3DES    Triple Data Encryption Standard 06/22/07

A&A    Aid and Attendance An additional benefit payable in both compensation and

pension programs for someone who is so disabled that

they need assistance with their everyday needs.

06/26/07

A&MMS Acquisition and Material Management Service 07/09/04

A/E Architect/Engineer of Veterans Affairs (a.k.a. VACO or

Headquarters)

A/OPC Agency/Organization Program Coordinator 06/22/07

AA Authorized Absence 07/09/04

AAA Area Agencies on Aging 07/09/04

AAALAC American Association for Accreditation of Laboratory

Animal Care

07/09/04

AAALAC Int'l Association for Assessment and Accreditation of

Laboratory Animal Care International

07/09/04

AAC Austin Automation Center The Austin Automation Center is a Federal data center.

Most VA data are housed at AAC, including the National

Patient Care Database (NPCD) and Decision Support

System (DSS) National Data Extracts.

AAC Austin Automation Center, Austin, TX (formerly DPC)

AACS Automated Allocation & Control System 06/26/07

AAHRPP Association for the Accreditation of Human Research

Protection Programs

07/09/04

AAMC Association of American Medical Colleges 07/09/04

ABC Activity Based Costing An improved costing methodology that centers around

activities. This provides a more process oriented view of

your organization, thereby giving you more accurate

allocations of your costs.

06/26/07

ABDX Abdominal Pain Diagnostic Program

ABMS Automated Blood Management Systems

AC Ambulatory Care 07/09/04

ACA Advanced Clinical Access 12/30/08

ACDU Active Duty

ACEP American College of Emergency Physicians 07/09/04

ACES Access Certificates for Electronic Services 07/09/04

ACG Ambulatory Care Group 07/09/04

ACGME Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education 07/09/04

ACHE American College of Health Executives 07/09/04

ACIO Associate Chief Information Officer 06/06/07

ACMD Assistant Chief Medical Director 07/09/04

ACMS Advanced Cost Management Systems CG Comptroller

General

ACO Administrative Contracting Officer

ACOS American College of Surgeons 07/09/04

ACOS Associate Chief of Staff 07/09/04

ACOS/E Associate Chief of Staff for Education 07/09/04

ACOS/EC Associate Chief of Staff for Extended Care 07/09/04

ACP Agency Capitol Plan 07/09/04

ACP American College of Physicians

ACQUIP Ambulatory Care Quality Improvement Project 07/09/04

ACRP Ambulatory Care Reporting Program 07/09/04

ACRS Automated Customer Registration Service 07/09/04

ACRS Accelerated Cost Recovery System

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.

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.

ACS Acute Coronary Syndrome 06/06/07

ACS Alternate Care System

AD(D) Active Duty (Dependent)

ADA Associate Deputy Administrator 07/09/04

ADA American Dental Association

ADAMHA Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health

ADAS Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary 07/09/04

ADBMIS

ASWBPL

Defense Blood Management

ADC Average Daily Census 07/09/04

ADCC Alzheimer's Disease Core Center 06/22/07

ADCMD Associate Deputy Chief Medical Director 07/09/04

ADE Adverse Drug Event 06/06/07

ADL Activities of Daily Living

ADL Activities of Daily Living 07/09/04

ADP Automatic Data Processing 07/09/04

ADPAC Automated Data Processing Application Coordinator 06/26/07

ADPE Automatic Data Processing Equipment

ADPSO Automated Data Processing Security Officer 07/09/04

ADPU Association of Public Data Users 07/09/04

ADR Alternative Dispute Resolution Allow parties to resolve their disputes without resorting

to litigation via the use of an impartial neutral third

person.

06/26/07

ADR Administrative Data Repository 04/18/08

ADRADA Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Association 07/09/04

ADS Alternative Delivery System

ADS Ambulatory Data System Eligibility System

ADT Admission/Discharge/Transfer 07/09/04

ADT/R Admissions, Discharge, Transfer/Registration 07/09/04

ADUSH Assistant Deputy Under Secretary for Health 04/15/05

AE Adverse Event 07/09/04

AECGIS Automated Electrocardiographic Interpretive Systems 07/09/04

AECGIS Automated Electrocardiogram Interpretive System

AEM Area Emergency Manager 07/09/04

AEMS/MERS Automated Engineering Management System/Medical

Equipment Reporting

06/26/07

AEPS Affiliated Education Programs Service 07/09/04

AERAC Adverse Events in Research Advisory Committee 07/09/04

AES All Employee Survey 12/30/08

AFB Air Force Base

AFCEA Armed Forces Communications and Electronics

Association

07/09/04

AFDC Aid to Families with Dependent Children

AFEB Armed Forces Epidemiological Board 07/09/04

AFGE American Federation of Government Employees A major union of Federal employees including VA

employees.

