Lawmakers question officials over CDPAP contract

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10)---The New York State Health Commissioner and the Vice President of Governmental Relations of Public Partnerships LLC were in the hot seat as lawmakers in a joint Senate hearing asked them about CDPAP, also known as the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program. It is the state’s home health care program funded by Medicaid that has been going through a transitional payroll change.

There have been reported problems with CDPAP’s transition from hundreds of payroll processors to just one. The processor is now Public Partnerships LLC, also known as PPL.

First to testify in the hearing that was held in New York City, was New York State Health Commissioner, Dr. James McDonald who said the transition was a way to reduce fraud and cut down on wasteful spending. 

"By eliminating these excessive administrative costs while not changing eligibility standards, we’re on track to achieve a savings of $500 million per year," said McDonald.

Senator James Skoufis asked the commissioner about the bidding process for the transition and about a bill draft that he says named PPL. 

"Do you believe that if there was a bill draft as a part of budget negotiations, that specifically cited PPL as the awardee of a no-bid contract, that that could reasonably lead some people to be suspicious that the bid was steered?

McDonald responded to Skoufis by saying, "I don’t really know how to comment on a bill draft quite frankly. I never saw that. "

Skoufis replied, "Happy to give it to you! There is a bill draft from early April that names PPL. It wasn’t in the enacted version because the Senate pushed back on a no-bid contract. But the executive came to us naming PPL in a no-bid contract. Then miraculously, PPL gets the award a few months later..."

McDonald went on to say he was presented information from his staff on the results of the request for proposals and that he was the one who made the choice. 

Second to testify was Patty Byrnes, Vice President of Governmental Relations for PPL. She too was asked about the bill draft by Skoufis. 

"Were you aware that PPL, as I mentioned earlier to the commissioner, was mentioned in a bill draft was actually named in a no-bid proposal to consolidate fiscal intermediaries? You are completely unaware of that happening?"

Patty responded by saying "Correct."

News10 asked the Executive Office if they drafted a bill specially naming PPL during the budget process and if they could share anything about the bidding process and transition. A spokesperson for Governor Hochul stated in-part, 

“The shift to a single fiscal intermediary went through a standard procurement process at DOH, following the law passed by the State Legislature – and no State officials knew who would be selected until the procurement process was complete."