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
NY11-15
PE11-16
SEHP11-05
TO: New York State Health Benefits Administrators; Participating Employer Health Benefits Administrators; Student Employee Health Plan (SEHP) Health Benefits Administrator
FROM: Employee Benefits Division
SUBJECT: 2011 Empire Plan Participating Provider Directory Postcards
DATE: June 30, 2011
Since we have received excellent feedback on sending the Empire Plan Participating Provider Directory (PPD) postcards, we will send them again this year.
The postcards will mail the last week in June to all active and retired Empire Plan enrollees who live in New York and bordering states. Any enrollee not on the NYBEAS files on May 26, 2011 should be given a book from your agency supply when you receive it in August, or you can order one for them on HBA Online.
Directory to mail in August
Active and retired enrollees in New York State must return the postage-paid postcard to receive a directory automatically. 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 be shorter 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.