06/26/07

AFHCAN Alaska Federal Health Care Access Network 07/09/04

AFHCP Alaska Federal Healthcare Partnership 07/09/04

AFIP Armed Forces Institute of Pathology 07/09/04

AFNOC Air Force Network Operation 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.

AFO Ankle-Foot Othosis 06/26/07

AFPC Armed Forces Policy Council

AFPINTER3A Added from production Internet << this is test #3a to see what happens when Code A

is updated >>

06/13/08

AFPINTRA4A Added From Production IntRAnet << this is test #4a to see what happens when Code A

is updated >>

06/13/08

AFR Air Force Regulation

AFRRI Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute 07/09/04

AFSN Air Force Systems Network 07/09/04

AFVAL Air Force Inpatient Biometrics Data Validation System

AGIS Atlas Geographic Information System 07/09/04

AH Army Hospital

AHA American Hospital Association 07/09/04

AHCFMS Army Health Care Financial Management System

AHCPR Agency for Health Care Policy & Research (see AHRQ) 07/09/04

AHIMA American Health Information Management Association 07/09/04

AHPA American Health Planning Association 07/09/04

AHRQ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (formerly

AHCPR)

07/09/04

AHSE American Society for Health Care Engineering 07/09/04

AHSR Association for Health Services Research 07/09/04

AHSRHP Academy for Health Services Research and Health 07/20/07

AIC Automated Information Center 07/09/04

AICPA American Institute of Certified Public Accountants

AICS Automated Information Collection Systems 07/09/04

AID Agency for International Development

AIDS Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome 07/09/04

AIS Automated Information System 07/09/04

AISO Alternate Information Security Officer 12/30/08

AITC Austin Information Technology Center (Formerly:

Corporate Franchise Datacenter CFD; Formerly: Austin

Automation Center AAC)

As a franchise fund, or fee-for-service organization,

AAC provides cost-efficient IT enterprise solutions to

support the information technology needs of customers

within the Federal sector.

08/05/08

AJCC American Joint Commission on Cancer 07/09/04

AL American Legion 07/09/04

AL Assurance Letter 07/09/04

ALB Account Level Budgeting (a DSS term) 06/06/07

ALC Agency Location Code 06/22/07

ALOS Average Length of Stay

AMA American Medical Association 07/09/04

AMAS Automated Management Application System 06/27/07

AMC Army Medical Center

AMEDD Army Medical Department

AMES Automated Management Information System

AMI

Acute Myocardial Infarction (Also Acute Coronary

Syndrome - Heart Attack)

07/09/04

AMIA American Medical Informatics Association 07/09/04

AMIE Automated Medical Information Exchange Provides electronic distribution of admonitions,

discharge and C & P examination information between

regional offices and medical centers.

06/27/07

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.

AMIS Automated Management Information System 07/09/04

AMO-W Acquisition Management Office – Washington

AMS Asset Management Service 07/09/04

AMSUS Association of Military Surgeons of the United States 07/09/04

AMVETS American Veterans of World War II, Korea and

Vietnam

07/09/04

ANOVA Analysis of Variance 06/22/07

ANSI American National Standards Institute A privately funded, non-profit organization which

coordinates the development of voluntary standards in

the United States and is the agency that approves

standards.

06/27/07

AO Agent Orange A herbicide, or defoliant, which was used in Vietnam to

kill unwanted plant life and to remove leaves from trees

which otherwise provided cover for the enemy.

06/20/07

AO Accountable Officer or Administrative Officer

AO&AS Acquisition Operations and Analysis Service

AOA Analysis of Alternatives 06/06/07

AOD Administrative Officer of the Day 07/09/04

AOLS Average Length of Stay 06/22/07

AOPO Agent Orange Projects Office 07/09/04

AOR Agent Orange Registry 07/09/04

AOTA American Occupational Therapy Association 07/09/04

AOWG Agent Orange Working Group (White House) 07/09/04

AP Accounts Payable 07/09/04

APC Ambulatory Payment Classifications Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) was

mandated through the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation

Act of 1986 to develop a prospective payment system

(PPS) for outpatient services. All services paid under

the new PPS are classified into groups called

Ambulatory Payment Classifications or APCs. Services

in each APC are similar clinically in terms of the

resources they require. A payment rate is established

for each APC. Depending on the services provided,

hospitals may be paid for more than one APC in a single

encounter.

