O&M Operations and Maintenance 07/09/04

Acronym Full Term Description

Date

Updated

Glossary of Acronyms

We in the Federal Government tend to use terms and abbreviations a great deal in our conversations or correspondence and sometimes we forget that not everyone knows what the

mean! Here are some commonly used terms and acronyms in Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs that may be unfamiliar to you.

OA Office Automation The application of information resources to increase the

productivity of the office and effectiveness of

managerial, professional, and clerical people who work

in it.

06/22/07

OAA Office of Academic Affairs 07/09/04

OABuVIM Office of Acquisition and Materiel Management

OAEM Office of Asset Enterprise Management 07/09/04

OASD Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense

OASD(HA) Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health

Affairs

07/09/04

OASD(HSO) OASD(HSO) Office of the Secretary of Defense

OASD/HA Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health

Affairs

07/09/04

OASDI Old Age, Survivors & Disability Insurance 06/13/07

OASIS Outcome and Assessment Information Set 07/09/04

OBRA Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act 07/09/04

OBS Off board Server 07/09/04

OC Office of Construction 07/09/04

OCHAMPUS OCHAMPUS Office of Civilian Health and Medical

Program of the Assurance Division Uniformed Services

OCIO Office of Chief Information Officer 07/09/04

OCIOII Office of the CIO Infrastructure Improvements 07/09/04

OCIS Office of Cyber and Information Security 06/13/07

OCLA Office of Congressional & Legislative Affairs 06/13/07

OCM Outlines in Clinical Medicine 07/09/04

OCONUS OCONUS Outside the Continental United States

OCR Optical Character Reader 07/09/04

OCS Office of Cyber Security 07/09/04

ODA Operating Division of Audit 07/09/04

ODBC Open Database Connectivity Simplifies the development of database applications by

allowing developers to use the same code to access a

variety of databases from different vendors.

06/22/07

ODC Other Direct Costs

ODM&T Office of Data Management and Telecommunications 07/09/04

ODS Operational Data Store A database where transactions are processed (recorded,

updated, and deleted). It contains recent data and is

likely to be highly volatile.

06/22/07

OE/RR Order Entry/Results Reporting 07/09/04

OEA Office of Enterprise Architecture 06/22/07

OEAM Office of Enterprise Architecture Management Reports to the CIO and Deputy CIO. It performs a

number of functions that enhance services to veterans

while also improving VA’s use of, and investment in,

information and technology.

06/20/07

OED Office of Enterprise Development 06/22/07

OEF Operation Enduring Freedom 06/13/07

OEF/OIF Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom 06/25/08

OEMP Office of Emergency Medical Preparedness 07/09/04

OER Office of Extramural Research 07/09/04

OF Office of Facilities 07/09/04

OFCCP Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs

OFPP Office of Federal Procurement Policy

OFPP Office of Federal Procurement Policy

Acronym Full Term Description

Date

Updated

Glossary of Acronyms

We in the Federal Government tend to use terms and abbreviations a great deal in our conversations or correspondence and sometimes we forget that not everyone knows what the

mean! Here are some commonly used terms and acronyms in Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs that may be unfamiliar to you.

OGA Other Government Agency

OGC Office of General Counsel Each government agency, including VA, is required to

have an independent Inspector General to investigate

waste, fraud, abuse, and/or mismanagement.

06/22/07

OHI Other Health Insurance OHI is any other health insurance that provides

coverage for a CHAMPVA beneficiary. This includes

MEDICARE, employer sponsored insurance, individual

insurance, HMOs, state or federal health benefits

programs and supplemental insurance.

01/16/09

OHI Office of Health Information (formerly: OI) Supports VHA health care providers by defining the

requirements and direction of VA’s electronic healthcare

system known as VistA. Works with VA OI&T partners

to turn the health care requirements into IT solutions.

