NYLAG and Patterson Belknap co-counsel on behalf of plaintiffs representing Consumer-Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP) participants who stood to lose services under the initial April 1 transition deadline
NEW YORK — Last week, New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG) and co-counsel Patterson Belknap scored an important victory for plaintiffs they represent in a class action lawsuit filed in late March on behalf of older and Disabled New Yorkers at risk of losing access to critical in-home care services through the Consumer-Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP) following the State’s rushed and tumultuous transition from 600 fiscal intermediaries to one, Public Partnerships LLC (PPL).
On Thursday, April 10, 2025, Judge Frederic Block of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York signed a Preliminary Injunction that had been negotiated by NYLAG and Patterson Belknap with the New York State Department of Health, giving CDPAP consumers until May 15, 2025, to enroll with PPL, and personal assistants until June 6, 2025. The Preliminary Injunction allows some CDPAP consumers to have their personal assistants continue to be employed and compensated by their prior fiscal intermediary, rather than by PPL, until everyone can complete registration with PPL. (See NYLAG’s Engesser v. McDonald Preliminary Injunction FAQs for a more in-depth explanation of terms.)
The Department of Health has created a CDPAP Transition Hotline which will be staffed Mondays through Fridays from 9am to 5pm: 833-947-8666. CDPAP participants can also email the Department of Health CDPAP Transition Team for assistance at StatewideFI@health.ny.gov.
Both parties reached the agreement on the proposed Preliminary Injunction after several marathon negotiation sessions between plaintiffs’ counsel and the State, following plaintiffs’ counsel’s successful motion to pause the Sate’s initially proposed April 1 transition deadline with a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) granted on March 31 and a clarifying April 2, 2025 Order.
“Too much of this transition process has ignored or disregarded the voices, serious concerns and daily realities of the lived experiences of the hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers whose very health, safety and basic human right to live with dignity and autonomy in their own homes rely on a functional CDPAP program,” said Elizabeth Jois, supervising attorney in New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG)’s Special Litigation Unit and one of the attorneys litigating the case. “It is an honor and a privilege we do not take lightly to advocate alongside and in partnership with CDPAP consumers, their families and their personal assistants to help them get all the support they need to make this transition smoothly and to receive the high level of care that the Department of Health has pledged to deliver. While this agreement is an important first step toward facilitating the State and PPL’s ability to deliver on these promises, we remain dedicated to continuing to work with DOH and all relevant parties to ensure that all necessary improvements, oversight and consumer support will continue to be delivered throughout the process.”
“This preliminary injunction secures critical relief to ensure that no CDPAP consumer is left without care while the CDPAP program completes the transition to PPL,” said Patterson Belknap Partner Lisa E. Cleary. “Despite doing everything they could to enroll in a timely manner, our clients have faced lapses in care for themselves and their children as a result of technological glitches, excessive call wait times, unanswered calls, and informational errors in the PPL system that PPL lacks the administrative capacity to address. By extending the registration deadline by more than a month and allowing as-of-yet unregistered personal assistants to be employed by consumers’ prior fiscal intermediaries, the preliminary injunction will afford tens of thousands of New Yorkers the opportunity to resolve these issues, all the while receiving continuity of care.”
“The Regional Center for Independent Living is grateful for the Preliminary Injunction, but we are deeply concerned that Disabled people whose rights have been protected by the court may be unaware of this important change. We just don’t see the necessary outreach happening,” said Brooke Erickson, vice president of direct services at the Regional Center for Independent Living, a plaintiff in the suit. “I don’t think most Disabled people have heard about this and that is particularly true for folks who don’t understand English, including Deaf New Yorkers. The State needs to do much more.”
“I applaud the hard work of NYLAG. Even though we have more time to transition to PPL, the damage this rushed and chaotic transition has caused can never be repaired,” said Marisol Getchius, a plaintiff in the case. “The disruption and confusion have a big effect on our lives, and for our personal assistants, their livelihoods. I hope the State pays attention to that and works harder to communicate and share information with us.”
“We’re pleased the State has agreed to approach home care services and supports with more care and thoughtfulness, though we continue to hear from people with disabilities using CDPAP about barriers to their staff being paid,” said Evan Yankey, advocacy director at the Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled, another plaintiff. “The risk of people losing care and ending up in institutional settings like nursing homes remains. We encourage the State to listen to people with disabilities and be responsive to them in their attempts to fix this needless and completely avoidable mess.”
Plaintiffs’ counsel will be watching closely to ensure the Department of Health and all others involved comply with the Preliminary Injunction and encourage affected individuals to report problems. Plaintiffs’ counsel are also providing the Department of Health with a list of technical and logistical concerns regarding PPL’s operations that counsel have heard from the community. CDPAP participants may contact NYLAG at cdpaplawsuit@nylag.org or 212-946-0359.
Updates will continue to be posted at nylag.org/engesser.
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