APEC Asian Pacific Economic Cooperative 07/09/04

APES Automated Patient Evacuation System

APHIS Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service 07/09/04

API Application Program Interface 07/09/04

APP Advance Procurement Plan

APS Automated Procurement System Veterans

Administration

APTA American Physical Therapy Association 07/09/04

APW Architecture Planning Workgroup 07/09/04

AQCESS Automated Quality of Care, Evaluation Support

System

AR Accounts Receivable 07/09/04

AR Army Regulation

ARA Automated Risk Assessment 07/09/04

ARAMIS American Rheumatology Associates Medical

Information System

07/09/04

ARB Accident Review Board 10/02/08

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.

ARC Allocation Resource Center A clinically-focused health systems information and

management group that assists the VHA policy and

operations management by developing, maintaining,

and using decision support patient-specific workload

and expenditure databases.

06/20/07

ARENA Applied Research Ethics National Association 07/09/04

ARF Animal Research Facilities 07/09/04

ARG Application Requirements Group 07/09/04

ARMA Association of Records Managers & Administrators An authority on managing paper and electronic records

and information. Members come from a wide variety of

industries, including government, legal, and healthcare.

06/20/07

ARMS Automated Reference Manuals 07/09/04

ARNet Acquisition Reform Network

ARNP Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner 07/09/04

ARPERCEN Army Reserve Personnel Records Center

ARS Automated Response System 07/09/04

ART Adverse Reaction Tracking 07/09/04

ART Annual Report Template 06/06/07

ARTS Adverse Reaction Tracking System 06/22/07

ARU Alcohol Rehabilitation Unit 06/06/07

ASA Aspirin 07/09/04

ASBCA Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals

ASBPO Armed Services Blood Program Office

ASC Ambulatory Surgical Centers

ASC X12 Accredited Standards Committee X12 07/09/04

ASCII American Standard Code for Information Interchange A widely used system for encoding characters for

processing and transmission between data processing

systems, data communication systems, and associated

equipment.

06/27/07

ASCII American Standard Code for Information Interchange

CO Contracting Officer

AsCMD Associate Chief Medical Director 07/09/04

ASD(C31) Assistant Secretary, of Defense (Command, Control)

COB Coordination of Benefits

ASD(HA) Assistant Secretary of Defense (Health Affairs)

ASIH Absent Sick In Hospital 07/09/04

ASIM Automated Security Incident Measurement 07/09/04

ASIMS Army Standard Info Management System

ASISTS Automated Safety Incident Surveillance and Tracking

System

07/09/04

ASO Assistant Supply Officer

ASP Active Server Pages 07/09/04

ASP Application Service Provider A third party company or organization providing hosting

services for applications on their own infrastructure,

generally offered as a fee-for-service capability.

06/27/07

ASPM Armed Services Pricing Manual

ASPR Armed Services Procurement Regulation

ASSESS Application Self-Scoring Evaluation Support System 07/09/04

ASTM American Society for Testing and Materials An open forum for the development of high quality,

market-relevant international standards used around

the globe.

06/27/07

ASU Authorization and Subscription Utility Provides a method for identifying who is authorized to

perform various actions on clinical documents.

06/20/07

ATIC Advanced Technology Integration 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.

ATM Asynchronous Transfer Mode A high-speed connection-oriented data transmission

method that provides bandwidth on demand through

packet-switching techniques using fixed-sized cells.

06/27/07

ATP Acquisition Training Program

ATSDR Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry A federal public health agency of the U.S. Department

of Health and Human Services (HHS).

07/12/07

AWIC Animal Welfare Information Center 07/09/04

AWOL Absent Without Leave 07/09/04

AWP Average Wholesale Price AWPs are average wholesale pharmaceutical prices.

Common sources of AWPs are the Red Book and

MediSpan.

B&P Bid and Proposal (cost)

B/S Benefits/Services 07/09/04

BAA Broad Agency Announcement

BAFO Best and Final Offer

BAFO Best and Final Offer CPAF Cost-Plus-Award Fee

(contract)

BAFO(log) Base Accounting and Finance Office

BAO Basic Ordering Agreement

BBM Blood Bank Modernization Works and maintains VISTA Blood Bank software 06/20/07

BBS Bulletin Board System 07/09/04

BCMA Bar Code Medication Administration 07/09/04

BDC Benefits Delivery Center Maintains sector equipment, supports centralized

benefits processes applications and maintains data

considered mission-critical.

