Opinion: New York managed-long term care plans will play a key role in advancing health reforms

Maintaining choice and certainty will be critical for the state as these New Yorkers and their loved ones make decisions about future care. Take, for example, major changes to the state’s Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program, or CDPAP, which allows recipients to hire friends or family members as caregivers. Under a provision included in the budget, hundreds of fiscal intermediaries — companies that provide administrative tasks like payroll for CDPAP — will be replaced by a single provider under a state-procured contract. This is a major change that must be managed carefully to avoid disrupting member services.