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Title	Issued Date
What You Need To Know About Safety Net Recertifications During the ongoing COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE), NY State has not required most Safety Net members to renew their Medicaid Managed Care, Essential Plan or Child Health Plus eligibility. For most group members, coverage has been auto renewed during the PHE. ...	March 27, 2023
NEW! Primary Care Provider Toolkit Now Available A new Primary Care Provider (PCP) toolkit is now live and can be found on ExcellusforBusiness.com. With a ready-to-send email, PCP checklist, find a doctor tool fact sheet and e-book, you can encourage your members to find a provider and stay ahead of illnesses. Get The...	March 27, 2023
2022 Pharmacy Reporting Under The Consolidated Appropriations Act (RxDC) To comply with the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA), we will complete all required pharmacy benefit and prescription drug cost reporting on behalf of fully insured groups (small and large) and self-funded groups with medical and pharmacy coverage with Excellus...	March 27, 2023
Healthy Vision Is Important To Overall Health Have you ever heard of “tear film”? Every time you blink, a thin layer of tears called “tear film” spreads across your eyes. Tear film has three layers: an oily outer layer, a watery middle layer, and an inner mucous layer. All three of these layers work together to help...	March 27, 2023
Free Resources To Support A Healthy Team And Business To help protect employees’ physical, emotional, and financial health, we offer ExcellusForBusiness.com—a library of resources that can help businesses and employees enjoy better outcomes, lower costs, and more peace of mind. At ExcellusForBusiness.com, you’ll find...	February 20, 2023
Focus On Fiber For Colon Cancer Awareness Month March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. Colon cancer is the third most diagnosed cancer and the second leading cause of cancer deaths. An estimated 153,020 people will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2023. Colon cancer, however, is largely preventable through...	February 20, 2023
Mona Chitre, PharmD, Chief Pharmacy Officer, President Pharmacy Solutions Mona Chitre, PharmD has been named President of Pharmacy Solutions, in addition to her role as Chief Pharmacy Officer. In her expanded role, Dr. Chitre will focus on delivering clinically sound pharmacy solutions to enable growth and diversification and bolster...	February 20, 2023
Newly Updated Telemedicine Toolkit Is Now Live We've updated our Excellus BCBS Telemedicine Toolkit, which can be found on ExcellusforBusiness.com. With this collection of informational flyers, FAQs and ready-to-send emails, you can encourage your employees to activate their telemedicine accounts and stay ahead of...	January 30, 2023
Tax Form 1095-B Health insurers—including Excellus BCBS—are no longer mailing tax form 1095-B to members. Because taxpayers are not required to include the form when filing their taxes, the IRS no longer requires us to mail the form. Members can still download the form or request it by...	January 30, 2023
Submission Of Prescription Drug Data Collection Report On December 23, 2022, we submitted the Prescription Drug Data Collection (RxDC) report as required under Section 204 of Division BB, Title II of the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA), 2021. The submission included information for fully insured policies issued and for...	January 30, 2023
Here’s To Heart Health Did you know your heart is about the size of your fist? Your heart is the engine that runs your circulatory system, which carries blood to and from all areas of your body. Your blood carries oxygen and nutrients to your organs and carbon dioxide to your lungs. If your...	January 30, 2023
When We All Share The Joy, Everybody Benefits In the spirit of the holidays, we’d like to thank you for trusting in us this past year to bring high quality, affordable health care and peace of mind to your employees. Here's to continuing to offer exceptional employee experiences in 2023! Wishing you happy holidays...	December 21, 2022
How To Manage Stress During The Holiday Season – Excellus BCBS Community Check-In Have you checked out our Community Check-In podcasts? Each week, we feature conversations with local experts about all things health, sharing the latest info and tips to support you in managing your health and wellness. This month, since we’re in the midst of the...	December 21, 2022
Healthy Living Is Just A Deal Away Are your employees aware of Blue365, an online discount program for health and wellness related products and services? One of the most utilized options is Fitness Your Way, a passport gym membership that members can sign up for to access over 10,000+ fitness centers...	December 21, 2022
Add Preventive Care To Your List Of New Year’s Resolutions A new year is around the corner and for many, that means evaluating their health status and lifestyle habits. This year, we encourage you and your employees to add preventive care to your list of new year resolutions. Regular preventive care can help reduce the risk or...	December 21, 2022
Fixing The Family Glitch To be eligible for subsidized qualified health plans today, employees must not have "affordable coverage" through their own/spouse's employer. For some, if their employer doesn’t contribute to the cost (or only contributes a small amount) toward the family premium, it may...	November 30, 2022
