The company, which is at the center of allegations of bid rigging surrounding Gov. Kathy Hochul's $9 billion overhaul of the home care program, added staff weeks before winning the contract, records show.
Public Partnership LLC had already posted a job opening for a manager in August, about two months before officially winning the contract to essentially act as an intermediary between Medicaid and caregivers – Criticism The families argue that this proves that the contract has already been completed.
“The mountain of evidence continues to grow, and it all points to fraudulent bids for PPL,” said Brian O'Malley, executive director of the Alliance to Protect Home Care, an industry group representing both companies.
“If Governor Hochul is true to her promise of a 'new era of transparency,' she will make all communications with PPL public before this backroom deal endangers the health of hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers.” “I guess so,” O'Malley told the Post.
The company was seeking a so-called market implementation director to oversee a team of employees building the infrastructure needed to take over payroll functions for more than 200,000 CDPAP caregivers, according to job postings obtained by the newspaper.
“This says a little bit about their arrogance,” said one person familiar with the bidding process.
“This is the most messed up procurement I've ever seen,” the official continued, noting that he had never seen a company start hiring before a deal like this was signed.
The contract was not officially signed until September 30th.
This post did not include a salary range; required by state law.
But a PPL spokesperson said the company had never actually hired anyone and insisted recruiting was normal practice for potential large state contracts.
“We did not hire anyone for the NY CDPAP contract prior to contract signing,” a PPL spokesperson wrote. “We sometimes try to identify candidates for large contracts we are bidding on before they are awarded, so that if we win the contract we have a pipeline of potential staff and We will be able to hire you more quickly once the contract is signed.”
The spokesperson did not provide any examples of other job postings that were advertised before the contract was awarded.
As part of the deal, PPL also committed to moving its headquarters to New York. Many current job postings on PPL's website indicate the company is seeking candidates who reside in Albany or New York City, but remote work is permitted.
A company spokesperson said employees will continue to be required to work remotely within the state.
“Our implementation is progressing well. We've hired hundreds of people, identified locations in Albany and Midtown, and are well on our way with the rest of our infrastructure,” a spokesperson wrote. said it is focused on hiring “more than 1,000 New Yorkers.”
Mr. Hochul has faced intense criticism and questions over his motives for sweeping changes to the rapidly expanding $9 billion Medicaid program.
One of the current companies that stands to lose business due to the transition to PPL is suing the state, alleging irregularities in the bidding process.
Freedom Care LLC claims PPL is in financial trouble and is working with the powerful medical union 1199SEIU to push for a review of CDPAP.
The Post's shocking report reveals that 1199SEIU has announced that winning contractors will agree to unionize care workers and give them higher wages, meaning hundreds of thousands of new dues-paying members. It was revealed that they were working behind the scenes to get them to agree to joint claims.
Hochul made curbing waste, fraud and abuse of CDPAP a priority in this year's national budget. Her original proposal would have strengthened state oversight and control over financial intermediaries, of which there are currently around 700.
Those plans were abruptly scrapped during behind-the-scenes budget negotiations between Mr. Hochul and state legislative leaders, and the decision was instead made to consolidate the services into one hand-picked company.
People familiar with the matter told the Post that PPL was the frontrunner for the contract before the ink was even dry on the state budget deal.
Ever since Hochul and Congress decided to abolish most of the intermediaries, these organizations have been at war trying to figure out the changes. These include lawsuits, large-scale advertising campaigns, and demonstrations.
A spokesperson for Hochul denied the allegations of bid rigging.
“No one in the state government advised the bidders to begin recruiting in August because state officials did not know who would be selected until the procurement process was complete,” a Hochul spokesperson said in a statement. That is clear.”
“It's also clear that the companies that are spending millions of dollars trying to block the reforms we desperately need are just throwing more spaghetti at the wall to see if anything works. ” they continued.
Last week, Republican lawmakers in New York called on the federal government to withhold some Medicaid funding to slow implementation of the reforms.
