The New Health Care Lexicon

The health care lexicon, like our everyday language, is constantly in flux. This column is devoted to keeping you current on new health care terms.

Clinic without Walls

A group practice that operates from multiple sites. Member practices are usually economically linked and share a common administration.

Independent Practice Association (IPA)

A legal entity that holds managed care contracts. The IPA contracts with physicians to provide care on a fee-for-service or capitation basis. IPAs are often sponsored by medical societies to help physicians in solo practice contract for managed care.

These definitions are reprinted with permission from the glossary of Revolution: The New Health Care Takes Shape, authored by noted health care futurist Russell C. Coile, Jr., and published by Whittle Direct Books, 1993.