2022 Health Equity Awards Winners Announced! We recently announced the recipients of our Excellus BlueCross BlueShield 2022 Health Equity Awards. The awards represent more than $560,000 in financial support for community programs that address racial and ethnic health disparities across its upstate New York service...	November 30, 2022
REMINDER: 2023 Individual Market Plans If you have an employee who is not eligible for an Employer Group Plan, Medicare, or COBRA, we’re here to help connect them with NY State sponsored Safety Net coverage and Qualified Health Plans (metal level plans). If you would like to review your health care options,...	November 30, 2022
‘Tis The Season For Self-Care While the holiday season can be a time of joy, it may bring added stress, anxiety, and depression for some people. Many things contribute to the “holiday blues”: fatigue, money problems, over-commitment, and missing family or friends. That’s why, during the holiday...	November 30, 2022
Achieving Some Of The Highest Medicare Star Ratings In The State And Nation! The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the 2023 quality ratings and Excellus BlueCross BlueShield has once again been awarded some of the highest ratings in the state and nation for quality and performance! For 2023, Medicare has awarded us with...	October 28, 2022
Excellus BCBS Is The One-Stop Shop For Health Insurance Needs As employees move through life and situations change, you can always count on our team at Excellus BCBS to be there for them. Our Group plans are just a part of how we here to care for businesses and people in our community. We also offer a complete range of plans...	October 28, 2022
Annual Rate Notices Are In The Mail Groups will receive Annual Rate Notices (ARNs) at the end of October 2022. This includes the following products: Small Group Individual Large Group HMO Please note that Medicare Advantage, Simply Prescription, Dental prospective pooled and dental/vision standalone...	October 28, 2022
2023 Individual Market Plans If you have an employee who is not eligible for an Employer Group Plan, Medicare, or COBRA, we’re here to help connect them with NY State sponsored Safety Net coverage and Qualified Health Plans (metal level plans). If you would like to review your health care options,...	October 28, 2022
How To Deal With The High Cost Of Prescription Medications When we think about taking care of our health, we often think about working out, eating healthy, and avoiding germs. But, taking medications as prescribed is also a key ingredient in our overall health management. In a recent episode of Community Check-In, Mona Chitre,...	October 28, 2022
November Is National Diabetes Month Did you know medical costs for people with diabetes are twice as high as for those who don’t have diabetes? Diabetes is a chronic disease that affects how your body turns food into energy. In the last 20 years, the number of adults diagnosed with type 2 diabetes has more...	October 31, 2022
New On-Site Optical Clinics For Groups With Simply Vision℠ If your group has a Simply Vision plan, you can host convenient, comprehensive pop-up optical clinics at your workplaces, making it easier than ever for employees to use their vision benefits and select eyewear! These on-site optical clinics bring all equipment necessary...	September 30, 2022
October Is Breast Cancer Awareness Month Breast cancer is the second most common form of cancer found in women in the United States, after skin cancers. About one in eight women will develop breast cancers at some point in their lifetime. The United States Preventive Services Task Force recommends that women who...	September 30, 2022
Reimbursement For Travel And Lodging Expenses – New Coverage For 2023* As a result of the recent decision by the Supreme Court in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) has issued optional reimbursement travel and lodging coverage that may be applied to Small and Large Group...	September 30, 2022
Dental Checkups And A Healthy Smile? You’re Covered! Did you know that adults born between 1946 and 1964 (baby boomers) are the first generation where the majority of people will keep their natural teeth for their entire lifetime? This is largely because of the fluoride in water and in toothpaste. Oral health is essential...	September 30, 2022
Small Group Rates and Plans for 2023 Are Now Available! 2023 Plan Highlights: With a new year comes exciting changes to bring groups and members better coverage and greater peace of mind. Take a look at what’s to come for 2023: NEW Calm® – New in 2023 the Calm app will be included in all Small Group plans. This digital...	September 8, 2022
HSA Education Made Easy – Introducing My HSA Planner We know that the benefits of an HSA vary based on unique lifestyle and financial goals of your employees. This makes it difficult and time consuming for you to explain to employees the benefits of a HSA in a way that resonates to help them actually use or sign up for an...	August 25, 2022
Request For Missing Social Security Numbers Under the Affordable Care Act, the Internal Revenue Service requires health insurers to request missing subscriber and dependent Social Security numbers from their members. In September, we will send Social Security number request letters to individuals who had health...	August 25, 2022
September Wellbeing Tip: Substance Use Disorders According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one in 14 Americans reports experiencing a substance use disorder, a disease in which a person overuses or abuses alcohol or drugs. Some people may use drugs to help cope with stress, trauma, or to help...	August 25, 2022
