Healthcode’s glossary of terms is a data dictionary giving meaningful definitions for individually named data objects. These definitions apply across all our products and services.
INDEX
A-C
Account
A single entity, be it a sales or marketing lead, an existing Healthcode customer (single practitioner, provider, group etc.), a software vendor, an external channel etc., that interacts with and/or has a relationship of any kind with Healthcode, regardless of the number of products/services they subscribe to.
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API
A Healthcode application programming interface that enables third-party systems to establish business to business integration with Healthcode products and services.
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API key
The password used to enable access to a site’s products and services.
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Billing software
A product that has functionality enabling the provider to manage invoicing tasks for medical fees.
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Bureau *
An organisation that delivers medical secretarial and/or invoicing services for multiple providers. These services can include telephone answering, patient liaison, letter creation, practice accounting, invoicing for medical fees, credit control and payment collection.
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CCSD codes
The standard codes for procedures and diagnostic tests for the UK private health market, developed and maintained by the Clinical Coding & Schedule Development Group (https://www.ccsd.org.uk/)
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Chargebee
A company providing a SaaS (software as a service) platform for managing Healthcode’s subscriptions and enabling auto-invoicing for products and services.
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Child
The site of an individual provider that is linked to a Medsec site for invoicing purposes.
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Claim*
A process for a patient to request permission to obtain medical care from a provider.
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Clearing Service
The industry standard method for providers to securely validate and submit electronic invoices to private medical insurers using practice management or billing software; all ePractice plans are automatically integrated with the Clearing Service as are a number of third-party systems.
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Client
An Account representing a system requiring access to any Healthcode product, service or data. These systems could be internal to Healthcode, such as ePractice, or external, such as a software vendor submitting invoices on behalf of a practitioner or an insurer calling PPR APIs.
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Consulting rooms *
The place where patients are seen or treated by a practitioner that cannot be specifically listed on an invoice. It is identified by a unique code within Healthcode’s ecosystem, referred to as an HP number.
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Controlling practitioner (specialist) *
The practitioner who is in overall charge of the patient for a specified course of medical care. This may or may not be the same person who sees or treats the patient.
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D-F
ePractice
Healthcode’s online practice management system offering secure access to a choice of three subscription plans (Basic, Lite and Pro) on a monthly subscription basis, with a range of functionality from basic invoicing to full practice management tools.
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Feature
A distinctive stand-alone unit of functionality and the smallest unit to which access can be granted. A feature can be combined with others into a product.
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Fee earner *
A practitioner who works for an organisation to see and treat patients but is not identified as a payee provider; the organisation submits the invoices and is recognised as a payee provider by the payors.
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G – K
GoCardless
A company providing a payments platform to collect Healthcode’s recurring monthly subscription charges by direct debit.
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Healthcode Account
A virtual representation of a user within Healthcode’s ecosystems, enabling access to multiple customers (Accounts) with one login.
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HP number
A unique identifier within Healthcode’s internal systems assigned to each individual hospital, clinic, practice, consulting rooms or treatment site. This always begins with HP and is followed by six digits.
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Industry Standard Codes (ISCs)
A Healthcode solution for providers to record and charge payors for clinical and non-clinical services not covered by CCSD codes.
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Industry Standards Shortfall Codes (ISSCs)
A Healthcode solution integrated with the Shortfall Collection Service for mapping multiple private medical insurer shortfall messages listed on a remittance to a single set of codes and associated descriptions.
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Invoice / Bill
An electronic or paper list that is sent by the payee provider to the payor detailing the charges associated with medical care supplied to the patient.
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L – N
Location
See Treatment Site.
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Login Account
Credentials a user can use for secure access to one or more of Healthcode’s products and services.
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Medical Secretary *
A person providing admin and secretarial support for one or more practitioners; they can be employed by a provider or a medical secretarial bureau.
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Medsec site
A site used by a single medical secretary or a group of medical secretaries, including medical secretarial and billing bureaus, to log in to one or more provider sites to create invoices without requiring separate logins.
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O – Q
Parent
The Medsec site that bills for the provider or providers they are linked to.
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Patient
A person receiving private medical care in the past, present or future.
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Patient Administration System (PAS)
A product that is mainly used by larger providers (usually hospitals) to store electronic patient records and automate admin functions.
