The Empire Plan is a unique health insurance plan designed especially for public employees in New York State. Empire Plan benefits include inpatient and outpatient hospital coverage, medical/surgical coverage, Centers of Excellence for transplants, infertility and cancer, home care services, equipment and supplies, mental health and substance abuse coverage and prescription drug coverage.
ANDREW M. CUOMO
GOVERNOR
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL SERVICE
ALBANY, NEW YORK 12239
www.cs.ny.gov
JERRY BOONE
COMMISSIONER
PA14-22
PAEX14-22
TO: Participating Agency Health Benefit Administrators
FROM: Employee Benefits Division
SUBJECT: Address Updates for Medicare Eligible Members
DATE: June 27, 2014
The New York State Health Insurance Program (NYSHIP) provides prescription drug coverage for its Medicare primary enrollees and dependents enrolled in the Empire Plan under the Empire Plan Medicare Rx, a Medicare Part D prescription drug plan. SilverScript Insurance Company, a CVS Caremark company, is the Empire Plan's vendor for the Empire Plan Medicare Rx. When NYSHIP members become eligible for Medicare, SilverScript submits the member’s enrollment information to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on behalf of NYSHIP.
In order to ensure that all enrollments are processed timely and our enrollees are approved by CMS for Medicare Rx coverage, the correct address must be entered into the New York Benefits Eligibility and Accounting System (NYBEAS). To prevent fraud, CMS does not allow a PO Box to be submitted as an enrollee's permanent address. All enrollees using a PO Box as their mailing (HOME) address on NYBEAS, must also provide their street address (PERMANENT) address, for the purpose of CMS enrollment and reporting.
The attached instructions provide guidance for changing or updating member addresses in NYBEAS.