Community Health Plan Of Washington

Case Management Agency

An organization that is responsible for providing case management services. The agency provides services which assist an individual in gaining access to needed medical, social, educational, and/or other services. Case management services may be used to locate, coordinate, and monitor necessary appropriate services. It may be used to encourage the use of cost-effective medical care by referrals to appropriate providers and to discourage over utilization of costly services. Case management may also serve to provide necessary coordination of non-medical services such as vocational rehabilitation, education, employment, when the services provided enable the individual to function at the highest level.

Health Maintenance Organization

A form of health insurance in which its members prepay a premium for the HMO's health services which generally include inpatient and ambulatory care. For the patient, an HMO means reduced out-of-pocket costs (i.e. no deductible), no paperwork (i.e. insurance forms), and only a small copayment for each office visit to cover the paperwork handled by the HMO; (2) A organization of health care personnel and facilities that provides a comprehensive range of health services to an enrolled population for a fixed sum of money paid in advance for a specified period of time. These health services include a wide variety of medical treatments and consults, inpatient and outpatient hospitalization, home health service, ambulance service, and sometimes dental and pharmacy services. The HMO may be organized as a group model, an individual practice association (IPA), a network model or a staff model.