New York State Health Care Reform Act (HCRA)

HCRA is a major component of New York State´s Health Care financing laws which governs hospital reimbursement methodologies and targets funding for a multitude of health care initiatives. The law also requires that certain third-party payors and providers of health care services participate in the funding of these initiatives through the submission of authorized surcharges and assessments.

IMPORTANT NOTE: In an effort to disseminate information in a more timely manner, the HCRA program will, whenever possible, communicate information to Payors, TPAs, and Providers via email. It is very important to keep your email addresses current. If you do not have a current email address on file with us or if you need to edit your email address, this information can be completed through the "Maintain Email Addresses" option available on the Office of Pool Administration (OPA) website.

What´s New

May 18, 2012

Mandatory E-Certification for all active Providers/TPAs/Payors

Beginning July 1, 2012, all reports submitted through the Office of Pool Administration´s website will be required to be electronically certified (e-certified).

Recent changes to Public Health Law section 2807-j(7)(a)(i) provide " that all such electronic submissions submitted on and after July first, two thousand twelve shall be verified with an electronic signature as prescribed by the commissioner." Therefore, hard copy certifications will no longer be accepted after June 30, 2012.

If you are not authorized to certify to the validity of the report, you can still complete the submission through to the "Payment and Reconciliation Summary" page. On this page there is an option to "Save and Exit". Upon the save, a confirmation number will be generated. This confirmation number can then be used by an authorized person to retrieve the report for e-certification and completion.

This option is not automatic or mandated by the website. The "Save and Exit" feature is an option that may be used if your organization needs to have multiple persons complete the reporting process.

Should you have any questions concerning the above, please contact the Electronic Help Desk at (315) 671-3800 or by email at webpools@hcrapools.org