* § 245. Automated identification of program participants. 1. For the
purposes of this section, the following terms shall have the following
meanings:

(a) "Office" shall mean the state office of temporary and disability
assistance.

(b) "Home energy assistance program" shall mean the low-income home
energy assistance program implemented pursuant to section ninety-seven
of the social services law.

2. The department of health shall update the elderly pharmaceutical
insurance coverage program application to allow program participants to
consent, in a manner that is separate and apart from other requests for
consent contained in the application, to the exchange of such
participant's information to verify such enrollee's eligibility for the
home energy assistance program. Upon receipt of such consent, the
department of taxation and finance shall confirm such participant's
income at the time of enrollment.

3. The department of health shall coordinate with the office to
facilitate the secure transmission of data through an interface with the
office's information technology infrastructure.

4. No less than once per month, the office, upon receipt of the
required data elements from the department of health and the department
of taxation and finance, as such data elements are defined by the
office, shall conduct automated file matching to identify elderly
pharmaceutical insurance coverage program participants who are eligible
for the home energy assistance program. Within sixty days of receipt
that an elderly pharmaceutical insurance coverage program participant's
eligibility for the home energy assistance program is confirmed, the
office shall enroll such elderly pharmaceutical insurance coverage
program participant in the home energy assistance program.

5. Upon automatic enrollment in the home energy assistance program,
the department of health shall provide written notification to the
elderly pharmaceutical insurance coverage program participant of their
enrollment in such program and shall provide information regarding the
program's benefits.

6. The office, in consultation with the department of health, is
authorized to promulgate any rules and regulations necessary to carry
out the provisions of this section.

* NB Effective June 19, 2025