Gov. Kathy Hochul is moving ahead with a plan to overhaul the administration of a home health care program serving roughly 250,000 New Yorkers, despite pushback from some lawmakers, home care companies and patient advocates.
Hochul announced this week that the Georgia-based firm Public Partnerships LLC will take over management of the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program, which allows elderly and disabled New Yorkers to use public dollars to hire aides — including family members or loved ones — to help them with basic tasks at home.
The home care program cost Medicaid more than $9 billion last year and is currently managed by more than 600 companies statewide that handle payroll, timesheets and other administrative responsibilities. Public Partnerships will take over management of the program by mid-2025 and will subcontract with about 30 regional home care companies across the state, according to the governor’s announcement.
“Our plan will deliver a stronger [Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program] and leverage a diverse, statewide partnership to ensure the high-quality, personalized care that New Yorkers need,” Hochul said in a statement.
The contract amount has yet to be announced.
Hochul included the plan to streamline the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program in this year’s state budget and has argued that it will improve oversight, reduce the potential for fraud or abuse and save taxpayers money.
But a coalition of home care companies and advocates known as the Alliance to Protect Home Care has been lobbying to halt the plan, arguing Hochul is ultimately angling to reduce the number of patients served.
The coalition is now also pushing back on the company she has chosen to administer the program, pointing out it was the subject of a class-action lawsuit that’s still pending in Pennsylvania over allegations of failing to pay home care workers overtime.
“Hochul is handing New York’s home care program over to a company that has been a complete disaster in every state they’ve operated,” said Bryan O’Malley, the Alliance to Protect Home Care’s executive director.
Asked about the lawsuit against Public Partnerships, Sam Spokony, a spokesperson for Hochul, noted that other home care firms already operating in New York have also been subject to legal action for allegedly cheating workers. Shifting to a single company to administer the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program will help hold everyone accountable, he said.
Maria Perrin, chief growth officer for Public Partnerships LLC, denied that the company was involved in wage theft in Pennsylvania. She also addressed recent reports that the company has failed to have home care contracts renewed in some other states where it has operated similar programs.
Perrin said the company continues to operate home care programs in states including New Jersey, Tennessee and Virginia. She added that it’s not a bad thing that Public Partnerships was recently outbid by a competitor for a home care contract in West Virginia.
“This is a competitive market,” she said. “That’s a good thing for the state and consumers.”
Perrin also said that as Public Partnerships takes over the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program in New York, it’s seeking to work with home care companies serving diverse populations across the state.
But some opponents are still working to block the transition. Several home care companies that stand to be pushed out amid the overhaul have sued the state to try to stop the plan.
State Sen. Gustavo Rivera, a Bronx Democrat, introduced a bill last month that would halt Hochul’s plan and instead seek to improve oversight in the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program by creating a licensing scheme for the hundreds of companies that serve as intermediaries.
About 30 other state senators sent a letter to the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in August, expressing concerns that the plan would restrict access to home care for consumers who value being able to choose which company they work with.
“You are insisting that this is something that you’re going to be able to do in an elegant fashion,” Rivera said. “I don’t believe it.”
Rivera said the selection of Public Partnerships LLC has only increased his concerns about Hochul’s plan.