Some patients at East Tennessee Children’s Hospital Urgent Care locations may have recently heard that the clinics would no longer be considered in-network for BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee and they would need to pay more money for treatment, but the companies said patients are still covered in-network.
Contract negotiations between the insurance company and the company that operates the four clinics — TeamHealth — created confusion over patients’ in-network status. The four locations are located in Blount County, Sevier County and two in Knox County.
BCBS said TeamHealth did go out-of-network, but said it was able to work with ETCH to bring the urgent care providers back in-network.
“If a BlueCross member was turned away or told they would face higher costs, it was a mistake. We’ll work with ETCH to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” BCBS said.
Those negotiations came at a time when the CDC warns flu cases could rise significantly in Tennessee, and when RSV cases are already rising. As a result, more people may pay a visit to an urgent care clinic soon.
East Tennessee Children’s Hospital said that they apologized for any confusion the contract negotiations caused. They also said that as flu season gets underway, they are already experiencing an influx of patients to the emergency room.
(WBIR-TV)
