This is an excerpt from a member-only article. To read the article in its entirety, please login or subscribe.

Undetected silent PPOs may be cashing in on your patients One of the most financially dangerous yet least talked about problems facing providers today are silent preferred provider organizations (PPO). A basic form of managed care, silent PPOs offer patients your practice's reduced rates without your physicians knowing and without exchanging those rates for the normal benefits of PPO participation. Of course, not all PPOs are bad. A legitimate PPO consists of a network of providers and hospitals that agree to accept a discounted fee schedule in return for being a preferred provider. When a provider joins a PPO, that provider's organization enters into an agreement with the payer.