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Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Glossary

Glossary

This glossary explains terms found on the cms.hhs.gov web site, but it is not a legal document.

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Q

Term Definition
QUALIFIED MEDICARE BENEFICIARY (QMB)

This is a Medicaid program for beneficiaries who need help in paying for Medicare services. The beneficiary must have Medicare Part A and limited income and resources. For those who qualify, the Medicaid program pays Medicare Part A premiums, Part B premiums, and Medicare deductibles and coinsurance amounts for Medicare services.

QUALIFYING INDIVIDUALS (1) (QI-1S)

This is a Medicaid program for beneficiaries who need help in paying for Medicare Part B premiums. The beneficiary must have Medicare Part A and limited income and resources and not be otherwise eligible for Medicaid. For those who qualify, the Medicaid program pays full Medicare Part B premiums only.

QUALIFYING INDIVIDUALS (2) (QI-2S)

This is a Medicaid program for beneficiaries who need help in paying for Medicare Part B premiums. The beneficiary must have Medicare Part A and limited income and resources and not be otherwise eligible for Medicaid. For those who qualify, Medicaid pays a percentage of Medicare Part B premiums only.

QUALITY

Quality is how well the health plan keeps its members healthy or treats them when they are sick. Good quality health care means doing the right thing at the right time, in the right way, for the right person and getting the best possible results.

QUALITY ASSURANCE

The process of looking at how well a medical service is provided. The process may include formally reviewing health care given to a person, or group of persons, locating the problem, correcting the problem, and then checking to see if what you did worked.

QUALITY IMPROVEMENT ORGANIZATION

Groups of practicing doctors and other health care experts. They are paid by the federal government to check and improve the care given to Medicare patients. They must review your complaints about the quality of care given by: inpatient hospitals, hospital outpatient departments, hospital emergency rooms, skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies, Private Fee-for Service plans, and ambulatory surgical centers.

QUINQUENNIAL MILITARY SERVICE DETERMINATION AND ADJUSTMENTS

Prior to the Social Security Amendments of 1983, quinquennial determinations (that is, estimates made once every 5 years) were made of the costs arising from the granting of deemed wage credits for military service prior to 1957; annual reimbursements were made from the general fund of the Treasury to the HI trust fund for these costs. The Social Security Amendments of 1983 provided for (1) a lump-sum transfer in 1983 for (a) the costs arising from the pre-1957 wage credits, and (b) amounts equivalent to the HI taxes that would have been paid on the deemed wage credits for military service for 1966 through 1983, inclusive, if such credits had been counted as covered earnings; (2) quinquennial adjustments to the pre-1957 portion of the 1983 lump-sum transfer; (3) general fund transfers equivalent to HI taxes on military deemed wage credits for 1984 and later, to be credited to the fund on July 1 of each year; and (4) adjustments as deemed necessary to any previously transferred amounts representing HI taxes on military deemed wage credits.


*NOTE: An asterisk (*) after a term means that this definition, in whole or in part, is used with permission from Walter Feldesman, ESQ., Dictionary of Eldercare Terminology, Copyright 2000.


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Page Last Modified: 5/14/06 11:45 AM
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