DOH and PPL address CDPAP transition concerns

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) – We’ve been covering the state’s at home care program as it’s undergoing a transition, from hundreds of payroll processors to just one. NEWS10’s Carina Dominguez talked to the new company and the head of the Department of Health.

Commissioner Dr. Jim McDonald said the change happened because New York’s at-home care program was getting so expensive it was unsustainable. 

The Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program is funded by Medicaid. Previously more than 600 companies, known as Fiscal Intermediaries (FIs), were doing the program’s time keeping and processing payroll. McDonald said New York paid higher rates than other state’s across the country. 

“In some cases $150 per member, per month. And others were $1,000 per member, per month. The weighted average was $264 per member, per month – way more than any other state in the United States, which paid a little under $100 per member, per month,” said McDonald.

When it came to Medicaid spending on at-home care programs across the nation, he said New York stood out.

“Interestingly enough in New York state we were 45 percent of the home care spend in the United States. So just our state alone was 45 percent of the spend for the United States,” said McDonald.

In addition to the cost, he said, the department sought to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse.

“We weren’t always confident people were recording their time in a way that could actually verify their time. Now there’s a way to do that. So it’s a new system for people. PPL has created a webpage for people to go step-by-step on how to enter the time,” said McDonald.

The state passed a law last year that outlined one lone company would handle time tracking and payroll processing. The company hired was Public Partnerships LLC, simply known as PPL.

The prior companies did not transition care to PPL and that was what created the most obstacles during the transition, McDonald said.

“That’s been the biggest challenge and that’s why PPL had to hire so many workers, why the Department of Health has been so involved because the legacy FI’s did not put the interest and needs of the consumers and workers ahead of their own,” said McDonald.

The goal of the switch, he said, was to maintain the program and make it more affordable and sustainable.

“For the future with Medicaid funding, all we hear are cuts are coming. New York was an outlier in this area. Other states had long ago done the same thing we’re doing, where they went to one fiscal intermediary or a couple fiscal intermediaries. We’re simply catching up to the other states,” said McDonald.

The state began the transition to PPL on January 6. CDPAP participants reported problems with PPL’s registration process from the beginning. Many we’ve spoken with said those problems still continue

Some CDPAP participants said they don’t know where they stand with the company. Some said they’re not getting paid the right amount or not getting paid at all.

I asked the commissioner, “At what point does the Department of Health exercise that oversight and say, ‘Hey, this really isn’t working the way we imagined it. It’s not smooth. It’s not paying people the right amount. They’re not getting paid on time’? At what point does the DOH make that decision and exercise that oversight?”

McDonald responded, “We exercise oversight every single day and we interact with PPL multiple times every single day. We are committed to the program being successful and making sure PPL is a good vendor. Right now. they’re meeting our expectations and they’re working as hard as possible.”

“Yesterday 156,000 workers got paid. That was up from 131,000 last week. And they get paid every week. So you see nice progress and I expect more will get paid even next Thursday because as more workers finish up their paperwork, then more workers will get paid,” said McDonald.

“Obviously we want everyone to get paid who worked and served a consumer and this is really important work. It’s the only thing that PPL does and we want to help every consumer and PA to continue to get service and to continue to give service,” said Perrin.

McDonald said 98 percent of consumers have completed or started the enrollment process and added they’re “getting close to the finish line” with getting workers enrolled.

“We as New York State Department of Health are managing the vendor. We have to keep PPL accountable to do what they said they were gonna do. And right now they’re doing the best they can to keep up with demand,” said McDonald.

That demand, workers said, is creating long wait times and hangups.

“PPL is reaching out to everyone who calls them. I have call center data that shows that if you call PPL the average wait time is five minutes. If you leave a message, they call you back within an hour. I have data that shows this,” said McDonald. 

When I asked if he believed people were lying about long wait times, he said it was aggregate data.

“When we interact with PPLmultiple times every day, they are committed to making sure everybody gets paid accurately and paid on time. What they need though is for people to learn the new system, which is something everybody has to learn the new system. But you know if there’s mistakes that are made they’ll retroactively fix them. They have the flexibility to do that,” said McDonald.

He acknowledged the transition issues and urges anyone with problems to contact the DOH at 833-947-8666 or StatewideFI@health.ny.gov. McDonald said they are happy to help people interact with PPL.

“We’re very committed to having a successful transition of this program and having a successful program. We will keep proper oversight over PPL and make sure people do get paid appropriately,” said McDonald.