Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration issued cease and desist letters to companies that pay workers within a popular Medicaid-funded home care program to stop them from spreading misleading information about the state’s looming consolidation.
Tensions between the state and middlemen companies that administer a $9 billion home care program are coming to a head before a key deadline. By April 1, the 280,000 people using the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program, or CDPAP, which allows New Yorkers to hire family members as caregivers, must be transitioned from roughly 600 “fiscal intermediaries” to just one firm, Georgia-based Public Partnerships LLC. The state alleged that the brokers – who stand to lose significant revenue and could potentially shut down because of the shift – misled consumers to switch out of the home care program to undermine the state’s overhaul.
The Department of Health issued cease-and-desist letters Monday to 17 home care companies, ordering them to stop spreading misinformation. The false claims included telling consumers that they would lose services on April 1 and that consumers can switch from CDPAP to a licensed home care agency while still getting care from an immediate family member. The letters come after the state said it received complaints that the firms provided the program’s users with “false, deceptive or coercive” information about the transition.
The administration threatened to revoke companies’ licenses if they continue misleading consumers about changes to CDPAP.
A handful of agencies have started advertising to consumers and caregivers to switch out of CDPAP so the companies can continue to get paid through other avenues. Some agencies operate two separate home care businesses: one administers CDPAP and the other is a licensed home health agency that employs certified aides. For example, Brooklyn-based home health agency Elite Choice has posted directions on its website and sent out flyers encouraging people to become certified personal care aides so they can stay with the agency after the CDPAP transition is complete. The agency has not received a cease-and-desist letter from the state.
But the two types of care are different; while CDPAP allows home care users to employ family members and friends as caregivers, those who receive care through a licensed agency cannot hire an immediate family member. Personal care aides also cannot provide the same level of care as a CDPAP caregiver, including medication administration or wound treatment.
Freedom Care, a New Hyde Park-based agency that has brought a lawsuit against the state aiming to stop the transition, is one of the companies that received a cease-and-desist order from the Health Department for misleading consumers. It stands to lose 30,000 New Yorkers who get care through CDPAP, according to court filings.
As the state nears its April 1 deadline, some home care users have decided to switch out of CDPAP. Roughly 30,000 people who previously received care through the program have dropped out to receive personal care services through a licensed home health agency, Medicaid-funded services that include hygiene tasks, housekeeping and cooking, according to recent data from the Health Department.
“Home care users have always had the option to choose the care program that is best for them,” said agency spokeswoman Cadence Acquaviva, adding that consumers who switch out of CDPAP can register with PPL in the future if they decide to return to the program.
There are several reasons why people may choose to switch out of CDPAP, according to Bryan O’Malley, executive director of the Alliance to Protect Home Care, which is lobbying to stop the state’s transition. Although there may be some “bad actors” trying to mislead consumers to leave CDPAP, many consumers could have decided that they want to stick with the agency they know instead of moving to PPL, he said.
“If it’s happening, we don’t agree with it,” O’Malley said of the agencies who have allegedly provided false information. “We think it’s important that consumers have all the facts.”
