The company managing a popular Medicaid home care program started a contentious transition but is facing an uphill battle, POLITICO reports. Financial services company PPL immediately faced obstacles last Monday as it began transferring participants from the state’s Consumer-Directed Personal Assistance Program, or CDPAP, to its online system. The company says its customer support center was inundated with 1,000 calls that day, in part due to a phone-banking effort by a political advocacy group that opposes the transition. They hit another snag on Wednesday when a judge issued a temporary restraining order to the state Department of Health after one of the 600-some fiscal intermediaries being replaced by PPL challenged a data-sharing requirement. Then the lawyers cited the order as support for their requests for judicial intervention in the CDPAP transition. On top of that, managed care plans are protesting demands by PPL for prepayments at higher rates than they currently pay for CDPAP. If they do not contract with PPL by Feb. 1, the organizations could face penalties, including new enrollment suspension, the Health Department recently warned in a letter obtained by POLITICO. And on Friday, a group of 34 clergy members and faith leaders called on Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Health Department to reverse course. The onslaught of activity from the courtroom to the Capitol — fueled by millions of dollars in lobbyist spending — highlights the stakes of the transition for vulnerable New Yorkers worried about maintaining access to in-home care and the middlemen who stand to lose millions of dollars. There are now at least nine lawsuits over the state’s handling of the effort, according to a POLITICO review of state and federal court records. State officials and PPL say the complicated transition will continue its work and meet an April 1 deadline to transfer all current CDPAP consumers. The cloud of controversy looming over the transition hit a fever pitch this week when the administration deputized Health Commissioner James McDonald to “respond to lies” in a 60-second ad. “PPL has failed to do the basic due diligence to ensure a smooth transition,” Ilana Berger, coalition manager for the New York Caring Majority, which represents caregivers and consumers fighting the transition, said in a statement last Monday. “Yet Governor Hochul and PPL insist on barreling forward on a timeline that is destined to knock tens of thousands of older and disabled New Yorkers and home care workers out of the program.” Berger is also political director for the advocacy organization Caring Majority Rising, which helped organize last Monday’s phone bank. IN OTHER NEWS: — Four New York dispensaries are suing the state for granting waivers allowing cannabis retailers to break a 1,000-foot buffer zone requirement, POLITICO reports. The waivers are a controversial topic among New York’s cannabis entrepreneurs, who feel that regulators are not being transparent about the process for granting waivers. The four plaintiff dispensaries are asking the court to vacate the approvals granted to the four retailers that are within 1,000 feet of the plaintiffs' dispensaries. The lawsuit is just the latest in legal battles facing New York’s cannabis industry. The lawsuits, and ensuing injunctions, have hindered the launch of legal sales — including a court order just last month that is preventing some applicants from moving forward. ON THE AGENDA: — Tuesday at 4 p.m. NYC Health + Hospitals will hold its equity, diversity and inclusion meeting. — Tuesday at 5 p.m. NYC Health + Hospitals will hold its community relations committee meeting. MAKING ROUNDS: — Montefiore named Ruth Cassidy as its inaugural chief pharmacy officer. GOT TIPS? Send story ideas and feedback to Maya Kaufman at mkaufman@politico.com and Katelyn Cordero at kcordero@politico.com. Want to receive this newsletter every weekday? Subscribe to POLITICO Pro. You’ll also receive daily policy news and other intelligence you need to act on the day’s biggest stories.
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