capitation

English

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin capitātiōnem, from caput (“head”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kapɪˈteɪʃən/

Noun

capitation (countable and uncountable, plural capitations)

1. Performing a headcount; the counting of people.
2. A poll tax.
3. A system of remuneration for providers of health care, in which providers enroll patients as permanent clients and receive a fixed periodic payment for each enrollee.
   • 1996 The Capitation Sourcebook: a practical guide to managing at-risk arrangements ed. Peter Boland ISBN: 0-9652717-0-6

     Capitation started out as a popular method for reimbursing primary care physicians/gatekeepers. Now capitated contracts can be seen in every area of healthcare... ... because of varying volumes, not all specialty care providers should be capitated at the same time. For example, higher volume services (e.g., laboratory, radiology, orthopedics, and cardiology) are usually first to be capitated. Specialists and other medical services that are used infrequently (e.g., neonatologists, neurosurgeons) or "high ticket" specialists (e.g., open heart surgeons) are usually capitated last, if at all. The cost of their services is relatively high and a miscalculation in projected membership or actual utilization can have a large financial impact.

4. (India, euphemistic) A donation made to an educational institution to obtain admission.

Related terms

• capitated

Translations

performing headcount

• Finnish: henkilömäärän laskeminen, luvun ottaminen
• Spanish: conteo (es) m

poll tax — see poll tax

system of remunerating health care providers

• Finnish: kapitaatio (fi)
• Indonesian: kapitasi

Anagrams

• antipatico

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin capitātiōnem.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

capitation f (plural capitations)

1. capitation (tax)
2. (medicine) capitation

References

• “capitation”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.