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.
You may have seen some confusing information from CHI Memorial recently. 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.