Glossary of Terms

TRACQuest

Hospital: Unique identifier representing the facility in which the medical record request was placed.   

Request#: Computer generated number issued for each request made.

Medical Record#: Number the patient's visit or account is assigned by the hospital for documentation and billing purposes.  

Patient Name: Name corresponding to the medical record number.

Amount Due: Total amount owed for the requested information. 

Pages: Number of pages the request totals

Request Status: Processing stages for a request are: quoted, in progress, and complete.

Payment Status: Indicates whether the request is paid or unpaid

Payment Date: The date in which an MMRA facility received payment.

ROI Status: Indicator of when the request is available for secure download.

Healthcare Industry

Confidentiality: a legal and ethical concept that establishes the healthcare provider’s responsibility for protecting health records and other personal and private information from unauthorized use or disclosure.

Electronic Health Record (EHR): systematic collection of health information in an electronic format regarding individual patients or populations.

Health Information: recorded information in any format (e.g., oral, written, or electronic) regarding the physical or mental condition of an individual, healthcare provision, or healthcare payment.

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA): a federal law passed in 1996, to establish a national framework for security standards and protection of confidentiality with regard to health care data and information.

Medical Record: a chronological account of a patient’s examination and treatment that includes medical history and complaints, the physician’s physical findings, the results of diagnostic tests and procedures, and medications and therapeutic procedures.

Outsource Service Provider (aka Business Associate): a professional company that partners with a business entity (e.g., hospital, medical facility or clinic, and/or physician office) to manage certain complex or specialized aspects of the health information process (e.g., transcription, coding, document management, and release of information (ROI)).

Personal Health Record (PHR): a health record that is initiated and maintained by an individual.

Protected Health Information (PHI): any individually identifiable health information that is used or circulated by an entity that falls under the governance of HIPAA; the privacy regulations mandate safeguards for protected health information, and the responsibility for maintaining them also extends to business associates.

Release of Information (ROI): found with in the health information management (HIM) or medical records department of a hospital, ROI performs such tasks as obtaining patient consent, certifying medical records, and deciding what information can be released. Federal and state regulations protect the release of patients’ health information, and ROI staff must possess a strong acumen for the legal rights of the patient.