Definitions

Abuser: A person who is alleged to have attempted or committed sexual harassment or sexual abuse against another person.

Accommodation: Reasonably necessary and appropriate modification or adjustment, not imposing a disproportionate or undue burden, to ensure a patient with a disability has equal access to programs, services, and activities.

Acute Hazardous Waste: A classification of the Federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 hazardous waste that includes, but is not limited to, all “P” listed waste.

Addendum: Modification of the Electronic Health Record System (EHRS) or the Electronic Dental Record System (EDRS) in order to provide additional information that was not available at the time of the original entry. The addendum should be timely and bear the current date, time, and reason for the addition or clarification of information being added to the EHRS/EDRS and be signed by the person making the addendum.

Administer: The direct application of a drug or device to the body of a patient by injection, inhalation, ingestion, or other means.

Administrative Safeguards: Administrative actions and policies and procedures to manage the selection, development, implementation, and maintenance of security measures to protect electronic health information, and to manage the conduct of the covered entity’s or business associate’s workforce in relation to the protection of that health information.

Administrative Supervision: Staff in supervisory positions who are responsible for administrative tasks for assigned employees including, but not limited to, completing probationary and annual evaluations, assessing proficiency in job duties, authorizing time off, and timekeeping activities.

Administrative Support: Administrative member of a Care Team who ensures the team has the necessary information they need for coordinated patient care.

Advance Directive for Health Care: A written instrument which allows the patient to do either or both of the following: 1) state instructions for future health care decisions; and/or 2) appoint an agent with Power of Attorney for Health Care.

Advanced Cardiac Life Support: Emergency care consisting of Basic Life Support procedures and definitive therapy including the use of invasive procedures, medications, and manual defibrillation.

Advanced Practice Provider: Nurse Practitioner and Physician Assistant staff who are authorized to provide health care and dispense controlled substances by the state in which they practice.

Adverse Drug Reaction: Any undesired, unintended, or unexpected response to a medication administered that requires discontinuing or modifying the medication or dose; admission to a higher level of care; additional treatment with alternative medications; or that results in a physical or cognitive impairment to the patient.

Aerosol Transmissible Diseases/Aerosol Transmissible Pathogens: A disease or pathogen for which droplet or airborne precautions are required, as stated under California Occupational Safety and Health Administration Aerosol Transmissible Disease Standards under the California Code of Regulations, Title 8, Section 5199, Appendix A.

Aerosol Transmissible Diseases Exposure Control Plan: A written plan for controlling Aerosol Transmissible Diseases (ATD) and/or Aerosol Transmissible Pathogens-Laboratory exposures specific to the workplace or operation(s) that contain all of the elements in the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration ATD Standards under the California Code of Regulations, Title 8, Section 5199, subsection (d)(2).

Aerosol Transmissible Diseases Exposure Control Plan Administrator: A person designated by the institution’s Chief Executive Officer, as described by the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Aerosol Transmissible Disease (ATD) Standards under the California Code of Regulations, Title 8, Section 5199, who is responsible for the establishment, implementation, and maintenance of effective written infection control procedures to control the risk of transmission of ATDs. The administrator shall have the authority to perform this function and shall be knowledgeable in infection control principles as they apply specifically to the facility, service, or operation.

Aerosol Transmissible Pathogens – Laboratory: A pathogen that meets one of the following criteria: (1) the pathogen appears on the list in California Code of Regulations, Title 8, Section 5199, Appendix D, (2) the Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories recommends biosafety level 3 or above for the pathogen, (3) the biosafety officer recommends biosafety level 3 or above for the pathogen, or (4) the pathogen is a novel or unknown pathogen.

After-hours Pharmacy Services: A subset of medication and services typically performed by pharmacy staff that are available after normal business hours of the institution pharmacy, through options approved by the Systemwide Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee or the Systemwide Medication Management Subcommittee, as specified in the institution’s local operating procedure after review and approval by the institution Medication Management Subcommittee.

Agent: An individual designated in a power of attorney for health care to make a health care decision for the principal, regardless of whether the person is known as an agent, legally recognized decision-maker, personal representative, or attorney-in-fact, or by some other term. Agent includes a successor or alternate agent.

Aggregate Root Cause Analysis: An aggregate Root Cause Analysis may include multiple health care incidents that occurred within a designated time period, but not to exceed the previous 12 months; health care incidents involving a specific characteristic such as medication type, medical equipment, procedure type, or process; or health care incidents that occur within the same patient population or health care setting.

Allied Health Care Staff: Respiratory Therapists, Physical Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Radiology Technicians, Laboratory Technologists/Technicians and Phlebotomists, and registered dieticians.

Allied Health Services: Health care professions including clinical laboratory personnel, physical therapy, occupational therapy, dietetic services, medical record personnel, radiologic services, speech-language pathology and audiology, and respiratory therapy that promote interdisciplinary communication and collaboration and the efficient use of resources by various health care providers to improve health care.

Amendment: Modification of the Electronic Health Record System or Electronic Dental Record System to clarify or correct health information to an existing report or direct data entry after the final signature has been obtained. Amending includes, but is not limited to, making corrections to original documentation, and/or modifying information that was originally entered.

Ancillary Staff: Intern pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, and any non-licensed personnel.

Antineoplastic: Inhibiting or preventing the development, maturation, and proliferation of malignant cells.

Associated Supplies: Items with a shortened lifespan that may enhance the use or are necessary for the use of durable medical equipment.

Automated Drug Delivery System: A mechanical system that performs operations or activities, other than compounding or administration, relative to the storage, dispensing, or distribution of drugs. An automated drug delivery system shall collect, control, and maintain all transaction information to accurately track the movement of drugs into and out of the system for security, accuracy, and accountability pursuant to California Business and Professions Code, Division 2, Chapter 9, Article 2, Section 4017.3(a), an “automated drug delivery system” has the same meaning as defined in paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 1261.6 of the California Health and Safety Code, Division 2, Chapter 2, Article 1.

Automatic Substitution: Drug substitution by the pharmacist without prior approval from the ordering provider based upon the Systemwide Pharmacy and Therapeutic Committee’s determination.

Backlog: An order that is past the due date for its completion.

Behavioral Health Professional: Chief Psychologists, Senior Psychologists (Specialists), Psychologists, Supervising Psychiatric Social Workers, licensed and unlicensed Marriage Family Therapists, licensed an unlicensed Professional Clinical Counselors, and licensed and unlicensed Clinical Social Workers within Medical Services, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation adult institutions and headquarters offices of the California Correctional Health Care Services. This does not include Chief Psychologists, Senior Psychologists (Supervisors), Senior Psychologists (Specialists), Supervising Psychiatric Social Workers, licensed and unlicensed Clinical Social Workers working under Statewide Mental Health Services.

Best Practice: A health care method shown by research and experience to produce optimal results and may be established or proposed as a standard suitable for widespread adoption.

Basic Life Support: Emergency care performed to sustain life that includes cardiopulmonary resuscitation, automated external defibrillation, control of bleeding, treatment of shock, and stabilization of injuries and wounds.

Beyond-Use Dates: The date beyond which medication may not be used, dispensed, or stored (other than quarantined) when different from the expiration date.

Biohazard Bag: A red disposable film bag marked by the manufacturer as having met the requirements of American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM) 1922 and ASTM 1709 used to contain medical biohazardous waste.

Biohazardous: Containing infectious or potentially infectious substances that pose a threat to humans or the environment.

Biohazardous Waste: Waste, also known as infectious waste, which contains recognizable, semi-liquid or liquid human blood or blood products, human body parts, containers, or equipment containing liquid human blood. Also includes waste containing discarded materials contaminated with excretion, exudate, or secretions from humans that are required to be isolated to protect others from highly communicable diseases or diseases of animals that are communicable to humans.

Biosafety Officer: A person designated by the institution’s Chief Executive Officer, as described by the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Aerosol Transmissible Diseases Standards under California Code of Regulations, Title 8, Section 5199, who is qualified by training and/or experience to evaluate hazards associated with laboratory procedures involving Aerosol Transmissible Pathogens-Laboratory, who is knowledgeable about the facility biosafety plan, and who is authorized to establish and implement effective control measures for laboratory biological hazards.

Biosafety Plan: A written plan to minimize employee exposures to Aerosol Transmissible Pathogens-Laboratory that may be transmitted by laboratory aerosols. The Biosafety Plan shall meet all the elements in the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Aerosol Transmissible Diseases Standards under California Code of Regulations, Title 8, Section 5199, subsection (F)(4).

Blameworthy Act/Reckless Behavior: A criminal act, a purposefully unsafe act, an act involving patient abuse of any kind, or a situation in which an individual takes a substantial and unjustifiable risk that may result in patient harm.

Blanket Restriction: Rules routinely applied to all patients that restrict a patient’s or a group of patients’ rights.

Board Certification Exam Administration Period: A board certification exam administration period is part of the process to become board certified. For purposes of California Correctional Health Care Services and California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the board certification exam administration period commences upon the administration of the exam and concludes when the results of the exam are released or published by the certifying board.

Breach: The unauthorized acquisition, access, use or disclosure of Protected Health Information, Personally Identifiable Information, or High-Risk Confidential Information that compromises the security, confidentiality, or integrity of such information maintained by California Correctional Health Care Services.

Bridge Order: An order with a limited duration provided for the purposes of continuity of care until a longer term order or prescription can be obtained. All bridge orders shall be Nurse Administered or Direct Observation Therapy.

Bundling: When a patient has multiple pending appointments, setting appointments sequentially on the same day so that a patient need only be seen in one encounter for multiple purposes. Bundling helps increase clinic efficiency, meet mandated timeframes, and limit the need for custody escorts, lessening redundant work for custody and health care staff as well as making appointments more convenient for the patient.

Bus List: A list of patients who have a bus seat or have an alternate means of transport scheduled.

Business Associate: An individual or corporate “person” who performs on behalf of California Correctional Health Care Services (CCHCS) or on behalf of another business associate of CCHCS any function or activity involving the use or disclosure of Protected Health Information for which CCHCS is responsible and is not a member of the CCHCS’ workforce.

Business Associate Agreement: A contract between a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) covered entity and a HIPAA business associate. The contract protects health information in accordance with HIPAA guidelines and is required in any agreement involving access, use, disclosure, storage, transfer, or destruction of Protected Health Information.

Business Day: Monday through Friday, except for holidays.

California Correctional Health Care Services Care Guides: Clinical guidelines issued by the California Correctional Health Care Services Clinical Guidelines Committee for specific conditions or services, tailored to the needs of patients in a correctional health care setting.

California Correctional Health Care Services Nursing Protocols: Guidelines for a sound nursing practice issued by the statewide Nursing Program pertaining to common health conditions.

California Correctional Health Care Services Standardized Health Care Menu: A four-week therapeutic diet cycle menu that is planned and approved by the Statewide Chief of Dietary Services. The menu has been analyzed and is consistent with recognized standards established by the Statewide Chief of Dietary Services, Food and Nutrition Board of the National Research Council, and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Heart Healthy Diet: A meal plan restricted in sodium and fat while supplying adequate calories, macro and micronutrients, provided by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and approved by a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist.

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Standardized Master Menu: A four-week menu cycle based on the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Heart Healthy Diet that is planned by the Food Administrator and approved by a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist.

California Department of Public Health, 110a, Confidential Morbidity Report: The official state case report form for reporting Title 17 reportable diseases. The Confidential Morbidity Report is used by California Correctional Health Care Services for all Title 17 reportable diseases except tuberculosis (TB), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).

California Medical Waste Management Act: The statute that governs the disposal of biohazardous waste, sharps containers, pharmaceutical waste exempt from the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, trace chemotherapy waste, and pathology waste.

Carcinogenicity: The power, ability, or tendency to produce a malignant new growth made up of epithelial cells tending to infiltrate the surrounding tissues and give rise to metastases.

Care Coordination: The deliberate organization of patient care activities between two or more participants involved in a patient’s care to facilitate the appropriate delivery of health care services and minimize the danger of care fragmentation.

Care Coordinator: A Primary Care Licensed Vocational Nurse or Psychiatric Technician who is assigned a group of patients within the patient panel; normally these will be less complex patients in the primary prevention group. The Care Coordinator uses his/her skills, according to his/her scope of practice, to meet the goals of each patient’s care plan. The Care Coordinator shall collect data, provide patient education, document findings, and interactions, and communicate patient information and provide input to the Registered Nurse Care Manager and other members of the Care Team.

Care Guide: A care guide supports the application of proven prevention, diagnosis, and treatment strategies, and the overall practice of evidence-based medicine improving patient care and outcomes by supporting the application of evidence-based medicine; developing recommendations conforming to current evidence in clinical science in the form of treatment guidelines; and providing assistance in clinical decision-making for California Correctional Health Care Services health care staff.

Care Management: A collaborative process of patient assessment, evaluation, advocacy, care planning, facilitation, and coordination. The extent of care management services varies according to the complexity of the patient.

Care Manager: A Primary Care Registered Nurse who develops, implements, and evaluates patient care services and care plans for an assigned patient panel. The Care Manager collaborates with the patients and all other members of the Care Team to ensure that the patients receive necessary health care services in a safe, timely, and medically appropriate manner. The Care Manager provides clinical direction and support for the Licensed Vocational Nurse/Psychiatric Technician Care Coordinator’s assigned patients in their panel.

Care Summaries: Written descriptions maintained in the patient record and provided to the patient after an episode of care which describes the condition treated during the encounter and the care rendered, provides patient instructions and educational information, and often lists important clinical and demographic information.

Care Team: An interdisciplinary group of professionals who combine their expertise and resources to provide care for a patient panel or population.

