Terms Used In Florida Statutes > Chapter 154 > Part IV - Health Care Responsibility for Indigents

• Agency: means the Agency for Health Care Administration. See Florida Statutes 154.304
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Certification determination procedures: means the process used by the county of residence or the agency to determine a person's county of residence. See Florida Statutes 154.304
• Certified resident: means a United States citizen or lawfully admitted alien who has been certified as a resident of the county by a person designated by the county governing body to provide certification determination procedures for the county in which the patient resides; by the agency if such county does not make a determination of residency within 60 days after receiving a certified letter from the treating hospital; or by the agency if the hospital appeals the decision of the county making such determination. See Florida Statutes 154.304
• Charity: An agency, institution, or organization in existence and operating for the benefit of an indefinite number of persons and conducted for educational, religious, scientific, medical, or other beneficent purposes.
• Charity care obligation: means the minimum amount of uncompensated charity care as reported to the agency, based on the hospital's most recent audited actual experience, which must be provided by a participating hospital or a regional referral hospital before the hospital is eligible to be reimbursed by a county under this part. See Florida Statutes 154.304
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the Department of Health. See Florida Statutes 154.304
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Eligibility determination procedures: means the process used by a county or the agency to evaluate a person's financial eligibility, eligibility for state-funded or federally funded programs, and the availability of insurance, in order to document a person as a qualified indigent for the purpose of this part. See Florida Statutes 154.304
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Hospital: means an establishment as defined in…. See Florida Statutes 154.304
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Participating hospital: means a hospital which is eligible to receive reimbursement under the provisions of this part because it has been certified by the agency as having met its charity care obligation and has either:
  (a) A formal signed agreement with a county or counties to treat such county's indigent patients; or
  (b) Demonstrated to the agency that at least 2. See Florida Statutes 154.304
• person: includes individuals, children, firms, associations, joint adventures, partnerships, estates, trusts, business trusts, syndicates, fiduciaries, corporations, and all other groups or combinations. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
• qualified indigent patient: means a person who has been determined pursuant to…. See Florida Statutes 154.304
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Regional referral hospital: means any hospital that is eligible to receive reimbursement under the provision of this part because it has met its charity care obligation and it meets the definition of teaching hospital as defined in…. See Florida Statutes 154.304
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• writing: includes handwriting, printing, typewriting, and all other methods and means of forming letters and characters upon paper, stone, wood, or other materials. See Florida Statutes 1.01