A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A
Acute Long-Term Care
Provides specialized acute hospital care to medically complex patients who are critically ill, have multi-system complications and/or failure, and require hospitalization averaging 25 days, in a facility offering specialized treatment programs and therapeutic intervention on a 24/7 basis.

Adult Cardiac Surgery
Provides minimally invasive procedures that include surgery done with only a small incision or no incision at all, such as a laparoscope or an endoscope. Also provides more invasive major surgical procedures that include open chest and open heart surgery in adults.

Adult Day Care Program
Provides supervision, medical and psychological care, and social activities for older adults who live at home or in another family setting, but cannot be alone or prefer to be with others during the day.

Adult Diagnostic/Invasive Catheterization
Used to assist in diagnosing complex heart conditions in adults.

Adult Interventional Cardiac Catheterization
Non-surgical procedure that utilizes the same basic principles as diagnostic catheterization followed by advanced techniques to improve the heart’s function in adults. A less invasive alternative to heart surgery.

Airborne Infection Isolation Room
A single-occupancy room for patient care where environmental factors are controlled in an effort to minimize the transmission of infectious agents. Such rooms typically have specific requirements for controlled ventilation, air pressure, and filtration.

Alcohol & Chemical Dependency Unit
Assists drug addicts and alcoholics in overcoming addictions. These units provide healthcare education and support for the whole family including information about nutrition, diet, counseling, group therapy, etc.

Alzheimer’s Center
Provides care for persons with Alzheimer’s disease and their families through an integrated program of clinical services, research, and education.

Ambulance Services
Provides ambulance services to the ill and injured who require medical attention on a scheduled or unscheduled basis.

Ambulatory Surgery Outpatient Service
Outpatient, same-day surgical procedures provided in a hospital or freestanding ambulatory surgery center.

Angioplasty Department
Handles non-surgical treatment designed to open occluded arteries.

Arthritis Treatment Center
Specifically equipped and staffed center for the diagnosis and treatment of arthritis and other joint disorders.

Assisted Living Department
Responds to the individual needs of people who require help with the activities of daily living, but do not need the skilled medical care provided in a nursing home.

Auxiliary Organization
A volunteer community organization formed to assist the hospital in carrying out its purpose, and to serve as a link between the institution and the community.

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B 
Bariatric/Weight Control Services
Provides specialized care for patients requiring weight reduction treatment.

Birthing Room/LDR Room/LDRP Room
A family-oriented maternal care facility with a homelike decor. The birthing room integrates labor and delivery in one room, while LDR combines three phases: labor, delivery and recovery. In LDRP, four stages of the birth process are included: labor, delivery, recovery and postpartum.

Blood Bank
Draws, processes, stores, and delivers blood to hospital departments.

Breast Cancer Screening/Mammograms
Offers breast cancer screening and education including brochures, pamphlets, videotapes, films, seminars, and counseling.

Burn Care Unit
Equipped and staffed to provide specialized care for severely burned patients. This can consist of treatment of fresh burns, and plastic reconstructive or restorative surgery as a result of healed burns.

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C
Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory
Provides special diagnostic procedures for cardiac patients.

Cardiac Intensive Care Unit
Unit staffed with specially trained personnel that offers more intensive, focused cardiac care than general medical and surgical care.

Cardiac Rehabilitation
Provides a supervised rehabilitation program for those who have undergone heart surgery or treatment. Programs typically include exercise, counseling, education, dietary, and other lifestyle changes.

Case Management Department
Provides patient case assessment, treatment planning, referral, and follow-up. Usually affiliated with or as a part of the social services department.

Chaplaincy/Pastoral Care Services
Offers patient-centered care through pre-op and post-op visits, crisis counseling, chronic and rehabilitation support service, care for persons facing death, and bereavement care.

Chemotherapy
An organized program for the treatment of cancer by the use of drugs or chemicals.

Children’s Wellness Program
Offers special activities and healthcare programs designed to meet the needs of younger patients. These include educational programs concerning nutrition and diet, proper health habits, exercise, etc.

Chiropractic Services
An organized clinical service, including spinal manipulation or adjustment, and related diagnostic and therapeutic services.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Provides diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary diseases.

Community Health Reporting Department
Involved in analyzing data concerning disease and healthcare trends, and in reporting the information to the public.

Community Health Status Assessment
A process of determining a community’s healthcare needs by assessing its health status and the demand for healthcare services in a community.

Community Health Status Based Service Planning
Professionals plan and implement the healthcare programs that are the most beneficial in a community by using a number of health status indicators.

Community Outreach Department
Makes health information accessible to surrounding communities. Outreach includes health fairs, seminars, screenings, kiosks, printed information, video, and radio programs.

