State officials are giving home caregivers and the people they assist more time to enroll in a new payment program — and blaming “misinformation” for slowing the registration process.
The last-minute decision by the state health department to extend the deadline from April 1 to April 30 came after lawmakers and care recipients begged for a delay. They have called the transition process rushed and chaotic, and raised concern that tens of thousands of consumers stood to lose home care.
New York is replacing more than 600 fiscal intermediaries who oversee payments for home care workers with a single firm, Public Partnerships LLC or PPL.
As of Monday, about 140,000 out of more than 200,000 consumers had been fully registered to the state-selected fiscal intermediary, according to PPL President Maria Perrin. Home care advocates who question PPL’s competency estimate about 10% of about 400,000 personal assistants have completed enrollment.
Those same advocates question whether the state’s new plan to extend the registration deadline is legal.
Ilana Berger, who leads the New York Caring Majority campaign, said caregivers are considered manual workers and therefore are supposed to receive weekly paychecks no later than seven days after the work-week in question.
Under the plan for the Consumer-Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP), those who have not yet registered by April 1 under PPL to manage payments for caregivers could still do so by month’s end, and would be paid retroactively for any intervening work days but only after registering.
“People cannot work with an ‘I owe you’ note from the governor saying maybe we’ll pay you sometime in the next 30 days,” Berger said.
The state has for weeks insisted the transition plan is on track, as advocates like Berger decried what they saw as a poorly organized registration process.
Two patients in wheelchairs and two home care advocates protesting PPL and the state's transition plan were arrested Monday at the state Capitol and charged with third-degree trespassing. One of the patients was also charged with second-degree harassment for allegedly striking a trooper with her wheelchair.
Administration officials refused to call the extended deadline a delay. Instead, Gov. Kathy Hochul described the move as a “grace period” for those who have yet to register for the state’s new payment processing system because the other fiscal intermediaries will not be allowed to operate in New York effective April 1.
Hochul said fiscal intermediaries were spreading misinformation in an attempt to discredit PPL and have delayed the process by not disclosing information Hochul says PPL needs.
"They have been digging their heels in, refusing to turn over legally obligated information about who the patients are and who the caregivers are," she said.
Dr. James McDonald, the state health commissioner, called the extension period a “late registration window.”
“In other words, (all) you have to do is keep track of your hours like you normally do, but there'll be a retroactive payment,” he said. “You will not be paid though, until you complete the registration process, which must be done by April 30.”
McDonald said the state selected PPL to manage the statewide Medicaid program after years of overspending and fraud within the program. He said spending for CDPAP jumped from $3.2 billion in 2018 to $11.2 billion in 2024.
But McDonald claimed that other fiscal intermediaries and those opposed to PPL have been spreading misinformation, hampering the transition process.
“This should deeply trouble anyone in New York state who’s got a conscience,” he said. “These are people who are comfortable interfering with other people’s health care.”
Perrin said that PPL has hired more workers to make the transition process run smoothly, and said consumers and caregivers can get assistance for registering online, in person and over the phone.
Those assurances have rung hollow for personal assistants and patients who say they have struggled to register or even confirm that they are fully registered because of disorganization on PPL’s part and long wait times.
As reporters asked Perrin, McDonald, New York State Medicaid Director Amir Bassiri and Amanda Lothrop questions about how many consumers and assistants are currently enrolled in PPL, Perrin offered to answer.
McDonald agreed that Perrin should take the lead in answering.
"You know it, it's your people," McDonald said.
