Glossary
Glossary at East Coast Orthotic & Prosthetic Corp.Glossary of Orthotic & Prosthetic Terms
ABC: American Board for Certification in Orthotics & Prosthetics, Inc.
Abduction: The act of moving the hip (and residual limb) away from the midline of the body.
Adduction: The act of moving the hip (and residual limb) toward the midline of the body.
AE: Above Elbow Amputation.
AFO: Ankle Foot Orthotics.
AK: An Above Knee Amputation.
Alignment: The relationship of the prosthetic foot to the socket.
Amputation: The removal of a limb by trauma, medical illness, or surgery.
BE: A Below Elbow Amputation.
BK: A Below Knee Amputation.
BOC: The Board of Certification/Accreditation (BOC), founded in 1984, is an independent, not-for-profit agency dedicated to meeting the demands for quality patient care by offering highly valued credentials for professionals and suppliers of comprehensive orthotic and prosthetic (O&P) care and durable medical equipment (DME) services.
Bulbous: Refers to the residual limb being larger in circumference at the end than at the top.
Cervical: Pertaining to the neck.
CFO (Custom Fabricated Orthosis): Orthosis, which is individually made for a specific patient.
Check Socket: A socket made of clear plastic used to evaluate the fit of the socket design to the residual limb.
CO (Certified Orthotist): Orthotist who has passed the certification standards.
Corset: Lumbar brace made from textile material.
CP (Certified Prosthetist): Prosthetist who has passed the certification standards.
CPO (Certified Prosthetist-Orthotist): Prosthetist/Orthotist who has passed the certification standards.
CROW: Charcot Restraint Orthotic Walker
Doffing: Taking the orthosis or prosthesis off.
Donning: Putting the orthosis or prosthesis on.
Dystrophy: Pathologic loss of muscle mass.
Edema: Swelling of the tissue.
Endoskeletal Design: A construction technique that uses a pipe or pylon as the support structure.
Exoskeletal Design: A construction technique that uses wood or hard foam as the support structure.
Extension: The act of moving the hip (and residual limb) backward or to the rear of the body.
Fabrication: Procedure of mechanically creating a device.
FFO: Functional Foot Orthotics
Flexion: The act of moving the hip (and residual limb) forward or to the front of the body.
Functional Level: Degree of function a disabled patient still achieves.
Hemipelvectomy: A high-level pelvic amputation.
Hip Disarticulation: Amputation of the entire leg from the hip.
HKAFO: Hip Knee Ankle Foot Orthotics
KAFO: Knee Ankle Foot Orthotics
K-Levels: K-levels are defined by Medicare based on an individual’s ability or potential to ambulate and navigate their environment.
KO: Knee Orthotics
Musculo-skeletal System: System of cooperating muscles and bones in biological creatures.
O&P: Orthotics and prosthetics.
O&P Facility: Place where orthotic or prosthetic patient care is provided.
Orthopaedics: Medical specialty dealing with the locomotor system.
Orthopaedist: Surgeon who corrects congenital or functional abnormalities of the bones with surgery, casting, and bracing.
Orthosis: Custom-fabricated or custom-fitted brace or support designed to align, correct, or prevent neuromuscular or musculoskeletal dysfunction, disease, injury, or deformity.
Orthotics: The science and practice of evaluating, measuring, designing, fabricating, assembling, fitting, adjusting, or servicing an orthosis under a prescription from a licensed physician, chiropractor, or podiatrist to correct or alleviate neuromuscular or musculoskeletal dysfunction, disease, injury, or deformity.
Orthotist: Person who measures, designs, fabricates, fits, or services orthoses as prescribed by a licensed physician, and who assists in the formulation of an orthosis to support or correct disabilities.
Plaster Impression: The plaster cast that is applied to the residual limb in order to obtain an accurate model during the fabrication process.
Practitioner: A health professional who is specifically educated and clinically trained to manage the provision of comprehensive orthotic and prosthetic care.
Prosthesis: Artificial medical device that is not surgically implanted which is used to replace a missing limb or appendage such as artificial limbs, hands, fingers, feet or toes.
