Which term describes any unique contact for a patient, including outpatient encounters?

• A. Appointment
• B. Case
• C. Encounter
• D. Contact

Answer: (C)

An encounter is the discrete interaction between a patient and the healthcare team that records care, including outpatient visits. It represents the actual event where evaluation, treatment, or counseling occurs and ties together the patient, date, location, provider, orders, notes, and results. An appointment is only the scheduled time for care and may not always result in a real contact. A case describes a patient’s ongoing health issue or episode, not a single contact event. A contact can be any communication, which might not involve a formal clinical encounter. Because it captures the specific, unique interaction where care is delivered or documented—across settings including outpatient—the term described is encounter.