The companies that supply the provider networks for many self-funded employer health plans are joining forces with the firms that run many of the plans.
The American Association of Preferred Provider Organizations (AAPPO), Louisville, Ky., a group formed in 1983, is uniting with a new group for third party administrators (TPAs), the Third Party Administrators Association of America (TPAAA).
A new parent association, the American Association of Payers, Administrators and Networks (
AAPAN), will govern both the PPO group and the new TPA group.
Karen Greenrose, who has been president of the AAPPO for 12 years, will be the founding president of the AAPAN, organizers say.
Thomas Byrd, the founder of Group Resources Inc., Duluth, Ga., a TPA, will be the first chairman of the TPAAA.
The TPAAA will help TPAs line up support for their positions at the state level as well as the national level, Byrd says in a statement.
"TPAs are an essential part of tomorrow's health care landscape, and we have lacked representation at the state level for too long," Byrd says.
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