumstances of a patient encounter or medical intervention.

VALUE ADDED NETWORK (VAN): LAN, WAN or MAN that offers additional services or utility; medical data; health information; healthcare RSS feeds, etc; VAN reseller.

VANILLA: A software program or computer applications used “as-is”, without customization or extra features.

VAPORWARE: Non existent software; theoretical or marketing machination; slang term.

VARIANT: Any health data or other information that can act as a spacer or place- holder for other data; union.

VARIANT VIRUS: Modification of an existing computer virus, or malicious code, algorithm, etc.

VAX: Virtual address extension for mid-range computer servers from DEC® (now HP), in the late 1970s, using the successor PDP series and a 32-bit operating system known as VMS (virtual memory system); legacy system.

Vector Graphics: Illustrations composed of line and curve segments, created in such programs as Illustrator©, FreeHand©, and CorelDRAW©.

VECTOR PORCESSOR: Any computer capable of executing many calculations in a single step; array computer processor.

VERSION NUMBER: The identification number for released computer software or other applications and programs.

Very High Frequency (VHF): A radio frequency in the very high range of the radio spectrum, from 30 to 300 MHz.

VERy HIGH level LANGUAGE: Novice end-user enabling tool used to create software applications.

VIDEO BANDWIDTH: The maximum resolution of a computer screen or monitor.

VIDEO CAPTURE: To secure a digital movie or grab a single pictorial digital frame.

VIDEO CARD: Interface between computer CPU and monitor; 2 and 3 dimensional types are available for radiologists, radiology imaging, and video-gamers.

VIDEO CHAT: A video conference or network camera conversation in real-time.

VIDEO CONFERENCE: An electronic telecommunications meeting driven by broadband internet connectivity; real-time two way transmission of digitized video images between multiple locations; uses telecommunications to bring patients and doctors at physically remote locations together for examinations and consultations; each individual location in a videoconferencing system requires a room equipped to send and receive video.

VIDEO EDITING: Software programs used to import raw digital footage and produce, edit and save video files to a specific format and/or burn a DVD or CD; Adobe Premiere©, Ulead VdeoStudio©, Pinacle Studio© and Sony Vegas©.

VIDEO FORMATS: Digital video file formats:

• AVI (.avi): Supported by WMP but there are many non-supported types, too.
• MPEG (.mpeg or .mpg): Combined container and codec:
• MPEG-1: Lowest quality CD/DVDs
• MPEG-2: Broadcast quality supported by WMP
• QUICKTIME® (.qt and .mov): Apple digital movie format
• RealMedia® (.rm and .ram): Real Networks movie format
• WINDOWS MEDIA®: .asf; and .wmv 

  Video Frame Grabber: Device that changes analog video signals into digital. 

Video graphics Array (VGA): A measure of image size, representing the capacity to display 640 X 480 lines, such as on viewing monitors for personal computers.

VIDEO MAIL: Message and video presentations delivered by email services.

VIRTUAL: Electronic sham or computer assisted simulation.

Virtual Address Extension (VAX): A family of 32-bit computers from HP (DEC and Compaq) first introduced in 1977, with models ranging from desktop units to mainframes which all ran the same VMS operating system; large VAX multiprocessing clusters served thousands of healthcare entity users; legacy computers, mid-frame or mainframe; middle iron.

VIRTUAL CARD: Electronic data elements existing without a physical location.

Virtual Circuit: Packet switched network facilities that seem to be an actual end-to-end circuit.

vIrtual dos machine: Computer executing Disk Operating System 16 or WINDOWS© 16 bit applications.

VIRTUAL DISTRIBUTOR: A channel of product delivery where one can purchase books, supplies, software, journals and educational materials through a Web site; a business-to-business site that use its services for direct electronic purchases or requests for proposals for medial equipment and supplies; or an auction area where healthcare agents can buy and sell used equipment and excess inventory; vendors pay a transaction fee to participate in the bidding or purchasing, but buyers usually escape any service fees.

VIRTUAL HEALTH PROGRAm: Integrated and web-based community healthcare system with patient empowerment and low cost delivery.

VIRTUAL HOST: An internet server that contains multiple websites.

VIRTUAL LAN: A software created subgroup that combines user stations and network devices regardless of physical location; virtual MAN or WAN.

VIRTUAL MACHINE: A non-existent “computer”, such as the VM/ESA OS from IBM that simulates copies of itself; usually using JAVA® applets.

VIRTUAL MEMORY: Hard drive simulation of more RAM than actually exists and thereby allows a computer to run larger or concurrent programs by breaking them into small segments called “pages” and bringing them into memory that fits into a reserved area for that program; if a program’s logic points back and forth to opposite ends of the program, excessive disk accesses (“thrashing,”) can slow down execution.

