If you would like to recommend additions to the Delaware Healthcare Association's Glossary, send them for consideration to suzanne@deha.org.

To look up a health care term such as Actuary, choose the letter that the term begins with below under Alphabetical Glossary. This will take you to the terms beginning with that letter. To look up a health care acronym such as AIDS, choose the letter that the term begins with below under Acronyms. This will take you to all acronyms that begin with that letter.

Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment (EPSDT)	A program which covers screening and diagnostic services to determine physical or mental defects in recipients under age 21, as well as health care and other measures to correct or ameliorate any defects and chronic conditions discovered.
Economic Credentialing	Hospital practice of determining whether to front physicians admitting privileges based on their ability to generate revenues and/or their cost-effectiveness.
EEG Technologist	Performs tests using an EEG machine. Completion of a twelve-month program required.
Electrocardiogram (EKG)	A machine that measures the electrical impulses of the heart and transfers the information gathered to a report that prints out a graph of the patient's heartbeats. Used as a diagnostic tool.
Electroencephalograph (EEG)	A machine that measures the electrical activity of the brain and transfers the information gathered to a report. Used as a diagnostic tool.
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)	The automated exchange of data and documents in a standardized format. In health care, some common uses of this technology include claims submission and payment, eligibility, and referral authorization.
Electronic Medical Record (EMR)	Computerized system providing real-time data access and evaluation in medical care. Together with clinical workstations and clinical data repository technologies, the EMR provides the mechanism for longitudinal data storage and access. A motivation for healthcare providers to implement this technology derives from the need for medical outcome studies, more efficient care, speedier communication among providers and management of health plans. Also known as computerized patient record or computerized medical record.
Eligibility Date	The defined date a covered person becomes eligible for benefits under an existing contract.
Eligibility Guarantee	An assurance of reimbursement to the health care provider for services/goods provided to a member who subsequently is found to be ineligible for benefits. Also known as presumptive eligibility.
Eligibility Period	Time following the eligibility date (usually 31 days) during which a member of an insured group may apply for insurance without evidence of insurability. Also, in insurance policies, a period after the onset of an illness or injury during which no benefits are paid, effectively providing for a deductible. Common in long-term care policies, although some insurers offer policies with no elimination period. Sometimes incorrectly called a waiting period.
EKG Technician	Performs a variety of routine, technical duties of limited complexity, involving the use of an electrocardiograph machine and stress EKG machine.
Emergency Medical Services (EMS)	A system of health care professionals, facilities and equipment providing emergency care.
Emergency Medical Technician (EMT)	A person certified to provide on-site or in-transit emergency medical treatment.
Emergi-Center	A health care facility whose primary purpose is the provision of immediate, short-term medical care for minor but urgent medical conditions.
Employee Assistance Programs (EAP)	Workplace programs designed to help identify, educate, rehabilitate, and return the physically or emotionally impaired individual to the job. These programs may include helping employees gain access to health, legal and social services and to control specific conditions (e.g., chemical dependency, gambling, hypertension, stress, etc.).
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)	A Federal law that exempts self-insured health plans from state laws governing health insurance, including contribution to risk pools, prohibitions against disease discrimination, and other state health reforms.
Employer Contribution	The amount an employer contributes toward the premium costs of the contract. Employer contributions can be based on dollar amounts, percentages, employment status, length of service, single or family status, or other variables or combinations of the above.
Employer Mandate	The requirement that all employers above a minimum size provide a standard level of health insurance benefits to their employees.
Employment-Based Health Insurance Plan	A group health plan that is sponsored by an employer for its employees and their dependents.
Encounter	A face-to-face meeting between a covered person and a health care provider where services are provided or rendered.
Encounters Per Member Per Year	The number of encounters related to each member on a yearly basis.
End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD)	Kidney condition requiring ongoing treatment. Under Federal law, persons with End Stage Renal Disease are eligible for Medicare payment for chronic hemodialysis.
Endorsements	See rider.
Enrollee	Individuals selectingHMO or PPO coverage are referred to as enrollees, members or beneficiaries.
Enrollment	Purchasing health care coverage from a health plan or insurance. Individuals who purchase coverage are known as enrollees. Also refers to the total number of enrolled covered persons in a health plan. Also see open enrollment, and disenrollment.
Enrollment Broker	Independent organization that assists individuals in choosing and enrolling in a health plan. Also see benefits manager.
Enrollment Protection	See stop-lossand reisnurance.
Enterprise Liability	Legislation that would make hospitals and other health care facilities legally and financially liable for all negligent injuries caused by their medical staffs.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)	A Federal and State agency responsible for programs to control air, water and noise pollution, solid waste disposal and other environmental concerns.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)	The EEOC was created by the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The purpose of the EEOC is to eliminate discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability or age in hiring, promoting, firing, wages, testing, training, apprenticeship, and all other terms and conditions of employment.
Essential Community Providers	Those organizations in a community that specialize in serving low income persons or provide unique services that cannot be provided by others. MCOs are sometimes required by public payers to contract with these providers to ensure a comprehensive continuum of care.
Essential Lifestyle Planning (ELP)	See person centered planning.
Evercare	Medicare managed care demonstration for nursing home residents. A geriatric Nurse Practitioner acts as a case manager.
Evidence of Insurability	Any statement of proof of a person's physical condition affecting their acceptability for insurance or a health care contract.
Excess Charge	See balance billing.
Exclusions	Clauses in an insurance contract that deny coverage for select individuals, groups, locations, properties, or risks.
Exclusive Provider Organization (EPO)	A form of PPO, in which patients must visit a caregiver who is on its panel of providers. If a visit to an outside provider is made, the EPO will offer limited or no coverage for the office or hospital visit.
Exclusivity Clause	A part of a contract which prohibits a health care provider from contracting with more than one managed care organization.
Expenditure	In the context of health care, monies spent on the acquisition of health care coverage and/or services.
Expenditure Limits	Includes various mechanisms which limit the amounts that may be spent to acquire health care coverage and services (e.g., negotiated fee schedules, hospital global operating budgets).
Expenditure Targets	Voluntary or involuntary limits on health care spending. This may refer to spending for specific types of service (e.g., physician care), multiple types of service (e.g., hospital, physician, drugs), or all health care services. Also seeglobal budgets.
Experience Rating	A system where an insurance company evaluates the risk of an individual or group by looking at the applicant's health history.
Explanation of Medicare Benefits (EOMB)	The statement of payment from Medicare; it shows the amount charged by the provider, the amount approved by Medicareand the amount actually paid by Medicare. It is the statement that is submitted to the insurance company for payment under the Medigappolicy. Other insurers sometimes use the term explanation of benefits (EOB) to refer to their own payment statements.
Extended Care Facility	A nursing home-type setting that offers skilled, intermediate, or custodial care.
Extension of Benefits	A provision of many policies which allows medical coverage to be continued past the termination date of the policy for employees not actively at work and for dependents hospitalized on that date. Such extended coverage usually applies only to the specific medical condition that has caused the disability and continues only until the employee returns to work or the dependent leave the hospital.
External Quality Review Organization (EQRO)	See quality improvement organization.