Tri-State Medical Management

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.

Clinical Medical Laboratory

A clinical laboratory is a facility for the biological, microbiological, serological, chemical, immunohematological, hematological, biophysical, cytological, pathological, or other examination of materials derived from the human body for the purpose of providing information for the diagnosis, prevention, or treatment of any disease or impairment of, human beings. These examinations also include procedures to determine, measure, or otherwise describe the presence or absence of various substances or organisms in the body. Facilities only collecting or preparing specimens (or both) or only serving as a mailing service and not performing testing are not considered clinical laboratories. (2) Any facility that examines materials from the human body for purposes of providing information for the diagnosis, prevention, or treatment of any disease or impairment of, or the assessment of, the health of human beings. Typical divisions of a clinical laboratory include hematology, cytology, bacteriology, histology, biochemistry, medical toxicology, and serology.