THE GENERAL

An acute general hospital is an institution whose primary function is to provide inpatient diagnostic and therapeutic services for a variety of medical conditions, both surgical and non-surgical, to a wide population group. The hospital treats patients in an acute phase of illness or injury, characterized by a single episode or a fairly short duration, from which the patient returns to his or her normal or previous level of activity.

In general, a distinct unit of a hospital that provides acute or long-term care to emotionally disturbed patients, including patients admitted for diagnosis and those admitted for treatment of psychiatric problems on the basis of physicians' orders and approved nursing care plans. Long-term care may include intensive supervision to the chronically mentally ill, mentally disordered or other mentally incompetent persons; (2) For Medicare, a distinct part of a general acute care hospital admitting only patients whose admission to the unit is required for active treatment, whose treatment is of an intensity that can be provided only in an inpatient hospital setting, and whose condition is described by a psychiatric principal diagnosis contained in the Third Edition of the American Psychiatric Association Diagnostic and Statistical Manual or in Chapter 5 (Mental Disorders) of the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM). The unit must furnish, through the use of qualified personnel, psychological services, social work services, psychiatric nursing, occupational therapy, and recreational therapy. The unit must maintain medical records that permit determination of the degree and intensity of treatment provided to individuals who are furnished services in the unit; the unit must meet special staff requirements in that the unit must have adequate numbers of qualified professional and supportive staff to evaluate inpatients, formulate written, individualized, comprehensive treatment plans, provide active treatment measures and engage in discharge planning.

An emergency physician focuses on the immediate decision making and action necessary to prevent death or any further disability both in the pre-hospital setting by directing emergency medical technicians and in the emergency department. The emergency physician provides immediate recognition, evaluation, care, stabilization and disposition of a generally diversified population of adult and pediatric patients in response to acute illness and injury.

Source: NUCC, CMS