Dictionary

capitation en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /kapɪˈteɪʃən/
• (US) audio

Etymology

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

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) Performing a headcount; the counting of people.
2. (countable, uncountable) A head tax.
3. (countable, uncountable) A system of remuneration for providers of health care, in which providers enroll patients as permanent clients and receive a fixed (and capped) periodic payment for each enrollee (i.e., per capita).
   • 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. 1996 The Capitation Sourcebook: a practical guide to managing at-risk arrangements ed. Peter Boland ISBN: 0-9652717-0-6
4. (India, countable, euphemistic, uncountable) A donation made to an educational institution to obtain admission.

Forms

Relateds

per capita · capitated

Synonyms

poll tax

Translations (5)

es conteo (performing headcount) · fi henkilömäärän laskeminen (performing headcount) · fi luvun ottaminen (performing headcount) · fi kapitaatio (system of remunerating health care providers) · id kapitasi (system of remunerating health care providers)