Case Conference: For the purposes of the Health Care Department Operations Manual, Sections 1.3.2, Medical Peer Review Committee (MPRC) and 1.3.5, Behavioral Health Professional Peer Review Committee (BHPPRC), a case conference is an action recommended by the MPRC or BHPPRC requesting that the originating institution’s Chief Medical Executive or Chief Psychologist, Integrated Care and Complex Patient Populations meet with all medical staff to discuss a specific concern(s) resulting from a peer review case for the purpose of learning from the situation and improving the quality of care provided in the future.

Cause and Effect Diagramming: A visual tool used to organize the potential causes of variation in an activity or process.

Chart Order: A prescriber’s order entered on the chart or health record for the purpose of providing medications for health care to eligible patients of California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation pursuant to Business and Professions Code, Division 2, Chapter 9, Article 2, Section 4019. A chart order (order) shall be considered to be a “prescription” if the medication is to be furnished directly to the patient by the pharmacy, provided that all of the requirements for a prescription have been met either within the order or within the health record, and the order has been signed by the practitioner authorized by law to prescribe drugs.

Cheeking: Hiding Nurse Administered (NA) or Directly Observed Therapy (DOT) medications inside the mouth rather than swallowing them.

Chemotherapeutic: Pertaining to the treatment of disease by chemical agents.

Chemotherapeutic Agent: An agent that kills or prevents the reproduction of malignant cells.

Chronic Care: The ongoing care for a current health problem that impacts or has the potential to impact a patient’s functioning and long-term prognosis and has lasted, or is expected to last, for more than six months.

Chronic Disease: Any current medical problem that impacts or has the potential to impact a patient’s functioning and long-term prognosis that has lasted, or is expected to last for more than six months. Chronic diseases include, but are not limited to, cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, some gynecological disorders or diseases, chronic infectious diseases, chronic pulmonary diseases, substance use disorder and seizure disorders.

Clinic Manager: The Supervising Registered Nurse II who is assigned to the clinic.

Clinical Pathway: A complex, interdisciplinary management tool and series of interventions based on evidence-based practice for the mutual decision-making and organization of care processes for a well-defined group of patients with a predictable clinical course. The goal of a clinical pathway is to enhance the quality of care across the continuum by improving risk-adjusted patient outcomes, promoting patient safety; increasing patient satisfaction; and optimizing the use of resources where the professionals involved in the patient care perform tasks (interventions) that are defined, optimized, and sequenced with outcomes tied to specific interventions.

Clinical Performance: Inclusive term for “clinical practice” and “professional misconduct.”

Clinical Performance Appraisal: An evaluation conducted at the request of the Medical Peer Review Committee (MPRC) and/or the Health Care Executive Committee (HCEC). The Clinical Performance Appraisal (CPA) shall evaluate the recent clinical performance of the licensed medical provider or areas of concern identified by the MPRC and/or the HCEC. The CPA shall be performed by a licensed medical provider or designee of the same discipline as the licensed medical provider being evaluated. The CPA is a tool that may be used as part of a Focused Professional Practice Evaluation.

Clinical Pharmacist: A Pharmacist I with demonstrable clinical experience authorized to provide direct patient care services under protocol.

Clinical Practice: The skill, knowledge, and competency of a licensed medical provider or behavioral health professional reflected in the licensed medical provider or behavioral health professional’s quality of care.

Clinical Presenter (Patient Presenter):  For contracted specialty services, the clinical presenter shall be a licensed health care provider, trained in the use of telemedicine equipment, who is available at the originating site to present the patient, manage the telemedicine peripherals, and facilitate exams within their scope of practice. For primary care and internal specialty consultation services, the definition of clinical presenter shall also include a medical assistant, provided that a licensed physician, podiatrist, physician assistant, nurse practitioner, or nurse midwife is physically present in the treatment facility during the performance of the medical assistant’s role.

Clinical Supervision: The institution Physician Managers (Chief Physician and Surgeon or Chief Medical Executive, Chief Psychiatrist, or Supervising Psychiatrist) serve as the clinical supervisor for the Medical Assistant (MA) and shall, in collaboration with the Supervising Registered Nurse, verify the MA’s proficiency in expected tasks and procedures prior to the MA functioning independently in the clinic.

Clinical Support Unit (Medical): A headquarters based group of California Correctional Health Care Services (CCHCS) physicians who specialize in reviewing and auditing clinical medical care delivered by CCHCS licensed medical providers in California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation institutions and in providing education to CCHCS licensed medical providers.

Cloud Services Provider: A third-party company offering a cloud-based platform, infrastructure, application, or storage services.

Co-Consultation: Communication between a Primary Care Registered Nurse (PCRN) and Primary Care Provider (PCP) resulting from a face-to-face CDCR 7362, Health Care Services Request Form, encounter to determine subsequent actions by the PCRN and PCP.

Coccidioidomycosis 2 Area: Institutions that pose the highest risk of coccidioidomycosis exposure.

Coccidioidomycosis 2 Restriction: A medical restriction based on a combination of a history of coccidioidomycosis (cocci) disease, medical high risk, negative cocci skin test results (if tested), race (e.g., African-American or Filipino), and medical conditions (e.g., diabetes mellitus); patients with a Cocci 2 restriction are designated as such in the cocci risk registry managed by Quality Management.

Coccidioidomycosis Skin Test: The skin test used to determine hypersensitivity reaction to the spherulin antigen (a component of the fungus that causes coccidioidomycosis).

Compassionate Release: The court recall and resentencing of a patient in accordance with the process set forth in Health Care Department Operations Manual, Chapter 3, Article 1, Section 3.1.22, Compassionate Release, and the California Penal Code Section 1172.2.

Competency: Documented demonstration of an individual having the requisite or adequate abilities or qualities capable to perform up to a defined expectation.

Competency Validation: The evaluation of staff competencies or clinical skills by a subject matter expert.

Complex Care Management: Management of patients with complex biopsychosocial needs.

Compounding: Any of the following activities occurring in a licensed pharmacy, by or under the supervision of a licensed pharmacist, pursuant to a prescription: (1) Altering the dosage form or delivery system of a drug, (2) Altering the strength of a drug, (3) Combining components or active ingredients, and (4) Preparing a compounded drug preparation from chemicals or bulk drug substances. “Compounding” does not include reconstitution of a drug pursuant to a manufacturer’s direction(s), nor does it include the sole act of tablet splitting or crushing, capsule opening, or the addition of flavoring agent(s) to enhance palatability. [Source: California Code of Regulations, Division 17, Title 16, Article 4.5, Section 1735]

Computerized Tomography: Radiography in which a three-dimensional image of a body structure is constructed by computer from a series of plane cross-sectional images made along an axis.

Concurrent Medical Record Review: The review of a case, including the anticipated treatment plan, prior to the actual rendering of care so as to prospectively evaluate the critical thinking surrounding the case, the diagnostic process, and the ability to formulate an appropriate treatment plan.

Concurrent Review: A review to evaluate the ongoing need for acute, sub-acute, or non-acute levels of care including review of admissions, continued stays, and discharge planning activities.

Consent Calendar: A record of action items awaiting committee vote. These items are not expected to be substantially opposed and therefore are scheduled for review and automatic adoption unless a committee member specifically objects. Use of a consent calendar helps to close many agenda items quickly and efficiently.

Conservator: An individual who has been appointed by a superior court to have decision-making authority for a patient.

Continuum of Care Review: A type of review conducted by Nursing Consultant Program Review staff which assesses the quality and appropriateness of a continuum of care delivered by several nursing staff members over a defined period of time in a specific clinic setting or service line that resulted in adverse patient outcome(s).

Contraband Surveillance Watch: Isolation and restriction of movement for observation of incarcerated persons who are suspected or known to have ingested or inserted contraband into a body cavity.

Contract Provider: Licensed health care professionals who provide services pursuant to a contract, which includes registry providers, specialty consultants, direct care contracted providers, and eConsult providers.

Controlled Access: A means of preventing unauthorized access to an automated drug delivery system either by lock and key or electronic device using fingerprint access or passwords.

Controlled Room Temperature: United States Pharmacopeia guidelines for the storage of pharmaceuticals at room temperature.

Controlled Substances: Medications classified under federal and state law as Schedule II, III, IV, and V by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Controlled Use of Force: The force used in an institution/facility setting when an incarcerated person’s presence or conduct poses a threat to safety or security and the incarcerated person is located in an area that can be controlled or isolated. These situations do not normally involve the immediate threat to loss of life or immediate threat to institution security.

Core Competency Standards: The standards utilized to evaluate the competency of civil service primary practice practitioners which include but are not limited to the following:

Core Primary Care Team Members: The Primary Care Provider, Primary Care Registered Nurse, and support staff person assigned to a specific patient panel.

Correctional Clinic: A primary care clinic, pursuant to California Health and Safety Code Division 2, Chapter 1, Article 1 Section 1206(b), conducted, maintained, or operated by the State to provide health care to eligible patients of California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Correctional Facility Tuberculosis Patient Plan: The official state form developed by the California Correctional Health Care Services Public Health Branch in consultation with the California Department of Public Health to collect information on patients with suspect or confirmed Tuberculosis.

Correctional Pharmacy: A pharmacy, licensed by the California State Board of Pharmacy as a Licensed Correctional Facility, for the purpose of providing drugs and pharmaceutical care to the incarcerated population of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. A correctional pharmacy may dispense or administer medication pursuant to a chart order, as defined in Business and Professions Code, Division 2, Chapter 9, Article 2, Section 4019, or other valid prescription consistent with federal and state law.

Correctional Standard Precautions: Hospital standard precautions (infection control practices to reduce the risk of transmission of microorganisms for both recognized and unrecognized sources of infection) adapted to a correctional setting. The adaptions take into account security issues, incarcerated population housing factors, and infection control concerns inherent to jails and prisons.

Correctional Treatment Center: A health facility operated by California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation that provides inpatient health care services to patients who do not require a general acute care level of essential services and are in need of professionally supervised health care that cannot be provided on an outpatient basis.

Corrosivity: A substance that has a pH of less than or equal to two (highly acidic) or greater than or equal to 12.5 (highly basic).

Countback: An inventory auditing procedure whereby a user identifies the remaining inventory of a specified item pursuant to a prompt by an automated drug delivery system. Typical countbacks are completed without the user knowing the expected medication count, known as a blind countback.

Covered Entity: Health plans, health care clearinghouses, and health care providers who transmit any health information in electronic form in connection with a transaction that is subject to federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 requirements, as those terms are defined and used in the HIPAA regulations, 45 Code of Federal Regulations sections 160 and 164.

Covered Entity [of a 340B Program]: Institutions eligible and registered to purchase outpatient drugs at a discounted price under Section 340B of the Public Health Service Act.

Credential Alert: A flag in a licensed medical provider or behavioral health professional’s file which serves to draw a reviewer’s attention of some prior irregularity, unresolved issue, or other matter of concern which should be considered as part of any subsequent request to review credentials and grant privileges.

Credential Bar: A notification placed in a licensed medical provider or behavioral health professional’s file which shall act to prevent the Medical Reviewer from approving credentials until the matter creating the credential bar is considered by the Medical or Behavioral Health Professional Peer Review Committee, who shall have the authority to take such steps as may be necessary to resolve the issue creating the credential bar or to instruct the Medical Reviewer to deny the application based on those issues. Placement of a credential bar may result from, but is not limited to:

Credentialing: The system of screening and evaluating qualifications and other credentials including, but not limited to, licensure, certification, required education, relevant training and experience, and current competence and health status.

Critical Laboratory Value: Laboratory results that may require immediate clinical attention to avert significant patient morbidity or mortality.

Cycle Count: An inventory auditing procedure whereby a small subset of inventory within an automated drug delivery system is counted such that the entire inventory is counted at preset intervals. The purpose of cycle counting is to verify inventory accuracy and to identify root causes of inventory errors.

Cytotoxic: Pertaining to, resulting from, or having the action of a toxin or antibody that has a specific toxic action upon cells of specific organs.

“D” Listed Hazardous Waste: Resource Conservation and Recovery Act hazardous waste identified due to its characteristics of “toxicity.” Separate containers may be required for each substance identified.

Dangerous Drugs or Dangerous Devices: Any drug or device unsafe for self-use in humans or animals and includes the following warnings: (a) any drug that bears the legend: “Caution: federal law prohibits dispensing without prescription,” “Rx only,” or words of similar import; (b) any device that bears the statement: “Caution: federal law restricts this device to sale by or on the order of a prescriber,” “Rx only,” or words of similar import; or (c) any other drug or device that by federal or state law can be lawfully dispensed only on prescription or furnished pursuant to California Business and Professions Code, Division 2, Chapter 9, Article 1, Section 4006. A dangerous drug or dangerous device is also known as a prescription drug or prescription device.

Data Sharing Agreement: A contract between a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) covered entity and another entity that protects health information in accordance with HIPAA guidelines or other applicable privacy law for the protection of Protected Health Information or Personally Identifiable Information.

Data Use Agreement: A contractual agreement that establishes who is permitted to use and receive the Limited Data Set, and the permitted uses and disclosures of such information by the recipient.

Day Forward Scanning: Documents produced by clinicians at the institutions after a clinical encounter or appointment which are scanned into the health record.

Death: An irreversible cessation of either circulatory and respiratory functions or all brain functions including the brain stem.

Decision Support Tools: Materials used by clinical staff to inform and support evidence-based practices based on clinical knowledge and patient specific assessments. Decision support tools are standardized procedures, protocols, order sets, clinical pathways, guidelines, and standing orders developed in accordance with the Health Care Department Operations Manual, Section 1.4.6.8, Nursing Standardized Procedures, Protocols, Order Sets, Clinical Pathways, and Standing Orders.

