An interaction between a patient and a practitioner under the auspices of a given organization for the purpose of providing healthcare-related service(s). It is important to understand that if the there is a change in provider or organization, by definition a new encounter will be generated. For example, if a patient is moved from Surgery to Post-Op, a new encounter is generated. Similarly, if a patient receives care from 2 nurses while in Post-Op, there will be 2 encounters.