plural PPOs
: an organization providing health care that gives economic incentives to the individual purchaser of a health care contract to patronize certain physicians, laboratories, and hospitals that agree to supervision and reduced fees compare hmo

Examples of PPO in a Sentence

I'm not sure if that doctor belongs to my PPO.
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
UnitedHealthcare says that people enrolled in its Medicare Advantage PPO and Group Retiree plans may receive care from an out-of-network provider that participates in Medicare and accepts the plan. Sarah Volpenhein, jsonline.com, 8 Oct. 2025 Act Now Services helps people with the PPO process primarily in Wayne County. Nushrat Rahman, Freep.com, 9 Sep. 2025 At the end of June, MSI experienced a similar bullish signal from the weekly PPO, suggesting that this recent breakout may be just the beginning for Motorola. CNBC, 4 Sep. 2025 However, as soon as the PPO expired in September 2020, Thomas started following Stites again, even joining the same recreational soccer league. Jessica Sager, People.com, 20 Aug. 2025 New policies require referees -- who consider PPO applications and make a referral to the judge on what to do -- to examine any prior PPOs before making recommendations to the court. Doc Louallen, ABC News, 19 Aug. 2025 The biggest price gap: an overnight stay covered by a Humana PPO plan ranged from an average of $17,628 to $57,898 at different Houston-area hospitals. Ken Alltucker, USA Today, 18 Aug. 2025

Word History

Etymology

preferred provider organization

First Known Use

1982, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of PPO was in 1982

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“PPO.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/PPO. Accessed 20 Oct. 2025.

Medical Definition

plural PPOs
: an organization providing health care that gives economic incentives to the individual purchaser of a health-care contract to patronize certain physicians, laboratories, and hospitals which agree to supervision and reduced fees

called also preferred provider organization

compare hmo
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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