Definitive Care: The completion of appropriate care in a setting such as a hospital emergency department under the care of physician(s).

De-identified Health Information: Health information that does not identify a patient and with respect to which there is no reasonable basis to believe that the information can be used to identify the patient.

Dental Hold: A transfer restriction placed on an individual patient when the patient requires medically necessary dental services, and it is medically prudent to provide these services at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation institution where the patient is currently housed. A dental hold may be placed on a patient by dental staff at the licensure level of Dentist.

Designated Health Care Staff: For the purposes of the Health Care Department Operations Manual, Section 3.1.20, Clinical Photography/Digital Imaging, designated health care staff means staff employed by California Correctional Health Care Services in a clinical capacity not less than a Medical Assistant.

Designated Reception Center Institution: An institution that receives persons newly committed to California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation custody.

Destruction/Return Perpetual Inventory Record: An inventory system that continually updates the controlled substances, which are stored separately from the active inventory while awaiting transfer to the contracted return vendor. This inventory shall account for each addition to and each subtraction from the disposal inventory of controlled substances and tracks transfers to the contracted return vendor.

Determination of Death: The process of establishing death has occurred through assessment of objective data. A determination of death must be made in accordance with accepted medical standards.

Developmental Disability Program Evaluation: An evaluation performed by a developmental disability program psychologist, or designee, to determine the need for modifications to existing adaptive supports, additional adaptive supports, or other factors involved.

Diet Instruction: Specific dietary recommendations including careful food choices based on the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Heart Healthy Diet, provided by a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist or other health care staff within the scope of their licensure.

Digital Imaging: The creation of electronic images including the processing, compression, storage, printing, transmission, and display of such images.

Direct Observation: Real-time observation of a procedure or ongoing evaluation of a treatment plan and/or patient care as it is rendered. Direct observation is utilized only during training and orientation periods.

Directly Observed Therapy: Dose-by-dose administration of medications by appropriately licensed health care staff including, but not limited to, Registered Nurse, Licensed Vocational Nurse, or Psychiatric Technician using the highest level of observation of ingestion of medication administered to the patient.

Discharge: Release of a patient from custody or parole supervision after which the full sentence is completed, the patient or supervised person can no longer be “violated” and returned to prison and is completely released from California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation jurisdiction.

Disclosure: The release, transfer, provision of, access to, or divulging in any other manner of information outside the entity holding the information.

Discrepancy: When a computer count kept by an automated drug delivery system differs from a physical count of drug on hand usually identified by cycle count or countback.

Disease Management: A system of coordinated health care interventions and communications for populations with conditions in which patient self-care efforts are significant. This system supports the health care staff and patient relationship and plan of care, emphasizes prevention of exacerbations and complications utilizing evidence-based proactive guidelines and patient empowerment strategies, and evaluates clinical, humanistic, and economic outcomes on an ongoing basis with the goal of improving overall health.

Dispensing: The furnishing of drugs or devices upon a prescription from a physician, dentist, optometrist, podiatrist or authorized prescriber, or upon an order to furnish drugs or transmit a prescription from an advanced practice provider (APP) or pharmacist acting within the scope of their practice. Dispense also means and refers to the furnishing of drugs or devices directly to a patient by a physician, dentist, optometrist, podiatrist, or an APP acting within the scope of their practice pursuant to Business and Professions Code, Division 2, Chapter 9, Article 2, Section 4024.

Disposal: The handling of controlled substances that, due to expiration date, spoilage, or contamination, are no longer suitable for use or returnable to contracted prime or secondary pharmaceutical vendors.

Diversion: The use of prescription drugs for other than the intended purpose.

Do Not Resuscitate: A written order which directs that resuscitation efforts (i.e., intubation and assisted mechanical ventilation, cardiac compression, defibrillation, and administration of cardiotonic drugs) are not to be initiated in the event of cardiac and/or respiratory arrest.

Downtime: The period of time when the Electronic Health Record System and/or other electronic information system is not operational or available for use.

Drug Enforcement Administration: Federal and state departments that regulate controlled substances.

Ducat: A common term for a CDC 129, Inmate Pass. Priority ducats are stamped with the word “Priority” and are used for scheduled health care appointments.

Durable Medical Equipment: Equipment prescribed by a licensed provider to meet medical equipment needs of the patient that can withstand repeated use; is used to serve a medical purpose; is not medically useful to an individual in the absence of an illness, injury, functional impairment, or congenital anomaly; and is appropriate for use in or out of the institutional housing.

eConsult: Asynchronous health record consultation services that provide an assessment and management service in which the patient’s primary care provider requests the opinion or treatment advice of another health care practitioner (consultant) with specific specialty expertise to assist in the diagnosis or management of the patient’s health care needs without patient face-to-face contact with the consultant.

Electronic Prescription: A prescription for a dangerous drug or device that meets Drug Enforcement Administration and California State Board of Pharmacy electronic prescription requirements in addition to the requirements of written prescriptions. Electronic prescription transmission must include identity verification, commonly known as two-factor authentication.

Emergency Medical Response Coordinator: A person who is regularly assigned to be responsible for ensuring that emergency medical response incidents, audits, and drills are evaluated and reported.

Emergency Response: The organizing, coordinating, and directing of available resources in order to respond to an event and bring the emergency under control.

Emergent Health Care Request: A request for immediate medical attention based on the patient’s, non-health care staff’s, or health care staff’s belief that a medical condition, signs, or symptoms require immediate attention by staff trained in the evaluation and treatment of medical problems.

Empty: For the purposes of hazardous waste, both federal and state definitions below shall be met:

Encounter Consolidation (sometimes referred to as bundling or stacking): When a patient has multiple pending appointments, setting appointments sequentially on the same day so that a patient need only be seen in one encounter for multiple purposes. Encounter consolidation helps increase clinic efficiency, meet mandated timeframes, and limit the need for custody escorts, lessening redundant work for custody and health care staff as well as making appointments more convenient for the patient, and reducing disruption to programming.

Endorsed Institution: A California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation institution where a patient is assigned and housed.

Engagement of Services Date: The date upon which the registry/contracted nursing personnel starts providing services within California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Episodic Care: Services to assess and treat exacerbation of a pre-existing condition or symptoms of a new condition, often unplanned and initiated when a patient submits a request for services.

Examination Protocol: A written plan specifying the procedure to be followed to perform a medical imaging examination of a particular anatomical area, including body position, number of images to be taken, etc. Protocols are developed and approved by the interpreting Radiologist.

Exception: A transaction where a mismatch has been identified between the controlled substance management system and the automated drug delivery system (ADDS). This can occur when drugs are leaving the correctional pharmacy but are not attributed to the ADDS, or drugs leaving the ADDS are not attributed as returned to the correctional pharmacy, thereby identifying where items were not handled correctly. This helps to ensure secure management of controlled substances and limits the possibility of diversion.

Exception Processing Team: Selected Health Information Management staff are responsible for correcting scanned documents in the health record. The Exception Processing Team consists of Health Records Technician II Supervisors, Health Records Technician IIs, and Health Records Technician Is.

Exemplar: Examples of best practices.

Expiration Dates: Dates determined by stability assessments that follow scientifically based technical procedures and are approved by the Food and Drug Administration that pharmaceutical manufacturers place on the containers/labels of each medication product. Expiration dates apply only when the medication is stored in the manufacturer’s original unopened container under defined conditions.

Exploratory Focused Professional Practice Evaluation: A confidential, time-limited process which allows medical leadership the opportunity to evaluate the licensed medical provider’s clinical competence when an Ongoing Professional Practice Evaluation identifies significant practice variance with potential undesirable patterns or trends of practice or when there is a question regarding the licensed medical provider’s performance.

Failure Mode and Effects Analysis: A systematic, proactive method for evaluating a process to identify where and how it might fail and to assess the relative impact of different failures, in order to identify the parts of the process that are most in need of change.

Final Proposed Action: The Medical Peer Review Committee recommended final action to modify privileges in any manner which includes a chronology of the major events in the peer review process and supporting documentation that is submitted to the Health Care Executive Committee.

Findings: For the purposes of the Health Care Department Operations Manual, Section 1.2.10, Mortality Review and Reporting, findings include: opportunities for improvement, sentinel events, health care incidents, blameworthy acts or reckless behavior, near misses, medication events, and examples of potential best practice.

First Aid: Emergency care administered to an injured or sick patient before health care staff is available.

First Responder: The first staff member certified in first aid on the scene of a medical emergency.

First Responder Response Time: The time interval starting at the placement of the first call for an emergency medical response and ending with the arrival of treating personnel trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) at the scene of the incident.

Focus – PDSA: A methodology that is used to identify improvement opportunities and create a systematic approach to implementing changes. The model is used to learn by doing and experimenting with improvements, examining what is learned and implementing what was learned into further improvement efforts.

Focused Professional Practice Evaluation: An evaluation process comprised of a clinical documentation review and input from the licensed medical provider’s to obtain a generalized or focused overview of clinical performance. Monitoring Report, Clinical Performance Appraisal, and Pattern of Practice are three types of Focused Professional Practice Evaluations.

Food Refusal: Refusing food not to achieve a specific goal but rather due to religious beliefs, mental health conditions, medical conditions, or developmental or cognitive deficits.

Food Refusal Participant: A patient who has refused to consume any food for nine consecutive meals due to religious beliefs, mental health conditions, medical conditions, or developmental or cognitive deficits contributing to no food intake in the absence of a specific goal.

For Cause Medical Peer Review: A focused review of a specific area of the licensed medical provider’s practice utilizing multiple sources of information including the licensed medical provider’s Ongoing Professional Practice Evaluation results and additional clinical documentation reviews.

Foreign Body: An object within the body that has been introduced from the outside, including but not limited to contraband items.

Furnishing: To supply by any means, by sale or otherwise. Drugs provided by a correctional pharmacy to a licensed unit or to a physician, dentist, optometrist, podiatrist, or an advanced practice provider acting within the scope of their practice is furnishing pursuant to Business and Professions Code, Division 2, Chapter 9, Article 2, Section 4026.

Gender Diverse: A term used to describe people with gender identities and/or expressions that are different from social and cultural expectations attributed to their sex assigned at birth. This may include, among many other culturally diverse identities, people who identify as nonbinary, gender expansive, gender nonconforming, and others who do not identify as cisgender.

Gender Dysphoria: A Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5-TR) which refers to discomfort or distress caused by a discrepancy between a person’s gender identity and that person’s assigned sex at birth.

Global Surgery Schedule Timeframe: A timeframe established by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services during which all necessary services normally furnished by a surgeon before, during, and after a procedure shall occur. For minor procedures, the timeframe is ten calendar days from the date of the procedure. For major procedures, the timeframe is 90 calendar days from the date of the procedure.

Governing Body: A person, persons, board of trustees, directors, or other body in whom the authority and responsibility is vested for the conduct and oversight of a licensed inpatient facility.

Guided Touched Cycle Count: An inventory auditing procedure whereby only certain categories of drugs (e.g. controlled substances) and the bins opened since the last cycle count for designated medications within an automated drug delivery system are counted to verify inventory accuracy and to identify root causes of inventory errors.

Handoff: A transfer of information from one health care staff or Care Team to another for the purpose of ensuring the continuity and safety of the patient’s care.

Hazardous Drugs: Any drug identified by at least one of the following five criteria: carcinogenicity, teratogenicity, reproductive toxicity in humans, organ toxicity at low doses in humans or animals, mutagenic properties, or new drugs that mimic existing hazardous drugs in structure or toxicity. This encompasses drugs that are antineoplastic, chemotherapeutic, and cytotoxic.

Hazardous Waste: A waste that appears on Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) hazardous waste lists (i.e., “P” list, “U” list, and “D” list) with properties that make it potentially dangerous or harmful to human health or the environment by exhibiting one of the four characteristics of ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity or toxicity. Also includes federally recognized hazardous waste not otherwise included in RCRA (also known as non-RCRA hazardous waste). Hazardous wastes can be liquids, solids or contained gases. In a medical setting, pharmaceuticals are examples of substances that can become hazardous waste when discarded. Dental hazardous waste includes amalgam used for filling teeth.

Hazardous Waste Manifest: The shipping document that travels with Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) hazardous waste from the point of generation, through transportation, to the final treatment, storage, and disposal facility. This document tracks RCRA hazardous waste from “cradle to grave.”

Hazardous Waste Storage Area: The storage area where all hazardous waste from the satellite accumulation points are collected to await pick up by the hazardous waste transporter.

Health Care Decision: A decision made by a patient, or the patient’s agent, conservator, or legally recognized decision-maker, regarding the patient’s physical and mental health care, including, but not limited to the following:

Health Care Decision-making Capacity: A person’s ability to understand the nature and seriousness of their illness or condition, the nature of proposed medical treatment, probable degree and duration of any risks or benefits associated with the proposed medical intervention, and risks and benefits of any reasonable alternatives; coupled with a person’s ability to respond knowingly and intelligently to queries about the proposed treatments, and participate in the treatment decision with a rational thought process.

Health Care First Responder: The first health care staff member certified in Basic Life Support (BLS) to arrive at the scene of a medical emergency.

Health Care Grievance Communications: Patient specific communication provided through health care grievance interviews, institution level responses, rejection notices, or withdrawal notices.

