Medicare Demonstration PPOs: Financial and Other Advantages for Plans, Few Advantages for Beneficiaries
September 27, 2004 Medicare Demonstration PPOs: Financial and Other Advantages for Plans, Few Advantages for BeneficiariesPreferred provider organizations (PPO) are more prevalent than other types of health plans in the private market, but, in 2003, only six PPOs contracted to serve Medicare beneficiaries in Medicare+Choice (M+C), Medicare's private health plan option. In recent years, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the agency that administers Medicare, initiated two demonstrations that include a total of 34 PPOs. GAO (1) described how CMS used its statutory authority to conduct the two demonstrations, (2) assessed the extent to which . . .
