OLYMPIA -- The Department of Social and Health Services is notifying its one million medical clients in the next few days that the state is switching to the same kind of plastic ID card used by private health insurance companies, a convenience for clients and doctors and a major saving for the state.

The new free plastic "Services Card" will be mailed to clients in November, a month ahead of the launch of a new computer payer system called ProviderOne. ProviderOne will start reimbursing doctors, clinics, hospitals and nursing homes for medical assistance services on December 6.

Until then, the Medicaid system relies on monthly mailed paper coupons to establish client eligibility for about 900,000 medical assistance clients and another 100,000 family planning clients.

In the past, medical assistance consumers and families presented the paper coupon to their doctor to show that they are enrolled in Medicaid that month. With the plastic card, doctors will be able to use the new ProviderOne client ID number on the card to access ProviderOne and verify eligibility within the computer. Even if the client does not have his or her card, the doctor can still verify eligibility by knowing the client’s full name, birth date, ProviderOne client ID number, Social Security Number -- or some combination of those. The card does not include any personal health information and would not threaten clients’ privacy or security even if the card is lost or stolen

The state currently spends more than $2.5 million a year on the monthly coupon mailings, but the plastic Services Card is a permanent form of ID that should only need to be mailed once.

"Ultimately, DSHS hopes to add other programs that will be able to tie into the Services Card," said Doug Porter, State Medicaid director and an assistant secretary in DSHS. "But even then, the Services Card will not replace the debit cards that are used for cash assistance or the Basic Food program."

The card will help identify our clients to doctors and clinics, but like a commercial insurance ID card, it won't have any other value of its own.

Porter said tests of the card have registered positively with clients since it replaces the minor hassle of getting a new coupon every month and remembering to bring the new coupon to the doctor's office.

The important point immediately is for clients to understand that the new cards will not arrive in their mailbox until November, and they will not actually help doctors verify eligibility until the December 6 go-live date for ProviderOne.

"During November, we are advising clients that they can take both the card and the mailed coupon with them to the provider's office," Porter said. "In December, they will not get a coupon in the mail – the Services Card is all they need."

Clients or providers with questions about the new Services Card can refer to a fact sheet that includes a set of Service Card Questions and Answers on the Medicaid Web site at http://hrsa.dshs.wa.gov and on the ProviderOne Web site at http://hrsa.dshs.wa.gov/providerone/Clients.htm

ProviderOne project team members said two more Service Card alerts are planned for medical assistance clients. A postcard mailed to all clients in October will include information about the Services Cards and how they should be used. In addition, another insert in the November coupon mailing will remind clients that the Services Cards will be mailed out later that month in time for clients to start using them in December.

FOR ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND, CONTACT:

Jim Stevenson, Communications Director, HRSA, DSHS, 360-725-1915 (Pager: 360-971-4067).

EDITORS, ASSIGNMENT EDITORS: For an electronic photo of a Services Card, please e-mail stevejh2@dshs.wa.gov

DSHS does not discriminate, and provides equal access to its programs and services for all persons without regard to race, color, gender, religion, creed, marital status, national origin, sexual orientation, age, veteran's status or the presence of any physical, sensory or mental disability.