VIRTUAL NETWORK: A connected group of networks that appear as one unit.

VIRTUAL PC EXPRESS: A Microsoft© online computer network and digital support service.

Virtual Private Network (VPN): A technical strategy for creating secure connections, or tunnel protocols (IPSec, L2TP or PPTP, etc) for encrypted health data or other information, over the internet; especially in medical care delivery and TPA management; a private communications network usually used within a company, hospital or by several different companies or healthcare organizations, to communicate over a public network;. VPN message traffic is carried on public networking infrastructure (e.g. the Internet) using standard (often insecure) protocols, or over a service provider’s network providing VPN service guarded by well defined Service Level Agreement (SLA) between the VPN customer and the VPN service provider. VPN involves two parts: the protected or “inside” network that provides physical security and administrative security sufficing to protect transmission (sometimes it is not always the case), and a less trustworthy or “outside” network or segment.

VIRTUAL REALITY: Electronic medical mimicry and sensory simulation to assist in the diagnosis and treatment of various medical and mental disorders; i.e., agoraphobic virtual reality simulators; a computer-based technology for simulating visual, auditory, and other sensory aspects of complex patient environments to create an illusion of being a three-dimensional world; a teaching world is designed by the computer, and viewed through a special headset that responds to head movements while a glove responds to hand movements; for example, while in a virtual patient exam room, one may move a hand to grasp a stethoscope and auscultate a heart.

VIRTUAL ROUTING: Virtual computer system subgroups independent of physical location but logically treated as a single internet domain.

VIRTUAL TECHNOLOGY: Engineering protocol that allows the more efficient and transparent use of many computers which are indifferent to their underlying operating systems for enhanced medical or covered entity EDI; Novell Xen©.

VIRTUALIZATION: The technical ability to include more servers onto fewer healthcare computers; suitable for applications, operating systems, containerization.

VIRUS: Unwanted and usually malicious and externally delivered computer software code which attaches itself to programs and applications for self replications and mischief; email enhanced electronic miscreants and attachments; stealth; over and non-overwriting, and variant, etc; the Brain first released in 1986 was the first self replicating PC software distributed on a 5.25 inch floppy disk, although the Elk Cloner infected Apple IIs in 1982; others include: Lehigh, Jerusalem, Dark Avenger, Integrity Maser,  DAME,  Michelangelo,  Boza,  Melissa, ILOVEYOU, Sircam,  Nimda, BadTrans,  SQL Slammer, Blaster Worm, Sobig.F, Bagle Worm Santy Worm, Zotob, etc; term first coined by Fred Cohen in 1983.

Virus check: A computer program that identifies and disables: (1) another “virus” computer program, typically hidden, that attaches itself to other programs and has the ability to replicate; (2) a type of programmed threat or code fragment (not an independent program) that reproduces by attaching to another program and may damage data directly, or it may degrade system performance by taking over system resources which are then not available to authorized users; and (3) code embedded within a program that causes a copy of itself to be inserted in one or more other programs; in addition to propagation, the virus usually performs some unwanted function.

VIRUS CREATION LAB: Set of computer viruses which contained a suite of writing tools in 1991-1992; Dark Avenger Mutation Engine variant.

VIRUS HOAX: A bit of computer code that isn’t really a virus at-all, and may lead unsuspecting users to routinely ignore all virus warning messages leaving them vulnerable to a genuine, destructive viruses.

VIRUS PROTECTION: Any method that provides end user education, including information about the potential harm that can be caused by viruses, how to prevent introduction of a virus to a computer system and what to do if a virus is detected.

VIRUS SCANNER: An antivirus software program that searches for signatures or malicious binary patterns that have attached themselves to executable computer programs.

VIRUS SIGNATURE: The machine code and binary pattern of a specific virus; mode of operation; program code look and feel.

VISIO©: Software application that produces diagrams, tables, graphs and other business and medical illustrations.

VISIT: A web page or web site view; user eyeballs.

VISITOR: One who views a website or page; user eyeballs.

VISITOR TRACKING: Establishes sign-in procedures to cover the “reception, tracking and hosting of visitors” at a healthcare or medical facility; for certain access, “escort” cods or passwords may be provided.

VISHING: Use of a phony VOIP number, rather than faux Web link, to fraudulently obtain private information; identity theft scam; similar to text message phising; slang term.

VISIT: Request from a web-browser to visit a web page or web site; produces multiple “hits”.

VISTA©: Windows© based operating system from the Microsoft Corporation®; released in 2007 as the first upgrade since 2001 along with releases for Office 2007 and Exchange Server 2007; healthcare variant.

VISTA© ID VERIFICATION: Secure fingertip biometric or smart-card reader-ready Windows© operating system.

