You may have seen a community notice from Summit Medical Group saying that they do not plan to renew their contract with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee (BCBST) on Jan. 1, 2026. UCOR is aware of this situation and is very closely monitoring the contract negotiations between Summit Medical and BCBST. UCOR has engaged our health and welfare benefit plan consultants to assist in the development of medical coverage strategies, etc., if needed for next year.
Furthermore, we believe that contract matters between the two parties will be resolved before the Summit Medical contract ends with BCBST on Dec. 31, 2025. For now, eligible members that have elected an UCOR medical insurance plan and use Summit Medical are covered, and there is no change in access under UCOR’s medical insurance through BCBST.
We want to bring this matter to your attention to calm any concerns that you may have about current medical coverage using Summit Medical by eligible members. Members are covered! We will provide new updates when we have more information. Shown below is an internal announcement that BCBST issued regarding this matter on July 18. Again, we believe the contract matters between Summit Medical and BCBST will be resolved prior to Jan. 1. As such, eligible members should experience no changes.
If you have any questions, please submit to UCOR Benefits via email at benefits@orcc.doe.gov.
Update on Summit Medical Group from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee – July 18, 2025
We understand you may be hearing about our contract negotiations with Summit Medical Group, either directly from their leadership or in the community. So, we wanted you to hear directly from us as well. First and most importantly, our contract runs through Dec. 31, 2025, so there is no change in our members’ access until that date.
Summit recently notified us that they intend to end our contract and leave our commercial and Medicare Advantage networks. This isn’t an unusual step; it’s often part of the negotiation process.
Each year, 89% of BlueCross premiums go directly to pay for claims. Our job is to keep prices in check so East Tennessee businesses can offer affordable coverage to their employees. We want our members to be able to afford and have access to the care they need. And we are negotiating on their behalf with that primary goal in mind.
We value the work of Summit’s clinicians and staff, and we hope they’ll agree to reasonable prices and stay in our networks.
We’ll keep you informed as we move forward.
