Glossary
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- Observational study
- Research in which individuals are observed and/or outcomes are measured but in which no attempt is made to affect the outcome; in contrast to an experimental study in which subjects are assigned to experimental (treatment) or control conditions.
- Office of Personnel Management
- The federal agency that administers the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program.
- Office of Technology Assessment
- Established by the Congress in 1972 as a nonpartisan support agency to help Congress deal with issues of advanced technology and to anticipate and plan for the consequences of the use of technology. It was abolished in 1995.
- Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
- Formerly called ONCHIT; provides counsel to the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Departmental leadership for the development and nationwide implementation of an interoperable health information technology infrastructure. (See also NHIN).
- Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act
- The acronym for the annual tax and budget reconciliation acts of Congress, many of which contain language affecting federal health care programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.
- Open access
- A type of health plan or system that allows the patient to select a provider of specialty care without going through a gatekeeper or primary care provider, as long as the specialist participates in the network.
- Open enrollment
- Membership in a health maintenance organization (HMO) or health insurance program that is available to any, or to some ordinarily excluded, applicants. An open enrollment period is a limited period - typically one month each year - during which individuals may enroll in health insurance plans. Open enrollment periods may be used in the sale of either group or individual insurance and may be the only period of a year when such insurance is made available.
- Operational feasibility
- A qualitative assessment of the feasibility or complexity of the anticipated change relative to the current approach.
- Operational waste
- The inefficient production of health care services. Operational waste might include the production of unnecessary or duplicative services, excess wait times, the use of overly expensive inputs when less expensive ones would suffice, unnecessary inventory, and medical errors that result in the need for further care.
- Optimal health
- The desired output of a health care system. Thus, how a proposed policy affects individual and population health is a crucial consideration in evaluating the policy.
- Oregon Health Plan
- Oregon's Medicaid program.
- Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development
- An international organization of democratic member countries whose stated goals are to support sustainable economic growth, boost employment, raise living standards, maintain financial stability, assist other countries' economic development, and contribute to growth in world trade.
- Osteopathic medicine
- A system of medicine based on the theory that the normal body, when in correct adjustment (structurally), is an organism naturally capable of making its own responses to and defenses against disease; distinguished from allopathic medicine.
- Out-of-Pocket Costs
- The portion of the costs of health services that the patient must pay; includes such costs as copayment, and deductibles.
- Outcome
- The result of a process of prevention, detection, or treatment. In health this refers to either ultimate results (e.g., mortality) or intermediate results (e.g., blood pressure control, ability to function in everyday life).
- Outcome measure
- An indicator that quantifies the level, amount or type of response of an individual, a group of individuals or a population to a health intervention or a series of interventions.
- Outpatient
- An individual who receives health care services in a clinic, emergency department, or other health care facility without being admitted to (lodged overnight) in a health care facility; in contrast to an inpatient.
- Overinsurance
- Having more health insurance than is necessary, which may lead to the over-use of medical care.
- Overuse
- When a health care service is provided under circumstances in which its potential for harm exceeds the possible benefit and therefore is not warranted on medical grounds. For example, prescribing an antibiotic for a viral infection, such as a cold, for which antibiotics are ineffective.