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.
KATHY HOCHUL
Governor
TIMOTHY R. HOGUES
Commissioner
PE23-17
PA23-15
PAEX23-14
TO: Health Benefit Administrators (HBA) of all NYSHIP Participating Employers (PE) and Participating Agencies (PA)
FROM: Employee Benefits Division
SUBJECT: Newly Published Policy Memo 150, “Minimum Time Frame to Join NYSHIP or Change NYSHIP Participation”
DATE: October 27, 2023
The Employee Benefits Division (EBD) is pleased to announce the recent publication of Policy Memo 150, “Minimum Time Frame to Join the New York State Health Insurance Program (NYSHIP) or Change NYSHIP Participation.”
Policy Memo 150 establishes a minimum time frame of six months for prospective NYSHIP PAs and PEs to submit their application to join NYSHIP. The memo also establishes a requirement that PAs and PEs requesting to make changes to their NYSHIP participation provide a written notification to EBD at least six months prior to the effective date of the change. Refer to the text of the memo for examples of changes to NYSHIP participation and for guidelines for notifying EBD of an upcoming change.
The complete memo can be viewed on the Policy Memo page of HBA Online: https://www.cs.ny.gov/employee-benefits/hba/shared/apps/policymemos/