Push to save home health aide program

ALBANY — Hundreds of Bronx residents have joined the push to preserve a Medicaid-funded program allowing seniors and people with disabilities to hire their own home-health aides, calling on Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie to prevent cuts.

The Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program, known as CDPAP, allows people to pay for at-home health care service through a financial intermediary, rather than going to a long-term care facility or nursing home.

Supporters are calling on Heastie and other lawmakers to use budget negotiations to stand up to a state plan that greatly limits the number of financial intermediaries.

“It is quite clear that CDPAP is essential, allowing any New Yorker who qualifies for a nursing home stay to remain in their homes with the flexibility of hiring their preferred caregiver — be that a son, daughter, relative, friend, or professional home attendant,” a group of 174 constituents wrote to Heastie, a Bronx Democrat. “Each and every one of us has had a life-saving experience with CDPAP.”

While many studies have shown that people with disabilities do better at home with aides of their own choosing, CDPAP was seen as one of the largest drivers of the state’s Medicaid spending in recent years.

That led to a crackdown over the past two years that dropped the number of intermediaries from 450 to less than 70.

Some lawmakers are backing a plan to delay the reduction until next year, giving families a bit of breathing room as other options are sussed out.

As budget negotiations drag on, families and caregivers in the Bronx and beyond fear the program they rely on will be further impacted.

“It is unconscionable that the state’s misguided attempt to reign in this program by reducing the number of approved providers may well upend the entire industry and leave thousands of New Yorkers scrambling for options,” the letter to Heastie reads. “We are urgently asking you to step up and save CDPAP to protect the most vulnerable constituents in your district.”

A spokeswoman for the Speaker said that Assembly Democrats are confident that those who rely on the program will be happy with the outcome.

“The Assembly Majority does not want to see any disruption to this program either,” Heastie spokeswoman Kerri Biche said. “We are fighting to get more financial intermediary contracts for the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program across the state.”