Health Care Incident: An unusual or unexpected occurrence in the clinical management of a patient or patients, such as an error, sentinel event, near miss, accident, or medication event that has or may have adverse health consequences for patients and/or staff, and requires submission of a written description of the event to the Statewide Health Care Incident Review Committee. Health care incidents include events as described in the Health and Safety Code, Section 1279.1; unusual occurrences as described in Title 22, Section 79787; adverse drug reactions submitted to the Food and Drug Administration MedWatch Reporting Program; incidents reported to the California Department of Public Health; and Potential Quality Issue Referrals.

Health Care Operations: Any of the following activities of California Correctional Health Care Services or a covered entity to the extent that the activities are related to covered functions: conducting quality assessment and improvement activities, including development of clinical guidelines; population-based activities related to improving health or reducing health care costs, protocol development, case management and care coordination, contacting of health care providers and patients with information about treatment alternatives, and related functions that do not include treatment; reviewing the competence or qualifications of health care professionals evaluating practitioner and provider performance, health plan performance, conducting training programs in which students and trainees in areas of health care learn under supervision to practice or improve their skills, accreditation, certification, licensing, or credentialing activities; 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 payments; and business management and general administrative activities of the entity, including but not limited to the following: management activities relating to implementation of or compliance with federal, state and local law; customer service, including the provision of data analysis; resolution of internal grievances, including the resolution of disputes from patients regarding the quality of care and eligibility for services.

Health Care Provider: A Medical Doctor, Doctor of Osteopathy, Doctor of Podiatric Medicine, Clinical Psychologist, Dentist, Clinical Social Worker, Nurse Practitioner, or Physician Assistant.

Health Care Services: California Correctional Health Care Services and Division of Health Care Services; medical, mental, and dental health services.

Health Care Services Dashboard: A monthly report that consolidates strategic performance information across key health care areas. The Dashboard provides data at both statewide and institution levels and shows trends in performance over time. The primary goal of the Dashboard is to provide California Correctional Health Care Services staff with information that can be used to improve the performance and value of health care services and patient outcomes.

Health Care Staff: Physicians, Dentists, Registered Nurses, Physician Assistants, Nurse Practitioners, Licensed Vocational Nurses, Certified Nursing Assistants, Psychiatrists, Psychologists, Licensed Clinical Social Workers, Licensed Psychiatric Technicians, Registered Dental Assistants and Registered Dental Hygienists.

Health Care Staff: For the purposes of the Health Care Department Operations Manual, Section 1.4.6.8, Nursing Standardized Procedures, Protocols, Order Sets, Clinical Pathways, and Standing Orders, health care staff means any person legally authorized to perform a health care function under standardized procedures, protocols, order sets, clinical pathways, guidelines, and standing orders. This includes Registered Nurses, Licensed Vocational Nurses, Psychiatric Technicians, Certified Nurse Assistants, and Medical Assistants as outlined in the California Code of Regulations, Title 16, Division 13, Chapter 3, Article 2, Sections 1366-1366.4, 1379, and 1470-1474.

Health Care Staff Response Time: The time interval starting at the placement of the first call for an emergency medical response and ending at the time a physician, mid-level provider, or Registered Nurse has contact with the patient, or communicates via radio or telephone with the Health Care First Responder.

Health Care Treatment Areas: Any location where patient health care services are provided including, but not limited to, medical clinics, dental clinics, designated triage and treatment areas, or standby emergency rooms where urgent/emergent treatment may be required and the location is not licensed by the California Department of Public Health under California Code of Regulations, Title 22, Division 5 or by the California State Board Of Pharmacy pursuant to Business and Professions Code Division 2, Chapter 9, Article 13.5, Section 4187.

Health Information Exchange: The capability to electronically move health information among disparate health care information systems and maintain the meaning of the information exchanged.

Health Information Governance: The process instituted by policy as visible, demonstrable evidence of oversight of health information access, use, storage, disclosure, reporting, and destruction in compliance with federal and state law.

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996: A federal law that required the creation of national standards to protect sensitive patient health information from being disclosed without the patient’s consent or knowledge.

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Waste: Protected Health Information (PHI) waste (shred waste) defined as documents (e.g., paper, film, printer ribbon, labels containing PHI) that require shredding, pulping, burning, or pulverizing so that PHI is rendered unreadable, indecipherable, and otherwise cannot be reconstructed.

Health Literacy: The degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions.

Health Maintenance Services: A systematic program or procedure planned to prevent illness, maintain maximum function, and promote health.

Health Oversight Activities: The oversight of the health care system as well as government benefit programs, entities subject to government regulatory programs, and entities subject to civil rights laws, including but not limited to, audits, civil, administrative, or criminal investigations, inspections, licensure, or disciplinary action, or civil, administrative, or criminal proceedings or actions.

Health Oversight Agency: A government agency that is legally authorized to conduct health oversight activities, or a person, or entity, at any level of the federal, state, local, or tribal government that oversees the health care system or requires health information to determine eligibility, or compliance, or to enforce civil rights laws.

Health Promotion Services: Providing clients with information to enhance health and prevent disease and encouraging lifestyles that influence good health.

Health Record: The medical – legal body of documents aggregated by health care staff to document care provided to the patient (e.g., chart, electronic health record system, etc.).

Health Record Clinical Documentation Review: Review of Electronic Health Records System documentation in order to assess the quality of care delivered and ensure adherence to defined standards of care.

Health Record Custodian: The person(s) or California Correctional Health Care Services subdivision(s) responsible for the maintenance, retention, access, data integrity, and data quality of Protected Health Information.

Heat Alert Medications: Medications that can pose a serious risk to a patient’s health during times of extreme heat by impairing the body’s ability to regulate temperature.

Heat Medications Registry (Clinical View): A type of Heat Medication Report intended for clinical staff only that provides clinical details and protected health information about all patients currently prescribed a Heat Alert Medication.

Heat Meds Custody Report: A type of Heat Medication Report intended for custody staff only that provides the Care Team, cell bed location, and facility location of all patients currently prescribed a Heat Alert Medication.

Heat Plan: A documented local operating procedure to prevent adverse drug reactions in patients prescribed medications that have the potential to impair thermoregulation. The Heat Plan is enforced from May 1 through October 31 each year and whenever temperatures warrant.

High Alert Medications: A drug that bears a heightened risk of causing significant patient harm when used in error. Mistakes may or may not be more common with these drugs, but the consequences of an error are more devastating to patients.

High Priority Health Care Request: Any health care request that includes, but is not limited to, preventive care, screening, or follow-up care and does not meet the definition of emergent but requires services to be provided within a shorter timeframe than medium and routine priority health care requests as determined by the licensed provider. High priority specialty services shall be provided within 14 calendar days of the Primary Care Provider order.

High-Risk Confidential Information: Non-public information that, if disclosed, could result in significant harm including financial or legal, risk to life and safety, or reputational damage to California Correctional Health Care Services or individuals.

High-Risk Pregnancy: A pregnancy that threatens the health or life of the mother or her fetus.

Hoarding: Stockpiling of medications by the patient.

Hospice: Services that are designed to provide palliative services to patients needing end-of-life care. Services are designed to alleviate the physical, emotional, social, and spiritual discomforts of an individual who is experiencing the last phases of life due to the existence of a terminal disease and to provide supportive care to the primary caregiver and the family. A skilled or unskilled person may provide care under a plan of care developed by a physician or interdisciplinary team under medical direction. Hospice services may be provided in all levels/areas of a specialized health care housing unit.

Hub: Site where the contracted, non-California Correctional Health Care Services physician or other licensed practitioner delivering the service is located when the service is provided via telecommunications system.  These services are provided by a medical group, physician, or group of physicians (including support staff) who may be responsible for the coordination and administration of telemedicine services at the provider site.

Hunger Strike: A method of non-violent resistance or pressure in which a patient refuses to consume food with the objective of achieving a specific goal.

Hunger Strike Participant: A patient who has refused to consume any food, including canteen, for nine consecutive meals, either individually or as part of a mass hunger strike, with the objective of achieving a specific goal.

Hygiene Supplies: Supplies available without a prescription for personal care. Hygiene supplies are intended for non-medical purposes and are not medical supplies.

Incidental Disclosure: A disclosure secondary to a permitted disclosure that cannot be reasonably prevented, is limited in nature, and occurs as resulting from the authorized use or disclosure. Incidental disclosures are allowable as long as reasonable safeguards are applied, including the minimum necessary standard, where applicable, with respect to the primary use or disclosure. An incidental use or disclosure resulting from a failure to apply reasonable safeguards or the minimum necessary standard, where required, is not permitted under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

Ignitability: A substance that presents a fire hazard under routine storage, disposal, and transportation or is capable of exacerbating a fire once it has started.

Individual Improvement Plan: A personalized training and education plan created in conjunction with and based on the results of an Initial Focused Professional Practice Evaluation, Ongoing Professional Practice Evaluation, or Exploratory Focused Professional Practice Evaluation. The Individual Improvement Plan shall include a reassessment plan to evaluate improvement in any core competency in which the licensed medical provider is deemed to be deficient.

Informal Hearing: A hearing offered to licensed medical providers who are subject to a modification of privileges in order to provide a licensed medical provider with an opportunity to respond to and/or provide evidence to refute the allegations that provide the basis for the modification of clinical privileges.

Initial Focused Professional Practice Evaluation: An evaluation conducted, during a licensed medical provider’s probationary period and for newly hired licensed medical providers who are not subject to a probationary period, which allows medical leadership the opportunity to evaluate the licensed medical provider’s professional performance prior to granting active privileges, as well as to assess an existing licensed medical provider’s clinical competence for performing a newly requested privilege.

Initiation of Hunger Strike: Day one of a hunger strike is the day that the patient refused their ninth consecutive meal.

Institution Attributes: The important capacities, capabilities, and characteristics of institutions that affect the institution’s ability and efficiency to provide medical services to patients with various Patient Attributes. For example, the institution has a 15 bed Correctional Treatment Center.

Institution Leadership Team: Composed of all supervisors and managers at the institution who are responsible for the planning and provision of health care services to meet the needs of the patient. This group includes, but is not limited to, the institutional health care executives, and all medical, nursing, mental health, dental, and other classifications designated as exempt, supervisory, or managerial by departmental policy.

Institution Performance Improvement Plan: A plan that is updated at least every 12 – 15 months or more frequently as needed and identifies the institution priority areas for improvement that are consistent with statewide performance improvement objectives, as well as performance objectives and strategies used to achieve objectives.

Institution Scorecards: A report updated monthly that shows each institution’s individual performance for measures included in the Dashboard.

Institutional Health Care Executives: Chief Medical Executive; Chief of Mental Health; Chief Nurse Executive; Health Program Manager III, Dental and Quality Management Programs; and Chief Support Executive.

Institutional Leadership Team: Chief Executive Officer; Chief Medical Executive; Chief of Mental Health; Chief Nurse Executive; Supervising Dentist; Health Program Manager III, Quality Management Program; and Chief Support Executive.

Inter-facility Transfers: Transfers occurring from one California Department of Corrections institution (CDCR) to another CDCR institution.

Interferon-Gamma Release Assay Test: The standard method used by California Correctional Health Care Services for the detection of recent or past tuberculosis infection.

Interim Accumulation Area: The location at or near any point of generation where medical waste is initially accumulated in containers before moving the waste to the medical waste accumulation area. This will typically be health care services locations.

• Internal Consultation: A request for an encounter with a California Correctional Health Care Services special populations provider coordinated through telemedicine services.

Interventions: Actions focused on executing specific care management activities necessary for accomplishing the goals set forth in the patient’s treatment plan, linking the patient to the services needed to optimize health.

Intra-facility Transfers: Transfers occurring within an institution (e.g., from A yard to B yard), causing a patient’s medications to be distributed from a different medication administration location.

Inventory Control Method: A record of all receipts, administration, and waste or return of controlled substances maintained for each medication storage area. An Inventory Control Method includes data maintained electronically as well as information maintained on paper and includes the following data elements:

Involuntary Medication: Medications which are administered involuntarily under:

Judicial Review Committee: A three-member panel composed of independent and impartial physicians who shall, by majority vote, determine the final outcome of a privileging action taken against a licensed medical provider when appealed by the licensed medical provider.

Keep-on-Person: Medications that the prescriber believes can be safely self-administered by the patient.

Keep-on-Person Ready List: Pharmacy-generated list of patient names and California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation numbers whose Keep-on-Person (KOP) medications are ready for pick up.

Large Quantity Generator: (California) For the purposes of California medical waste, an institution registered with the State or local jurisdiction which generates more than 200 pounds of medical waste in any month within a 12 month period, not including Resource Conservation and Recovery Act waste.

Large Quantity Generator: (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act [RCRA]) For the purposes of federal waste, an institution which generates 1,000 kilograms or more per month of RCRA hazardous waste or more than one kilogram of acute hazardous waste.

Latent Tuberculosis Infection: A tuberculosis (TB) infection that has not developed into disease.  Persons with latent TB infection (LTBI) are at risk of developing TB disease throughout their lifetime, with immunocompromised patients at even higher risk. Persons with LTBI are not infectious to others.

Layover: A temporary delay or stop at an intermediate location during the transportation phase of a transfer of care. These typically occur during interfacility transfers of care and are of limited duration (e.g., overnight).

Lean Model: An approach that centers on the separation of “value-added” from “non-value-added” work and seeks to improve quality and productivity, reduce inefficiencies, and eliminate waste.

Legally Recognized Decision-Maker: Includes an agent designated in an advance directive, orally designated surrogate, court-appointed conservator or guardian, or person whom the patient’s Primary Care Provider believes best knows what is in the patient’s best interest and shall make decisions in accordance with the patient’s expressed wishes and values to the extent known.

Legend Medications: Medications that can only be dispensed upon orders of a physician. The labels on these medications include the sentence: “Federal Law prohibits dispensing without a prescription.”

