What Does HMO Stand For In Health Insurance? 
HMO is short for Health Maintenance Organization . Essentially , an HMO is a network of providers -LRB- doctors , specialist , hospitals , faculties -RRB- who have contracted with an insurance company to submit claims for visits and procedures given to the insurers membership . Typically an HMO will only pay for visits to doctors in their network and does not allow for services provided by doctors not contracted with them . As a member of an HMO , your care is driven by a Primary Care Physician who usually acts as the first source of diagnosis . The are often called the `` gatekeeper '' because access to specialists services or high end procedures need to go through the PCP . The PCP will determine the medical necessity of the specialist or procedure and make a referral . 