Mark Souder: “I wish to congratulate you on this important bipartisan legislation to protect the Federal Employees Health Benefits…”

“I wish to congratulate you on this important bipartisan legislation to protect the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program [FEHBP] from fraud. I strongly support this legislation, which protects taxpayers from the misuse of their tax dollars. One provision that is particularly meritorious is section 5 of the bill, which attempts to limit the growth of a group of health care brokers, known as silent preferred providers organizations, or silent PPO's. Through silent PPO's payors are obtaining preferred-provider discounts without physician, hospital, or other health system providers' knowledge or consent. These silent PPO's undermine legitimate PPO's by causing health care providers to question the utility of entering into legitimate contracts with health benefit carriers if fraudulent discounts are taken elsewhere. This fraudulent discounting is particularly insidious because it's so hard to track. Unfortunately, the Federal Government, through the Office of Personnel Management [OPM], has encouraged the use of these silent PPO's in the FEHBP. Mr. Speaker, I believe the compromise language included in the Chairman's mark, which was proposed by the Office of Personnel Management, represents a substantial change in the administration's attitude toward silent PPO's.”