Health Maintenance Organization or HMO means a type of managed care organization ("MCO") that provides a form of health care coverage in the U.S. that is fulfilled through hospitals, doctors, and other providers with which the HMO has a contract.
The Health Maintenance Organization Act of 1973 required employers with 25 or more employees to offer federally certified HMO options.
Unlike traditional indemnity insurance care provided in an HMO -
(i) generally follows a set of care guidelines;
(ii) is provided through the HMO's network of providers; and
(iii) providers contract with an HMO to receive more patients and in return usually agree to provide services at a discount allowing the HMO to charge a lower monthly premium, which is an advantage over indemnity insurance, provided that its members are willing to abide by the additional restrictions.
In addition to using their contracts with providers for services at a lower price, HMOs hope to gain an advantage over traditional insurance plans by managing their patients' health care and reducing unnecessary services. To achieve this, most HMOs require members to select a primary care physician (PCP), a doctor who acts as a "gatekeeper" to medical services.
PCPs are usually internists, pediatricians, family doctors, or general practitioners. In a typical HMO, most medical needs must first go through the PCP, who authorizes referrals to specialists or other doctors if deemed necessary.
"Open access" HMOs do not use primary care physicians as gatekeepers - there is no requirement to obtain a referral before seeing a specialist. The beneficiary cost sharing (e.g., co-payment or coinsurance) may be higher for specialist care.
As with most health insurance plans in the U.S., HMOs also manage care through utilization review. The amount of utilization is usually expressed as a number of visits or services or a dollar amount per member per month (PMPM). Utilization review is intended to identify providers providing an unusually high amount of services, in which case some services may not be medically necessary, or an unusually low amount of services, in which case patients may not be receiving appropriate care and are in danger of worsening a condition.
HMOs often provide preventive care for a lower copayment or for free, in order to keep members from developing a preventable condition that would require a great deal of medical services. When HMOs were coming into existence, indemnity plans often did not cover preventive services, such as immunizations, well-baby checkups, mammograms, or physicals. It is this inclusion of services intended to maintain a member's health that gave the HMO its name.
Some services, such as outpatient mental health care, are often provided on a limited basis, and more costly forms of care, diagnosis, or treatment may not be covered. Experimental treatments and elective services that are not medically necessary (such as elective plastic surgery) are almost never covered.
Other methods for managing care are case management, in which patients with catastrophic cases are identified, or disease management, in which patients with certain chronic diseases like diabetes, asthma, or some forms of cancer are identified. In either case, the HMO takes a greater level of involvement in the patient's care, assigning a case manager to the patient or a group of patients to ensure that no two providers provide overlapping care, and to ensure that the patient is receiving appropriate treatment, so that the condition does not worsen beyond what can be helped.
HMOs are regulated at both the state and federal levels in the U.S. They are licensed by the states, under a license that is known as a certificate of authority (COA) rather than under an insurance license. In 1972 the National Association of Insurance Commissioners adopted the HMO Model Act, which was intended to provide a model regulatory structure for states to use in authorizing the establishment of HMOs and in monitoring their operation.
Switzerland
Since 1990, Switzerland has funded several HMOs, covering 10 percent of the Swiss population as of March 2006; most HMOs are located in cities. The percentage would be much higher if there were HMOs in all regions. There are mountainous regions where the population density is too low to support HMOs. Insurances grant premium reductions to people who visit HMOs instead of their normal doctor; but this, at the same time, lures younger and healthier people into HMO insurance schemes, thus negating some of the financial benefits for the overall healthcare system. Switzerland, in stark contrast to the US, has an obligatory health insurance in effect, and thus Swiss HMOs are more complex entities than in the United States.