New York State Health Care Reform Act (HCRA)

February 13, 1998

Dear Provider:

In accordance with the provisions of the New York State Health Care Reform Act of 1996 (HCRA), entities that elected to pay the Public Goods Pool directly had the opportunity to rescind their elector status effective January 1, 1998.

In order to reflect this, and other changes of status, on the elector list published on the Department of Health´s web site, the format of the list has been revised. An additional column entitled "End Date" has been added which in conjunction with the "Message" column, will be used to reflect any one of several types of change in status including: entities rescinding their election if proper notification has been timely received by the Pool Administrator; the Department revoking an entity´s election based on its failure to comply with the reporting requirements of HCRA; or an entity merging with another company, closing, or switching from self-insured to fully insured. If a change of status for an elector occurs, the date of the change will be posted in the "end date" column and the reason for the change in status will be posted in the "message" column.

The above referenced revisions to the elector list will be effective with the February 1 posting on the web site. It is important that providers are cognizant of the new format of the elector list. Any claims submitted for payment to entities formerly considered electing direct pool payors, for dates of service after the end date indicated, should be considered as being submitted to non-electing payors and the appropriate additional surcharge obligations should be applied.

If you have any questions regarding the foregoing, please contact a HCRA representative at (518) 473-4653.

Sincerely,

Richard Pellegrini
Director
Bureau of Financial Management and Information Support

Enclosures