01/15/09

OHI Other Health Insurance

OHRM Office of Human Resources Management 07/09/04

OHRO Office of Human Research Oversight 07/09/04

OHRP Office for Human Research Protections 07/09/04

OI Office of Information (formerly: Office of the Chief

Information Officer)

See: OHI Office of Health Information 01/15/09

OI&T Office of Information and Technology Delivers available adaptable, secure and cost effective

technology services to the VA and acts as a steward for

all VA's IT assets and resources.

01/15/09

OIA Office of Information Assurance 06/13/07

OIF Operation Iraqi Freedom 06/13/07

OIF/OEF Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom USE: OEF/OIF 06/25/08

OIFO Office of Investigations Field Office 06/13/07

OIG Office of the Inspector General Each government agency, including VA, is required to

have an independent Inspector General to investigate

waste, fraud, abuse, and/or mismanagement.

06/22/07

OIG Office of the Inspector General (a.k.a. IG)

OIG Once of Inspector General

OINQ Outpatient Inquiry 07/09/04

OIPT Overarching Integrated Project Team 07/09/04

OIRM Office of Information Resource Management 07/09/04

OK Outpatient Clinic

OLAP Online Analytical Processing 07/09/04

OLDE Online Data Entry (for PAID timekeeping and

personnel functions)

07/09/04

OLTP On-Line Transaction Processing Optimized for processing high volume transactions.

They generally include a large number of global users.

06/22/07

OMB Office of Management and Budget 07/09/04

OMG Object Management Group Not-for-profit consortium of technology vendors

developing commercially viable and vendor independent

specifications for the software industry.

06/22/07

OMI Office of Medical Inspector 07/09/04

OMR Office of Media Relations 07/09/04

ONAS Outpatient Non-Availability Statement

ONCHIT Office of the National Coordinator for Health

Information Technology

06/13/07

OP Outpatient Care 12/14/07

OP Other Procurement

OPA Office of Public Affairs 07/09/04

Acronym Full Term Description

Date

Updated

Glossary of Acronyms

We in the Federal Government tend to use terms and abbreviations a great deal in our conversations or correspondence and sometimes we forget that not everyone knows what the

mean! Here are some commonly used terms and acronyms in Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs that may be unfamiliar to you.

OPC Outpatient Care File 07/09/04

OPC Outpatient Clinic

OPC (CBC) Outpatient Clinic (community-based Clinic) 07/09/04

OPC(Mobile

Clinic)

Outpatient Clinic (Mobile Outpatient Clinic) 07/09/04

OPC(ORC) Outpatient Clinic (Outreach Clinic) 07/09/04

OPC(ROC) Outpatient Clinic (Outpatient Clinic located at

Veterans Benefit Regional Office)

07/09/04

OPC(SOC) Outpatient Clinic (Satellite Outpatient Clinic) 07/09/04

OPCA Office of Public and Consumer Affairs 07/09/04

OPM Office of Personnel Management Regulates, administers, and evaluates the civil service

program according to merit principles.

06/22/07

OPM Office of Personnel Management (Now know as the

SAAN)

OPP Office of Policy and Planning 07/09/04

OPP&P Office of Policy, Planning and Preparedness 06/13/07

OPQM Office of Performance and Quality Measures 07/09/04

OPRR Office for Protection from Research Risks (now OHRP) 07/09/04

OQL Object Query Language 07/09/04

OQP Office of Quality and Performance 06/13/07

ORB Object Request Broker Allows application processes to communicate across a

network using an object-oriented architecture. A

software process that acts as a director coordinating

activities across multiple nodes within a distributed

software architecture.

06/22/07

ORC Outreach Clinic 07/09/04

ORCA Office of Research Compliance & Assurance 07/09/04

ORD Office of Research and Development 07/09/04

ORD Optional Requirements Document 07/09/04

ORI Office of Research Integrity 07/09/04

ORM Office of Resolution Management 07/09/04

ORO Office of Research Oversight 07/09/04

OS&D Overages, Shortages, and Damages

OS&LE Office of Security and Law Enforcement 07/09/04

OSD Office of the Secretary of Defense

OSDBU Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization 07/09/04

OSE Open Systems Environment 07/09/04

OSHA Occupational Safety and Health Administration 07/09/04

OSHCA Open Source Health Care Alliance 07/09/04

OSI Open Systems Interconnection A standard approach to network design developed by

the International Standards Organization that

introduces modularity by dividing the complex set of

functions into more manageable, self-contained,

functional elements.