Large Group HMO & Medicare Supplement – NYS Prior Approval Of Rate Changes On July 1, 2022, an application was submitted requesting 2023 premium rate changes in accordance with New York state prior approval law. This rate application applies to Community Rated Large Group HMO. An application will be submitted requesting 2023 premium rate...	July 28, 2022
Pharmacy Reporting Under The Consolidated Appropriations Act To comply with the 2021 Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA), we will complete the required pharmacy benefit and prescription drug cost reporting for insured businesses and self-funded groups at no charge; however, there will be a charge for a self-funded group that...	July 28, 2022
Excellus BCBS Named To The Best Places To Work For Disability Inclusion® Excellus BlueCross BlueShield is pleased to be named to the Best Places to Work for Disability Inclusion after receiving a top score of 100 percent on the 2022 Disability Equality Index (DEI), a national benchmarking survey by Disability:IN and the American Association of...	July 28, 2022
Five Things To Know About The Transparency In Coverage Rules Transparency in Coverage rules have been established by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and require health plans and self-funded employer groups to post on their public website machine-readable files containing the following pricing information: ...	July 28, 2022
COBRA And The New York State Extension Of Benefits For Dental And Vision Federal COBRA benefits are generally available to employers with 20 or more employees in the prior calendar year. The New York state continuation of coverage (Mini-COBRA) is available for all insured health plans with under 20 employees; however, it does not apply to...	July 28, 2022
August Wellbeing Tip: Vaccines Are Important For Adults, Too Vaccinations are not just for children – adults need vaccinations, too. Immunity from some childhood vaccines can wear off over time and adults are more at risk for different diseases (shingles, for example) than children. Vaccination is one of the safest and most...	July 28, 2022
2023 Large Group Product Updates With a new year comes exciting new changes to bring groups and members even better coverage. Take a look at what’s in store for 2023.* Here’s What’s New for 2023: Bright Beginnings – Upon renewal in 2023, the Healthy Baby Connection program, previously available to...	July 12, 2022
2023 Small Group Package Update The following SimplyBlue Plus packages will no longer be offered directly through Excellus BCBS or on the New York State of Health (SHOP) Marketplace beginning January 1, 2023. Blue On Demand will be updated for package comparisons. The packages that will no longer be...	June 29, 2022
COBRA Terminations For Non-Payment Of Premiums Will Resume July 1, 2022 In March 2020, the Department of Labor (DOL), together with the Department of Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) (collectively “Agencies”), issued final rules and, in February 2021 and July 2021 subsequent guidance with respect to the extension of certain...	June 29, 2022
Excellus BCBS Inside Rx Prescription Discount Card Excellus BlueCross BlueShield continues its mission of helping people in our communities live healthier and more secure lives through high-quality and affordable health care access. As part of that ongoing commitment, we’re excited to announce that we have partnered with...	October 29, 2021
New Wellness Videos Available To Share A new suite of wellness videos is now available for employers and members. The videos cover a variety of topics, including: Avoiding Processed Foods Be Stressed Less Benefits of Meditation Diabetes: Take Control of Your Health Fighting Virtual Work Fatigue ...	February 22, 2022
Excellus BCBS Provides 65 Community Health Awards To Area Nonprofits Excellus BCBS is awarding a total of 65 community health awards to nonprofit organizations across upstate New York. The community health award funding will support innovative programs and solutions to advance health equity and ultimately improve health outcomes for...	June 29, 2022
Make A Mid-Year Resolution To Be More Active According to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), physical activity is one of the best things people can do for their health, both physical and mental. Not only does physical activity help people immediately feel better, function better, and sleep...	June 29, 2022
Individual & Small Group – NYS Prior Approval Of Rate Changes On May 10, 2022, an application was submitted requesting 2023 premium rate changes in accordance with New York state prior approval law. This rate application applies to Community Rated Individual and Small Group products. The following products are included in this 2023...	May 31, 2022
Calm E-Book For Groups We worked with Calm to create a new informational resource to help Groups with some of your most asked questions. It’s a great tool if you’re looking for: Registration Instructions Sample HR Email template Member FAQs Links to additional Calm resources and trainings...	May 31, 2022
Updates To Our Enrollment Tools We are always looking for ways to improve our online tools and resources to give our brokers, groups, and members a better user experience. In the coming weeks and months, you will see updates to our online enrollment and support tools. One update you will see soon, is...	May 31, 2022
Sun, Safety & Hydration As the weather gets warmer and people spend more time outside, it is important to stay hydrated and protect yourself from the sun. Drinking plenty of water every day is good for overall health any time of year. Getting enough water every day is even more important when...	May 31, 2022

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