What is an Open Panel HMO?
An open panel HMO is a health maintenance organization that allows individual physicians to participate in the program through the auspices of an independent practice association. A physician who participates in an HMO is this manner is free to see patients who are not connected with the organization and is not committed to taking on a patient simply because he or she is with the HMO. This is in contrast to a closed panel HMO, in which the physician is directly linked to the HMO and is under contract to any and all HMO members who are assigned to the doctor by the organization.
