Employee Assistance Programs are an example of capitation. They contract with a company to provide mostly diagnostic, brief therapy, and referral services. Their only insurance function is to guarantee their own performance under a fixed price contract. They are not taking on the liability of paying for inpatient care or longer-term outpatient care. The laws in each state vary, so talk to your legal counsel.
Capitation can quickly become a matter for insurance regulation.
Usually, insurance happens when the contractor indemnifies the employer or association by guaranteeing services for a fixed sum per covered life per contract period. Obviously, spreading risk over larger numbers tends to smooth out the peaks and valleys. The rule of 60,000 covered lives remains a minimum number for direct capitation arrangements. It may be possible to offer capitation for smaller numbers, though, if the agency has continuously served the target population for 4 years or more and has carefully tracked income and expenses for the group. Any organization that tries to initiate capitation without such an experience base is gambling.