Statutory Changes to New York Health Care Reform Act (HCRA) of 2000

November 7, 2003

Dear Payor/Provider:

Re: New York Health Care Reform Act of 2000 (HCRA)

The purpose of this letter is to remind you of a major statutory provision which was included in Chapter 62 of the Laws of 2003 which amended the New York Health Care Reform Act (HCRA) of 2000. This provision enacted an amnesty program which waives statutorily required interest and penalty for delinquent obligations due to pools established either under the New York Prospective Hospital Reimbursement Methodology or HCRA for periods prior to January 1, 2003, if paid in full, and accompanied by appropriate reports, on or before December 31, 2003.

Although we encourage that all delinquent payments be submitted with appropriately completed reports, the new statutory provisions also allows payors to file these delinquent payments with partially completed reports as long as there is sufficient information available to the Department to identify the submitting payor, the electing organization, and nature of payments. Payors who file partial reports pursuant to this provision will however, be required to file properly completed reports for applicable delinquency periods within thirty days of the Department´s receipt of such delinquent payments.

If you have an outstanding liability to the pools for such aforementioned periods, we encourage you to take advantage of this amnesty program. Please note however, that amnesty will not be granted for any interest and penalty previously collected by the Department or for delinquencies which are discovered during the course of an audit conducted by the Department or it´s designee.

For additional information, please refer to the Department´s website at: http://www.health.state.ny.us/regulations/hcra/index.htm

Should you have any questions concerning the foregoing, please contact a HCRA representative at (518) 474-1673.

Sincerely,

Mark H. Van Guysling
Assistant Director
Division of Health Care Financing