VISTA© INFOCARD: Windows© operating system enabled Internet Explorer© Web browser with scaleable InfoCard (smart-card) security capabilities.

VISTA© KERNEL: Security features of the Windows operating system which includes: drive signaling requirements to fool online malware; anti-patch technology to reduce kernel manipulation; kernel integrity checks, and restricted user access to physical memory.

VISUAL BASIC©: Modular programming language from the Microsoft Corporation with screen driven programming; released in 1991 to enable the Windows© operating system; NET; VB.NET; C#; C++; Kylix©; JBuilder© for Java and Delphi®, Visual Café®, etc.

VISUAL HTLML EDITOR: Simple web page designing language or format; WYSIWYG; i.e., Adobe Go Live©, MSFT FrontPage©, Macromedia Dreamweaver© or MSFT OfficeLive©; etc.

VISUAL STUDEO .NET©: MSFT XML web page development environment.

VIVOX©: Peer-2-Peer voice technology service.

VLOG: Online data directory filed with video clips; video blogs, etc; slang term.

VMWARE: x86: PC based manageability series which redefined the enterprise health data or other information center.

Voice Grade Channel: A telephone circuit of adequate bandwidth to carry signals in the voice frequency range of 300 to 3400 Hertz; the bandwidth of a POTS line.

VOICE MAIL: Computerized telephone messages and audio processing; voice chat; voice message.

VOICE OVER INTERNET PROTOCOL (VOIP): UDP telephone transmission protocol over the Internet; based on Wi-Fi roaming functionality; Google Talk©, Skype© and Vonage©, etc.

VOICE RECOGNITION: Natural language computer input interface with vocal commands, and without a pointer, keyboard, stylus or other physical input device; the ability of a computer to interpret auditory information in the form of spoken words. 

Voice Switching: An electronic method for opening and closing a circuit, such as changing form one microphone to another microphone or from one video camera to another video camera, responding to the presence or absence of sound.

VOID: Containing no health data, medical, PHI or other information.

VOKEN: Website advertisement that appear on an Internet web page but without a separate open window screen; virtual token; slang term.

VOLATILE: Memory that is erased when computer power is removed; non permanent; RAM is volatile; flash sticks are non-volatile.

Volume: Physical computer system storage unit, such as a hard disk, floppy disk, CD-ROM, etc., logical storage unit which is a part of one physical drive or one that spans several physical drives.

Volume Element: A voxel is like a pixel in a three-dimensional version and is generated by computer-based imaging systems, such as CT or MRI.

VON-NEUMANN, JOHN, PhD (1903-1957): Mathematician and active member of the Manhattan Project Atomic Energy Commission; later researched and worked on parallel computing processes and networks; has earned him the label of the “father of the modern computer”.

VORAN, DAVID, MD: Chief Medical Information Officer of Health Midwest, a Kansas City, Mo.-based health system with 15 acute care facilities and multiple satellites.

VULNERABILITY: A weakness in healthcare information system security procedures, design, implementation, internal controls, etc., that could be accidentally triggered or intentionally exploited and result in a violation of the system’s security policy.

vulnerability assessment managed services: Agencies that use scanning devices connected to probe a health organization’s security to look for vulnerabilities.

VULNERABILITY INDEX (VI): A measure of computer system intrusion or threat magnitude; the product of the cost of compromise (CC) or loss, by the probability of loss or compromise.

VULNERABILITY SCANNER: A program that performs diagnostic phase security analysis and defines, identifies, and classifies security holes (vulnerabilities) in a computer, server, network, or healthcare or other organization communications infrastructure; can forecast the effectiveness of proposed countermeasures, and evaluate how well they work after they are put into use.

VULNERABLE ACCESS LEVEL: Employment, job-driven or permissible computer security level for those cohorts accessing private patient health information or other sensitive data.

VULNERABLE USER ACCESS: Sensitivity level of individual computer entry within a defined job-space, or security level.

-W-

W-10: Inter health agency transform form.

WAEGEMANN, PETER, C: CEO of the Medical Records Institute.

WAKE-ON-LAN (WOL): A computer network PCI adapter that opens the host from sleep-mode, to make it available to other network users; other PCI features are flow control, full duplex data transfer and fast 10/100Base-T data transfer.

WALLPAPER: Graphical spread across the background of a computer screen or monitor; screen-saver; slang term.

WAND: A hand held or portable optical reader.

WANG, HAO; PhD: CIO for SAFE Health.

WAR CHALK SYMBOL: Amateur chalk mark or formal identifying logo for a hot spot wireless computer network provider; sidewalk, building, tree IT graffiti; slang term.

