Medical Schemes Act, 1998 (Act No. 131 of 1998)

For the purposes of this Chapter -

"capitation agreement"

means an arrangement entered into between a medical scheme and a person whereby the medical scheme pays to such person a pre-negotiated fixed fee in return for the delivery or arrangement for the delivery of specified benefits to some or all of the members of the medical scheme;

"evidence-based medicine"

means the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of beneficiaries whereby individual clinical experience is integrated with the best available external clinical evidence from systematic research;

"managed health care"

means clinical and financial risk assessment and management of health care, with a view to facilitating appropriateness and cost-effectiveness of relevant health services within the constraints of what is affordable, through the use of rules-based and clinical management-based programmes;

"managed health care organisation"

means a person who has contracted with a medical scheme in terms of regulation 15A to provide a managed health care service;

"participating health care provider"

means a health care provider who, by means of a contract directly between that provider and a medical scheme in terms of regulation 15A, or pursuant to an arrangement with a managed health care organisation which has contracted with a medical scheme in terms of regulation 15A, undertakes to provide a relevant health service to the beneficiaries of the medical scheme concerned

"protocol"

means a set of guidelines in relation to the optimal sequence of diagnostic testing and treatments for specific conditions and includes, but is not limited to, clinical practice guidelines, standard treatment guidelines, disease management guidelines, treatment algorithms and clinical pathways;

"rules-based and clinical management-based programmes"

means a set of formal techniques designed to monitor the use of, and evaluate the clinical necessity, appropriateness, efficacy, and efficiency of, health care services, procedures or settings, on the basis of which appropriate managed health care interventions are made.