Provider service organizations: a method to establish physician prerogatives.

The face of health care is changing daily because of pressures brought about by dissatisfied consumers, physicians, and employers. We believe that physicians need to take back from insurers the administration of the medical profession. Physicians must assume the financial risks necessary to create a medical system that will benefit themselves, their patients, and their patient's employers. This article presents the basic business concepts needed to establish Provider Service Organizations (PSOs) as well as the benefits and pitfalls of the various types of associations into which a PSO can enter. Clearly, the future belongs to those physicians who have the foresight to invest their talents and their finances in the business aspects of managed care.