WAR DIAL(ER): Using an automatically dialing modem to call out many telephone numbers to breach computer network security and gain unauthorized access to health data or other information.

WAR DRIVE: The processes of driving an automobile around a specific neighborhood in search of a wireless hot spot for an enabled lap top computer with external antenna; slang term.

WAREZ: Usually Peer-2-Peer acquired, or pirated and illegally copied software.

WARM BOOT: Restarting a computer after it has been previously functional.

warm site: An alternative backup site that contains some of the same equipment as the heath organization’s actual IT center.

WARP: IBM OS/2 version operating system; or to visually distort a digitized computer image.

WASHER: Spam triage utility software that segregates unwanted spam from wanted email transmissions, based on predetermined ranges.

Washington Publishing Company (WPC): The firm that publishes the X12N HIPAA Implementation guides and the X12N HIPAA Data Dictionary; also developed the X 12 Data Dictionaries and that hosts the EHNAC STFCS testing program.

WATERMARK: Invisible code or ghost pattern on a digital image, used for identification.

WAVELET: Software diagnostic compression pathway; condensed medical decision-making algorithm, radiographic imaging or other pictorial services.

WAVE (WAV) FILE: The native digital audio format used in Windows© with a .WAV extension.

WEB ADDRESS: Internet protocol or URL identifier with three part web server nomenclature:

• www: host name that distinguishes computers
• healthdictionaryseries: owner’s name
• com: organization type
• location optional (i.e. uk, fi, etc)
• URL: http://www.HealthDictionarySeries.com

WEB APPLIANCE: A dedicated utility computer with little storage and usually connected to a network.

WEB APPLICATION: Software programs accessed online through the Internet and hosted by a provider such as Google© and Microsoft Office Live©.

WEB AUTHORING: Software used to create websites for home, business or medical practice Internet pages/sites, like MSFT FrontPage©, Adobe GoLive© and Macromedia Dreamweaver© and MSFT Office Live© (basic and essentials).

WEB BROWSER: World-wide-web service access software, usually coupled with a GUI interface; Internet Explorer 7®, Mozilla-Firefox©, Opera©, SeaMonkey©, or Netscape©, etc.

WEB CAM: Wired or wireless digital Internet video camera usually with audio chat functionality.

WEB CAST: A live video program sent to multiple internet users concurrently; web short clip; Webby Award©.

WEB CRAWLER: An Internet browser or search engine that identifies, saves and indexes website and web pages.

WEB DIRECTORY: Internet search engine or index like Yahoo! MSN, Google®, ASK®, Lycos®, Microsoft Live Search®, etc.

WEB HEAD: An internet enthusiast; slang term.

WEB MASTER: One responsible for maintenance of a web site; internet engineer; web author.

WEB PAGE: Searchable radio channel-like information located on the Internet; information screens or windows; individual component segments of a web-site.

WEB PORTAL: An Internet site entry or access point; homepage.

WEB SEARCH SITE: Internet site which provide search engine functionality.

WEB SECURITY: Protocols to safeguard web users and/or related healthcare organizations or covered entities.

WEB SERVER: Dedicated computer HTTP server that display web sites, pages and services though URL connectivity; machine where web sites reside; Apache®, Internet Information Server®, Netscape Enterprise Server®, CGI script, etc.

WEB SERVICES: The integration of standardized Internet based applications.

Web Services Description Language (WSDL): An XML language used to describe the services a business offers, and to provide a way for individuals and other businesses to access those services electronically.

WEB SERVICES INTEROPERABILITY (WSI): An association of IT industry companies formed in 2002, including IBM® and Microsoft© that aim to create Internet specifications that all companies can use.

WEB SERVICES SECURITY (WSS): An IT industry standard that addresses security when data is exchanged as part of a web a service from an industry group that includes IBM®, Microsoft®, and Verisign^®.

WEB SITE: GUI Internet location with home page, similar HTTP hyperlinked pages, search index, data, audio, visual or graphic files of related content; related group of www files.

WEBIFY: To maintain the essential components of a PC on its hard-drive, while moving some user files and software that interacts with them to remote ISP type data center servers; to unlock desktop computer healthcare or other data in favor of an Internet hosted application suite; slang term.

WEBTOP: A web browser used as a desktop computer interface.

WEBZINE: An internet published magazine; slang term: zine.

WETZELL, STEVEN:  Cofounder and health informatist of the Leapfrog Group, Washington, DC.

WHEEL: A computer systems administrator with increased security privileges; slang term.

WHETSTONE: Computer operating speed benchmarking protocol.

WHIDBEY: Microsoft Visual Studio-2005^®; code name.

WHISTLER: Windows XP^® and Windows.Net^®; code name.

