Erlanger Hospital is seen from UTC’s new library’s in this Dec. 9, 2014, photo in Chattanooga.For Leann Crane, Christmas continued Monday. The Chattanooga-area mother who had worried for weeks that her daughters may not have access to the area’s only children’s hospital after the New Year.
But UnitedHealthcare and Erlanger Health System announced Monday evening that they reached a new three-year agreement that will make Erlanger physicians and facilities accessible to people enrolled in all of United’s main plans: TennCare, commercial and Medicare Advantage.
“This [agreement] is actually a Christmas present,” said Crane, whose family is insured through the UnitedHealthcare plan offered through her employer, T-Mobile. “It takes a huge worry off my shoulders,” she said.
The announcement comes after a monthslong standoff and nearly three months after the two parties severed their TennCare contract, which left pregnant mothers and children covered by United’s plan for TennCare patients in the lurch. The hospital also had planned to terminate its commercial contract with United on Dec. 31. Erlanger is the area’s largest hospital, and has the region’s only children’s hospital.
Crane has three young daughters, including an 8-year-old with cerebral palsy who requires monthly visits to a neurologist at Erlanger. She already had been told that she would have to drive her daughter two hours to the hospital at University of Alabama at Birmingham to receive her regular care.