Licensed Correctional Clinic: A correctional clinic with its own discrete medication storage area which has been licensed by the California State Board of Pharmacy pursuant to Business and Professions Code, Division 2, Chapter 9, Article 13.5, Section 4187. A licensed correctional clinic (LCC) may obtain drugs from a correctional pharmacy, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation-Central Fill Pharmacy, or from another LCC within the same institution for the administration or dispensing of drugs or devices to patients eligible for care at the correctional facility if under either: (1) the direction of a physician and surgeon, dentist, or other person lawfully authorized to prescribe or (2) a statewide-approved protocol.

Licensed Medical Provider: Regional Deputy Medical Executive, Headquarters Deputy Medical Executive, Assistant Deputy Medical Executive, Chief Medical Executive, Chief Physician and Surgeon, Physician and Surgeon, Nurse Practitioner, Physician Assistant, Nurse Anesthetist, Podiatrist, and Specialty Consultants.

Licensed Units: Any health care treatment area which has beds that have been licensed by the California Department of Public Health under California Code of Regulations, Title 22, Division 5 or a health care treatment area that has been licensed by the California State Board of Pharmacy pursuant to Business and Professions Code Chapter 9, Division 2, Article 13.5, section 4187.

Limited Data Set: Protected Health Information that excludes the following direct identifiers of the patient or of relatives, employers, or household members of the patient; names; postal address information other than town or city, state and zip code; telephone numbers; fax numbers; electronic mail addresses; social security numbers; health record numbers; health plan beneficiary numbers (such as Medi-Cal numbers); account numbers; certificate/license numbers; vehicle identifiers and serial numbers, including license plate numbers.

Listed Hazardous Waste: Resource Conservation and Recovery Act hazardous waste identified due to its characteristics of “toxicity,” “ignitability,” “corrosivity,” or “reactivity.” Separate containers may be required for each substance identified.

Local Enforcement Agency: The California Department of Public Health or a local agency electing to implement a medical waste management program. Agencies may differ by county or locale. Refer to the following link: https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CEH/DRSEM/Pages/EMB/MedicalWaste/Local-Enforcement-Agencies.aspx

Local Health Officer: Any one of the 61 legally appointed physician health officers in California, one for each of the 58 counties and three cities of Berkeley, Long Beach, and Pasadena.

Lockdown: An emergency safety procedure where a portion of the facility is affected by suspension of required programs or services, and patients are not released except as determined by the facility administration on an individual, case-by-case basis.

Locked Unit: A restricted or segregated program housing unit to include Protective Housing Units, Psychiatric Services Units, Security Housing Units, and Administrative Segregation Units.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Radiography that uses a magnetic field and pulses of radio wave energy to make pictures of organs and structures inside the body.

Mammography: The process of using low-energy X-Rays to examine breast tissue, used both as a diagnostic and screening tool.

Mass Hunger Strike: Three or more patients united with a common goal or set of demands disrupting institution operations and may require statewide or institutional mobilization.

Master Registry: A population health management tool that provides institution health care staff with a list of all patients and important clinical information automatically updated at least twice daily. The master registry aids institutions in understanding and managing subpopulations of patients with specific conditions or clinical factors across the institution or within a specified care team panel and connects to multiple “condition specific” patient registries that help identify potential areas for improving patient care to one or more patients. The master registry and condition specific registries integrate, enhance and present data from a variety of Electronic Health Record System (EHRS) and non-EHRS sources based on CCHCS-specific policies and guidelines described in the definition documents accompanying these tools.

Medical Assessment: A visual and physical evaluation of a patient’s medical condition and the need for medical services that allows health care staff and patients to monitor the stages of healing or progression of disease, detect the presence of complications, and review the effectiveness of treatment.

Medical Assistant: Unlicensed personnel who work in ambulatory care, or other specified settings, and perform administrative and technical support services, provided the service is not prohibited by law. As a member of the care team, a Medical Assistant addresses the ongoing needs of patients, works with Physicians, Psychiatrists, Podiatrists, Advanced Practice Providers, nurses, and other health care staff to promote the timely, efficient, and cost-effective use of health care resources.

Medical Classification: The process of mapping patient attributes to Medical Classification Factors.

Medical Classification Factors: A set of data elements that abstract and connect the Patient Attributes and the Institution Attributes. For example, “Correctional Treatment Center Level of Care.”

Medical Classification System: The system that provides the matching between patients and institutions based on patient attributes and institution attributes. The system includes the designation of the Patient and Institution Attributes and the processes necessary for the matching.

Medical Disciplinary Cause or Reason: That aspect of a licentiate’s competence or professional conduct that is reasonably likely to be detrimental to patient safety or to the delivery of patient care. This term is defined pursuant to Business Professions Code section 805.

Medical Emergency: Any medical, mental health, or dental condition, as determined by health care staff for which immediate evaluation and treatment are necessary to prevent death, severe or permanent disability, or to alleviate disabling pain. A medical emergency exists when there is a sudden, marked change in an individual’s condition so that action is immediately necessary for the preservation of life, alleviation of severe pain, or the prevention of serious bodily harm to the patient or others.

Medical Encounter: A medical encounter includes all forums involving the medical provider, planning, and providing care for the patient including: in person and telemedicine medical appointments, inpatient admissions and rounding encounters, Triage and Treatment Areas visits, co – consultation appointments with care team nurse, and telephone and on – call contact regarding the patient.

Medical Executive: Assistant Deputy Medical Executive, Deputy Medical Executive, and Regional Medical Executive.

Medical High Risk: Patients who have a medical risk designated as high per the automated clinical classification system.

Medical Hold: A transfer restriction placed on an individual patient when the patient requires medically necessary health care services, and it is medically prudent to provide these services at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation institution where the patient is currently housed. A medical hold may be placed on a patient by health care staff at the licensure level of Registered Nurse or higher.

Medical Nutrition Therapy: An evidence-based medical approach to treating certain chronic conditions through the use of an individually tailored nutrition plan ordered and approved by a Primary Care Provider and implemented by a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist.

Medical Providers: Medical Physicians, Nurse Practitioners (NP), Physician Assistants (PA), including medical students, NP and PA students, residents, fellows and other trainees.

Medical Reviewer: An individual appointed by the Deputy Director or Deputy Medical Executive, Medical Services, who reviews credentials applications and makes a determination as to whether credentials can be approved or whether the application requires additional evaluation. The Medical Reviewer shall possess the same licensure as the applicant and shall be in good standing with their licensing board and within California Correctional Health Care Services.

Medical/Psychiatric and Return: The process used when a patient requires medically necessary health care services which are only accessible at or via a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation institution other than the patient’s endorsed institution. Medical/psychiatric and Return requires an overnight stay at the treating institution prior to the return to the endorsed institution.

Medical Supplies: Medical items prescribed by a licensed provider to meet the health care needs of a patient. Medical supplies cannot withstand repeated use; are disposable in nature; and are used to serve a medical purpose. They are not to be used by an individual in the absence of illness, injury, functional impairment, or congenital abnormality and are intended for use by the patient in an inpatient or outpatient setting.

Medical Waste: Waste produced as a result of the delivery of health care that is regulated by the California Medical Waste Management Act including biohazardous, pathology, pharmaceutical, or trace chemotherapy waste that is not regulated by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act; sharps and trace chemotherapy waste generated as part of diagnosis, treatment, immunizations, or care of humans.

Medical Waste Accumulation Area: The storage area where all medical waste from the interim accumulation areas are collected to await pick up by the medical waste transporter.

Medical Waste Management Plan: A document required by the Medical Waste Management Act specific to a single generator which defines the generator’s processes for the disposal of the medical waste that it generates.

Medically Necessary: Health care services that are determined by the attending or primary medical, mental health, or dental care provider(s) to be needed to protect life, prevent significant illness or disability, or alleviate severe pain, and are supported by health outcome data or clinical evidence as being an effective health care service for the purpose intended or in the absence of available health outcome data is judged to be necessary and is supported by diagnostic information or specialty consultation.

Medication Adherence: The extent to which patients take medications as prescribed.

Medication Administration Area: All areas that store medications located outside of the correctional pharmacy irrespective of license (e.g., medication cart, medication room, nursing stations, or Triage and Treatment Area).

Medication Error: Any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm as a result of professional practice, health care products, procedures, and systems. Errors may occur in prescribing, order communication, product labeling, packaging, and nomenclature, compounding, dispensing, distribution, administration, education, monitoring, and use.

Medication Event: Any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm as a result of professional practice, health care products, procedures, and systems. Errors may occur in prescribing, order communication, product labeling, packaging, nomenclature, compounding, dispensing, distribution, administration, education, monitoring, and use.

Medication No-Show: The patient is not present to receive the prescribed medication.

Medication Order Override: A recorded transaction in an automated drug delivery system where a medication has been furnished pursuant to a medication order in the electronic health records system prior to its verification.

Medication Point of Service: A set, defined location where medications are routinely administered to a specific set of patients. Examples include, but are not limited to, Medication Rooms, Injection Rooms, and Medication Carts (for those locations where fixed medication rooms are not available/practical.

Medication Refill: Repeat dispensing of the same medication pursuant to an active valid prescription order which indicates an authorized number of refills or authorized duration of the prescription.

Medication Refusal: The patient declines the prescribed medication (Directly Observed Therapy [DOT], Nurse Administered, or Keep-on-Person) or declines to comply with medication procedures either at the cell front or during medication line (i.e., patient covering lights and windows so that DOT cannot occur, refusing to cuff up or come to the cell door with water, refusing to come to the medication line).

Medication Renewal: A new medication order which is required for dispensing of any medication for which the current order is expired or expiring.

Medium Priority Health Care Request: Any health care request that includes, but is not limited to, preventive care, screening, or follow-up care and does not meet the definition of emergent or high priority but requires a shorter timeframe than routine priority health care requests as determined by the licensed provider. Medium priority specialty services shall be provided between 15-45 calendar days of the Primary Care Provider order.

Mental Health Evaluation: An evaluation performed by a mental health clinician to determine the presence of mental illness, and the need for mental health treatment. A referral to psychiatry may be ordered if a review for psychotropic medication or other psychiatric intervention is needed. An Interdisciplinary Treatment Team may be scheduled for appropriate changes to the treatment plan or the level of care.

Metered Dose Inhalers: A pressurized medical device, also known as “MDI,” used for delivering medication into the lungs.

Milestone Credits: Credits awarded for the successful completion of approved rehabilitative or educational programs designed to better prepare patients to find employment and to successfully reintegrate into the community upon release and thereby reduce recidivism. Patients may also be awarded for the achievement of a distinct objective based on instruction and classwork time. To qualify for Milestone Completion Credits, programs must be included in California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s Milestone Complete Schedule, have specific education or career training goals, and have attendance and performance requirements.

Minimum Necessary:  The amount of information, to the extent necessary, to accomplish the intended purpose of access, use, disclosure, or request.

Model for Improvement: The Model for Improvement is a framework for structuring a quality improvement project that focuses on answering a set of fundamental questions followed by small but frequent tests of change, using Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles.

Modified Program: The suspension or restriction of patient program activities and/or movement that impacts less than all programs or less than all patients. A modified program may either occur independently in response to an incident or unusual occurrence or may occur as a facility transitions from a lockdown to regular programming.

Monitoring/Monitoring Report: Ongoing evaluation of a licensed medical provider’s care ordered by a peer review body when the peer review body has concerns that the licensed medical provider may be deficient in a particular area of clinical practice. The monitoring and subsequent Monitoring Report shall be performed by institutional medical leadership, Chief Medical Executive and/or Chief Physician and Surgeon unless the peer review body identifies another reviewer. Monitoring is one type of Focused Professional Practice Evaluation used to oversee and evaluate all or a portion of a licensed medical provider’s delivery of clinical care over a specified period of time.

Mortality Review: Analysis completed by a Nurse Consultant Program Review and a Physician or an Advance Practice Provider in which the quality of health care a patient received prior to death is assessed, and best practices and/or opportunities for improvement are identified.

Multi-dose Vial: A vial of liquid medication intended for parenteral administration (injection or infusion) that contains more than one dose of medication.

Mutagenic: Capable of inducing genetic mutation.

Near Miss: An event or situation that could have resulted in a health care incident but did not, either by chance or through timely intervention.

Next of Kin Notification: A formal process of informing the individual designated by the patient as next of kin as listed in the Electronic Records Management System of serious illness, injury, or death.

No View Host Services Provider: An information technology (IT) service company or partner that provides remote IT resources or services enabling individuals, and companies to host websites, databases, applications and other critical systems but does not have access to the hosted data.

Nonformulary Accommodation: An accommodation not listed in the formulary or a formulary accommodation based on medical necessity.

Nonhazardous Pharmaceutical Waste: Pharmaceutical waste (also known as California hazardous pharmaceutical waste) which requires special disposal under the California Medical Waste Management Act but is not identified as hazardous by federal standards.

Non-business Days: Saturdays, Sundays, and state holidays.

Non-routine Disclosure: The disclosure of records outside California Correctional Health Care Services that is not for a purpose for which it was collected.

Non-urgent: When referring to medication orders, non-urgent means needed no later than three business days based on the clinical judgment of the provider.

Normal Business Hours: A minimum of eight hours per business day. These hours may vary by institution, but are generally between the hours of 0700 and 1800.

Nourishments: Approved food items, in addition to the standard meal, ordered for patients with certain medical or dental conditions.

Nuclear Medicine: The branch of medicine that deals with the use of radioactive substances in research, diagnosis, and treatment.

Null Transactions: Authorized access into an automated drug delivery system where either no medication has been furnished or required processes have not been completed.

