{"id":374135,"date":"2026-06-25T07:01:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T07:01:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/374135\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T07:01:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T07:01:13","slug":"community-health-system-and-blue-shield-restore-network-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/374135\/","title":{"rendered":"Community Health System and Blue Shield restore network care"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thousands of Fresno area patients with Blue Shield of California health insurance can now access in-network care through Central Valley\u2019s largest healthcare provider.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Community Health System and Blue Shield announced they had reached an agreement for a new multi-year contract after a nearly five month lapse in contract. The agreement, effective immediately, allow CHS facilities and affiliated providers to rejoin Blue Shield\u2019s network of participating medical providers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are pleased to have reached an agreement that restores access to care for the patients and communities we serve,\u201d said Aldo De La Torre, division president for insurance services and managed care for Community Health System.<\/p>\n

\u201cThroughout this process, our focus has remained on ensuring Valley residents have access to high-quality healthcare close to home,\u201d De La Torre said.<\/p>\n

Greg Siebert, senior vice president of provider partnerships and network management at Blue Shield of California, welcomed Community Medical Centers back into the Blue Shield network in a news release.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re excited to have reached an agreement that will expand our members\u2019 access to affordable healthcare in Fresno,\u201d Siebert said. \u201cWe\u2019re grateful to our members and customers for standing with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thousands lost in-network access to their care at Community Health System after the two groups failed to agree on terms of a new contract by a Jan. 31 deadline.<\/p>\n

CHS is the parent organization that owns Community Medical Center facilities including downtown Fresno\u2019s Community Regional Medical Center, the region\u2019s only Level 1 Trauma Center, Clovis Community Medical Center and Fresno Heart & Surgical Hospital.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear how many San Joaquin Valley residents are insured with Blue Shield<\/a>. Approximately 1,500 Fresno city workers have been affected, while in Madera County, approximately 3,200 Valley Children\u2019s Hospital employees and physicians were also hit by the stalled negotiations.<\/p>\n

\"The The Community Regional Medical Center campus of buildings is photographed in downtown Fresno on Friday, April 3, 2026. CRAIG KOHLRUSS ckohlruss@fresnobee.com <\/p>\n

The agreement is retroactive to February 1, 2026, meaning that claims for services received during the out-of-network period will be processed as in-network for Blue Shield members, the statement said.<\/p>\n

City officials and medical professionals in the region expressed serious concern<\/a> and urged the two parties to act with urgency and bargain in good faith after the contract lapsed earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Members who have questions or need assistance are directed to call the toll-free member number listed on their Blue Shield member ID card.<\/p>\n

\"Community Community Regional Medical Center is photographed in downtown Fresno on Friday, April 3, 2026. CRAIG KOHLRUSS ckohlruss@fresnobee.com <\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Melissa Montalvo<\/a><\/p>\n

The Fresno Bee<\/p>\n

Melissa Montalvo is The Fresno Bee\u2019s accountability reporter. Prior to this role, she covered Latino communities for The Fresno Bee as the part of the Central Valley News Collaborative. She also reported on labor, economy and poverty through newsroom partnerships between The Fresno Bee, Fresnoland and CalMatters as a Report for America Corps member.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thousands of Fresno area patients with Blue Shield of California health insurance can now access in-network care through…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":374136,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-374135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=374135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/374136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=374135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=374135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=374135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}