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.
GOVERNOR
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL SERVICE
ALBANY, NEW YORK 12239
www.cs.ny.gov
NY12-04
PE12-03
PA12-03
SEHP12-02
PAEX12-03
TO: New York State Health Benefits Administrators; Participating Employer Health Benefits Administrators; Student Employee Health Plan (SEHP) Health Benefits Administrators; Participating Agency Health Benefits Administrators with The Empire Plan or The Excel
FROM: Employee Benefits Division
SUBJECT: Updated Participating Provider Directory for Illinois
DATE: February 6, 2012
Effective January 1, 2012, The Empire Plan has adopted the UnitedHealthcare Options PPO Network for Chicago and surrounding counties. This required us to publish a new Participating Provider Directory to accommodate the additional 23,000 providers. The January 2012 Empire Plan Participating Provider Directory for Illinois will be mailed to enrollees in mid February.
Employees and retirees living in Illinois and the counties of Jasper, Lake, LaPorte, Newton, Porter, Pulaski and Starke in Indiana will receive a book based on their home zip code on file.
Directory Contents
The January 2012 Illinois directory lists BlueCross BlueShield Network Facilities, Empire Plan Participating Providers in the Medical/Surgical Program, The Empire Plan Managed Physical Medicine Program, The Empire Plan Mental Health/Substance Abuse Program, providers of Prosthetic/Orthotic Devices, Laboratories, Radiology Centers, Sleep Study Centers and Urgent Care Centers.
Distribution
We will mail you one copy of the Illinois directory as a resource. This one copy will be sent to the agency using the same mail file used to send directories to the enrollees' homes. This will save distribution costs as well as speed up delivery. The one copy will be addressed to you and you will receive it at the same time that enrollees are receiving their copies at home.
Online Directory Resources and New Hire and New Retiree Packages
We encourage you and your enrollees to use the online Participating Provider search as it is updated weekly, easily searchable and customizable. But for those enrollees who do want the printed directory, it is available in other ways:
- You can order additional copies on HBA Online all year long
- You can order online for an individual or order a Quick Order package (that contain a directory postcard to return if desired) Be sure to instruct the enrollee to write the name of the directory needed on the lined postcard.
If you have questions about this distribution, please call the Communications Unit at 518-457-7577.