WHITEBOARD: Electronic equivalent of a chalk blackboard for networking.

WHITE HAT (WH): One who promotes computer systems security; apostle of health information and data confidentiality; slang term.

WHITE, JOEL, C: Member of the professional staff of the Subcommittee on Health, House Committee on Ways and Means, who first outlined the issues faced by healthcare information technology for evolution into the 21st century.

WHITEP PAPER: An authoritative subject matter technical report.

WHO IS: Reverse software utility service used to search for email addresses; who is client; who is server.

WIDE AREA NETWORK (WAN): A geographical large computer users group, connected to a local sever, host or network hub.

Wide Area Telephone Service (WATS): A telephone service with a flat rate for measured bulk-rate, long distance services given on an incoming or outgoing basis; allows a consumer, by use of an access line, to make telephone calls to any telephone number that is able to be dialed in a specific zone for a flat or bulk monthly rate using an 800 number.

WIDEBAND: Electronic transmission rates from 64 Kbps – 2 Mbps, and beyond.

WI-FI: Wireless fidelity electronic computer transmission standards known as 802.11; two current versions, 802.11a and 802.11b are protocols that allow data to be transferred wirelessly and enable different devices to communicate; originally 802.11b was the more widely deployed standard, but it operated slowly and has been replaced by 802.11g, that provides a wider range and runs at the same higher speed as 802.11a; but 802.11a continues with certain advantages such as fewer devices running off the 5-GHz band frequency on which it runs; Bluetooth© wireless technology; moving into the next generation with 802.11n, a technology that combines multiple antennas, cleverer encoding, and an optional doubling of spectrum to achieve raw data rates up to 600 Mbps; ratified by IEEE in 2007.

Wi-Fi PROTECTED ACCESS (WPA): The 802.11i computer network security and encryption standard protocol.

WIKI: Collaborative software or website that allows users to add, modify or delete information, as in a dictionary (www.HealthDictionarySeries.com); the Portland Pattern Repository was the first Wiki, named after the Hawaiian number 7; or “quickie”.

WIKIPEDIA: A fluid and free internet based and collaborative online dictionary; investopedia; wiki.

WILD CARD: Placement holder character, like *, used to help define a data field during an internet search; may be used to ensure a search turns up all forms or derivatives of a word; for example, oz* will turn up both oz and ozone.

WILENSKY, GAIL; PhD: Senior Fellow, Project HOPE.

WiMax: A more powerful version of Wi-Fi that can provide wireless Internet access over wider geographic location such as a city. An acronym that stands for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, and is a certification mark for products that pass conformity and interoperability tests for the IEEE 802.16 standards. IEEE 802.16 is working group number 16 of IEEE 802, specializing in point-to-multipoint broadband wireless access.

WiMax Wild (WM-W): A fourth-generation wireless data network (4G).

WINCHSTER DRIVE: Hard disk drive originally associated with IBM type AT and XT personal computers using the HFM recording technology; code name.

WINDOW: On-computer screen electronic box or rectangular viewing or input screen; slang term; special purpose computer screen space; one currently views an active window.

Window Width: The range of the gray scale of the image seen on a screen; the middle value is the “window level”.

WINDOWS©: A GUI operating system series for PCs from the Microsoft Corporation® first introduced in 1983; Windows© 3.11 for workgroups; Windows© 95 (Chicago) with a 32 bit graphical multitasking system; Windows XP© was introduced in 2001   and  Windows Vista®, in 2007 with six core editions (three for consumers, two for businesses users and a stripped-down edition for emerging markets); Vista^® is designed for advanced 64-bit computing, multimedia or Tablet PCs. Windows© Vista Home Premium allows one to record and watch high-definition television, burn and author DVDs and perform multimedia functions; incorporates Tablet PC technology to decipher handwriting and allows physician or other users to write medical, progress or similar notes; Vista^® Home Premium for the middle market lies between high-end Windows© Vista Ultimate, which includes business-oriented features, and Windows© Vista Home Basic without multimedia capabilities.

WINDOWS ACCELERATOR: A Windows^® screen overlay graphics card without the need for CPU input.

WINDOWS 9X: Short for Windows 95^® and 98 versions; slang term; replaced by MSFT Home Edition.

WINDOWS 98-SE^®: MSFT Operating System with special edition coupled with Internet Explorer in 1999; Windows Millennium Edition^®.

WINDOWS 2000^®, XP^® and Vista^®: GUI operating system released by the MSFT Corporation® in 2000, 2001 and 2007 respectively.

WINDOWS CE^®: Abbreviated Consumer Electronics operating system from MSFT for PDAs and hand help computer devices.

WINDOWS© EXECUTABLE FILE VIRUS: Dangerous computer software that overwrites BIOS data rendering the OS inoperable; the CIH (Chernobyl) variant virus of 1998 caused $20-80M in damage.

