An Open Letter from PPL to Address the Misinformation Campaign Surrounding New York’s CDPAP Transition 

Earlier this week, a protest was organized by Caring Majority Rising, an affiliate group of CDPAANYS, which is an organization at the forefront of opposing the necessary reforms to New York’s Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP), at our PPL office in Latham, NY.

The protest was attended by 12 people and is by no means representative of the approximately 250,000 consumers who are part of CDPAP, many of whom have already registered with PPL.

The protest was just another example of the multi-million-dollar media and lobbying campaign waged by CDPAANYS (and its affiliates) aimed at spreading false information.

This misinformation campaign has been going on for months, ever since the legislature enacted a measure to reform CDPAP by (1) eliminating the 600+ unregulated, unmonitored, and overpaid CDPAP fiscal intermediaries and (2) replacing them, through a competitive procurement, with a single, fairly-compensated, accountable, and closely-monitored statewide fiscal intermediary.

Since then, CDPAANYS and its allies have engaged in litigation, publicity stunts, email and calling initiatives to crowd out PPL’s service center, social media blitzes, and more. This relentless flow of activity is part of an attempt to sabotage the orderly transition of the CDPAP administration to the newly selected statewide intermediary, PPL. These efforts have only intensified as April 1 draws closer and were recently called out in “cease and desist” letters sent by the NY Department of Health to several CDPAANYS affiliates who have engaged in the most egregious misconduct, including:

• Providing false information to consumers about the requirements of the Statewide Fiscal Intermediary transition.
• Falsely telling PAs that they can provide personal care services (PCS) to their family member currently participating in CDPAP, in violation of 18 NYCRR 505.14.
• Falsely telling PAs that they can provide PCS without meeting PCS requirements, including training and other assessments, registrations, and background checks.
• Falsely telling consumers that as of April 1, 2025, they no longer qualify for CDPAP services, or that their PA will no longer qualify to provide PA services.
• Falsely telling PAs or consumers that a personal care worker in a LHCSA can provide the same services as a PA under the CDPAP in violation of scope of practice regulations.

Because of these misinformation actions, many consumers and PAs are not certain what to do next. Several have refused to cooperate with the transition, have refused PPL’s attempt to help them register, and/or are waiting until the last minute to begin their paperwork.

All this opposition activity has subsequently caused a surge of calls in March to the PPL call center as consumers finally realized they had been misinformed and must now take action. Additionally, before proceeding with the registration process, PPL agents often must first address misinformation topics—which extends the time of each call. In fact, PPL agents on average spend 24 minutes with each caller.

In short, the actions of these opposition forces to disrupt this transition are putting consumers and PAs at risk. These disruptive efforts are causing confusion and delays for the sake of preserving the high revenues to their association and associated members.

Cost reports show one CDPAANYS member organization made $47 million in profit in one year off Medicaid. It’s no wonder that they are fighting so hard to protect the status quo.

These organizations are charging the program $150 to $1,050 per consumer per month just to provide administrative support, not caregiver services. PPL is charging $68.50 for administrative support; a fair price for these services, which enables more program dollars to be allocated for direct care for consumers in need.  

Despite the unethical actions of CDPAANYS and its affiliates to make this transition difficult for everyone, PPL persists in doing everything possible to carry out the law and our contract responsibilities.

PPL will always have consumers and personal assistants as our priority. We hope that these opposing forces will stop distracting our resources from having to correct their misinformation, and rather, enable us to focus their time and energy on the people who need support—CDPAP consumers and their caregivers.

As we look ahead to the final days of the transition, it’s more important than ever that all organizations set aside their own self-interests, stop fueling uncertainty and confusion, and work collectively on a smooth transition for the benefit of consumers who need care.