DRM provided four months of fee-for-service Medicaid for individuals applying for public health insurance in New York City from September 12, 2001 to January 31, 2002. The enrollment process was streamlined with a one-page application form and minimal documentation requirements. Upon completion of the form, applicants received a paper DRM authorization form that could be used as a fee-for-service Medicaid card with Medicaid providers the day it was received. Over 350,000 New York City residents received temporary health coverage through Disaster Relief Medicaid (DRM).

Care for the Homeless was intimately involved with public education and with monitoring the DRM program. In October 2001, the United Hospital Fund brought together a group of agencies and coalitions to collaborate and conduct public trainings on DRM. We were contracted through New Yorkers For Accessible Health Coverage to participate in this group. Since that time, Care for the Homeless has worked with this group not only to educate the public about DRM, but also to monitor the DRM program and people's transition from DRM to ongoing public health insurance coverage. This group continues to communicate with the City and State about the Medicaid simplification lessons learned from DRM.

The New York City Task Force on Medicaid Managed Care also wanted to monitor the experiences of people at Medicaid offices during the height of the DRM transition period. Care for the Homeless, Community Service Society of New York and the Gay Men's Health Crisis (links to their site) took the lead on this project, sending survey teams out to Medicaid offices to talk to people about their experiences. The Task Force published a report on the data gathered during a six-week period over the summer of 2002.