WINDOWS FIJI©: MSFT-Windows operating system that followed Vista© with bug fixes, security patches and enhanced features; code name.

WINDOWS LIVE MESSANGER©: MSFT instant computer messaging service that allows VOIP, telephone calling, videoconferencing, drag-in-drop functionality, text-messaging, folding sharing, two-way address book, and alerts etc.

windoWs© media player: MSFT program to view and create digital videos.

WINDOWS NET SERVER©: MSFT Windows© operating system internet servers.

WINDOWS® OFFICE 2007: Business productivity software service/package ranging from enterprise to abbreviated basic versions for newer PCs; SKU versions listed most- to-least robust):

• Enterprise [Word®, Excel®, PowerPoin®, One Note®, Publisher®, Access®, InfoPath®, Communicator®, Groove® and various other integrated options].
• Ultimate [same as above with Business Contact Manager, but sans OneNote mobile 2007]
• Professional Plus [lacks Groove® and OneNote®].
• Professional [highest level on store shelves: sans Communicator, Groove, OneNote and Communicator]
• Small Business [Word, Excel, Outlook with Business Contact Manager]
• Standard [Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint]
• Home and Student [Word, Excel and PowerPoint; replace Outlook and OneNote]
• Basic [PC preloads of Word, Excel and Outlook]

WINDOWS© NT SERVER: Microsoft 32-bit multi-tasking and multiprocessing networked GUI operating system.

WINDOWS© NT WoRKSTATION: Microsoft 32-bit multi-tasking and multiprocessing GUI operating system.

Windows© Swap File: A disk file used by Windows for virtual memory that temporarily stores segments of the application on a disk when there is not enough memory to hold all the programs used; Windows 95/98^® created a temporary swap file (WIN386.SWP), which was dynamically sized and abandoned while NT 4 created a temporary swap file, or paging file (PAGEFILE.SYS) that was generally equal to the size of memory plus 12MB. It also allowed for one additional swap file to be created on each logical partition on the hard disk.

WINDOWS® VIENA®: MSFT-WINDOWS operating system that followed Vista® and interim Fiji® with revamped desktop and the ability to wall off old code from critical parts of the OS for enhanced security and delver robust features over the Internet using virtual machine technology (VMT).

WINDOWS® VISTA©: MSFT operating system with new upgraded interface that automatically sorts related files into folders, improves engine searches, contains powerful graphics; with several SKUs: Starter©, Enterprise© with bitlocker, Home Basic©, Home Premium©, Ultimate© and Business©.

WINKENWERDER, WILLIAM, MD: Assistant Secretary of defense for US Health Affairs.

WIN-FX©:  Windows Vista^® software development and programming module.

WINTEL: The Windows^®-Intel^® (software-hardware) consortium.

WIPE: To format a hard drive in order to erase medical data or other information; slang term.

WIRED EQUIVALENT PRIVACY (WEP): Optional 802.11 encryption security network transmission standard about equal to a wired line.

WIRELESS-A: Electronic radio transmission through the airwaves; 54 Mps and 5GHz protocol replaced by the Wireless-G standard.

WIRELESS-B: Wi-Fi electronic radio transmission protocol through the airwaves producing 11 Mbps at 2.4 GHz.

WIRELESS-G: Wi-Fi communications protocol 54 Mbps at 2.4 GHz that is compatible with Wireless-B computer systems.

WIRELESS N: Wi-Fi electronic radio transmission protocol through the airwaves producing 100 Mbps at 2.4 GHz; wireless B and G compatible.

WIRELESS ACCESS POINT (WAP): A wireless networks hub with central transmitter.

WIRELESS FIDELITY (Wi-Fi): Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Association (WECA) specific IEEE 82.11b standard.

WIRELESS HOT SPOT: Specific geographic location in which an access point provides public wireless broadband network services; security is risky for PHI; hotspot.

WIRELESS INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER (WISP): Unsecured, public internet access without a reseller that does not use copper wires or standard telephone land-lines for transmission.

WIRELESS LAN: Computer network with short-distance interconnectivity without wires; uses an ISM band connected to an Ethernet hub or server.

WIRELESS NETWORK ADAPTER: Hardware used to transition from a wired cable network, to a wireless one.

WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY: Radiofrequency driven WAN, MAN or LAN systems for mobility and improved functionality, such as rural access management, remote healthcare delivery, HIMS and remote medical triage, etc.

WITTY WORM: Malicious code that exploited vulnerabilities in security software produced by Internet Security Systems (NASD-ISSX) of Atlanta; now IBM, that overwrote infected hard-disks in 2004.

