(Dallas, Texas, February 16, 2006) – ppoNEXT announces Charles E. Busch as its new Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing & Sales Officer. Charles will be responsible for leading the Sales and Marketing activities for one of the fastest growing PPOs in the country. With over 20 years of experience in the industry, Charles adds considerable expertise to the ppoNEXT team in both sales and management.

"I have had the opportunity to work with Charles during my TPA days and am very excited about him joining ppoNEXT," states Jim Pennington, President & CEO of ppoNEXT. "Charles has extensive knowledge in all facets of the PPO industry and adding his abilities to ppoNEXT will allow us to aggressively pursue our future goals and objectives."

Prior to joining ppoNEXT, Charles held key executive leadership positions of increasing responsibility at leading managed care and insurance companies. Most recently, he was the Vice President of National Sales for Beech Street Corporation, a national PPO and healthcare management company. Over the past 20 years, Charles has enjoyed a highly successful national sales and sales leadership career, and therefore brings ppoNEXT a significant number of healthcare payor relationships throughout the United States. Charles holds a Bachelor's degree in Finance from California State University Fullerton.

“I am very excited to join this dynamic and customer driven organization”, states Charles. “ppoNEXT not only offers a comprehensive national network that provides excellent value to clients that access our primary PPO network, but we also provide a very strong ‘direct contracted’ secondary network that produces superior savings results for out-of-network claims. In addition, to complement our network products, NEXT care management offers high quality, yet cost effective, AAHCC/URAC accredited care management services. Under Jim Pennington’s leadership and commitment to quality service, I am confident that ppoNEXT will continue to enjoy growth of both our existing and new strategic partnerships.”

About ppoNEXT:

ppoNEXT is a leading provider of nationwide healthcare management and network services. With its focus on providing consumers with the utmost in quality healthcare, ppoNEXT selects only providers and facilities of uncompromising quality and excellence. Based in Dallas, Texas, ppoNEXT offers clients access to over 450,000 physicians, over 3,700 hospitals, and thousands of leading ancillary care providers in key markets such as the Midwest, Texas, California, and Florida. ppoNEXT serves self-funded employers, third party administrators, insurance carriers, HMOs, and various managed care firms. ppoNEXT also offers disease management, as well as utilization review and care management services through its subsidiary, NEXT care management.

For more information about ppoNEXT, please contact:

Etta Jones
Corporate Marketing
214.267.3394