State Sen. John Liu has warned that thousands of Medicaid patients may face disruptions to critical at-home care if the state legislature does not extend the April 1 deadline allowing patients and caregivers to transition to statewide fiscal intermediary Public Partnerships, LLC.
Public Partnerships, LLC (PPL) is now responsible for managing payroll and administrative functions for all participants in Medicaid’s Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP). This program allows chronically ill or physically disabled individuals to hire their own caregivers, often family members or close friends.
Advocates for CDPAP state that the program empowers patients with greater control over their care, ensuring culturally appropriate and personalized assistance.
In 2024, New York State mandated that all CDPAP participants, including patients and caregivers, transition to PPL. The transition period began on Jan. 6 and is slated to end on April 1.
Liu has now called for that deadline to be extended, citing rushed implementation and inadequate outreach conducted during the transition period. He stated that thousands of families, particularly in immigrant communities, remain confused and unprepared due to language barriers and a lack of clear guidance on the transition period.
He emphasized that failure to extend the deadline would put patients’ continued access to health care services at risk. Liu also highlighted low turnout at PPL-sponsored registration events in Flushing, a community with large Chinese, Korean and Bengali-speaking populations.
Liu pointed out that the low turnout showcased that outreach efforts failed to reach multi-language communities adequately. He additionally expressed concerns that key steps in the registration process, such as account verification and password creation, were available only in English, adding further complications for non-English speakers.
“Thousands of families who rely on CDPAP for critical healthcare face devastating disruptions due to a hastily put together enrollment period, language barriers and insufficient outreach,” Liu said in a statement. “The April 1st deadline for these patients and their caretakers is less than three weeks away, and too many are still unclear about how to even enroll.
“More time is needed to guarantee a smooth transition for all enrollees, and we need to push back this deadline so that no one is left behind.”
Patients or caregivers seeking to transition to PPL can do so over the phone by calling the customer support center at 1-833-247-5346. The support center is also available in Arabic (1-833-278-4829), French (1-833-279-3511), Haitian Creole (1-833-279-3513 ), Spanish (1-833-281-0927) and TTY (1-833-204-9042).
They can also transition online using the PPL@Home online system or by using CDPAP facilitators, community-based organizations located throughout New York State that can help people transition to PPL.
Finally, patients and caregivers can transition to PPL by attending an in-person or virtual session for dedicated support. For a full list of upcoming sessions, click here. Two registration sessions are set to take place in Flushing on Tuesday, March 25, with one session from 10 a.m. until 12 p.m. and the other from 3-5 p.m.