WIZARD: Windows© operating system assistance or utility help program.

WORD: The number of bits equal to one CPU register, and computer type.

WORD: MSFT^® word-processing software application; PC and Macintosh versions available.

WORDPAD: A simple Windows^® word processor program.

WORD PROCESSOR(ING): A device to electronically assist in the production of documents or text; dedicated device or multi-use computer.

WORD STAR^®: An early word processing program by MicroPro^®

WORD-RAP: Automatic new text-line initiation while using a word processing application.

WORK FLOW: The process that defines the linear production of serial effort, electronic or conscientious industry.

WORK FLOW AUTOMATION: A process that relegates automated responses and decision-making to a computer and its minions of decision-supporting and routing applications, such as patient service, inventory management, automated billing and payment, or any number of other tasks that depend upon a consistent set of processes benefit; greatest savings potential is the on paperless transaction side which accounts for 32 percent of all healthcare expenditures.

Work force: The employees, volunteers, trainees, and other people whose conduct in the performance of work for a covered health entity, is under the direct control of such entity, whether or not they are paid by the covered entity.

WORK GROUP: A small collection of networked private computers; intranet.

Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI): A health care industry group that lobbied for HIPAA and A/S, and that formed consultative roles under the HIPAA legislation, as well as sponsored SNIP.

Working Files: Files that have been used to generate a graphic file such as an EPS file; software applications such as Macromedia FreeHand©, Adobe Illustrator©, and QuarkXPress© that can all generate EPS files.

WORKSTATION: Nodular computer, server, or intelligent terminal hub connected to dumb drones; usually a WAN, MAN or LAN; a high-performance, single-user computer generally used for medical, architectural, business, enterprise-wide or other graphics, CAD, simulation and scientific applications; IBM RS/6000; Sun SPARCstation^®

WORKSTATION USE: Defines what functions or activities may be performed at a particular healthcare or other data workstation; includes instructions and guidelines on screensaver passwords, biometrics and secure physical placement.

WORLD WIDE WAIT: Time lag for an internet download file to occur; slang term.

world wide web (WWW): The internet collection of electronic information channels or pages using HTTP; the web; slang term.

WORM: Write once, read many; an optical laser disk.

WORM PROGRAM: Self replicating and malicious software program, similar to a virus; spreads within a computer system or network host unlike a computer virus; does not have to be attached to an email i.e., Morris Cornell, Mytube and Bagle Worms; etc. Worms first eclipsed computer viruses in damage potential in 1999 with the Bubble Boy variant and later by the Sasser worm created by a 17 year old German college student; electronic tapeworm.

WRAP: Fault tolerant FDDI computer network problem identifier.

WRITABLE CD/DVD DRIVE: Hardrive used to create data, audio and video disks.

WRITE: To record digital health data or other information on some electronic storage device; disk, tape, CD, flash drive, etc.

WRITE ONCE: Electronic storage media that can be written to, but not erased.

WRITE PROTECT: A safeguard for the change prevention or copying of an electronic file, application or program.

WRITELY^®: Online free word processing application by Upstartle Inc; now Google^®

-X-

XDS: Crossed enterprise clinical document or PHI data sharing.

XENIX^®: Unix-based computer operating system from Microsoft^® in the 1980s.

XEN©: An open source operating system computer language.

XENSOURCE: Maker of one of the first virtualization search engines with hypervision, which can host virtual computers with different operating systems running next to each other; VMware©.

XEON©: Intel’s© dual core energy efficient micro-processor released for notebook computers in 2002; Woodcrest; code name.

XOR: High output gating or filtering technique for a single computer input.

X-ORP: Network application that turns any computer into a router.

X-PATH: A computer language that describes a way to locate and process items in Extensible Markup Language documents by using an addressing syntax based on a path through the document’s logic structure, or hierarchy.

X-PATH INJECTION: A hack targeting Web sites that create XPATH queries from health or other intensive user-supplied information.

X-WindOWS©: Unix-based graphical user interface and operating system developed at MIT.

XSL: Extensible Style sheet Language.

XSS: Cross-site scripting is a security exploit in which the attacker inserts malicious coding into a link that appears to be from a trustworthy source; upon clicking the link, the embedded programming is submitted as part of the client’s Web request and can implement on the user’s computer, typically allowing the attacker to steal information.

XST: Cross-site tracing is a sophisticated form of cross-site scripting that can bypass healthcare security measures already put in place to protect against XSS; an attack that allows an intruder to obtain cookies, authentication data using simple client-side scripts.

-Y –

Y2K: Calendar year 2000

Y2K COMPLIANT: Computer hardware and software that was PC based and legacy system sequence compatible between the 20^th and 21^st Centuries.

