QA Quality Assurance USTF Uniformed Services Treatment

Facility

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.

QAR Quality Assurance Review 07/09/04

QBE Query by Example 07/09/04

QBL Qualified Bidders List

QBL Qualified Bidders List VAASC

QGNC Quasi-Government Non-Profit Organization 07/09/04

QI Quality Improvement 07/09/04

QIO Quality Improvement Organization 06/13/07

QIS QuIC Information Systems (Workgroup) 07/09/04

QM Quality Management

QMAS Quality Measurement Advisory Service 07/09/04

QMI Quality Management Institute 07/09/04

QMIC Quality Management Integration Council 07/09/04

QML Qualified Manufacturers List

QOL Quality of Life 07/09/04

QOS Quality of Service 06/13/07

QPL Qualified Parts List

QPL Qualified Products List

QUASAR Quality: Audiology and Speech Pathology Audit and

Review

07/09/04

QUERI Quality Enhancement Research Initiative Designed to translate research discoveries and

innovations into better patient care and systems

improvements.

06/28/07

QUERI Quality Enhancement Research Initiative The Quality Enhancement Research Imitative (QUERI) is

mandated to translate research discoveries and

innovations into better patient care of our nation's

veterans and VA systems improvement.

QUIC Quality Improvement Checklist It is designed to enhance VA's accountability system

within the framework of a continuous quality

improvement process. System wide comparative data is

used to analyze and enhance health care services.

06/28/07

QuIC Quality Interagency Coordination Task Force 07/09/04

R&D Research and Development 07/09/04

R/E/E M/E Registration/Eligibility/Enrollment

Maintenance/Enhancement (Project)

07/09/04

RACO Research Assurance & Compliance Officer (VISN

Level)

07/09/04

RAD Rapid Application Development A type of software development life cycle. 06/28/07

RAD Resource Access Design Intended to provide an interface to allow for business

logic to be removed from direct implementation within

application logic and encapsulated to provide for

independent maintenance and reuse.

06/28/07

RAG Research Advisory Group 07/09/04

RAI/MDS Resident Assessment Instrument/Minimum Data Set Regulates and standardizes care of patients in nursing

homes nation- wide.

06/28/07

RAID Rapid Application Interface Development 07/09/04

RAM Resource Allocation Model 07/09/04

RBAC Role-Based Access Control Policy based access control. Access is granted based

upon membership in a group.

06/28/07

RBRVS Resource Based Relative Value Schedule 07/09/04

RBRVS Resource Based Relative Value Scale (Medicare) RBRVS values are weights that are based on the time it

takes to provide a service or perform a procedure. They

also reflect the minimum training required to provide a

given service, this compensates providers for income

lost during their years of training.

RC Resident Commissioner 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.

RCA Root Cause Analysis 06/13/07

RCAC Research Compliance Assurance Contract 07/09/04

RCC Research Coordinating Center 07/09/04

RCH Residential Care Home 07/09/04

RCN Reports Control Number 07/09/04

RCO Research Compliance Officer (Facility Level) 07/09/04

RCP Report of Contractors Performance

RCR Responsible Conduct of Research 07/09/04

RCRA Resource Conservation and Recovery Act

RCS Readjustment Counseling Service 07/09/04

RCS Records Control System 07/09/04

RD Regional Director 07/09/04

RDBMS Relational Database Management System Any application designed to manage multiple tables of

data and allow users to establish relationships among

columns of data.

06/28/07

RDIS Research and Development Information System

RDO Regional Division Office 07/09/04

RDP Regional Data Processing Center 06/28/07

RDT&E Research, Development, Test & Evaluation

REAP Research Enhancement Award Programs REAP sites support groups of investigators at VA

medical centers not affiliated with an HSR&D Center of

Excellence, but who already have a history of HSR&D

research and career development funding.

12/17/04

RECM Registration & Eligiblility, and Contact Management RE and CM projects are part of the OneVA initiatives 07/14/06

RED Research and Development

REEM&E Registration/Eligibility/Enrollment Maintenance &

Enhancements (Project)

07/09/04

REGO II Reinventing Government - Phase II 07/09/04

REQ Request for Quotation

ResDAC Research Data Assistance Center Funded by the Health Care Financing Administration

(HCFA) to assist researchers in gaining access to and

understanding of Medicare and Medicaid data that is

available from HCFA.

