(Dallas, Texas, June 27, 2006) – ppoNEXT announces Fred Serafini as a new National Sales Executive. Fred will be responsible for new business development for one of the fastest growing PPO's in the country. With over 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry, Fred adds considerable expertise to the ppoNEXT team in sales and marketing.

Mr. Serafini's career has included key positions at leading managed care and PPO companies. Recently, he was the National Sales Executive for Beech Street Corporation, a California based national PPO and healthcare management company. Over the past 20 years, Fred has enjoyed a highly successful career in the healthcare industry, and therefore brings to ppoNEXT a wealth of knowledge and relationships throughout the United States. Fred holds an M.B.A. in Marketing and Finance from Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York and a B.S. in Finance from Fordham University in New York City.

“I am very excited about this opportunity and welcome the challenge to join this dynamic and customer driven organization”, states Fred.

Charles Busch, Sr. Vice President – Chief Marketing and Sales Officer states, “We are excited with the addition of Fred to our team. Fred’s expertise and strong industry relationships, combined with our dynamic products and services, will provide a new avenue of distribution for ppoNEXT”.

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 550,000 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, NEXTcare management.

ppoNEXT is strongly committed to traditional and non-traditional PPO products and services. We are consistently working with providers to assure the public and private sectors have access to developing markets. This can be seen in the recent expansion of our secondary and consumer card networks.

For more information about ppoNEXT, please contact:
Aaron Means
Corporate Marketing
214.267.3358