Nurse Administered: Dose-by-dose administration of medications by appropriately licensed health care staff that do not require Directly Observed Therapy procedures, only reasonably observed ingestion of medication.

Nurse Practitioner: An advanced practice Registered Nurse who meets Board of Registered Nursing education and certification requirements and possesses additional advance practice educational preparation and skills in physical diagnosis, psycho-social assessment, and management of health-illness needs in primary care, or acute care pursuant to the California Code of Regulations, Title 16, Section 1480(o).

Nurse Protocol: A specific written procedure that prescribes nursing actions in a given situation. Health agencies and physicians establish protocols to ensure consistency and quality of care. A protocol may describe mandatory nursing assessments, behaviors, and documentation for establishing and maintaining invasive appliances; methods of administering specific drugs; special-care modalities for patients with certain disorders; other components of patient care; lines of authority; or channels of communication under particular circumstances.

Nurse Reviewer: A designated Nursing Consultant Program Review staff assigned to perform a review.

Nursing: The protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, communities, and populations.

Nursing Care: Nursing care is delivered to patients within the framework of the Complete Care Model in the correctional setting and delegated by licensed Registered Nurses to patients at California Correctional Health Care Services. Nursing care is the result of the nursing process and is directed toward assisting the patient to maintain or regain a maximum level of health, accept reduced capabilities, or cope with terminal illness and death.

Nursing Deficiency: Nursing care which deviates from nursing scope and standards of practice established by the California Nursing Practice Act, American Nurses Association and/or California Correctional Health Care Services/California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation policies and procedures, including deviations from nursing performance duties.

Nursing-led Therapeutic Group: Structured, standardized groups facilitated by a Registered Nurse, Licensed Vocational Nurse, Psychiatric Technician, or Certified Nursing Assistant. The groups provide patients with basic information about their diagnosis, symptoms, medication side effects, treatment options, and supportive interventions.

Nursing Performance Duties: A code of conduct for nursing professionals that consists of the following: Duty to avoid causing unjustifiable risk or harm, Duty to follow a procedural rule, Duty to produce an outcome.

Nursing Practice: Treatment of human response to health problems, through utilization of the nursing process. The performance of these acts requires specialized knowledge, judgement and skills based upon principles of psychological, social, physical and biological sciences and utilization of the nursing process. Nursing is both an art and science.

Nursing Practice Review: A type of review conducted by Nursing Consultant, Program Review staff into the quality and appropriateness of services ordered or performed by nursing staff within California Correctional Health Care Services.

Off-label Use: Use of a Food and Drug Administration approved drug for an indication not listed in the package labeling or at doses not supported by the package labeling.

On the Premises: This term refers to the entire institution.

Ongoing Professional Practice Evaluation: A continuous process which allows medical leadership the opportunity to evaluate the licensed medical provider’s professional performance at regular intervals to identify and resolve potential problems as soon as possible; provide structured, detailed, and clinically-relevant feedback; and foster an efficient, evidence-based re-privileging process.

Open Access: A scheduling strategy that involves “doing today’s work today” and seeing patients as soon as possible after they request care, and on the same day if appropriate. Open access slots are appointment times or blocks that are left open and unscheduled until one to two days prior to that date, allowing the Care Team to accommodate walk-in patients, patients with urgent health needs, and patients with routine health needs that would benefit from expedited services.

Open Line: Affording patients access to canteen services outside of their scheduled draw each month.

Opportunity for Improvement: An occasion or situation from which it is likely possible to improve systems or processes related to the delivery of health care.

Opt-Out Screening Method: The patient is informed of the routine laboratory tests that will be performed as part of the Reception Center Initial Health Screening and triage unless the patient specifically declines a test.

Order Sets: Printed or electronic orders available for commonly performed interventions. These are different from standing orders in that they are not conditional. The provider determines whether the order sets will be used, and if variations to the order sets are required, the provider notes the variation in the patient’s chart.

Organization List: A guide to assist institution staff with proper placement of documents/forms in the health record.

Originating Site: The location of the patient at the time the telemedicine service is provided.

Outdated: Medication which reached either its beyond-use date or expiration date.

Outpatient Housing Unit: A designated housing area within institutions designed to provide supportive services, including low-intensity nursing care, for patients who may require limited assistance with activities of daily living or short-term observations.

Outpatient Therapeutic Diet: A medically necessary therapeutic meal plan ordered by a Primary Care Provider or dentist often referred to as “medical” or “medicalized” diets.

Outside Facility Transfers: Transfers to facilities not under California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation control or oversight (e.g., Modified Community Correctional Facility, Community Correctional Facility, county jails, federal and state courts, hospitals, Department of State Hospital Facilities, and Community Medical Centers)

Override: When permission has been granted to depart from the usual placement requirements for one or more Medical Classification Factors.

Overstock: Medication of such a quantity that goes beyond the predictable needs of a health care service area.

Over-the-Counter Products: A select list of commonly utilized health care products which are available to the general public without a prescription.

“P” Listed Hazardous Waste: A classification of Resource Conservation and Recovery Act hazardous waste which are specific chemicals or products identified due to their extreme toxicity or reactivity. All “P” listed hazardous wastes are identified as acute hazardous waste.

Palliative Care: Services that support a patient in managing his or her health care needs associated with a serious illness. Services are designed to provide comfort, relief from pain, support the patient, and to maintain or improve functioning and quality of life. Palliative care services can be provided at any stage of illness and at all levels of care within California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Panel: A team comprised of the Medical Peer Review Committee Chairperson; the Deputy Director, Medical Services, or designee; and a licensed medical provider’s Regional Deputy Medical Executive that conducts Safety Assessments into a licensed medical provider’s clinical performance to arrive at an initial determination as to whether the failure to take immediate action may result in an imminent danger to the health of patient(s) or staff.

Par Level: A count or volume range for quantity of floor stock to be maintained at a specific location. A par level generally has two parts. The first is the quantity at which the medication is not sufficient for anticipated needs and requires additional stock. The second is the quantity at which the medication is considered to be the maximum amount sufficient for anticipated needs without becoming excessive. Stock on hand should fall between the two.

Parole: Release of a person from incarceration to the community by a releasing authority prior to the expiration of the incarcerated person’s term.

Parole Release: Conditional release of a patient into the community requiring California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation supervision of the ex-patient to ensure adherence to specific conditions of parole.

Pathology Waste: Consisting of any recognizable human or animal body part, organs, and tissue.

Patient Attributes: The important medical characteristics, clinical needs, and chronic conditions that patients have which affect their placement into institutions. For example, “the patient needs Correctional Treatment Center level of care.”

Patient-Centered Health Home: A care model that involves the coordinated care of an individual’s overall health care needs and where individuals are active in their care.

Patient Panel: A clearly defined group of patients assigned to a particular Care Team. Every Care Team has one panel of patients, and every patient is assigned to a Care Team.

Patient Registries: Lists of patients with specific conditions or patients eligible for certain preventive services and includes clinical information helpful to the management of these patients.

Patient Safety Alert: A bulletin issued to all institutions informing them of a patient safety issue with statewide implications, which may include actions to mitigate harm to patients. For example, a patient safety alert might be issued when a sentinel event is linked to malfunctioning medical equipment used by several institutions.

Patient Summary: A report that brings together clinical data from multiple databases to provide an individual profile of each patient including demographic information, diagnoses, medications, recent laboratory results, recent hospitalizations and other health care events, upcoming appointments, effective communication and accommodation data, medical hold status, and other important clinical information.

Pattern of Practice: One of the tools that may be utilized to conduct a Focused Professional Practice Evaluation. A Pattern of Practice (POP) may be requested by the Medical Peer Review Committee (MPRC) or the Health Care Executive Committee. POPs are conducted by a licensed medical provider from the same discipline as the subject licensed medical provider. Results of the POP are forwarded to the MPRC for a determination of appropriate action.

Pattern of Practice Review: A type of review conducted by Nurse Consultant Program Review staff into the quality and appropriateness of services ordered or performed by nursing staff over a specified period of time. Pattern of Practice reviews shall include a review of selected patient encounters by an individual nurse staff over a specified timeframe.

Payment: The activities undertaken by California Correctional Health Care Services to obtain or provide reimbursement for the provision of health care. Payment activities relate to the individual to whom health care is provided and include, but are not limited to; determinations of eligibility or coverage (including coordination of benefits or the determination of cost sharing amounts), and adjudication of health benefit or health care claims; billing, claims management, collection activities, and related health care data processing; review of health care services with respect to medical necessity, appropriateness of care, or justification of charges; utilization review activities, including pre-certification and pre-authorization of services, concurrent and retrospective review of services.

Pedigree: An audit trail that follows a drug from the time it is manufactured through the distribution system to a pharmacy. The Food and Drug Administration defines a pedigree as a statement of origin that identifies each prior sale, purchase, or trade of a drug, including the date of those transactions and the names and addresses of all parties.

Peer Mentor Program: Incarcerated Peer Mentors provide structured peer preventions and evidence-based strategies to deliver patient education, support patient well-being, and modify patient behaviors within California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and following release.

Peer Review Formal Investigation: An investigation into the clinical performance or conduct of a licensed medical provider or behavioral health professional pursuant to allegations that the licensed medical provider or behavioral health professional’s clinical performance or conduct falls below the applicable standard of care. A Formal Investigation is an investigation initiated by an event detailed in California Business and Professions Code (BPC), Sections 805 (c) and 805.01(b). (NOTE: Unlicensed clinical social workers are not subject to BPC, Section 805(c)).

Peer Review Intake Screener: The Peer Review Intake Screener (PRIS) shall  be a member of the Medical Peer Review Committee, as determined by the Deputy Director, Medical Services. For referrals involving a Physician Assistant or a Nurse Practitioner, the PRIS may be a physician or a provider of the same discipline as the subject provider.

Penalty: Action imposed by a civil or criminal court or other oversight entity to enforce violations of civil or criminal statutes.

Performance Improvement Plan: A plan that is updated at least biennially and identifies priority areas for improvement, as well as performance objectives and strategies used to achieve objectives.

Permanent: Expected to last longer than six months.

Perpetual Inventory Record: An inventory system that continually updates to account for each addition to and each subtraction from the active controlled substances inventory available for furnishing or dispensing.

Personal Representative: A person who has authority, under applicable state law, to act on behalf of a patient in making health care decisions related to the patient.

Personally Identifiable Information: Any information that is maintained by California Correctional Health Care Services (CCHCS) that identifies or describes an individual, including, but not limited to, their name, social security number, physical description, home address, home telephone number, education, financial matters, medical history, or employment history. It includes statements made by, or attributed to, the individual. Personally Identifiable Information may include information that is not necessarily Protected Health Information and may pertain to CCHCS employees, members of the public, or other individuals who may or may not be patients.

Pharmaceutical Return: Any pharmaceutical product that has been previously dispensed where the drug has remained in the possession of institutional health care staff, the drug is no longer needed, and the drug is usable for its intended purpose.

Pharmaceutical Waste: Any pharmaceutical product not suitable for disposal in regular trash that is no longer used for its intended purpose, requires special disposal by law, and is not returnable for credit.

Pharmacist: An individual to whom a license has been issued by the California State Board of Pharmacy under California Business and Professions Code, Division 2, Chapter 9, Article 16, Section 4200, except as specifically provided otherwise.

Pharmacist-in-Charge: A pharmacist proposed by a pharmacy and approved by the California State Board of Pharmacy as the supervisor or manager responsible for ensuring the pharmacy’s compliance with all federal and state laws and regulations pertaining to the practice of pharmacy. Within California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and California Correctional Health Care Services, this shall refer to the Pharmacist-in-Charge of the local correctional pharmacy that services the institution.

Pharmacy Administrator: Pharmacy staff designated by the Statewide Chief of Pharmacy Services or Pharmacist-in-Charge to oversee the maintenance of databases within an automated drug delivery system inclusive of the drug formulary and staff access rights.

Pharmacy Technician: An individual who is licensed by the California State Board of Pharmacy to assist a pharmacist in the performance of pharmacy related duties as specified in pharmacy policies and procedures and in accordance with state and federal laws.

Physical Inventory: A count of the actual number of units physically present (e.g., tablets/capsules, milliliters, vials).

Physical Safeguards: The physical measures and policies and procedures used to protect a covered entity’s or business associate’s electronic information systems and related buildings and equipment, from natural and environmental hazards, and unauthorized intrusions.

Physician Assistant: A health care provider who is licensed by the Physician Assistant Board and works under the supervision of a physician to provide patient evaluation, education, and health care services pursuant to the Business and Professions Code, Section 3501(d).

Physician Manager: California Correctional Health Care Services Chief Medical Executive or Chief Physician and Surgeon.

Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment: A physician order that documents a patient’s “preferred intensity of care” concerning life-sustaining treatment and end of life care, including resuscitation status, and which translates those expressed preferences into a physician’s order.

Picture Archiving and Communication System: A medical imaging technology which provides storage and convenient access to images from multiple modalities.

Population: A group of patients sharing a common health characteristic, such as age, gender, race or ethnicity, risk level, or chronic condition.

Population Management: Systematic assessment, monitoring, and management of the health care needs of identified groups of patients.

Potential Quality Issue: A health care incident, regardless of severity, which occurs during the course of treatment by a Healthcare Provider Network facility or provider and requires submission of a written Potential Quality Issue referral.

Potential Quality Issue Report: A response from the California Correctional Health Care Services (CCHCS) contract provider network regarding clinical care concerns involving a licensed medical provider under contract with the provider network and treating CCHCS patients.

Power of Attorney for Health Care: A written instrument designating an agent, also known as legally recognized decision-maker, to make health care decisions for the principal.

