New York state lawmakers will hold a public hearing next month to determine how the Legislature should address continuing issues with a $9 billion Medicaid home care program after a controversial transition to one company.

The Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program, known as CDPAP, allows disabled or elderly people to choose their own home caregiver. Company Public Partnerships LLC, or PPL, took over the program April 1 — a decision Gov. Kathy Hochul forced in last year's budget to put over 600 fiscal intermediaries out of business.

The Senate hearing, to be led by the Investigations and Government Operations and the Health committees, will take place in New York City on July 9 after reports of bid-rigging for the $9 billion contract, and as several home care workers say they continue to have issues receiving correct weekly paychecks. 

"This has been an ongoing fight," Senate Health Committee chair Gustavo Rivera said at a press conference Wednesday in the Bronx.

Lawmakers like Rivera, who are skeptical of the ongoing transition and performance of new company PPL, said the hearing will serve as the next step for the Legislature to decide how to intervene, if at all, with ongoing issues with the program. 

Consequences of the rushed transition continue, including workers claiming they haven't received owed back payments, leading some to leave the program, and concerns about participants losing care or forcing them into nursing homes.

Rivera's legislation to make independent living centers licensed fiscal intermediaries to assist PPL, or to increase program oversight failed this session. The senator said lawmakers ran out of time after the state budget passed five weeks overdue.

"This is precisely why the hearing is necessary," Rivera told reporters. "Based on the facts that we find during the hearing, then we'll make a determination about what needs to potentially legislatively be done.

"What are the things that we need to learn to make sure that those individuals who are served by this program consider to be served by this program?" he said. "There are lessons to learn here."

Sen. James Skoufis said lawmakers must find out what happened after hearing from companies that claim they were improperly disqualified from the $9B contract.

"There were budget drafts where PPL was actually named in the draft without even an RFP, without any kind of bidding process," said Skoufis, who chairs the Investigations and Government Operations Committee.

And it took lawmakers months to get a copy of the contract, the senator added.

"It's alarming to me that the Department of Labor, which is tasked as our state agency to make sure workers are protected, has not stepped in in a meaningful way over the past number of months as many employees have advised us that they've gone weeks without pay," Skoufis said.

But Assemblymember John McDonald, a pharmacist who is the brother of Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald, said the transition was an intelligent decision ahead of federal lawmakers' proposed billions of dollars in Medicaid cuts.

He said PPL seems to be ironing out its problems, and his office receives fewer calls about CDPAP and issues with the company now compared to earlier this spring when the transition took effect.

"No program on its implementation is going to be perfect, but there has been a very large, multi-million dollar campaign from the beginning to try to make this fail," McDonald told Spectrum News 1.

McDonald said at a rally in the Capitol last week, advocacy group Caring Majority Rising mischaracterized the recent death of one of his patients, disability rights advocate Denise DiNoto, and falsely claimed her death happened because of losing care during the transition.

"That was disheartening, because it kind of was an example of what I've always been concerned about through this process: That individuals with other motives than patient care were trying to focus on their own personal profit," he said.

Still, several home care workers said while PPL has improved accuracy of paychecks, they still have not been paid for missing hours early in the transition, and they don't receive a call back from the company.

Carmen Morales, a CDPAP personal assistant in Albany for over a decade, said she did not have pay issues before the transition to PPL, and it's forcing her to consider other employment.

Morales, who works a 28-hour shift each week, said she's still owed between $550 and $1,200 from the company and is behind on two months of rent because of inconsistent paychecks. She said each of the seven home care workers who care for a quadriplegic man in the capital city have experienced pay discrepancies since the transition.

"I consistently ask PPL, you guys got your paycheck on time, correct?" she said. "You guys got all your money, correct? Where is ours? Why do we have to fight for our money but you don't have to fight for yours?"

A spokesperson with PPL on Wednesday said the company contacts a personal assistant immediately after receiving a complaint about inaccurate paychecks, and researches every case.

"The vast majority of claims raised have been accurately paid and required education to the PA on the timesheet submission and program rules," according to the spokesperson. "PPL is committed to helping all consumers and PAs understand and adhere to program rules when submitting timesheets for payment, with education and training available through various channels. This includes one-on-one support through the PPL call center and in-person appointments, regular virtual sessions on how to submit time, and videos and resource guides available on PPL's website."

To date, the company has completed payroll for 218,000 PAs and issued $1.2 billion in gross payroll to date, according to PPL.

Gov. Hochul's spokesman Sam Spokony said in a statement Wednesday that the governor's decision to eradicate hundreds of fiscal middlemen ended significant waste, fraud and abuse in the program and prevented a fiscal crisis, citing a recent indictment of a $68 million CDPAP fraud scheme.

“As we move forward under a new and improved system, more data each week shows the transition is proceeding effectively: More than 215,000 consumers are registered, more than 99% of registered workers have been paid and the vast majority of consumers and workers have reported a positive experience with the new statewide fiscal intermediary," Spokony said.

Last month, a federal judge extended a preliminary injunction until June 20 to give people who use or work for CDPAP more time to enroll with PPL.

Attorneys filed a motion to extend that preliminary injunction a third time. The next hearing in the case will take place at 4:30 p.m. Thursday.