Complementary Medicine
Organized hospital services or formal arrangements to providers that provide care or treatment not based solely on traditional western allopathic medical teachings as instructed in most U.S. medical schools. Includes any of the following: acupuncture, chiropractic, homeopathy, osteopathy, diet and lifestyle changes, herbal medicine, massage therapy, etc.

Computer Assisted Orthopedic Surgery
Orthopedic surgery using computer technology, enabling three-dimensional graphic models to visualize a patient’s anatomy.

Crisis Prevention
Provides services to help avert conflict, harm, or injury at the earliest moment.

CT Scanner
A computerized tomographic (CT) scanner is a diagnostic tool that utilizes X-rays and a computer to generate cross-sectional images of the body.

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D 
Dental Services
Provides dental or oral care to inpatients or outpatients.

Diagnostic Radioisotope Facility
Uses radioactive isotopes as a diagnostic tool to identify abnormal conditions or disease.

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E 
Electron Beam Computed Tomography
A high-tech computed tomography scan used to detect coronary artery disease by measuring coronary calcifications.

Emergency Department
Treats emergency conditions that arise suddenly and require immediate attention to avoid jeopardy to a patient’s life or health. This list only includes facilities with 24-hour staffing.

Enabling Services
A program designed to help patients access healthcare services by offering linguistic services, transportation services, and/or referrals to local social service agencies.

Enrollment Assistance Services
A program that provides enrollment assistance for patients who are potentially eligible for public health insurance programs such as Medicaid, State Children’s Health Insurance, or local/state indigent care programs.

Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripter (ESWL)
A device that disintegrates kidney stones from outside the body by beaming sound waves at them.

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F
Fertility Clinic
A specialized program that provides counseling and education, as well as advanced reproductive techniques.

Fitness Center
Provides programs that help people stay healthy through exercise, awareness, prevention, etc. Centers can be tailored for internal (employee) usage, and/or for external (public) use .

Freestanding Ambulatory Care Center
Freestanding facility designed to provide surgical care on an outpatient basis. Facility is located at the hospital, but in a separate building.

Freestanding Satellite Emergency Department
A facility owned and operated by the hospital, but physically separate from the hospital. Provides unscheduled outpatient services to patients whose conditions require treatment.

Full Field Digital Mammography
Combines the x-ray generators and tubes used in analog screen-film mammography with a detector plate that converts the x-rays into a digital signal.

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G
Genetic Testing
A service equipped with adequate laboratory facilities and directed by a qualified physician to advise parents and prospective parents on potential problems in cases of genetic defects.

Geriatric Services
Concerned with the physiology of aging, including the diagnosis and treatment of diseases that primarily affect the aged.

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H
Health Facility Transportation
The facility offers transportation to services such as Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, etc.

Health Fair Department
Acquaints the public with hospital services through community health fairs.

Health Information Center
Primarily concerned with the distribution of educational materials to the public, including brochures and pamphlets that list doctors available at the hospital, services provided, etc.

Health Screening Department
Provides information and education to patients by emphasizing the importance of regular health checks to discover indications of problems at the earliest possible opportunity.

Hemodialysis Department
Provides inpatient and outpatient dialysis treatment of renal (kidney) insufficiencies.

Histopathology Laboratory
Laboratory specializing in tissue specimen examination by qualified pathologists.

HIV/AIDS Services
Units specifically designed for people with HIV/AIDS. These departments also offer educational information to the public.

Home Health Services
Offers healthcare services for people in their homes. All services are provided under the direction of the patient’s physician.

Hospice
Focused on the emotional, social, financial, and legal needs of terminally ill patients and their families. Hospice emphasizes home care for as long as possible, relief from pain, an attractive, non-institutional environment, and personal and family counseling.

Hospital Based Outpatient Care Services
Organized hospital healthcare services offered by appointment on an ambulatory basis.

Hospital Laboratory
Conducts tests ordered by physicians for inpatients.

Hospital Library
Provides materials for research, as well as video tapes, films, books, publications, and periodicals, etc. that can be checked out.

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I 
Image Guided Radiation Therapy
Automated system for image-guided radiation therapy that enables clinicians to obtain high-resolution x-ray images to pinpoint tumor sites, adjust patient positioning when necessary, and complete a treatment, all within the standard treatment time slot, allowing for more effective cancer treatments.

In-House Pharmacy
A pharmacy located inside the hospital.

Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy
A type of three-dimensional radiation therapy, which improves the targeting of treatment delivery in a way that is likely to decrease damage to normal tissues and allows varying intensities. Used to diagnose genetic diseases in newborns, children, and adults; identify future health risks; predict drug responses; and assess risks to future children.

Intermediate Nursing Care
Provides health-related services to residents with a variety of physical conditions or functional disabilities. These residents do not require the care provided by a hospital or skilled nursing facility, but do need supervision and support services.

