NYS Vision Plan Contract

The state has conditionally awarded the contract for the NYS Vision Plan, which covers more than 45,000 PEF members, to Davis Vision.  The final award is contingent upon successful contract negotiations between the NYS Department of Civil Service and Davis Vision, and its approval by the State Comptroller and Attorney General.  If approved, the five-year contract with Davis Vision will take effect January 1, 2012.

Members should be quite familiar with Davis Vision.  Prior to the state awarding the contract to the current vendor, EyeMed Vision Care, Davis Vision had administered the NYS Vision Plan for 23 years. Davis Vision is a U.S. company, based in New York State, and has been operating in the state since 1964.  Davis Vision currently serves more than 55 million members nationwide through a national provider network of ophthalmologists, optometrists and retailers at more than 33,000 points of access, in both private practice and retail settings. The Davis Vision customer service call center is located in Latham, New York.

While there will be no change to the level of benefits members receive, they will notice some differences when Davis Vision begins administering the vision plan.  Examples of these differences include:

·       A different network of participating vision care providers – the Davis network is different from EyeMed’s and will include more participating (par) vision care provider locations than it did when Davis Vision previously administered the plan.

·      A different selection of eyeglass frames – at the vast majority of par vision care provider locations, members will have two options when choosing frames:

-Members will once again be able to receive a paid-in-full benefit by choosing frames with a value of up to $225 from the Davis “Tower Collection”; or, if they prefer,

-Members will now be able to choose any available frame and receive an allowance of up to $130, paying any remaining balance out-of-pocket.

In other words, members will have what they currently have with EyeMed (an allowance of up to $130) plus what they previously had when Davis Vision administered the vision care plan (the “Tower Collection”).

·         All Davis Vision eyeglasses are covered by a one-year breakage warranty.

 If you have any questions regarding the transition from EyeMed Vision Care to Davis Vision, please contact Health Benefits at PEF headquarters, (518)785-1900 or 1-800-342-4306, ext. 283.