06/22/07

OSP Office of Operations, Security and Preparedness 07/09/04

OSTP Office of Science and Technology Policy 07/09/04

OT&E Operation Test & Evaluation 07/09/04

OTA Office of Technology Assessment 07/09/04

OTSG Office of the Surgeon General

P&C Purchasing and Contacting 07/09/04

P&T

Permanent and Total; Referring to a disabling

condition as being totally disabling as well as

permanent in nature. The P & T designation is required

to be eligible for some benefits.

Acronym Full Term Description

Date

Updated

Glossary of Acronyms

We in the Federal Government tend to use terms and abbreviations a great deal in our conversations or correspondence and sometimes we forget that not everyone knows what the

mean! Here are some commonly used terms and acronyms in Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs that may be unfamiliar to you.

P&T Pharmacy & Therapeutics Committee 06/13/07

PAM Patient Account Manager 06/13/07

PARMIN Population and Resource Management Information

Network

07/09/04

PARRTS Patient Accounting and Reporting Real-Time Tracking A centralized database designed to track/maintain

reports and allow inquiries on all hospitalized Army

patients, all the time, regardless of their status.

07/12/07

PART Program Assessment Rating Tool 06/13/07

PATH Physicians at Teaching Hospitals 07/09/04

PATS Patient Advocate Tracking System 07/09/04

PAV Price Adjustment Vouchers 07/09/04

PAVs Price Adjustment Vouchers 07/09/04

PAY VA VA Payroll and Accounting System 07/09/04

PAYVA Payroll system for VA 07/09/04

PB Patient Bedsection 07/09/04

PBIS Performance Based Incentive System T for D

Termination for Default (T4C)

PBM Pharmacy Benefits Management 07/09/04

PBM/SHG Pharmacy Benefits Management Strategic Healthcare

Grou

PBM/SHG is comprised of clinical pharmacists, data

analysts and administrative pharmacy personnel. Its

primary mission is to facilitate and coordinate the VA

national formulary process. It also creates a database

of drug prescriptions and pharmacy supply orders.

PBMS Performance-based Management System 06/13/07

PBMSHG Pharmacy Benefits Management Strategic Health

Group

07/09/04

PBX Private Branch Exchange 07/09/04

PC Policy Council 07/09/04

PCC Patient Care Component 07/09/04

PCC Patient Care Coordinator 06/13/07

PCE Patient Care Encounter 07/09/04

PCGL PC Generated Letters 07/09/04

PCHS Procurement for Computer Hardware and Software A national contract the VA is mandated to use for

ordering IT.

06/28/07

PCHS Procurement of Computer Hardward and SPDNUG

SPD/Nursing Users Group

PCM Primary Care Manager

PCMM Primary Care Management Module 07/09/04

PCO Publications Control Officer 07/09/04

PCO Procuring Contracting Officer

PCP

Primary Care Physician or Practitioner or Provider; The

health care professional who is generally responsible

for overseeing and coordinating the veterans health

care.

PCP Primary Care Provider 06/13/07

PCS Patient Care Services An office within the VA dedicated to diagnosis and

treatment

07/14/06

PCS Permanent Change of Station 07/09/04

PD Public Domain 07/09/04

PDA Personal Digital Assistant 07/09/04

PDD Presidential Decision Directive 07/09/04

PDF Portable Document Format 06/13/07

PDM Pharmacy Data Management 06/13/07

PDM Program Decision Memorandum

PDN Public Data Network 07/09/04

Acronym Full Term Description

Date

Updated

Glossary of Acronyms

We in the Federal Government tend to use terms and abbreviations a great deal in our conversations or correspondence and sometimes we forget that not everyone knows what the

mean! Here are some commonly used terms and acronyms in Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs that may be unfamiliar to you.

