A legal entity formed and owned by one or more hospitals and physician groups in order to obtain payer contracts and to further mutual interests; one type of integrated delivery system.
A legal entity formed and owned by one or more hospitals and physician groups to obtain payer contracts and to further mutual interests. Physicians maintain ownership of their practices while agreeing to accept managed care patients. The PHO serves as a negotiating, contracting, and marketing unit.
An alliance formed by physicians and hospitals to share administrative services and costs, and to improve their bargaining position with payers and when contracting with managed care providers.
A joint venture between a hospital and many or all of its admitting physicians whose primary purpose is contract negotiations with Managed Care Organizations and marketing.
(see also Individual/Independent Practice Association, Provider-Sponsored Network, Vertical Network): A legal entity formed by combining a hospital and a group of physicians/providers into a collective negotiating and contracting unit for the purpose of obtaining contracts with health plans; typically owned and governed jointly by a hospital and shareholder physicians. Providers maintain ownership of their practices and accept managed care patients according to the contract terms.
A contracted arrangement among physicians and hospital(s) wherein a single entity, the PHO agrees to provide services to insurers¹ subscribers.
Organization of physicians and hospitals that, at a minimum, is responsible for negotiating with third party payers.
An entity that merges hospital and physician services into a single organizational unit focused around a hospital or hospital system, which then contracts with employers or MCOs.
groups of physicians and/or hospital(s) who organize to coordinate the delivery of a range of health care services to a defined population, or by directly contracting with a self-funded employer group or government program. A PSO may be structured in a variety of forms, including a physician-owned venture, a hospital or hospital system that owns physician practices, or a partnership between physicians and hospitals such as a physician hospital organization (PHO). PSOs are sometimes called provider service networks (PSN)