07/20/07

RFA Request for Applications 07/09/04

RFE Request for Evaluation 07/09/04

RFI Request For Information 07/09/04

RFI Request for Information UR Utilization Review

RFP Request for Proposal 07/09/04

RFP Request for Proposals USC United States Code

RFQ Request for Quotation 07/09/04

RHIA Registered Health Information Administrator 07/09/04

RIF Reduction in Force A personnel action that may be required due to lack of

work or funds, changes resulting from reorganization,

downward reclassification of a position, or the need to

make room for an employee with reemployment or

restoration rights.

06/28/07

RIM Reference Information Model A representation of the business domain of an area of

interest serving to establish a basis for shared meaning

(e.g., semantic interoperability) within or across

systems.

06/28/07

RISO Regional Information Security Officer Regional representative of VA Medical Center

Information Security Officers (ISOs).

06/28/07

RLOGIN Remote Unix Log-in to Internet 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.

RMC Records Management Center The VA field office located in St. Louis, Missouri which

is responsible for providing ROs, MCs and National

Cemetery elements with quality and timely service to

facilitate claims processing, medical treatment and

memorial affairs benefits.

06/28/07

RMEC Regional Medical Education Center 07/09/04

RMRS Regenstrief Medical Record System 07/09/04

RO Regional Office A VA field office composed of divisions which carry out

the functions of VBA. Fifty-eight such offices currently

exist, with at least one office in every state.

06/28/07

RO&IC Regional Office and Insurance Center 07/09/04

ROADS Registry Operations And Data Standards 07/09/04

ROES Remote Order Entry System This is used for ordering supplies and services from the

VADDC (VA Denver Distribution Center).

06/28/07

ROG Remote Office Gateway 07/09/04

ROI Return On Investment 07/09/04

ROI Release of Information The disclosure of documents containing patientidentifiable

information to a third party requester.

06/28/07

ROM Rough Order of Merit 07/09/04

RONA Release of Names and Addresses 06/13/07

RO-OC Regional Office-Outpatient Clinic 07/09/04

ROQ Review of Quality 06/13/07

RORC Rehabilitation Outcomes Research Center 06/13/07

RPC Radiation Policy Council 07/09/04

RPC Regional Processing Center 07/09/04

RPC Broker Remote Procedure Call Broker 07/09/04

RPL Restricted Patient List 07/09/04

RPM Resource Planning Model 07/09/04

RPM

Committee

Resource Planning and Management Committee 07/09/04

RPMS Resource and Patient Management System 07/09/04

RR&D Rehabilitation Research and Development 07/09/04

RRP Rapid Response Project 06/22/07

RRTP residential rehabilitation treatment program VAST datbase 01/19/07

RSA Rivest - Shamir - Adleman (encryption algorithm) 07/09/04

RSNA Radiological Society of North America 07/09/04

RT Reference Terminology 07/09/04

RTC Residential Treatment Center

RTCIS Remote Telepathology Consultation and Imaging

System

07/09/04

RTM Reference Terminology Model 07/09/04

RUG Resource Utilization Group RUG is a validated instrument to measure nursing home

residents' resource use. There are two primary

versions: RUG II and RUG III.

07/09/04

RUM Resource Usage Monitor 07/09/04

RVS Relative Value Scale 07/09/04

RVSR

Ratings Veterans Service Representative, the decision

maker to your claim

RVU Relative Value Unit Weighted units of measure that allow for the relative

comparison between different complexities and mixes

of procedures.

06/28/07

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.

RVU Relative Value Unit A relative value unit (RVU) is a numeric weight

assigned to a medical encounter or procedure that

provides information on its relative resource use.

S&D Storage and Distribution 07/09/04

S&DC Service and Distribution Center 07/09/04

S/MIME Secure Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions An extension to the MIME protocol that supports

encryption of e-mail messages.

06/28/07

SAAN Supply Automation Advisory Network 07/09/04

SAB Standards Advisory Board 07/09/04

SAC Standards and Conventions 07/09/04

SACC Standards and Conventions Committee This committee determines the SAC. and approves any

exemptions if merited.

06/28/07

SACHRP Secretary's Advisory committee on Human Research

Protections

06/13/07

SAD Service Area Director VA Veterans Administration

SADBUS Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization

Specialist VAMC Veterans Administration Medical

Center

SADR Standard Ambulatory Data Record 07/09/04

SAE Serious Adverse Event 07/09/04

SAIAN Survey of American Indians and Alaskan Natives 07/09/04

SAIC Science Applications International Corporation 07/09/04

SALES ORDER Sale from the Depot to the Appropriation

SAM Service Area Manager

SAMS Somerville Asset Management Service

SAN Storage Area Network 07/09/04

SARP Substance Abuse Rehabilitation Program 07/09/04

SAS Statistical Analysis System (a product name) A database management system and database query

language.