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L
Linguistic Translation Services
Services provided to make healthcare more accessible to non-English speaking patients and their physicians.

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M
Magnetic Resonance Angiography (MRA)
Specialized medical device that concentrates on the imaging of blood vessels.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
A specialized medical device that employs a magnetic field to study tissue and body structures.

Meals on Wheels
Daily meals are delivered directly to the home for individuals unable to cook for themselves.

Medical Surgical Intensive Care Unit
Provides more intensive patient care than the usual medical and surgical care offered elsewhere in the institution.

Mobile Health Services
Vans and other vehicles used to deliver primary care services.

Multislice Spiral Computed Tomography
Provides three-dimensional processing and allows narrower and multiple slices with increased spatial resolution and faster scanning times compared to a regular computed tomography scan.

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N 
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
Highly specialized facilities offering comprehensive, 24-hour care for premature and critically ill newborns.

Neonatal Intermediate Care
A unit that must be separate from the normal newborn nursery, and that provides intermediate and/or recovery care and some specialized services.

Neurological Services
Provides operative and non-operative management of disorders of the central, peripheral, and autonomic nervous system.

Nuclear Medicine Department
Provides medical imaging services using radioactive isotopes to diagnose and treat disease.

Nutrition Program Department
Plans meal programs for patients.

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O
Obstetrics Unit
Offers a wide range of services to expectant mothers, including childbirth and parenting classes, sibling and grandparent programs, car seat rental services, etc.

Occupational Health Services
Includes services designed to protect employees from hazards in the work environment.

Occupational Therapy Services
Instructs patients in self-care, such as bathing and dressing, and in learning ways to maintain daily routines despite their disability. Some duplication with Physical Therapy Services.

Oncology Services
Provides cancer treatment using chemotherapy, radiation, surgery, or drugs.

Open Heart Surgery Services
A specialized department characterized by heart surgery in which the procedure is performed inside the heart.

Orthopedic Surgery Services
Devoted to the treatment of the skeletal system, its joints, muscles, and associated structures.

Other Special Care
Provides care to patients requiring care more intensive than that provided in the acute area, yet not sufficiently intensive to require admission to an intensive care unit. Patients are usually transferred from an intensive care unit. Sometimes referred to as definitive observation, step-down, or progressive care units.

Outpatient Care Center
Services Non-emergency care services offered by appointment on a single-day basis.

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P
Pain Management Services
Provides scales, tests, and other methods to assess pain severity to aid in diagnosis and therapy.

Palliative Care Program
An organized program providing specialized medical care, drugs, or therapies for the management of acute or chronic pain and/or the control of symptoms. Administered by specially trained physicians and other clinicians. Offers supportive care services, such as counseling on advanced directives, spiritual care, and social services to patients with advanced disease and their families.

Patient Education Center
Provides information to patients including a wide range of educational materials such as brochures, flyers, handouts, videotapes, films, etc. on a variety of healthcare related subjects. Larger hospitals may have multiple directors.

Patient Representative Services
The hospital-based system where patients can seek solutions to problems that occur at the institution.

Patient-Controlled Analgesia
Intravenously administered pain medicine under the patient’s control.

Pediatric Cardiac Surgery
Includes minimally invasive procedures with only a small incision or no incision at all, such as through a laparoscope or an endoscope. Also provides more invasive major surgical procedures that include open chest and open heart surgery in children.

Pediatric Diagnostic/Invasive Catheterization
Used to assist in diagnosing complex heart conditions in children.

Pediatric Intensive Care Unit
Designed to meet the needs of seriously ill children. Around-the-clock visitation and special emotional support are available for families.

Pediatric Interventional Cardiac Catheterization
Non-surgical procedure that utilizes the same basic principles as diagnostic catheterization and then uses advanced techniques to improve the heart’s function in children. A less invasive alternative to heart surgery.

Pediatric Medical-Surgical Care
Provides acute care to pediatric patients on the basis of physicians’ orders and approved nursing care plans.

Pediatric Ward
Includes a medical staff that is especially trained to provide treatment to younger patients.

Physical Rehabilitation
Responsible for overseeing physical therapy programs that help patients attain or retain their maximum functional capacity.

Physical Therapy Services
Provides rehabilitation, patient services, etc. Some duplication with Occupational Therapy Department.

Positron Emission Tomography Scanner (PET)
PET is a diagnostic imaging tool that uses radioactive isotopes to show details of body structures deep within a patient without interference from surrounding tissues.

Positron Emission Tomography Scanner PET/CT
A PET/CT exam not only helps a physician diagnose a problem, it also helps predict the likely outcome of various therapeutic alternatives, pinpoint the best approach to treatment, and monitor progress.

Primary Care Department
Offers primary care such as pediatric, internal medicine, family practice, gynecology, etc. on an outpatient basis.

