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Medical Definition of Health maintenance organizations
1. Organised systems for providing comprehensive prepaid health care that have five basic attributes: 1) provide care in a defined geographic area; 2) provide or ensure delivery of an agreed-upon set of basic and supplemental health maintenance and treatment services; 3) provide care to a voluntarily enrolled group of persons; 4) require their enrollees to use the services of designated providers; and 5) receive reimbursement through a predetermined, fixed, periodic prepayment made by the enrollee without regard to the degree of services provided. (12 Dec 1998)