06/28/07

SAT Special Assistance Team 07/09/04

SATP Substance Abuse Treatment Program This clinic is in ALL Veteran Medical Centers. 02/09/09

SBA Small Business Administration

SBIR Small Business Innovative Research (contract)

SC Service Connected Indicates a Veteran has a service connected disability

recognized by VA.

11/17/06

SCA Special Contribution Award 10/11/06

SCA Service Contract Act

SCAMC Symposium On Computer Applications In Medical Care 07/09/04

SCAW Scientists Center for Animal Welfare 07/09/04

SCD Service Connected Disease A disease incurred in or aggravated by service. 06/28/07

SCD Spinal Cord Dysfunction Registry 07/09/04

SCEM Standards, Criterion, Evaluative Algorithms and

Measuring Instruments

07/09/04

SCHCS Small Composite Health Care System (DoD) 07/09/04

SCI Spinal Cord Injury 07/09/04

SCI/D Spinal Cord Injury/Dysfunction 07/09/04

SCIF Secure Compartment Information Facility 07/09/04

SCMI Severely Chronically Mentally Ill 07/09/04

SCOTUS Supreme Court of the United States

SCVTS Switch Compressed Video Transmission Service 07/09/04

SDB Small Disadvantaged Business

SDC System Development Center 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.

SDC Service & Distribution Center

SDLC Synchronous Data Link Control 07/09/04

SDO Standards Development Organization 07/09/04

SDP Service Directed Projects 06/13/07

SDR Service Directed Research 06/13/07

SDS Switched Data Service 07/09/04

SE VA Outpatient File SE refers to the VA Outpatient Event File SE version. It

is a VA database for outpatient care.

SEC Screening and Evaluation Committee 07/09/04

SEER Surveillance Epidemiology and End Result 07/09/04

SEPG Software Engineering Process Group 07/09/04

SERIC Seattle Epidemiologic Research and Information

Center

06/13/07

SERP Systematic External Review Program 07/09/04

SES Senior Executive Seminar 07/09/04

SF Standard Form 06/13/07

SF Standard Form WHO World Health Organization

SF 26 AWARD Document WHS Washington Headquarters

Services

SF 30 Amendment to Solicitation/Modification to Contract

SF 33 Solicitation/Contract Award Document

SFDI Space and Functional Deficiency Identification System 07/09/04

SG Surgeon General (plural is Surgeons General)

SGLI Servicemen's Group Life Insurance 07/09/04

SGML Standard Generalized Markup Language 07/09/04

SGT Sergeant

SHAD Shipboard Hazard and Defense 07/09/04

SHEP Survey of Healthcare Experience of Patients 06/13/07

SHG Strategic Healthcare Group 07/09/04

SHS Society for Health Systems 07/09/04

SI Severity of Illness

SIA System Interconnection Agreement 07/09/04

SIC Standard Industrial Classification

SIDR Standard Inpatient Data Record 06/22/07

SIFT Special Inquiry Force Team 07/09/04

SIG Special Interest Group 07/09/04

SIN Special Item Number

SIR Systematic Internal Review 07/09/04

SISP Strategic Information Systems Plan 07/09/04

SIUG Special Interest Users Group 07/09/04

SKU Stock Keeping Unit

SLIMS Summary List Management Service 07/09/04

SLIP Serial Line Interface Protocol 07/09/04

SMAG Special Medical Advisory Group 07/09/04

SMC Strategic Management Council Established to develop guidelines for VBA’s integrated

planning/budget process.

06/28/07

SME Subject Matter Expert 07/09/04

SMG Strategic Management Group 07/09/04

SMI Seriously Mentally Ill 07/09/04

SMI Stanford Medical Informatics 06/13/07

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.

SMI Serious Mental Illness SMI is defined as a diagnosable mental, behavioral, or

emotional disorder of sufficient duration to meet

diagnostic criteria specified within the Diagnostic and

Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV), and

that has resulted in functional impairment that

substantially interferes with or limits one or more major

life activities.

SMITREC Serious Mental Illness Treatment Research and

Evaluation Center

06/13/07

SMMR2 Six Month Maintenance Release 2 07/09/04

SMP Strategic Management Process 07/09/04

SMR Service Medical Record

SMRB Scientific Merit Review Board 06/13/07

SMRTS Service Medical Records Tracking System 06/13/07

SMS Shared Medical Systems (one of the largest hospital

software vendors)

07/09/04

SMSU Survey of Medical System Users 07/09/04

SMTP Simple Mail Transfer Protocol 07/09/04

SMTP Standard Mail Transfer Protocol

SNA System Network Architecture An architecture based on the use of microprocessors in

each major device in a hardware configuration and the

use of SDLC protocol.

