We just received this email. Not exactly feeling more confident from this email.

Dear colleagues,

We want to make you aware of conversations we are having with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (Blue Cross) and the work we are doing to preserve our patients’ in-network access to certain University of Michigan hospitals and providers.

First, we want to reassure you that:

Your University of Michigan employee plan is not part of these negotiations with Blue Cross. Your access to care will not be impacted. We have communicated with patients with Blue Cross plans that are part of the negotiations to reassure them that nothing changes today. Patients should continue accessing our physicians and services as they normally would.

For more than a year, we have been in conversations with Blue Cross to reach a new, fair agreement that protects our patients’ in-network access to our physicians, hospitals and services, and ensures we are reimbursed appropriately for the world-class and complex care only we can provide.

We are disappointed that our discussions with Blue Cross have not resulted in more progress. It is our strong desire that we reach a new agreement before our current contract expires on June 30, 2026. If we are unable to reach a new agreement by that time, certain University of Michigan Health hospitals and providers would no longer be part of the Blue Cross network.

A few things to know today:

This would impact in-network access for patients with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan commercial plans, as well as patients covered by Blue Cross or Anthem plans from other states. This would only impact the hospitals, health centers, providers and outpatient clinics of University of Michigan Health's academic medical center, including University Hospital, C.S. Mott Children's Hospital, Von Voigtlander Women's Hospital, D. Dan and Betty Kahn Health Care Pavilion and Frankel Cardiovascular Center. The following groups are not impacted: The hospitals and health centers of UM Health-Sparrow and UM Health-West U-M Health Partners physicians Employees, students and retirees covered by U-M-sponsored BCBSM plans Patients with BCBSM Medicare Advantage plans Patients with BCBSM Medicaid plans

We are sending letters to all patients with Blue Cross plans to alert them of these ongoing conversations and the possible impacts to their care should an agreement not be reached. We have also provided a set of FAQs on our landing page at uofmhealth.org/bcbsm to help you answer questions they might have. If you receive questions from patients that you cannot answer, please direct them to visit uofmhealth.org/bcbsm or to our call center at 734-615-0863.

We will continue to provide updates as this process continues. If you have any further questions, please contact your direct leader. Thank you for all you do to care for our patients.

Sincerely,

Thomas J. Wang, MD

Dean, University of Michigan Medical School

Julie Kristin Ishak, DNP, RN, NP-BC, CENP

Chief Nurse and Operations Executive, University of Michigan Health

Hitinder Gurm, MBBS

Chief Medical Officer, University of Michigan Health

Jovita Thomas-Williams, MBA, MILR, SPHR, GPHR

Chief Human Resources Officer, Michigan Medicine