QUESTION: Everybody in the employee benefits field uses acronyms like ADA, MSP, and PHI. What do these and other employee benefits acronyms stand for?
ANSWER: Here’s an explanatory list of common acronyms primarily used in our COBRA, HIPAA, and Group Health Plan Mandates manuals. (Last week’s Checkpoint Question of the Week included acronyms primarily used in our ERISA Compliance, Self-Insured Health Plans, Cafeteria Plans, Consumer-Driven Health Care, and Fringe Benefits manuals, and in next week’s Question of the Week, we’ll cover acronyms used in our Health Care Reform manual.)
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ADA – Americans with Disabilities Act
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ADEA – Age Discrimination in Employment Act
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BA – Business Associate
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CE – Covered Entity
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CMS – Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
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COBRA – Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act
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EDI – Electronic Data Interchange
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EEOC – Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
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ePHI – Electronic Protected Health Information
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ESRD – End-Stage Renal Disease
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FMLA – Family and Medical Leave Act
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GINA – Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act
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HCTC – Health Coverage Tax Credit
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HHS – Department of Health and Human Services
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HIPAA – Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
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HITECH – Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act
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MHPA – Mental Health Parity Act
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MHPAEA – Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act
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MSP – Medicare Secondary Payer
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NMHPA – Newborns’ and Mothers’ Health Protection Act
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NQTL – Nonquantitative Treatment Limitation
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OCR – Office for Civil Rights
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PCE – Preexisting Condition Exclusion
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PDA – Pregnancy Discrimination Act
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PHI – Protected Health Information
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QB – Qualified Beneficiary
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QE – Qualifying Event
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QMCSO – Qualified Medical Child Support Order
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RRE – Responsible Reporting Entity
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TRICARE – The U.S. military’s health care program
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USERRA – Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act
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WHCRA – Women’s Health and Cancer Rights Act
For simple, easy-to-understand definitions of these terms, see the Glossaries in EBIA’s COBRA, HIPAA, and Group Health Plan Mandates manuals. EBIA’s Glossary is also available on Checkpoint and in print versions of each manual.
Contributing Editors: EBIA Staff.