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patientzone
A secure online payment and collection platform integrated with Healthcode to allow patients to receive electronic invoices and reminders from providers and pay these online with credit or debit cards.
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Payee provider *
An individual or organisation identified by a unique code within Healthcode’s internal systems. The entity is recognised by a payor for electronic invoicing and is paid directly for invoices submitted. The unique codes are referred to as an SP number for practitioners and an HP number for all other types of payees.
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Payment
A transaction between the payor and payee provider reimbursing an invoice in part or in full for medical services given to a patient.
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Payor *
A company that accepts invoices for reimbursement of costs from providers who have provided medical care to patients.
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Practice Management System (PMS)
A product that has functionality enabling the provider to manage the day-to-day business and admin tasks of the practice, including diary management, invoicing and other admin tasks, as well as the clinical needs of their patients.
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Practitioner *
A person who sees and/or treats patients for medical reasons and is identified by a unique code within Healthcode’s internal systems. The unique code is referred to as an SP number.
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Pre-authorisation
Before medical care begins authorisation should be sought from the payor that the proposed services to be given by a provider are allowable under stated terms and conditions. If the payor is happy to confirm that the patient can proceed a pre-authorisation number will be given. This is sometimes referred to as a claim number or a letter of guarantee.
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Private medical insurer
A company offering insurance policies to the public covering the costs of medical care within the confines of stated terms and conditions.
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Product
A self-contained module utilising a collection of features to fulfil a specified need that can be built and deployed on its own, e.g. view remittances or PPR practitioner view.
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Product Group
A logical grouping that includes all the products relating to a particular function, e.g. Claims Management or Private Practice Management.
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Provider *
A hospital, clinic, practice or practitioner that either provides medical care and/or surgical treatment to a patient or gives access to the same and is identified by a unique code within Healthcode’s internal systems. The unique codes are referred to as an SP number for practitioners and an HP number for all other types of providers.
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R – T
Remittance
A statement from the payor to the payee provider that lists all invoices that have passed through the claim cycle, indicating the total amount paid (either into a bank account or by accompanying cheque), the amounts paid against individual invoices and the reasons for any non-payment or shortfall.
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Site
A ring-fenced virtual container of data within Healthcode’s ecosystem for each entity (provider, group or insurer) using Healthcode’s products/services that can only be accessed via the secure website. It is identified by a unique site ID and holds data either directly entered by a user via a Healthcode front end or automatically uploaded via an API.
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Site ID
A unique code used to identify each site within Healthcode’s ecosystem.
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Software vendor
An organisation that develops and/or sells PMS or PAS products to providers to run their medical businesses.
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SpecNum
Healthcode’s system for linking a practitioner’s Healthcode identifier (SP number) with the identifying reference numbers from other organisations, e.g. private medical insurer provider number or hospital facility reference, thereby allowing Healthcode a full sight of which organisations the practitioner is linked to and enabling data to flow between these organisations using the correct identifiers for each one.
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SP number
A unique identifier within Healthcode’s internal systems assigned to each individual practitioner. This always begins with SP and is followed by six digits.
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Subscription
Access granted on a regular timed basis (e.g. monthly) to an Account for one or more of Healthcode’s products or services that may or may not carry a fee. Subscriptions usually apply at site level so an Account may need separate subscriptions if they are associated with more than one site.
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Subscription plan
A business solution offering customers access to a defined package of Healthcode products and services via a subscription.
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The Private Practice Register (The PPR)
Healthcode’s one-stop shop for practitioners to maintain hospital practising privileges and apply for private medical insurer recognition by hosting all the relevant information required by organisations.
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Third-party system
Either a PMS or PAS developed by a software vendor that has been integrated with Healthcode’s Clearing Service or any external system that requires integration with Healthcode’s products and services via APIs.
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Treatment Site *
The place where patients are seen or treated by a practitioner that can be specifically listed on an invoice. It is identified by a unique code within Healthcode’s internal systems, referred to as an HP number.
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U – Z
User
A person who has been granted access via a Healthcode Account to any of Healthcode’s subscribed products and services and who can also act as the manager for one or more accounts, controlling contact details, subscriptions etc.
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Veda
The hub enabling access to available services and reports, including electronic invoices via the Clearing Service, for third-party systems that have integrated with Healthcode.
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Virtual
Medical care provided to a patient by a practitioner via telephone or online video teleconferencing platforms rather than in person.