PPE Select Patient List: List of potential patient encounters eligible for clinical review generated based on defined clinical indicators.

Practice Agreement: An agreement that includes standardized procedures developed for the consistent application of health care functions performed by an Advanced Practice Provider.

Pre-Poured/Pre-Packed: The practice of setting up medications in unit dose packages for administration to one or more persons prior to the scheduled time and administering them at a later time.

Preliminary Outbreak Reporting System: The electronic outbreak and disease reporting system developed at California Correctional Health Care Services and available to public health nurses or their designees in California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation institutions.

Prepared Medication: For pharmacy staff, prepared medications are those medications prepared, reconstituted, or compounded by pharmacy staff for administration to a specific patient in any form. For licensed health care staff, prepared medications are those medications removed from packaging in order to administer to the patient. Reconstitution of intravenous/intramuscular medications for administration to a specific patient shall be in accordance with departmental policies under specific circumstances.

Prescription: Oral, written, or electronic transmission that is given to the person for whom ordered and is issued by a physician, dentist, optometrist, podiatrist, an advanced practice provider, or other person lawfully authorized to prescribe pursuant to their license in the State of California.

Prevention and Wellness Services: Services focused on disease prevention and health maintenance.

Primary Care Huddle: A meeting of Care Team members to plan and coordinate the patient care activities, panel management, and clinical operations to reduce or prevent lapses of patient care and improve patient outcomes.

Primary Care Provider: A physician, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant designated to have primary responsibility for the patient’s health care or, in the absence of a designation or if the designated physician is not reasonably available or declines to act as primary physician, a physician who undertakes the responsibility.

Primary Care Team: An interdisciplinary team that organizes and coordinates services, resources, and programs to ensure consistent delivery of appropriate, timely, and patient-centered, evidence-based care to a designated patient panel.

Primary Source Verification: The documentation from the original source of a specific credential that verifies the accuracy of a qualification reported by an individual licensed medical provider. This can be documented in the form of a letter, documented telephone contact, or secure electronic communication with the original source.

Principal: An adult who executes a power of attorney for health care.

Privacy Incident: A potentially unlawful collection, access, use, or disclosure of Protected Health Information, Personally Identifiable Information, or High-Risk Confidential Information.

Privilege Modification: A temporary or permanent change in a licensed medical provider or behavioral health professional’s privileges including a denial, suspension, restriction, reduction or revocation of any or all of a licensed medical provider or behavioral health professional’s privileges due to medically disciplinary cause or reason.

Privileging: The process by which a licensed medical provider or behavioral health professional is permitted by law and the facility to provide specified medical or other patient care services. Clinical privileges shall be facility-specific, provider-specific, and within available resources.

Process Flow Diagramming: A way of designing and documenting business processes that illustrates and analyzes the overall flow of activities in providing a service.

Proctoring: The assignment of a licensed medical provider or behavioral health professional to observe the practice of another licensed medical provider or behavioral health professional performing specified activities and to provide required reports on those observations. The proctor shall have privileges for the activity being performed but shall not be directly involved in the medical or behavioral health care or treatment the observed licensed medical provider or behavioral health professional is delivering. Proctoring that requires a proctor to do more than just observe (i.e., exercise control or impart knowledge, skill, or attitude to another licensed medical provider or behavioral health professional to ensure appropriate, timely, and effective patient care) constitutes supervision. Such supervision may be considered a modification of privileges.

Procurement: The purchase of pharmaceuticals by the pharmacy. Various agencies may refer to a procurement as an order. To avoid confusion with the term chart order, “CII order” is used regarding the procurement of controlled substances.

Professional Medical Staff: Composed of Physicians, Dentists, Podiatrists and Clinical Psychologists engaged in their respective disciplines as health care providers either employed by or contracted with the institution.

Professional Misconduct: Conduct and behavior that disrupts, or is likely to disrupt, clinical operations and may impact patient or staff safety, or is “unprofessional” pursuant to the licensure law applicable to the licensed medical provider or behavioral health professional.

Professional Practice Organization: A nationally recognized organization that advocates for the members of the organization and sets expected standards of professional practice, ethics, and conduct for members of a particular profession. Examples of Professional Practice Organizations relevant to California Correctional Health Care Services nursing include, but are not limited to, the American Nurses Association, American Association of Critical Care Nurses, and American Academy of Nursing.

Pronouncement of Death: The formal process of recording and communicating death.

Prospective Review: A review conducted prior to services being rendered to determine whether the patient’s illness necessitates the requested level of care or services or could be provided at a lower level of care.

Prosthetic and Orthotic Appliances: Devices ordered by a Primary Care Provider that correct, support, replace a missing portion of the body, or restore physical weakness or deformities.

Protected Health Information: Information created or received by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and California Correctional Health Care Services which identifies or can be used to identify an individual as it relates to past, present, or future health conditions; health care services provided to the individual; or health care related payments. This applies to information that is transmitted or maintained in verbal, paper, or electronic form. Protected Health Information excludes information related to individuals who have been deceased for more than 50 years.

Protocols: Evidenced based practice procedures that represent the framework for managing a specific disorder or clinical situation by outlining the desired outcome, the process steps and tasks, the skills and competencies required, scope of practice, and action taken.

Provider Network: A group of licensed health care practitioners and hospitals working under a contract with California Correctional Health Care Services who provide health care services to California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation patients.

Psychotherapy Notes: 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 patient’s medical record. Psychotherapy notes 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: For the purposes of the Health Care Department Operations Manual, Section 1.4.5.4, Impaired Pharmacy Personnel, public refers to employees, co-workers, patients, and any other persons interacting with pharmacy personnel.

Public Health Authorities: An agency or authority of the United States, a state, territory, 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.

Public Official: A public official is any member, officer, employee, or consultant of a state or local government agency.

Quality Improvement: A rigorous approach to managing and improving organizational performance through the objective use of data and statistical tools to evaluate the structures, processes and outcomes of care and using improvement methods to design and test changes to continuously improve the value, quality and safety of health care systems.

Quality Improvement Monitors: Internal and external audits and reviews (i.e., Office of the Inspector General, court monitors, and Medication Administration Process Improvement Process).

Quality Management: A planned, strategic, system-wide approach to defining, evaluating, and improving organizational performance, thereby continually enhancing the quality and value of patient care and services provided and the likelihood of desired outcomes.

Radiologic Technologist: Medical personnel who perform diagnostic imaging examinations and administer radiation therapy treatments.

Radiology Information System: A software system for managing patient demographic and radiology imaging information. Used in conjunction with Picture Archiving and Communication System to manage patient imaging records.

Radiology Supervisor & Operator: The Radiologic Health Branch issues this State certificate to medical facilities to perform mammography, registers facilities possessing radiation sources such as X-Ray machines, and notifies the regulated community of radiation control changes.

Re-Privileging: The process of re-evaluating privileges which have been granted to licensed medical providers or behavioral health professional who continue to treat and provide services to California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and California Correctional Health Care Services patients.

Reactivity: A substance that is unstable under normal conditions; can cause explosions, toxic fumes, gasses or vapors when heated, compressed, or mixed with water.

Reading Glasses: Ready-made, single-vision glasses that are designed to lessen the focusing burden of near work, such as reading.

Reasonably Available: Readily available to be contacted without undue effort and willing and able to act in a timely manner considering the urgency of the patient’s health care needs.

Reception Center Focused Health Care Assessment: A face-to-face focused physical assessment performed by a Primary Care Provider and documented in the health record during the Reception Center Initial Screening.

Reception Center Initial Health Screening and Triage: A face-to-face assessment conducted by licensed nursing staff, which includes a review of the patient’s available health records, an interview, a brief health history, and a focused objective physical assessment based on the records review and patient interview.

Reception Center Initial Intake Process: A multidisciplinary process of compiling and evaluating the patient’s criminal records, life histories, medical, dental, physiological, mental health, and social histories, and determining the patient’s custody score in order to identify any specific placement needs and assigning them to an endorsed institution. The Reception Center (RC) initial intake process is guided by California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation custody staff with a goal that the patient is transferred to an endorsed institution within 30 days of arrival at the RC.

Reconciliation: An accounting process that uses multiple sets of records to ensure that medication counts are correct and in agreement. It confirms the inventory on-hand after considering medication received, medication wasted, medication returned, medication dispensed or furnished, or medication administered. A mismatched quantity during reconciliation requires further review to determine if there was any true loss of medication.

Registered Nurse Dispense: Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a Registered Nurse (RN) may dispense drugs or devices upon an order by a licensed physician and surgeon or an order by a certified nurse-midwife, or an advanced practice provider if the RN is functioning within a licensed primary care clinic.

Registry: A decision support tool that lists patients who may be eligible for specific clinical services or interventions or who have specific clinical conditions.

Regulated Waste: Any waste generated by health care staff that requires special handling or any waste that cannot be discarded in regular trash pursuant to federal or state law.

Rehabilitative Achievement Credits: Credits earned for the successful completion of rehabilitative programming. Examples of rehabilitative programming include alcohol and substance abuse prevention, anger management, anti-gang life skills, victim awareness, and best parenting practices. To qualify for Rehabilitative Achievement Credits, programs must be approved by California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s Division of Adult Institutions and the Warden, organized to achieve educational or rehabilitative goals, and be sponsored by department staff or volunteers.

Release Medications: Medications provided for continuity of care shall be supplied to the patient upon release from a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation institution. This includes, but is not limited to, release from the institution due to parole, discharge, supervised parole, or transfer to community reentry programs or Alternative Custody Programs.

Repackager: An establishment registered with the Food and Drug Administration that packages finished devices from bulk or repackages devices made by a manufacturer into different containers (excluding shipping containers).

Repackaging: The act of “taking a finished drug product from the container in which it was distributed by the original manufacturer and placing it into a different container without further manipulation of the drug.” Repackaging also includes placing contents of multiple finished drug containers into one container, “as long as the container does not include other ingredients.” [Source: Repackaging of Certain Human Drug Products by Pharmacies and Outsourcing Facilities, Guidance for Industry]

Reportable Disease: A disease or condition that is mandated by law to be reported to the Local Health Officer for the jurisdiction in which a patient resides.

Reproductive Toxicity: Destructive to the ability to reproduce.

Requested Collection Date: The ordering provider’s requested date and time for a patient specimen collection and is documented in the collection date and time of the Electronic Health Record System laboratory order details section.

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act: The principal federal law governing the disposal of hazardous waste.

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Hazardous Waste: Waste regulated by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act whose properties make it potentially dangerous or harmful to human health or the environment by exhibiting one of the four characteristics of hazardous waste (ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity, or toxicity) or is a specifically listed D, P, or U waste. This includes waste where the drugs may not be hazardous but the vehicle in which they are dispersed is hazardous.

Retrospective Medical Record Review: The review of a case after care has been rendered which may include interviews with other personnel involved in the care of the patient, chart review, and/or evaluation of outcomes or work product.

Retrospective Review: A review to evaluate the medical necessity and appropriateness of treatment after it has been rendered, as well as to compare billed services with the actual treatment authorized.

Return Bin: A secure location accessible to designated pharmacy staff where recorded pharmaceutical returns are stored while awaiting inspection and review prior to incorporation into usable pharmacy medication inventory.

Reverse Distributor: A contractor that takes medication that is approaching or has exceeded its beyond-use or expiration date and submits the items to the manufacturers for potential monetary credit.

Risk Stratification: The continuous use of data and predictive modeling to differentiate patients into risk levels.

Root Cause Analysis: A structured and standardized process by which a multidisciplinary team analyzes a health care incident, near miss, or sentinel event, determines the fundamental reasons why the event occurred, and designs and implements a plan of action to prevent similar events from occurring in the future.

Rounds: The act of seeing a patient in an inpatient setting to observe and communicate with the patient, evaluate the patient’s current condition, their response to treatment, determine if their care needs are being met by the current plan of care and to assess their environment of care. Rounds may be conducted by individual disciplines, or they may be multidisciplinary.

Routine and Recurring Disclosure: The disclosure of records outside California Correctional Health Care Services, without the authorization of the individual, for a purpose that is compatible with the purpose for which the information was collected.

Routine Priority Health Care Request: The default priority for any health care request including, but not limited to, preventive care, screening, or follow-up care that does not meet the definition of medium or high priority as determined by the licensed provider. Unless there is a risk to patient safety, health care requests shall be ordered as routine priority, and specialty services shall be provided within 46-90 calendar days of the Primary Care Provider order.

Routine Laboratory Orders: Any order that includes, but is not limited to, preventive care, screening, or care as routine follow-up and does not meet the definition of STAT laboratory orders or emergency care as determined by the licensed health care provider. Routine Laboratory Orders include the following collection priority designations within the Electronic Health Record System: AM Draw, ASAP, Routine, and Timed Study.

Safety Assessment: An evaluation to determine whether failure to take immediate action regarding potential privilege modification may result in imminent danger to the health of patient(s) or staff.

Sanction: An official action taken or imposed in response to a noted violation or instance of non-compliance with applicable regulations, policies and procedures.

Satellite Accumulation Point: A location at or near any point of generation where Resource Conservation and Recovery Act hazardous waste is initially accumulated in containers before consolidating the waste at a hazardous waste storage area. For California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation/ California Correctional Health Care Services health care, this will typically be health care services locations.

Scheduling Support Staff: The member of the Care Team who ensures that all patients are appropriately scheduled and that Care Team members have the information they need for planned patient encounters. This is usually administrative support staff.

Self-Management: Patient activities to manage health on a day-to-day basis, in between contacts with the health care system. Self-management may also refer to collaborative processes between Care Teams and patients to develop specific plans and objectives to improve the patient’s health status.

