State Celebrates Disability Rights Employment Awareness Month by Gutting Homecare Program That Employs and Serves People with Disabilities

This information is provided by BRIDGES located in Rockland County. Please see the last paragraph for more information about their services and their mission. 

The New York Association on Independent Living (NYAIL) is outraged at Governor Hochul’s recent announcement that it has selected an out-of-state company to run the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP).

New York has selected Public Partnerships LLC (PPL), a Georgia-based company to administer CDPAP for nearly 250,000 disabled and elderly New Yorkers and the roughly 375,000 Personal Assistants who help them live at home and participate in their communities. PPL would serve as the single statewide Fiscal Intermediary (FI), a move that would shutter some 600 community-based FIs under the guise of saving money. This was done without needed input from program users and disability advocates, which will have a devastating impact on the lives of consumers who depend on this program to remain independent.

The disability community has been calling for meaningful, not draconian, reforms to the program for over a decade. Those calls have been unanswered. Thoughtful regulatory reforms remain the preferred approach to this simplistic and harmful proposal.

“The fact New York State chose an out-of-state company, rather than following through on its regulatory obligations to manage CDPAP is a huge disgrace and slap in the face to every single New Yorker who uses or runs a CDPAP program,” said Denise Figueroa, Executive Director of the Independent Living Center of the Hudson Valley in Troy.

“Massachusetts and Pennsylvania made the transition to a single FI with CDPAP programs a fraction the size of New York. Homecare workers went unpaid and disabled people needing services did not get them for months,” said Lindsay Miller, Executive Director of NYAIL. “In addition, consumers lost access to the bricks and mortar, local supports from the community-based organizations that knew them, understood their needs, and had the cultural and linguistic competence to best support them in the program. Imagine the impact on New Yorkers with high needs.”

Under the budget agreement New York’s eleven Independent Living Centers (ILCs) who currently operate as FIs are mandatory subcontractors.

“While we are grateful the role of Independent Living in creating and successfully operating this program for three decades was recognized with our member ILCs who operate a fiscal intermediary program mandated to be included as subcontractors. However, we have had no discussions with the State regarding what the subcontractor role will actually entail. Our ILC FIs have been model FIs for decades, and are prepared to continue as full FIs. We believe their continued operation as full FIs will provide both necessary choice to consumers and an ideal that an outside contractor should aspire to. We remain vehemently opposed to the State’s decision to go in this direction when more thoughtful approaches to address the problems in the system exist. Taking an ax to the program is a harmful, not beneficial, action,” added Miller.

The transition to one single FI is expected to take effect on April 1, 2025. Given it took at least six months to transition consumers in PA and MA with programs a fraction of the size this is an unrealistic and dangerous timeline. Facing their statutory demise, it is reasonable to assume despite best efforts to remain optimally operating that the current FIs will bleed staff, and the quality of the program for its participants will suffer, especially if the transition takes more time than expected.

Ironically, this announcement was made on the eve of the State’s annual Disability Rights Employment Awareness Month (DREAM) event. This action will undoubtedly result in a huge net loss of jobs in New York, many of those jobs held by persons with disabilities. The 1,200 jobs touted by PPL are jobs new to that out-of-state contractor, not the net impact on jobs when over 600 New York employers are put out of business.

“In addition to the net overall New York jobs lost, this systemic upheaval will result in the disability unemployment rate increasing as people lose homecare staff for essential tasks like transferring out of bed or getting dressed. This abrupt move to a single FI undermines any initiative that would create employment for people with disabilities and puts more barriers in place,” said Alex Thompson, Director of Advocacy for NYAIL.

About BRIDGES: BRIDGES is a nonprofit Independent Living Center dedicated to promoting independence, inclusion, and accessibility for individuals with disabilities. Since 1988, BRIDGES has been at the forefront of advocating for the rights and needs of people with disabilities in the Rockland County area. Through a range of programs and services, BRIDGES empowers individuals to live full, self-directed lives in their communities. www.BRIDGESRC.org