A glimpse of an IPA as a living system

✍ Scribed by Patti M. Johnstone

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1995
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 629 KB
• Volume: 40
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 8756-6079
• DOI: 10.1002/bs.3830400403

✦ Synopsis

Independent practice association (PA) model health maintenance organizations (HMO's) represent one of the fastest growing mgmentr of managed care in the United States. IPA'e have unique 0rgani~ati0~1 characteristics which thwart efforts to tunction as a unified whole, particularly where quality of care programs are concerned. Living eyetern theory was employed as a method to identi@ subsystems and critical processes within an IPA model HMO in rural California. The application of living systems theory in this way provided ineights into the quality of care program within the IPA, which could eventually lead to a redesign of critical processes within the entire system.