PDQ Physician's Data Query 07/09/04

PDR Preliminary Design Review 07/09/04

PDTS Pharmacy Data Transaction System 07/09/04

PDUSH Policy Deputy Undersecretary of Health 06/13/07

PDX Patient Data Exchange A VistA module designed to electronically request and

receive patient demographics, episodes of care,

medications, and diagnostic evaluations from other VA

facilities.

06/28/07

PEI Public Key Infrastructure

PERC Patient Education Resource Center 07/09/04

PERT Program Evaluation Review Technique An event-oriented network analysis technique used to

estimate project duration when there is uncertainty in

the individual activity duration estimates.

06/28/07

PET Position Electron Transformation 07/09/04

PFC Private First Class

PFPWD Program for Persons with Disabilities TINA Tenth in

Negotiation Act

PFSS Patient Financial Services System 07/09/04

PFTH Program for the Handicapped TITLE 18 Medicare

PGD Program Director 06/13/07

PHCA Preventive Health Care Application 07/09/04

PHF Patient History File 06/13/07

PHI Protected Health Information 07/09/04

PHIN Public Health Information Network 06/13/07

PHR Personal Health Record 06/22/07

PHRP Partnership for Human Research Protection 06/13/07

PHS Public Health Service 07/09/04

PHS Public Health Service TITLE 19 Medicaid

PI Prevention Index 07/09/04

PI Principle Investigator 07/09/04

PIB Performance Improvement Board 07/09/04

PIC Personal Information Carrier 07/09/04

PID Patient Identification 06/13/07

PIDS Person Identification Service Interface Specification standard responsible for the

identification, correlation, and search within and across

a specified domains

06/28/07

PIES Personnel Information Exchange System

PIF Pending Issue File 07/09/04

PIHCP Pacific Island Health Care Project 07/09/04

PII Patient Information Integration 07/09/04

PIMS Patient Information Management System 07/09/04

PINN Procurement Instrument Identification Number TITLE 5

Maternal and Child Health

PIP Productivity Improvement Program 07/09/04

PIR Patient Incident Review Identifies opportunities for improvement in patient

care.

06/28/07

PIR Post Implementation Review 07/09/04

PIT Postgraduate and In-service Training 07/09/04

PKI Public Key Infrastructure A system of digital certificates, Certificate Authorities,

and other registration authorities that verify and

authenticate the validity of each party involved in an

Internet transaction.

06/28/07

PL Public Law 07/09/04

PL Public Law TITLE 10 CHAMPUS

Acronym Full Term Description

Date

Updated

Glossary of Acronyms

We in the Federal Government tend to use terms and abbreviations a great deal in our conversations or correspondence and sometimes we forget that not everyone knows what the

mean! Here are some commonly used terms and acronyms in Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs that may be unfamiliar to you.

PLAN Plain Language Action Network 07/09/04

PLMS Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Service 07/09/04

PM Patient Master 07/09/04

PM Program Management TITLE 1 Hill Burton

PM&R Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 07/09/04

PM&R Productivity Measurement and Reporting 07/09/04

PM&RS Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Services 07/09/04

PMAC Project Management Advisory Committee 07/09/04

PMAP Pain Management Assessment Project 07/09/04

PMIP Practice Management Implementation Plan 07/09/04

PMO Project Management Office 07/09/04

PMPM Per Member Per Month T&M Time and Materials (type

of contract)

PMR Procurement Management Review TMA TRICARE

Management Activity

PMRS Patient Movement Request System 07/09/04

PMS Project Management Service 07/09/04

PMSA Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area 07/09/04

PMSC Project Management Steering Committee 07/09/04

PN Progress Notes 07/09/04

PO Purchase Order

POA Power of Attorney

POC Point of Care 07/09/04

POCs Points of Contact 07/09/04

POE Pharmacy Order Enhancement 07/09/04

POE Post Occupancy Evaluation 07/09/04

POMA Patient Oriented Management Architecture Intended to define the business object framework

required to integrate multiple application software

packages in a managed care environment, including

ambulatory, non-ambulatory, and in-home settings.

