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
NY10-21
PE10-15
SEHP10-06
TO: New York State Health Benefits Administrators; Participating Employer Health Benefits Administrators; Student Employee Health Plan (SEHP) Health Benefits Administrator??
FROM: Employee Benefits Division (EBD)
SUBJECT: 2010 Empire Plan Participating Provider Directory Postcards
DATE: June 28, 2010
Since we have received excellent feedback on the postcards to order The Empire Plan Participating Provider Directories, we will send them to active employees again this year. The postcards will be mailed by the end of June. All active employees on the NYBEAS file as of June 3, 2010, will receive a postcard. If a new enrollee is not on the NYBEAS file by that date, please order a directory on HBA Online. It will be mailed when the book is printed. (Please do not order until you receive your supply of books and if you have enough, give your employee one of your agency supply.)
New: Postcards to Retirees in New York State
Building on the success of our postcard mailing to actives, this year we will send a postcard to all retirees on the NYBEAS file as of June 3rd, who live in New York State. Out-of-State retirees will automatically receive the directory for their home address as they have in the past. We will assess this pilot program before next year, but we think it will result in savings of paper and postage.
Directory to mail in August
Active and retired enrollees in New York State will have to return the postage-paid postcard to receive a directory. In order to take advantage of large bulk-rate postal discounts, and to calculate our printing needs as closely as we can, we hope to collect as many return postcards as possible in the first few weeks. The postcards show the enrollee an 8-10 week delivery time.
The postcards that go into the Quick Order packages year round show a 4-6 week delivery time, but in fact the delivery will come a lot sooner once the directories are printed and available in inventory. You can expect the directories to be mailed within a week after you receive your initial supply. Please do not order before then.
To order additional directories AFTER you receive your initial agency supply.
To order additional copies for your agency or to order a directory to be sent to an enrollee’s home, find Publications and Forms on HBA Online and scroll down to Participating Provider Directories. You may also order individual copies.
We will send a second memo outlining agency distribution.
If you have questions about the postcards, please call the Communications Unit at 518-457-7577.