Sentinel Event: A patient safety event, including adverse events as defined in California Health and Safety Code, not primarily related to the natural course of the patient’s illness or underlying condition that results in death, permanent harm, or a temporary impairment that affects the patient and limits their ability to function normally for a significant amount of time.

Serious Illness: Includes without limitations, any life threatening medical or surgical condition resulting in an unscheduled hospital admission; receipt of a new palliative care consult and/or referral to hospice services; or loss of the capacity to communicate or to make health care decisions while admitted to the hospital.

Serious Injury: Includes without limitations, a life threatening injury, loss of vision, limb amputation, or incident of self-harm, suicide attempts, or accidents, requiring hospital admission.

Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner: A contracted nurse who has received specialized training to conduct sexual assault evidentiary exams. Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners are trained in the medical, psychological, and forensic medical examination of sexual abuse victims.

Sexual Assault Response Team: A coordinated interdisciplinary team of law enforcement, prosecution, contract medical, staff, and advocacy experts collaborating to meet the medical and emotional needs of the victim of sexual abuse by an incarcerated person or staff, and the forensic needs of the criminal justice system.

Sharps Container: A rigid puncture-resistant United States Food and Drug Administration approved container for the collection of sharps waste.

Sharps Waste: Includes any device or object used to puncture or lacerate the skin including, but not limited to, hypodermic needles, lancets, scalpel blades, and suture needles.

Significant Finding: Important information discovered that causes concern for the interpreting radiologist and may influence patient care decision-making.

Single patient use: Replacement parts, accessories, and attachments used in conjunction with Durable Medical Equipment that are manufacturer recommended or intended to be used by a single person.

Six Sigma: A measurement-based, data-driven, systematic approach to process improvement and problem solving through the application of tools and techniques with the purpose of minimizing unnecessary variation in processes and eliminating defects.

Skilled Nursing Facility: A health facility or a distinct part of a hospital which provides continuous skilled nursing care and supportive care to patients whose primary need is for skilled nursing care on an extended basis. It provides 24-hour inpatient care and at a minimum includes physician, skilled nursing, dietary, and pharmaceutical services as well as an activity program.

Small Quantity Generator: (California) For the purposes of medical waste, an institution which generates less than 200 pounds of medical waste per month.

Small Quantity Generator: (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act [RCRA]) An institution which generates more than 100 kilograms but less than 1,000 kilograms per month of RCRA hazardous waste or generates one kilogram or less of acute hazardous waste.

Specialized Health Care Housing: A distinct housing unit located within a facility or institution operated by California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation that provides health care services 24 hours a day to patients who are in need of professionally supervised health care. Specialized Health Care Housing units may, or may not be licensed and/or accredited. Specialized Health Care Housing units include the following levels of care: Outpatient Housing Unit, Correctional Treatment Center, Mental Health Crisis Bed, Psychiatric Inpatient Program, Skilled Nursing Facility, Hospice, Acute Care Facility (Mental Health), and Intermediate Care Facility (Mental Health).

Specialized Medical Bed: An institutional Correctional Treatment Center, Outpatient Housing Unit, Skilled Nursing Facility, or Specialized Outpatient bed.

Specialized Outpatient: A high medical risk outpatient who has long-term care needs with the potential for clinical deterioration, decompensation, morbidity, or mortality.

Specially Protected Health Information: Any information regarding a patient’s medical history, mental or physical condition, or medical treatment or diagnosis by a health care professional that may require heightened protections under the law, including certain Regional Center Developmental Disability Information, Human Immunodeficiency Virus Test Results, Psychotherapy Notes, and substance use treatment information.

Specific Authorization: A specific written order prepared by the licensed health care provider and documented in the health record, authorizing the procedure to be performed on a patient; or a standing order utilized by the licensed health care provider authorizing the procedures to be performed, the duration of which shall be consistent with accepted medical practice. A notation of the standing order shall be documented in the health record. Specific authorization may also provide that a Supervising Registered Nurse may assign a task to the Medical Assistant as authorized by the Physician, Psychiatrist, Podiatrist, or Advanced Practice Provider.

Standard of Care: The reasonable degree of skill, knowledge, care, and conduct ordinarily possessed and exercised by members of the discipline and profession under similar circumstances. Within correctional settings in California, the standard of care also takes into account the provisions of California Code of Regulations, Title 15, relating to definitions of medical necessity and also exclusions from available services as contained therein. A failure to meet the standards or care means:

Standard Precautions: Guidelines for the prevention of infectious diseases and nosocomial infections established by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Standard precautions combine universal precautions and body-substance precautions for all patients regardless of diagnosis or possible infectious status.

Standardized Procedure: For the purposes of the Health Care Department Operations Manual, Section 1.4.6.8, Nursing Standardized Procedures, Protocols, Order Sets, Clinical Pathways, and Standing Orders, a standardized procedure is a specific written procedure that prescribes nursing actions to be taken by Registered Nurses (RNs) in a given situation designed to ensure consistency and quality of care. Standardized procedures are the legal mechanism for RNs, Nurse Practitioners to perform functions which would otherwise be considered the practice of medicine. Standardized procedures must be developed collaboratively by nursing, medicine, and administration in the organized health care system where they will be utilized. Because of this interdisciplinary collaboration for the development and approval, there is accountability on several levels for the activities to be performed by the RN, Nurse Practitioner. Organized health care systems include health facilities, acute care clinics, home health agencies, physician’s offices and public or community health services. Standardized procedures are developed under the guidelines of the California Board of Registered Nursing and the California Medical Board.

Standards: Authoritative statements, defined and promoted by the profession by which the quality of practice, service or education can be evaluated; consisting of structure, process, outcome or practice.

Standing Order: A printed or electronic order set containing orders for the conduct of patient care in various stipulated clinical situations. They are formulated collectively by the professional members of a health care organization. Standing orders name the specific condition and prescribe the action to be taken in caring for a patient including, but not limited to, the dosage and route of administration for a drug or the schedule for the administration of a therapeutic procedure or intervention.

STAT Laboratory Orders: An order requiring the collection of the specimen as soon as possible within the same calendar day, and the results from the reference lab shall be available within the contractual timeframes.

Statewide Medical Authorization Review Team: A group of licensed medical professionals who perform third level review of requests for specialty services.

Substantial Evidence: Relevant evidence that a reasonable person could accept as adequate to support a conclusion.

Supervision and Control: A pharmacist shall be on the premises at all times and be fully aware of all activities performed by ancillary staff.

Supplement: Medically necessary food or drink ordered by a Primary Care Provider or dentist.

Surrogate: An adult, other than a patient’s legally appointed agent or conservator, authorized to make health care decisions, or appointed pursuant to Penal Code 2604, to make decisions for a patient lacking the capacity to give informed consent.

System Issue: A process or procedural component that impacts the likelihood of clinical errors.

Team Nursing: When required care for a patient or group of patients is carried out by several team members with the Registered Nurse serving in the role of team leader and, as such, using delegated authority to accomplish the work at hand.

Technical Safeguards: The technology and policy and procedures in use that protect and control access to electronic health information.

Technical Supportive Services: Simple, routine medical tasks and procedures that may be safely performed by a Medical Assistant who has limited training and who functions under the clinical oversight of a Physician, Psychiatrist, Podiatrist, or Advanced Practice Provider.

Telemedicine Coordinator: A licensed health care provider responsible for the implementation, operation, and monitoring of the telemedicine program within the institution.

• Telemedicine Encounter:  An appointment conducted via telemedicine with high-definition cameras, electronic medical instruments, and voice recognition technology to enhance physicians’ abilities to diagnose and connect with patients remotely.

Telemedicine Services: Through the Telemedicine Program, California Correctional Health Care Services coordinates with private health care entities to provide specialty care services using audio-visual technologies to California patients in California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation institutions. The Telemedicine Program links health care providers and patients with high-definition cameras, electronic medical instruments, and voice to enhance physicians’ abilities to diagnose and connect with patients remotely.

Telemedicine Services Program: Provides clinical, administrative, and operational support and oversight to Telemedicine Services to statewide institutions.

Temperature Excursion: An event during which medication is exposed to temperature outside the recommended range(s).

Teratogenicity: The tendency to produce anomalies of formation or development.

Texture-modified Diet: A California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Heart Healthy Diet or therapeutic diet that has been modified to allow ease in chewing or swallowing.

Therapeutic Equivalents: Drug products with different chemical structures that are of the same therapeutic or pharmacological class which can usually be expected to have similar outcomes and adverse reaction profiles when administered in therapeutically equivalent doses.

Therapeutic Interchange: The dispensing of a drug that is therapeutically equivalent to but chemically different from the drug originally prescribed by a physician or other authorized prescriber. Although usually of the same pharmacologic class, drugs appropriate for therapeutic interchange may differ in the chemistry or pharmacokinetic properties, and may possess different mechanism of action, adverse-reaction, toxicity, and drug interaction profiles. In most cases, the interchanged drugs have close similarity in efficacy and safety profiles.

Toxicity: Wastes that are hazardous due to the characteristic of being harmful when ingested or absorbed.

Trace Chemotherapy Waste: A waste that is contaminated through contact with, or having previously contained, chemotherapeutic agents including, but not limited to, gloves, disposable gowns, towels, and intravenous solution bags and attached tubing that are considered empty by federal and state standards. Trace chemotherapy waste is considered a medical waste and not a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act hazardous waste.

Transfer: The transportation of a patient between two points, such as from one prison to another or from one law enforcement entity (a state prison or a county jail) to another.

Transgender: Describing or relating to a person whose gender identity is different from what is typically expected for the sex or gender to which they were assigned at birth.

Transmission-Based Precautions: Contact, droplet, and airborne precautions. These precautions are used when the routes of transmission are not completely interrupted using Correctional Standard Precautions. Transmission-based precautions shall be used in conjunction with Correctional Standard Precautions.

Transport: Movement of a patient from their endorsed institution for the purposes of accessing health care or other services that are not available at the endorsed institution.

Treating Institution: The institution where a patient is sent to receive medically necessary health care services that cannot be provided at the endorsed institution.

Treatment: The provision, coordination, or management of health care 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 a patient; or for the referral of a patient for health care from one health care provider to another.

Triage and Treatment Area Registered Nurse: A Registered Nurse assigned to work in the Triage and Treatment Area.

Tuberculin Skin Test: The Mantoux Tuberculin Skin Test is a method of determining whether a person is infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Tuberculosis Disease: A disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis or other bacteria in the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex. Tuberculosis (TB) is a treatable infectious disease that usually affects the lungs and airway but may also affect other parts of the body. People with TB disease of the lungs or airway may be highly infectious to others until they have received their initial phase of treatment with TB medications. People with TB disease in other parts of the body but not in the lungs are not infectious to others.

“U” Listed Hazardous Waste: Resource Conservation and Recovery Act hazardous waste whose characteristics are less toxic than acute hazardous waste.

Ultrasound: An imaging method that uses high-frequency sound waves to produce images of structures within the body.

Unit: A single manufacturer-packaged quantity of a particular over-the counter product. Examples include a single tube of cream, single bottle of lotion, single bottle of the same medication, or single box of blister cards filled with the same medication.

Unit of Use: A single container which contains more than one dosage unit, usually a sufficient quantity of medication for one normal course of therapy.

Unlicensed Nursing Staff: Refers to unlicensed assistive personnel or health care workers who are not licensed to perform nursing tasks; it also refers to those health care workers who may be trained and certified, but are not licensed. Examples of unlicensed nursing staff include certified nursing assistants and medical assistants.

Unusable Medication: Medication that does not meet federal or state standards for the purpose of being dispensable to a patient. Unusable medications include, but are not limited to: contaminated, mislabeled, deteriorated, or outdated medications or medications not properly stored or returned from patients.

Urgent Care: Clinics that treat acute illnesses and injuries that are not serious enough for a visit to an emergency room.

Urgent Condition: Any medical condition that would not result in further disability or death if not treated immediately, but requires professional attention and has the potential to develop such a threat if treatment is not provided within 24 hours.

Urgent Finding: An unexpected finding that requires medical evaluation within 24 hours.

Urgent Health Care Request: A health care request for medical attention based on a licensed provider’s determination that signs or symptoms require attention within 24 hours by staff trained in the evaluation and treatment of medical problems.

Use: When referring to Protected Health Information and Personally Identifiable Information, means the sharing, employment, application, utilization, examination, or analysis of information that identifies, or reasonably can be used to identify, an individual within the California Correctional Health Care Services.

Verification: The review of a chart order to identify potential therapeutic issues including, but not limited to, contraindications and adverse drug reactions. Verification occurs following pharmacist review or pursuant to the auto-verification process authorized by California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and California Correctional Health Care Services departmental leadership.

Victim: A person who has alleged to have been subjected to sexual abuse or sexual harassment by an incarcerated person or staff.

Waste Containers: Different colored containers for medical waste or hazardous waste defined by the type of waste. The containers may be disposable, reusable, or recyclable and shall meet the requirements of governing agencies including the United States Department of Transportation and the Food and Drug Administration.

Whole Person Care: A model or approach which recognizes the best way to improve health outcomes is to coordinate the full spectrum of patient needs – including medical, behavioral, socioeconomic, and beyond.

Workforce Members: Employees, volunteers, trainees, and other persons whose conduct, in the performance of work for California Correctional Health Care Services (CCHCS) or a business associate, is under the direct control of CCHCS or a business associate, even if they are not paid by CCHCS or the business associate.

X-Ray: A photographic or digital image of the internal composition of something, especially a part of the body, produced by X-Rays being passed through it and being absorbed to different degrees by different materials.