Prosthetic Components: The parts that make up the artificial limb. For example, foot, ankle, socket, pylon, etc.
Prosthetic Sock: A sock knitted to fit the shape of the residual limb worn inside the socket.
Prosthetics: Science and practice of evaluating, measuring, designing, fabricating, assembling, fitting, adjusting, or servicing prosthesis under an order from a licensed physician.
Prosthetist: Person who measures, designs, fabricates, fits, or services prosthesis as prescribed by a licensed physician, and who assists in the formulation of the prosthesis prescription for the replacement of external parts of the human body lost due to amputation or congenital deformities or absences.
Pylon: A pipe-like structure used to connect the prosthetic socket to the foot/ankle components.
Rehabilitation: Process of restoring a person who has been debilitated by a disease or injury to a functional life.
Residual Limb: Remaining portion of the limb after amputation.
RGO: Reciprocating Gait Orthotics
SEWHO: Shoulder Elbow Wrist Hand Orthotics
SMO: Supra‐Malleolar Orthotics
Socket: The portion of the prosthesis that is in contact with the residual limb.
Soft Orthosis: Orthotic device made from fabric or elastic components (e.g., pressure gradient hose, corset, cervical collars, trusses).
Sound side leg: Non-amputated limb.
Syme’s amputation: An amputation performed at the ankle joint
Technician-Orthotic/Prosthetic: Person trained to fabricate, repair and maintain orthoses or prostheses under the supervision of an orthotist/prosthetist.
TLSO: Thoracolumbosacral Orthosis
Transfemoral: A type of amputation that occurs above the knee.
Transhumeral: A type of amputation that occurs above the elbow.
Transradial: A type of amputation that occurs at the forearm.
Transtibial: A type of amputation that occurs below the knee.
UCBL Shoe Insert: University of California Biomechanics Laboratory Shoe Insert/University of California Berkeley Laboratory Shoe Insert.
WHO: Wrist Hand Orthotics
Orthopaedics vs Orthopedics: Orthopaedics is the original British form of the word and Orthopedics is a more Americanized version. Both refer to the diagnosis and treatment of all conditions and injuries of the musculoskeletal system.
Glossary of Health Care Terms
Accreditation: East Coast Orthotic & Prosthetic Corp. has several BOC accredited facilities. Accreditation is a “seal of approval” given to the plan by an independent organization such as BOC to show that we meet national quality standards.
Allowed Amount: Maximum amount on which payment is based for covered health care services, the remainder owed by a patient will result in an out-of-pocket expense.
Annual Limit: A cap or limit on the benefits your insurance company will pay in a year while you’re enrolled in a particular health insurance plan.
Carrier: Any insurer, managed care organization, or group hospital plan. At East Coast Orthotic & Prosthetic Corp. we often refer to this as your health insurance.
Claim: A bill for medical services rendered, typically submitted to the insurance company by East Coast Orthotic & Prosthetic Corp.
CMS: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Coinsurance: The amount that you are obliged to pay to East Coast Orthotic & Prosthetic Corp. for covered medical services after you’ve satisfied any co-payment or deductible required by your health insurance plan.
Co-payment: Often referred to as a “co-pay”, it is a specific charge that your health insurance plan may require that you may have to pay a provider like East Coast Orthotic & Prosthetic Corp. for a specific medical service or supply.
Date of Service (DOS): is the date on which a health care service was provided to you by East Coast Orthotic & Prosthetic Corp.
Deductible: A deductible is an amount you pay for a health care service provided by a provider like East Coast Orthotic & Prosthetic Corp. before your health insurance begins to pay us.
Diagnosis (DX): An identification of the nature of an illness or other problem provided by your doctor via examination of the symptoms. Diagnoses codes allow providers like East Coast Orthotic & Prosthetic Corp. to facilitate the processing of health insurance claims.
Durable Medical Equipment (DME): Any equipment that provides therapeutic benefits to a patient in need because of certain medical conditions and/or illnesses.