Psychiatric Care Unit
Provides acute or long-term care to psychiatric patients.

Psychiatric Child Adolescent Services
Provides young patients with complete medical and psychological diagnostic services, behavioral evaluation, family assessment and treatment, one-to-one counseling, group therapy, recreational therapy, occupational therapy, etc.

Psychiatric Consultation-Liaison Services
Psychiatric consultants for staff psychiatrists regarding a specific patient’s care.

Psychiatric Education Services
Provides patients and their families with information and education regarding psychiatric treatment and its results.

Psychiatric Emergency Services
Provides 24-hour emergency care to patients suffering acute emotional and mental distress. This may include diagnosis, evaluation, and crisis intervention.

Psychiatric Geriatric Services
Designed to address the unique healthcare needs of the older population. Programs are individually tailored around the elderly patient who has an acute memory, perception, behavior, or mood problem.

Psychiatric Outpatient Services
Offers comprehensive mental health services to adults and children.

Psychiatric Partial Hospitalization Program
Provides intensive, structured outpatient psychiatric treatment. Patients are able to remain in their home environment while attending treatment on a schedule from one to five days per week.

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R 
Radiation Therapy Department
Provides diagnosis and treatment of a disease using ionizing radiation.

Reproductive Health Services
Offers services for couples seeking help for fertility problems.

Respiratory Therapy Services
Provides services for patients with respiratory diseases or problems, and offers assistance in improving their respiratory functions.

Retirement Housing
Facilities for the elderly that are offered on the campus of the hospital or are hospital owned.

Robotic Surgery
The use of mechanical guidance devices to remotely manipulate surgical instrumentation.

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S 
Shaped Beam Radiation System
A precise, non-invasive treatment that involves targeting beams of radiation at a specific area of a tumor to shrink or destroy cancerous cells.

Single Photon Emission Computerized Tomography Unit
Located in the hospital’s nuclear medicine department or unit, a Single Photon Emission Computerized Tomograph (SPECT) device uses computed tomographic imaging technology to provide a more precise and clear image of a patient’s anatomy.

Skilled Nursing or Other Long-Term Care Unit
Offers sub-acute and long-term care for those requiring post-hospitalization or residential options. Skilled nursing facilities provide long-term and chronic care for patients unable to care for themselves.

Sleep Lab Department
Provides evaluation, testing, diagnosis, and treatment of sleep disorders.

Social Services
Provides coping assistance with the psychological, social, environmental, and financial difficulties that may arise during a patient’s hospitalization.

Speech Therapy Services
Helps individuals overcome speech defects, using a variety of methods.

Sports Medicine Department
Prevention, treatment, and study of injuries received during a patient’s participation in sports.

Sterotactic Radiosurgery
Stereotactic radiosurgery is a radiotherapy modality that delivers a high dosage of radiation to a discrete treatment area in as few as one treatment session. Includes gamma knife, cyberknife, etc.

Subacute Care
Provides a comprehensive and outcome-oriented approach to care for patients requiring short-term or rehabilitation services.

Support Groups
Provide on-going assistance and counseling for those receiving treatment for illnesses such as cancer, drug and alcohol abuse, etc. and their families.

Swing Bed Services
A federally-approved program for small rural hospitals. Designed to be temporary with a patient’s discharge options explored as an ongoing process with family, physicians, and social workers.

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T 
Teen Outreach Services
Focused on building teens’ self-esteem and providing them with positive alternatives to destructive behavior.

Tobacco Treatment/Cessation Programs
Organized hospital services with the purpose of ending tobacco-use habits of patients addicted to tobacco/nicotine.

Transplant Services
Handles transplants of kidney, pancreas, liver, heart, and lung, or bone marrow to replace a diseased organ, and restore function .

Trauma Centers
Provides resuscitation, emergency surgical intervention, diagnostic and medical treatment, and intensive care to critically ill and injured patients.

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U 
Ultrasound Unit
Utilizes a device that employs sound waves to study, image, and diagnose hard-to-reach body areas. The technique is used in every branch of medicine.

Urgent Care Center
Offers treatment for medical problems that are not life-threatening. These centers function like an emergency room, providing some acute care as well as radiology, laboratory, and other similar services.

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V 
Virtual Colonoscopy
Non-invasive screening procedure used to visualize, analyze, and detect cancerous, or potentially cancerous polyps, in the colon.

Volunteer Services Department
Enlists and coordinates volunteers who serve in a variety of areas, including admitting, ambulatory surgery, gift shop, etc.

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W
Women’s Health Center/Services
An area of the hospital set aside specifically for women. These services offer individualized health counseling tailored to a woman’s specific needs.

Wound Care Unit
Unit of the hospital that specializes in the evaluation and treatment of chronic non-healing wounds.

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