HOME CARE SHUFFLE: More than 100,000 people receiving a popular home care service have not begun the process of registering with the new company administering it ahead of a statutory deadline and are at risk of falling out of the program. Public Partnerships LLC, the Georgia-based company chosen to broker the payroll and paperwork for home care workers under the consumer directed personal assistance program, which allows people to hire friends and family as aides, has begun or completed registering approximately 150,000 people, the state Health Department announced Wednesday, out of roughly 280,000 current participants. Some state lawmakers and a coalition of current brokers and users who are being pushed out by the overhaul are advocating for the statute to be revisited before the April 1 deadline.
NEGATIVE TESTS: A defunct diagnostics lab will pay the state $55,000 in penalties for misleading customers about its rapid Covid-19 tests. The company, Lab Worq, advertised 24-hour tests, which in reality, sometimes took days longer at the end of 2021 and early 2022, according to Attorney General Letitia James’ office, which secured the settlement. The delays impacted 90,000 customers in the two weeks leading up to Christmas 2021, delaying holiday travel. The company is not in operation but its owners have agreed not mislead future customers if it ever restarts.
