Chattanooga: BlueCross, Memorial to part ways

photo Memorial Hospital is located at 2525 de Sales Avenue in Chattanooga.

Memorial Health Care System and BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee have not been able to reach an agreement in contract negotiations, leaving Memorial hospital patients out-of-network with the insurer on Aug. 1, Memorial said in a news release this afternoon.

The two parties had been in extended negotiations for months and had said as late as Wednesday that they were still trying to reach an agreement.

Memorial executives said they had asked for a 30-day extension to the contract, which BlueCross declined.

The contract expiration does not affect Memorial physicians, The Chattanooga Heart Institute physicians and Memorial Mission Surgery Center, which have separate contracts with BlueCross.

Memorial has pledged to continue to extend in-network rates to patients despite the lapse of contract.

Read more in tomorrow's Times Free Press.

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