The Hochul administration on Monday announced a “blessing period” for consumers caught up in the middle of a turbulent overhaul of the state's $9 billion home care system, but continued to distract Chaos from responsibility.
The Ministry of Health said participants in the Personal Assistance Program for Consumer (CDPAP) will be refunded once documents are processed by Public Partnerships LLC.
But state health commissioner Jim McDonald has denounced a massive backlog of processing and other issues that have been replaced by PPL by hundreds of former intermediaries.
“It's very troublesome for me that the past information there was something very misleading for everyone,” McDonald said at a press conference.
The grace period marks a massive turnaround after a few months of administration claiming the transition is on track, claiming that it is expected to be completed by April 1, but there have been cases where a real number of people have moved.
“I don't consider it a secret,” McDonald said. This is when asked why his department often refuses to provide accurate data or other information.
The commissioner touted that he would send 18 ceasefires and abolition letters to fiscal intermediaries accused of spreading misinformation. There are over 600 such companies that are overall part of the transition.
At a press conference Monday, PPL CEO Maria Perrin said about 140,000 consumers have completed the transition process. DOH said last week that around 55,000 had left CDPAP for good and moved to a more expensive personal care service program.
It still doesn't explain one more of the roughly 85,000 consumers.
State Medicaid director Amir Basiri said Monday that he expected PPL to complete sign-ups to 220,000 consumers by April 1. A health department spokesperson later said Basiri said he had “mispoke” but refused to provide accurate estimates.
Despite a one-month “great period,” critics still point out that thousands of personal assistants will want PPL to process the paperwork for weeks and then be left without paying for weeks as they can receive payment.
“The Department of Health continues to blame everyone but themselves and PPL for this disaster in this transition,” said Brian O'Malley, executive director of the Alliance for the Alliance for Protecting Home Care, one of the groups representing financial peers.
“Now they're creating more confusion and confusion by asking home caregivers to work without even the most basic protections and without wages,” O'Malley continued. “The IOU does not pay rent or groceries and does not cover deferred or overdraft fees.”
As of Monday evening, the PPL website had not mentioned anything about the “Grace Period” and still said that consumers and personal assistants must move by March 28th.
DOH Medicaid Chief Operating Officer Amanda Lothrop said PAS that use Grace period should continue to fill out the timesheets just as they are now, despite the current financial intermediaries being effectively removed.
“You're still tracking your time the same way you have,” Rothrop said.
