Healthcare CRM Glossary
Plain-English definitions for the acronyms, regulations, and technical terms healthcare practices encounter when evaluating CRM, EHR, ePrescribe, billing, and AI follow-up. Every entry is short enough to read in 60 seconds and links to the related capability inside Velant.
HIPAA-Compliant CRM
A customer relationship management system designed to handle Protected Health Information (PHI) in accordance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.
Read definitionEPCS (Electronic Prescribing of Controlled Substances)
A DEA-regulated electronic prescribing standard for Schedule II–V controlled substances, requiring identity proofing, two-factor authentication, and audit logging of every prescription event.
Read definitionSurescripts
The dominant US e-prescription network, connecting approximately 1.7 million prescribers to 67,000 pharmacies — essentially the only path to send e-prescriptions in the United States.
Read definitionDEA 1311 (21 CFR Part 1311)
The DEA regulation governing electronic prescribing of controlled substances, including identity proofing, two-factor authentication, biometric standards, hardware token requirements, and audit logging.
Read definitionPDMP (Prescription Drug Monitoring Program)
A state-run electronic database of controlled substance prescriptions, used to identify patient misuse, doctor-shopping, and inappropriate prescribing patterns.
Read definition270/271 Real-Time Eligibility Verification
The HIPAA standard transaction pair used to verify a patient's insurance coverage in real time. 270 is the request to the payer; 271 is the response.
Read definition837P Electronic Claim Submission
The HIPAA-standard electronic claim format for professional services (physician, behavioral health, outpatient) — the most common claim type for non-hospital providers.
Read definitionERA / 835 Electronic Remittance Advice
The HIPAA-standard electronic format used by payers to communicate claim adjudication results — payments, denials, adjustments, and patient responsibility.
Read definitionBAA (Business Associate Agreement)
A HIPAA-required contract between a covered entity (a healthcare provider) and any third-party vendor that handles PHI on their behalf.
Read definitionPHI (Protected Health Information)
Any individually identifiable health information held or transmitted by a covered entity or business associate — including name, DOB, address linked to a health condition, treatment, or payment.
Read definitionTCPA (Telephone Consumer Protection Act)
A 1991 federal law restricting commercial telemarketing calls, automated text messages, and prerecorded voice messages — heavily enforced through class-action lawsuits.
Read definitionDNI (Dynamic Number Insertion)
A call tracking technique that dynamically swaps the phone number on a website based on the visitor's traffic source — enabling closed-loop attribution from ad click to phone call.
Read definitionGCLID (Google Click ID)
A unique identifier appended to Google Ads click URLs that allows offline conversion uploads back to Google Ads for closed-loop attribution and bidding optimization.
Read definitionFBCLID (Facebook / Meta Click ID)
A unique identifier appended to Meta (Facebook/Instagram) Ads click URLs that allows offline conversion uploads via the Meta Conversions API.
Read definitionIOP vs PHP
Two intensity levels of outpatient behavioral health treatment. IOP (Intensive Outpatient Program) is approximately 9-15 hours per week; PHP (Partial Hospitalization Program) is approximately 20-30 hours per week.
Read definitionPatient Acquisition Cost (PAC / CAC)
The fully-loaded cost a practice pays to acquire one new patient — including ad spend, intake staff time, technology, and any other directly-attributable costs.
Read definitionLead Response Time
The elapsed time between a prospect's initial inquiry (form submission, ad click, or inbound call) and the practice's first meaningful response.
Read definitionEHR vs CRM in Healthcare
Two distinct categories of healthcare software: an EHR (Electronic Health Record) manages the clinical encounter; a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) manages the relationship before, between, and around clinical encounters.
Read definitionClosed-Loop Attribution
End-to-end tracking that ties every booked patient (and every dollar of revenue) back to the original marketing source that produced them — closing the loop from ad click to revenue.
Read definitionAI Voice Agent
An autonomous AI system that answers inbound calls and runs outbound calls using natural-sounding voice synthesis — capable of patient intake, scheduling, insurance verification, and qualification without human intervention.
Read definition
Run all of this on one platform
HIPAA-compliant CRM, Surescripts-certified ePrescribe, real-time eligibility, 837P claims, ERA reconciliation, DNI + GCLID + FBCLID attribution, and AI Voice Agent — all in one Velant plan from $99/month, unlimited users.