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
LOLA W. BRABHAM
Commissioner
NY20-24
TO: New York State Health Benefits Administrators
FROM: Employee Benefits Division
SUBJECT: October 2020 Empire Plan Reports
DATE: October 23, 2020
The October 2020 Empire Plan Reports are now available online and will soon be mailed to enrollee homes and agencies. The Reports explain changes to The Empire Plan and NYSHIP and have important reminders for enrollees, including information on COVID-19 testing and diagnosis, the Medical/Surgical Program Participating Provider national network expansion and telemedicine coverage. Since there are no group specific differences, there is a single version for all active NY groups, and a version for NY Retirees.
The enrollee mailing also includes the Reporting On Network Benefits publication (October 2020, AL1775), which has been updated to reflect UnitedHealthcare’s (the Medical/Surgical Program administrator) Participating Provider national network expansion.
Distribution
This Report will begin to mail to enrollees’ homes in late October to early November. The mail file was pulled from NYBEAS on October 19, 2020, so any enrollee who was not on the file on that date should be provided with a copy. We will send you two copies each of the Report and Reporting On Network Benefits. The new version of Reporting On replaces the previous version (November 2018, AL1630), which should be recycled. Publications Available on NYSHIP Online: www.cs.ny.gov/employee-benefits
You can also access both publications online under the Using Your Benefits tab then click on Publications on the NYSHIP Online home page.
Ordering Publications
You may order additional copies of the Report and Reporting On Network Benefits on HBA Online under Publications & Forms. Please do not order copies until you have received your shipment.
If you need help accessing HBA Online, contact the ITS Service Desk at 844-891-1786,fixit@its.ny.gov or via chat at https://chat.its.ny.gov. If you are unsure of how to order publications or have questions about this distribution, please call the EBD
Communications Unit at 518-457-7577.