06/28/07

SNAFU Situation Normal, All Fouled Up

SNMP Simple Network Management Protocol 07/09/04

SNOMED Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine 07/09/04

SNOMED CT Systemized Nomenclature of Medicine Clinical Terms A dynamic, scientifically validated clinical reference

terminology that makes health care knowledge more

usable and accessible

06/28/07

SOAP Subjective, Objective, Assessment, and Plan 07/09/04

SOARS System-wide Ongoing Assessment and Review

Strategy Program

Nawtional VA evaluation body. 10/11/06

SOC Satellite Outpatient Clinic Outpatient clinic under the management of an MC but

not physically located in a medical center; over 25,000

visits per year.

06/28/07

SOC Security Operations Center Operational activities with the primary mission of

remotely managing and monitoring approved VA

gateway connections.

06/28/07

SODV Survey of Disabled Veterans 07/09/04

SONP Satellite Overlay Network Project 07/09/04

SOO Statement of Objective 07/09/04

SOP Standard Operating Procedure 07/09/04

SOR System of Record 07/09/04

SOTA State of the Art 07/09/04

SOV III Survey of Veterans III 07/09/04

SOW Statement of Work A narrative description of products or services to be

supplied under contract.

06/28/07

SOW Statement of Work

SP Standards Profile 07/09/04

SPA Single Project Assurance (obsolete -Refer to FWA) 07/09/04

SPD Supply Processing and Distribution

SPEC Specification

SPES Single Photon Emission Scanning 07/09/04

SPI Single Process Initiative

SPO Special Projects Office 06/13/07

SPS SharePoint Server Share point server, more commonly it is MOSS,

Microsoft Office SharePoint Services.

04/18/08

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.

SPSS Statistical Programs for the Social Sciences 07/09/04

SPV Subsistence Prime Vendor

SQA Software Quality Assurance Defines and implements software quality into the

process and encompasses systematic activities that

provide evidence that the product meets the customers’

expectations, in terms of use and the associated quality

factors.

06/28/07

SQC Statistical Quality Control A system for evaluating, promoting and maintaining a

high level of quality in services and end products.

06/28/07

SQL Structured Query Language A standard language for retrieving information from

database management systems.

06/28/07

SR Service Request 07/09/04

SRC Systems Resources Corporation 07/09/04

SRCO Systems Redesign Coordinator Position that provides oversight and leadership for the

implementation, spread, and maintenance of Systems

Redesign processes and techniques across services.

08/05/08

SREB Scientific Review and Evaluation Board 07/09/04

SRM Strategic Ranking Model 07/09/04

SRR System Requirements Review 07/09/04

SRS Software Requirements Specification Outlines the detailed functional, hardware,

communication, interface, memory, and implementation

requirements for a project.

06/28/07

SRSC Systems Redesign Steering Committee Committee responisble for overseeing the VHA Systems

Redesign Program.

08/05/08

SRT System Review Team 07/09/04

SSA Social Security Administration 07/09/04

SSAA System Security Authorization Agreement 07/09/04

SSAC Source Selection Advisory Council

SSC Support Services Centers 07/09/04

SSEB Source Selection Evaluation Board

SSL Secure Socket Layer 07/09/04

SSM Software Service Manager 07/09/04

SSN Social Security Number 07/09/04

SSN Social Security Number The nine-digit Social Security number is used by the

U.S. federal government to track workers' contributions

to the Social Security retirement system. Because it is

unique to each individual, it is widely used as a

personal identification number. Most VA healthcare

databases identify patients by their true SSNs or by

scrambled versions of them.

SSO Standard Setting Organization (HIPAA abbreviation) 07/09/04

STAIR Sites of Temporarily Augmented Ionizing Radiation 07/09/04

STAR Statistical and Technical Accuracy Report 06/13/07

STAT Supported Treadmill Ambulation Training 07/09/04

STEP Secure Technology Evaluation Project 07/09/04

STM Short Term Model 07/09/04

STS Soft Tissue Sarcoma 07/09/04

SVAC Senate Veterans Affairs Committee 07/09/04

SVH State Veterans Homes 07/09/04

SWARS Social Work Automated Reporting System 07/09/04

SWIMS Social Work Information Management System 07/09/04

SWRI Southwest Research Institute 07/09/04

T for C T for C Termination for Convenience (T4C)