AAPPO Releases silent ppo white paper

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The American Association of Preferred Provider Organizations (AAPPO) today unveiled a comprehensive white paper on “silent PPOs” during the organization’s 2010 Annual PPO Forum.

Washington, D.C., February 1, 2010 – In 2000, AAPPO established a policy position opposing silent PPOs. The white paper provides additional clarity regarding the role of PPOs within the health care system, and better defines what constitutes a silent PPO.

“In the past few years, there has been a lot of false and inaccurate information circulating about PPOs. The objective of this white paper is to present the facts and underscore the positive contributions that the PPO industry provides to the 193 million Americans who are enrolled in PPOs,” said Karen Greenrose, president and CEO of AAPPO.

A silent PPO is a business entity that applies discounts to payments for provider services without a contractual right to do so, without having honored the obligations to the provider and without appropriate notice to the provider. In many cases, the PPO whose discount is being accessed, as well as the provider, may be unaware of such access.

AAPPO’s white paper on silent PPOs provides clear explanations of what constitutes a PPO versus a silent PPO, the fundamentals of the contract between providers, payors, and/or preferred provider networks (PPNs), what some of the common misperceptions are about silent PPOs, as well as what AAPPO has done and is continuing to do to minimize – and hopefully eliminate – the negative impact of silent PPOs on the health care industry as a whole.

“I am proud of the work AAPPO’s members have done to combat silent PPOs – from the development of this white paper to collaborating with the American Medical Association to develop a provider contracting toolkit, which presents a united front in providing education materials on provider contracting. I believe that these efforts will bring a greater understanding of the PPO industry and result in a stronger health care industry as a whole,” continued Greenrose.

For a copy of the white paper, please visit www.aappo.org.

About the American Association of Preferred Provider Organizations (AAPPO)
Founded in 1983, AAPPO (www.aappo.org) is the leading national association of preferred provider organizations (PPOs). PPOs put control for medical decisions in the hands of the physician and patient, resulting in easy access to the right care, provided by the right doctor, at the right time. AAPPO creates a forum for discussion and dissemination of PPO best practices.

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