06/27/07

BDC Boston Development Center 07/09/04

BDI Biological Defense Initiative 07/09/04

BDN Benefits Delivery Network 07/09/04

BDOC Bed Days of Care 07/09/04

BEA Bureau of Economic Analysis 07/09/04

BEC Benefits Executive Council 07/09/04

BES Best Estimate Submission

BEST Business Enterprise Solutions and Technologies 07/09/04

BGL Government Bill of Lading NXRN Non-expendable

Record Number (LOG)

BGP Border Gateway Protocol

BHIE Bi-directional Health Information Exchange (formerly:

CHCS-VistA DSI)

A joint IT effort of secure sharing of protected

electronic healthcare data between the Departments of

Veterans Affairs (VA) and Defense (DoD).

06/20/07

BINQ BIRLS Inquiry Inquiry command to access identifying information

regarding a veteran or location of a claims folder.

06/27/07

BIOFACS Biomedical and Facilities Systems

BIRLS Beneficiary Identification and Resource Locator

System

An index of veterans and beneficiary records which

contains personal, military service, and VA file number

and location information.

06/27/07

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.

BIRLS Beneficiary Identification and Records Locator System BIRLS is a set of databases indexed by social security

number. With BIRLS, a researcher can find information

on veterans who obtained burial benefits from VA (for

mortality studies), who receive a monetary benefit for

Aid and Attendance (e.g., to defray the cost of the

Community Residential Care program), or who had

accounts for VA educational benefits (to determine the

extent of contact with VA for other services besides

healthcare). BIRLS contains other data as well, such as

the type and amount of benefits paid to C&P

(compensation and pension) recipients.

BLOBs Binary Large Objects 07/09/04

BLR&D Biomedical Laboratory Research and Development 06/06/07

BLRD Biomedical Laboratory Research and Development Supports research exploring biological or physiological

principles in humans or animals. For example, BLR&D

research includes pre-clinical models and investigations

of tissues, blood or other biologic specimens from

humans.

06/22/07

BLS Bureau of Labor Statistics 07/09/04

BME Biomedical Engineering 06/06/07

BMI Body Mass Index 07/09/04

BMT Bone Marrow Transplantation 07/09/04

BMU Behavioral Medicine Unit 06/06/07

BOA Basic Ordering Agreement

BOC Budget Object Code

BOP Bureau of Prisons 07/09/04

BOSS Burial Operations Support System Provides benefit delivery automation support to NCS

facilities nationwide. It replaced the manual processing

previously associated with establishing and maintaining

interment information at VA national cemeteries.

06/27/07

BPA Blanket Purchase Agreement BPAs are contracts between VA and pharmacy supply

manufacturers. They enable individual VA facilities to

obtain additional discounts for particular medications or

supplies based on the volume prescribed or used. The

BPA may include additional programs and services as

well. Many are negotiated for specific customer groups

under the VA Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) program.

07/09/04

BPH Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia 07/09/04

BPR Business Process Reengineering The fundamental analysis and redesign of business

processes and management systems, job definitions,

organizational structures and beliefs and behaviors to

achieve dramatic performance improvements to meet

contemporary requirements.

06/27/07

BPRC Budget Planning Review Council 07/09/04

BRAC Base Realignment And Closure

BRC Blind Rehabilitation Center 07/09/04

BRFSS Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System A national system of health surveys that tracks healthrisk

behaviors, clinical preventive practices, and health

care access and use, primarily related to chronic

diseases and injury.

07/12/07

BRH Bureau of Radiological Health 07/09/04

BRRC Brain Rehabilitation Research Center 06/06/07

BSC Balanced Score Card 07/09/04

BSOD Blue Screen of Death 07/09/04

BSR Beneficiary Service Representative

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.

BTSO Bedford Technical Support Office 06/06/07

BUMED Bureau of Medicine

BVA

Board of Veterans Appeals; An organization outside

the RO established to adjudicate cases where veterans

have disagreed with the findings of the RO.

A VA organization directly responsible to the Secretary

which decides benefit questions in cases where the

claimant disagrees with the decision of the VA regional

office.

06/27/07

BVA Blinded Veterans of America 07/09/04