Eligibility Date: Eligibility Date may also be referred to an Effective Date; this is the date when you become entitled to benefits under your insurance plan. At East Coast Orthotic & Prosthetic Corp. a customer service representative will verify your insurance to make sure that you are eligible for medical services.
Explanation of Benefits (EOB): After being provided with medical services from East Coast Orthotic & Prosthetic Corp. you should receive an Explanation of Benefits statement for your insurance online or in the mail regarding the medical care that your insurance will pay us for, services they can’t pay for and why, and any charges you may owe out of your own pocket to East Coast Orthotic & Prosthetic Corp.
Group #: A number of individuals covered under a single health insurance contract, usually a group of employees.
Health Care Procedure Codes (HCPCS): HCPCS is a collection of standardized codes that represent medical procedures, supplies, products, and services. HCPCS allows a provider like East Coast Orthotic & Prosthetic Corp. to facilitate the processing of health insurance claims.
Health Maintenance Organization (HMO): An insurance plan that allows you to pick one primary care physician. All your health care services go through that doctor. With an HMO, you need a referral before you can see any other health care professional, except in an emergency.
HIPAA: Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 is legislation mandating specific privacy rules and practices for medical care providers and health insurance companies
ICD-10: The Tenth revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems. This is a standard created for consistency among physicians in recording patient symptoms and diagnoses for the purposes of payer claims reimbursement and clinical research.
Medicaid: A joint federal-state program that provides health coverage or nursing home coverage to certain categories of low-asset people, including children, pregnant women, parents of eligible children, people with disabilities and elderly needing nursing home care.
Medicare: A federal health insurance program for people who are 65 or older, certain younger people with disabilities, and people with End-Stage Renal Disease (permanent kidney failure requiring dialysis or a transplant, sometimes called ESRD).
Member: Anyone covered under a health insurance plan, an enrollee or eligible dependent.
Network Provider: East Coast Orthotic & Prosthetic Corp. is in-network with many insurance companies which serve as a major convenience to many of our patients’. A Network Provider is healthcare provider who has a contractual relationship with a health insurance company.
No-Fault (N/F): A health insurance plan that is designed to promptly pay personal injury claims and lower potential litigation costs.
Out-of-network Care: Health care rendered to a patient outside of the health insurance company’s network of preferred providers. In many cases, the health insurance company will not pay for these services. At East Coast Orthotic & Prosthetic Corp. a customer service representative will verify your insurance to determine if your insurance is in-network or out-of-network.
Out-of-Pocket: Your expenses for medical care that aren’t reimbursed by insurance. Out-of-pocket costs include deductibles, coinsurance, and copayments for covered services plus all costs for services that aren’t covered.
Patient Product Agreement & Proof of Delivery (PPA) Form: An agreement signed by patients of East Coast Orthotic & Prosthetic Corp. as proof of delivery for a brace, splint, support or other medical supplies.
Place of Service: The type of facility in which healthcare services were provided to you by an East Coast Orthotic & Prosthetic Corp. practitioner.
Pre-authorization: The process by which a patient is pre-approved for coverage of a health care service, treatment plan or durable medical equipment. Sometimes called prior authorization, prior approval or precertification. Preauthorization isn’t a promise your health insurance or plan will cover the cost.
Prescription (RX): An instruction written by your doctor that authorizes a provider like East Coast Orthotic & Prosthetic Corp. to provide you with medical treatment.
Provider: A term commonly used by health insurance companies to designate any healthcare provider.
Referral: The process through which a patient under a managed care health insurance plan is authorized by his or her primary care physician to a see a specialist for the diagnosis or treatment of a specific condition.
Rental: The amount someone pays you to use your property after you subtract the expenses you have for the property.
Secondary Coverage: When a patient is covered under more than one health insurance plan, this term describes the health insurance plan that provides payment on claims after the primary coverage.
Third-Party Health Insurance: A health insurance plan offered through an employer under a single health insurance contract for a group of employees.
Worker’s Compensation (W/C): A health insurance plan that employers are required to have to cover employees who get sick or injured on the job.