Can someone give me a brief explanation of what these are? (healthcare stuff)?

Question

what are these definitions? (all in healthcare)

-HIPPA

-OBRA

-The healthcare chain of demands

-Patient Rights

-MDS

Answer 1

HIPAA is the Healthcare Information Portability and Accountability Act.  It defines who may see medical information, how it must be safeguarded electronically and on paper, and even what information is not appropriate for discussion between health care workers in areas where they may be over-heard, such as elevators and lobbies.  More info at: http://www.hipaacompliance101.com/

OBRA is the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, and in healthcare that is usually OBRA 87, which reformed the standards for nursing homes.  Also called the Federal Nursing Home Reform Act  An explanatory PDF file is available at: http://www.ltcombudsman.org/uploads/OBRA...

A web page can be found at: http://www.ltcombudsman.org/ombpublic/49...

The healthcare chain of demands does not come up as anything, except for maybe in relationship to on-demand healthcare options and availabilities.

The Healthcare Chain of Command, however, is the listing of who answers to whom in a healthcare facility.  Usually in the patient care side of things, the CNA answers to the RN, as does the LVN.  RN's answer to Lead RNs, or Supervisor/Administrator/Unit Manager RNs, who answer to Nursing Supervisors, who answer to the Executive Staff.

All the other services, from housekeeping to physicians, have a chain of command, and it usually specified somewhere.  http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/int... shows the Resident Supervisory Chain of Command at the University of Virginia Health System.

Patient Rights are a codified set of rights any patient has, and which must be given to the patient at the time of admission.  These usually specify rights and responsibilities, and serve as part of the agreement between patient and care provider as to who is responsible for what, and where the boundaries are drawn.  Often the Patient Rights include phone numbers and addresses for Ombudsmen, or those who negotiate as intermediaries to resolve conflicts that negotiation between patient and provider cannot resolve.  

The HIPAA Patient Rights info is a link on this page: http://www.dmaresponsibility.org/HIPPA/

A more general page of links on the topic is:

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/patie...

MDS in the context of the questions you had seems to indicate a Minimum Data Set, which is required for proper reimbursement from Medicare and similar Federal programs.  A more detailed explanation may be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimum_Dat...

I hope this helps you some.

Rick/

ps: edited to correct a link.