The New Health Care Lexicon

"Covered Lives" and "RBRVS"

As our world changes, so does our language. This little biweekly column looks at the lexicon of health care reform and the terms you need to know.

Covered lives. In capitated systems, the total patient base.

RBRVS. The resource-based relative-value scale, a revised payment structure for the Medicare system that is intended to reward primary-care physicians and specialists more equitably than they have been in the past.

------------------------ These definitions are reprinted with permission from the glossary of Revolution: The New Health Care Takes Shape, authored by noted health care futurist, Russell C. Coile, Jr., and published by Whittle Direct Books 1993.