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.
DAVID A. PATERSON
GOVERNOR
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL SERVICE
ALBANY, NEW YORK 12239
www.cs.ny.gov
NANCY G. GROENWEGEN
COMMISSIONER
NY09-31
TO: New York State Health Benefits Administrators
FROM: Employee Benefits Division
SUBJECT: Updated Navigation Flyers for the Department of Civil Service Health Benefits Web Resources
DATE: July 29, 2009
We are pleased to provide you with new NYSHIP Online web site navigation flyers that can serve as helpful reference tools as you and your agency employees explore the health benefits portions of the Department of Civil Service web site at https://www.cs.state.ny.us.
Due to the group customization of the site, there are two versions – one for NY/PE actives and another for NY/PE retirees. These flyers provide some basic information about navigation and content available on the site and offer tips about how to use our web-based health insurance resources in your role as agency Health Benefits Administrator (HBA). Enclosed you will find one copy of each of these flyers.
Ordering Publications
You may order additional copies of the flyers [AL0926 for NY/PE actives and AL0927 for NY/PE retirees] by using the Special Publication Supply Order Form enclosed with this memo. Or, you can order on HBA Online at https://www.cs.state.ny.us/ebdonline under Publications & Forms. If you need help accessing HBA Online, please call the Help Desk or your processor. The appropriate version of the web site navigation flyer is included in the New Hire and New Retiree Quick Order packages, only available for order in the Publications & Forms section of HBA Online. Reminder: If you have the need to check information about active, retiree, Empire Plan and HMO groups frequently, it may be helpful to do so using HBA Online rather than the public site where you will need to change your group each time.
We encourage you to visit the site often and continue to remind your agency employees to use this resource. Employees planning to retire will find this web site especially helpful. You may provide any feedback you might have to the EBD Communications Unit through the online Suggestions feature on the HBA Online home page at the bottom left of the screen or by calling us at 518-457-7577. Also, look for web feedback surveys on both sites in the near future, which we will use to continue to improve our online resources for both you and NYSHIP enrollees.