Y2K PROBLEM: Computer hardware and software that was not PC based and legacy system sequence-compatible between the 20th and 21st Centuries; year-data data incongruity.

YAHOO!: A leading Internet search engine, directory or web browser.

YASNOFF, WILLIAM, MD, PhD: Senior Advisor for the National Health Information Infrastructure (NHII), Department of Health and Human Services.

YELLOW PAGES: SunSoft© UNIX utility program for internet resources.

YOUTUBE©: Video sharing website and programmable social network founded by Chad Hurley and Steve Chen; sold to Google©.

-Z-

Z-80: Zilog, Inc 8 bit CPU that propelled the CP/M OS in the early 1980s.

ZERHOUNI, ELIAS, MD: Director, US National Institute of Health.

ZERO CONFIGURATION: Windows XP^® service that enables automatic switching between wireless computer network adapters between ad-hoc and infrastructure modes.

ZERO DAY EXPLOIT: An exploit that takes advantage of security vulnerability on the same day that the vulnerability becomes generally known.

ZILOG PROCESSOR: A 64K RAM Z80 computer micro-processor that ran at 4 MHz with two 5.25″ floppy drives

ZIMBRA: An online e-mail application.

ZIMMERMAN, AMY: Director, Rhode Island Health Information Exchange Project.

ZIMMERMANN, PHILIP, R: Creator of Pretty Good Privacy, an email encryption software package that was published free on the Internet in 1991 and became the most widely used email encryption program in the world.

ZIP(PING): To condense a large computer file, usually with a utility compression program with .zip extension; an extension for a file name indicating the file is indexed and compressed using Phil Katz’s PKZIP compression utilities; a program, called “pkunzip.exe” is needed to decompress and extract the programs within this file.

ZIP DISK: A 3.5 inch removable drive cartridge for mass data storage; password protection capability.

ZIP DRIVE: External removable 100-250 MB storage cartridge device by the Iomega Corporation^® of Roy, Utah that connects to a computer by a USB or FireWire port

ZIP FILE: A file compressed by a PKZIP© utility.

ZOMBIE: A non-terminating UNIX process or loop; a compromised website used as an attack point to launch multiple requests toward another attacked site; an old unused website (ghost site).

ZONE: A subgroup of LAN, MAN or WAN users; as in medical or health administration end-users; newsgroup members; discussion or use-group; wiki members, etc

ZOO VIRUS: Contained an isolated virus, worm or malicious code used for further research and study; virus vault; controlled electronic contagion

ZOOK, Anthony, P: President and CEO, AstraZeneca, LP, USA.

ZOPE©: Object oriented application server written in the Python computer programming language; first used at the UNC School of Medicine, in Chapel Hill, for building medical content management information systems.

Z/OS: The OS for IBM’s zSeries 900 (z900) line of larger mainframe servers for e-business initiatives like healthcare; a scalable and secure high-performance operating system based on 64-bit architecture; supports Web and JAVA-based mission critical healthcare and other enterprise applications.

ZUNE©: The name of a project, brand and MP3 device from MSFT, released in 2007, with music and movies for acquiring and sharing; drive-based media service with WiFi; proprietary and not compatible with Napster, Vongo, Apple iPOD, etc;

HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND SECURIY NUMERICAL TERMS

3COM: Leading maker of Internet systems hardware applications for small and medium businesses.

3-TIER APPLICATION: A computer program organized into three major parts distributed to a different place in a network; workstation, business logic and database.

4x, 8x, 16x, 32x, 64x, etc: Transfer speeds for CDs or DVDs compared to normal audio or video.

7: Internet web site that allows users to add, delete or modify content; really simple syndication (RSS) as in a dictionary (www.HealthDictionarySeries.com); a Wiki is based on the Hawaiian term 7 or 77, meaning “quickie” or informal.

8.3 Filename: File moniker with up to 8 letters or digits, followed by a dot and up to three more letters or digits, for DOS and Windows© applications, i.e., Marcinko.doc

32: Software applications or program that is void of an owner’s copyright.

42 CFR-2: Federal regulations for health data and medical information confidentiality for drug and alcohol abuse and related conditions.

403-FORBIDDEN: HTTP web address error message

404-NOT FOUND: HTTP web address invalid message

419 SCAM: Usually Nigerian email fraud schemes

2600: A formalized group of computer hackers or crackers, named after their magazine (2600 Hacker Quarterly); 2600-Hz control tone formerly used in POT systems.

3270: Information Display System from IBM^® that was way that the entire corporate world interfaced with a computer before the PC. When first produced (the early 1970s); a 3270 display terminal was considered a vast improvement over its predecessor, the 2260; CRT monitor, black-white screen with green letters; non-GUI.

THE END

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