06/28/07

POMS Purchase Order Management System 07/09/04

POP Server Post Office Protocol Server 07/09/04

POS Point of Sale 07/09/04

POS Point of Service

POSIX Portable Operating System Interface 07/09/04

POST-MI Post-Myocardial Infarction 07/09/04

POTS Plain Old Telephone Service 07/09/04

POV Purpose of Visit 07/09/04

POW Prisoner of War 07/09/04

PPL Providers/Patient Linkage EP 07/09/04

PPM Personal Property Management 07/09/04

PPO Preferred Provider Organization (TRICARE Extra) TPP

Third Party Payer

PPP Pharmacy Prescription Practices 07/09/04

PPP Point to Point Protocol 07/09/04

PPV Pharmaceutical Prime Vendor

PR Procurement Request

PR Purchase Request TQM Total Quality Management

PRA Patient Record Architecture 07/09/04

PRB Project Review Board 07/09/04

PRC Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center 06/22/07

Acronym Full Term Description

Date

Updated

Glossary of Acronyms

We in the Federal Government tend to use terms and abbreviations a great deal in our conversations or correspondence and sometimes we forget that not everyone knows what the

mean! Here are some commonly used terms and acronyms in Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs that may be unfamiliar to you.

PRDC Prosthetics Research and Development Center 07/09/04

PRIDE Program for Research Integrity Development &

Education

06/13/07

PRIM&R Public Responsibility in Medicine & Research 07/09/04

PRISM Procurement Request for Information System 07/09/04

PRMRP Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program 06/13/07

PRN Pro Re Nata 07/09/04

PRO Peer Review Organization TSC TRICARE Service Center

PRP Pro-Rated Persons 07/09/04

PRPO Pacific Regional Program Office 07/09/04

PRRTP Psychosocial Residential Rehabilitation Treatment

Programs

PRRTP is designed to provide a therapeutic residential

environment for treatment for psychiatric conditions

and psychosocial readjustment. VA defines PRRTP as

inpatient care, and it is often viewed as an alternative

to specialty psychiatry and substance abuse inpatient

care.

07/09/04

PRSS Prosthetic Statistical System 07/09/04

PS Person Served 07/09/04

PSA Prostate-Specific Antigen 07/09/04

PSAS Prosthetics and Sensory Aids Services Patients With Amputations Study, conducted by Booz

Allen Hamilton under contract with the Department of

Veterans Affairs.

07/12/07

PSCT Polytrauma Support Clinic Team 07/17/08

PSI Performance Systems International 07/09/04

PSO Patient Safety Officer 06/13/07

PSRO Professional Services Review Organization 07/09/04

PSS Patient Satisfaction Survey 07/09/04

PSSG Planning System Support Group 07/09/04

PST Preliminary System Testing 07/09/04

PSWN Public Safety Wireless Network 07/09/04

PT/BRI QUERI Polytrauma and Blast-Related Injuries Center The mission of the PT/BRI QUERI Center is to promote

the successful rehabilitation, psychological adjustment

and community re-integration of individuals who have

polytrauma and blast-related injuries.

07/12/07

PTC Prosthetic Treatment Center 07/09/04

PTF Patient Treatment File Formal evaluation and documentation of a long-term

care patient’s ability to perform activities of daily living.

06/28/07

PTF Patient Treatment File PTF is an automated system for recording and tracking

events associated with VHA inpatient care. It is the

principal source of inpatient VHA workload data.

PTSD Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder 07/09/04

PUB. L. Public Law 07/09/04

PV Prime Vendor 07/09/04

PV Prime Vector TSO TRICARE Support Office (previously

OCHAMPUS)

PVA Paralyzed Veterans of America 07/09/04

PVAP Pre-Vocational Apprenticeship Program 07/09/04

PVHCA Pacific Virtual Healthcare Application 07/09/04

PWBA Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration 07/09/04

PWGH Principal Working Group on Health 07/09/04

QA Quality Assurance The set of activities that defines and implements quality

into the software development process.

06/28/07