title: Regulating risks: consumer protections in provider health networks.
abstract: As competition for health care dollars grows fierce, physicians and hospitals are going head to head with insurance companies.  They are forming new partnerships, broadly called provider-sponsored organizations, that cut out the middleman and have the potential to furnish better care at lower prices.  But legislators, regulators, and consumers must understand the dangers inherent in the structure of some PSOs.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Malozzi
mesh_terms: D003254:Consumer Advocacy; D004465:Economic Competition; D006279:Health Maintenance Organizations; D006801:Humans; D020400:Provider-Sponsored Organizations; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D012308:Risk Management; D014481:United States