CHI MEMORIAL

Keeping Health Coverage Affordable

CHI Memorial and parent company CommonSpirit, are once again demanding higher rates. As part of our ongoing efforts to help control the cost of your care, we’re considering other Blue Network S partners in Chattanooga. We’ll keep you up to date as the situation unfolds.

Latest Updates

April 1, 2024

You may have seen some confusing information from CHI Memorial over the past few days. To be clear: we're still reviewing options for Network S and we will make a public announcement in the coming weeks. Regardless of the outcome, there will be no changes to any BlueCross network until after the current contract ends on June 30.

CHI Memorial has been asking employees, patients and the community to reach out and share their thoughts on their current situation with BlueCross. If you’ve reached out to us, we want you to know we hear you.

We understand you value CHI Memorial’s services. That’s why we’re disappointed their Chicago-based parent company, CommonSpirit, is willing to jeopardize that relationship to boost their bottom line for the second time in less than three years.

It’s important to remember how we got here.

CHI Memorial came to us asking to terminate our contract and demanding an extraordinary rate increase, which would cause you – our members – to pay significantly more for care in 2025 and beyond.
Considering CHI Memorial’s aggressive demands and disregard for our members’ need for affordable care, we invited qualified area providers to bid for a spot in Blue Network SSM alongside Erlanger. This allows us the opportunity to identify the best Chattanooga-area partner for Network S to maintain affordability for our members. And it gives CHI Memorial every opportunity to stay in that network if they come to the table with reasonable rates.
We made an offer to keep CHI Memorial physicians in Network S, even if CHI Memorial’s facilities aren’t selected in the RFP process. We hope CHI Memorial will accept this offer, which would allow our members to keep their same doctors.
This Network S decision does not impact Medicare Advantage members. CHI Memorial still has an opportunity to be in Network P, as well as our Medicare Advantage and BlueCare networks, if they meet the need for affordability.

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Jan. 22, 2024

CHI Memorial wants to be the most expensive hospital system in Tennessee

Last May, less than two years after we agreed to a significant rate increase, CHI Memorial came back demanding more – and even pushed for an early end to our contract. We declined, opting to keep our current contract expiration of June 30, 2024. That means our members can continue getting services through CHI Memorial with in-network benefits through the end of June, and it gives Memorial time to think of the community we all serve and agree to reasonable rates and contract terms.

We know network changes are difficult, so we make them only when necessary. However, we can’t agree to the unfair rates in their latest request. They asked for an increase of nearly $70 million over 3 years, a nearly 40% jump in rates, which would make CHI Memorial the most expensive hospital system in Tennessee.

CHI Memorial’s latest proposal would increase the cost of medical care, as well as the cost of coverage for those BlueCross serves, far beyond what’s reasonable. And it wouldn't be fair to our other provider partners.

We’re evaluating our options for CHI Memorial’s spot in Blue Network S^SM.

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We Are Your Advocate

We hope CHI Memorial will reconsider their unreasonable demands and work with us to reach a new agreement that preserves access to care, avoids disruptions and keeps costs down for our members, before our current agreement expires on June 30, 2024. We realize that, for many of you, CHI Memorial is your preferred choice for health care services. Here’s what you need to know:

As advocates for our members, we have a responsibility to hold down costs now and in the future.
Insurance premiums are based on what we must pay providers for care – and we cannot keep premiums affordable for our members if we’re paying significantly more to health care providers for the same care.
Our current contract with CHI Memorial extends through June 30, 2024 – so you won’t see any change or impact until July 1, 2024. The only exception is CHI Memorial Health at Home, which has chosen to leave our networks even sooner, on March 29, 2024. However, we’re hopeful Memorial will agree to reasonable rates and terms before our contract ends.
CHI Memorial doesn’t offer any services that aren’t available through other area in-network providers.