A requirement that every American buy health insurance, which would be enforced through financial penalties.

A synthetic error due to low quality measurements of disease or exposure that distorts the effect measure.  Lower quality of measurement of disease or exposure distorts the effect measure (risk ratio or odds ratio).

Informed consent is when a patient fully understands the risks of a particular test or procedure, and then agrees to have that test or procedure.  A patient usually signs a form to give her informed consent.  Informed consent is needed before most invasive procedures.  (An invasive procedure is any time the doctor or surgeon goes inside a patient's body with a tool.)  Consent is also needed before a patient can be part of a clinical trial.

Informed Decision-Making is a term to describe a process designed to help patients understand the nature of the disease or condition being addressed; understand the clinical service being provided including benefits, risks, limitations, alternatives and uncertainties; consider their own preferences and values; participate in decision-making at the level they desire; and make decisions consistent with their own preferences and values or choose to defer a decision until a later time.

Inpatient Care is the delivery of health care services to a person who has been admitted to a hospital or other health facility for a period of at least 24 hours.

Input is the flow of patients into a medical facility, such as an emergency department.

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) is an independent nonprofit organization helping to lead the improvement of health care throughout the world. Founded in 1991 and based in Cambridge, Mass., IHI works to accelerate improvement by building the will for change, cultivating promising concepts for improving patient care, and helping health care systems put those ideas into action.

An IRB  is a group of scientists, doctors, consumers, and others.  There is an IRB at each health care center that takes part in a clinical trial.  They review and must approve the plan for every clinical trial at their health care center.  They check to see that the trial is well designed, does not pose undue risks to patients, and includes safeguards for patients.

The group receiving the study agent that is being tested in a clinical trial or clinical study.

An investigational therapy is a treatment that has not been shown to work yet.  No one knows yet if the treatment works and is safe.  It is still being tested on patients.

Under the National Academy of Sciences, the IOM provides independent, objective, evidence-based advice to policymakers, health care professionals, the private sector, and the public on biomedical science, medicine and health issues.  While the National Academy of Sciences was created by the federal government, it is a private, non-governmental organization.  However, most of the studies conducted by both the National Academy of Sciences and the IOM are requested and funded by federal agencies.  IOM studies have addressed topics such as cancer quality care, patient safety, health insurance coverage, and breast imaging quality standards.  IOM studies are conducted by committees composed of volunteer scientific experts that identify and synthesize the relevant evidence on a particular health care topic to inform and improve the decision-making process.  The IOM is also an honorific membership organization, in addition to a policy research organization, with its mem bers, including consumers advocates elected based upon their professional achievement.