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health-maintenance organization

health-maintenance organization (HMO)
A type of health-care organization developed in the USA, initially on co-operative principles, now increasingly run by profit-making corporations. Unlike fee-for-service medicine, HMOs (a 1970s term) are group practices, providing relatively comprehensive (primary and hospital) services for a standard prepayment, so helping to reduce costs and increasing medical incentives to health maintenance.

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