[Cdpaanys] Albany Times Union: CDPAP glitches continue with pay errors, lapsed health insurance

[Laura Cardwell]

*CDPAP glitches continue with pay errors, lapsed health insurance**Private
company's takeover of home care program beset by numerous technical
problems and red tape headaches*
Times Union
<https://www.timesunion.com/capitol/article/incorrect-pay-lapsed-health-insurance-cdpap-20293183.php>|
Raga Justin

ALBANY — Problems continue to plague the administrative transition of a
multibillion-dollar Medicaid program to a vendor hand-picked by New York
officials, including some home care aides who say they have been left
without health insurance indefinitely.

The popular Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program serves over
250,000 people with long-term medical needs, and employs over 200,000 more
people who get paid through the complex health coverage program. The
program allows Medicaid recipients who are eligible for home care services
to hire their own personal caregiver, including family members.

The program has ballooned in recent years, causing state officials to
address what they have said has been a massive spike in expenses and
allegations of fraud. The solution they settled on was to turn over the
administration of the program over to a single company, Public Partnerships
LLC.

But the company’s takeover has been beset by numerous technical problems
and red tape headaches, according to multiple people who care for their
loved ones through the program. Now, some aides say their paychecks come
late or are incorrect, while others told the Times Union their aides’ pay
has been slightly reduced as a result of the shift to Public Partnerships.

Other aides said their own health insurance has lapsed and they have gotten
conflicting accounts of when it will resume. Seeking clarity, they are
often bounced from the private company’s representatives to the state
Department of Health, only to be told that no one has answers.

Samuel, an aide in Brooklyn who asked not to be identified by his last
name, said he was told his new health insurance through Public
Partnerships, offered by a private company called Leading Edge, would kick
in on May 1 before pushing back the start date a month.

He is currently uninsured and has been told his only option is to purchase
private insurance — a costly move.

“Unfortunately, that’s the situation we’re in,” a Public Partnerships
representative told Samuel last week during a call about his health
insurance, according to a recording of the conversation.

“Two months without being able to go to a doctor or access health services,
which is crazy,” Samuel said. “It’s an utter mess.”

Those problems have been extensively documented in lawsuits filed against
Public Partnerships and the state Department of Health. One federal lawsuit
filed earlier this week in western New York alleges widespread wage theft
and violations of state labor laws, including “unpaid minimum wages, unpaid
overtime compensation, unpaid spread of hours, unpaid call-in pay, unpaid
split shift pay, unpaid bonuses as an earned wage, and damages related to
untimely wage payments.”

Even if aides are getting paid, the paychecks are sometimes incorrect.
Laurie, a former nurse who is taking care of her son through the program,
said she has spent hours on the phone with Public Partnership
representatives fixing minor technical issues, like a shift she worked that
was not reflected in her pay for the week because it was held up for
processing.

The computer system used by the company is also not user-friendly and
Laurie, who requested her last name not be used, said she often feels like
she’s jumping through hoops and running into unnecessary and burdensome
administrative red tape.

“I am just so annoyed with it. The hours you put in just getting things to
work — there’s no rulebook,” she said. “I will go on with this until I get
so sick of it that I’ll just leave and take my son out of the system. And
the state wins, because then they’re saving money.”

The ongoing troubles have been occurring as the state agreed to a
preliminary injunction delaying some key registration deadlines associated
with the administrative transition to Public Partnerships. A federal
lawsuit filed earlier this month in the Eastern District of New York will
allow consumers until May 15 to enroll with the company, while home care
aides will have until June 6.

The preliminary injunction also allows certain fiscal intermediaries to
continue employing and compensating a portion of home care aides who were
not able to meet the original registration deadline of April 1.

“What I find surprising, shocking even, is that the people on the second
floor (in the governor’s office) continued to ignore that we knew what was
going to be the case,” said state Sen. Gustavo Rivera, a Bronx Democrat,
referring to Gov. Kathy Hochul's administration. “It was a boneheaded thing
from the beginning.”

Rivera, who chairs the Senate’s Health Committee, has long been opposed to
the transition, often characterizing it as hasty and ill-advised.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health referred questions about the
administration of the program to a spokeswoman for Public Partnerships,
Lacey Hautzinger.

In a statement, Hautzinger pointed to “many resources” the company offers
to help patients and aides with timesheet management, listing a call center
open Monday through Saturday, in-person appointments at the company’s
offices, and daily webinars with live question-and-answer sessions.

Neither the company nor Health Department officials offered an explanation
for some of the snafus that have beset the program, including lapsed health
care coverage.

Helen Schaub, a vice president with the influential health care union
1199SEIU, said the complaints from patients and home care aides alike have
been troubling, but added that the former companies involved in the
industry, often referred to as “fiscal intermediaries,” deliberately made
the transition rockier than it needed to be.

When asked whether the union still has confidence in the vendor, Schaub
offered a more cautious endorsement of the company.

“At the end of the day … do they have the right system? Is this the right
company? I think that story is still being told,” Schaub said. “But in
terms of how to move forward, at this point, we think the only way forward
is through.”

Multiple lawsuits had been filed alleging that the union played a role in
urging New York to overhaul the home care program and to choose Public
Partnerships to oversee it.

-- 

Laura Cardwell

Director of Operations & Events

CDPAANYS/CDANY

she/her/hers

(518) 813-9537 ext 1
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