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
NY14-30
PE14-27
PA14-26
PAEX14-26
TO: Health Benefits Administrators of New York State, Participating Employers, Participating Agencies with The Empire Plan or Excelsior Plan
FROM: Employee Benefits Division
SUBJECT: 2014 Preventive Vaccine Postcard
DATE: September 29, 2014
We are pleased to announce that beginning October 1, 2014, eligible non-Medicare primary enrollees and their dependents may receive the following preventive vaccines without copayment when administered by a licensed pharmacist at a pharmacy that participates in CVS Caremark’s national vaccine network.
- Influenza – flu
- Herpes Zoster – shingles
- Pneumococcal – pneumonia
- Meningococcal – meningitis
This benefit only applies to groups that have settled their contracts with the State as of September 1, 2014. As of the date of this memo, only PBA and PIA do not have this benefit. SEHP will begin receiving this benefit on January 1, 2015.
The information is being communicated to enrollees via the attached Preventive Vaccine Postcard. It will also be included in the December 2014 Empire Plan Reports.
Distribution
We will mail the Preventive Vaccine Postcard to enrollee homes in late September-early October, 2014. The file for this mailing was pulled from NYBEAS on September 25, 2014, following the last system update on September 18, 2014. Please inform any eligible enrollees not on NYBEAS as of this date regarding this new benefit, since they will not receive the postcard. A supply of the postcard will not be mailed to agencies. Please use the PDF if you need to make copies or post internally.
Information Available Online
The Preventive Vaccine Postcard is not available for order, however this information can be found on NYSHIP Online. Go to the Department of Civil Service web site at https://www.cs.ny.gov and choose Benefit Programs, then NYSHIP Online and select the What’s New link.
If you need help accessing NYSHIP Online, please contact the AGS Service Desk at its.sm.esd.ags@its.ny.gov. Call The Empire Plan toll free at 1-877-7-NYSHIP (1-877-769-7447) with questions about enrollee vaccine coverage information. Select option 1 for the Medical/Surgical Program for general vaccine questions and option 4 for the Prescription Drug Program for questions regarding vaccinations in the pharmacy. If you have questions about this distribution, please call the EBD Communications Unit at 518-457-7577.