PPOs, HMOs, IPAs--understanding their concepts

Over the past ten years, hospitals, physicians and health care administrators have been inundated with changes in health care reimbursement policies. Many administrators have dealt with changes in the way hospitals and physicians are reimbursed and, as employees, have had to make choices in their own personal health care coverage. The purpose of this paper is to examine several organizational structures that have been developed in response to reimbursement changes. We will look at the structure, and the advantages and disadvantages of PPOs, HMOs and IPAs.