by Misty Severi
The legal action accuses PPL of creating an “artificially attractive proposal” to administer the Medicaid program through a “sham bid process,” and of improperly inflating hourly billable rates upon taking over the program last year.
The Justice Department sued New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul's administration on Tuesday over its handling of a popular $10 billion Medicaid home care program that allows over 200,000 New Yorkers to hire their own caregivers.
The lawsuit accuses New York Health Commissioner James McDonald and Medicaid Director Amir Bassiri of making false or misleading statements about the consolidation of Medicaid’s consumer-directed personal assistance program under financial services company Public Partnerships LLC.
The legal action also accuses PPL of creating an “artificially attractive proposal” to administer the Medicaid program through a “sham bid process,” and of improperly inflating hourly billable rates upon taking over the program last year.
“New York’s backroom deal with PPL has cost taxpayers millions of dollars and cast countless Medicaid patients to the curb,” Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald for the DOJ's National Fraud Enforcement Division said in a statement. “Today’s action is the latest reminder that the Justice Department is mobilizing every available tool to protect taxpayer-funded programs from fraud and corruption.”
CDPAP is a Medicaid program that provides home care through lay caregivers to patients with disabilities or significant medical needs. The New York legislature in 2024 passed a statute that consolidated the management of CDPAP from hundreds of pre-existing “fiscal intermediaries” to a single fiscal intermediary.
The department alleges that although the state attempted to pass the process as a genuine and fair bidding process, it had already allegedly pre-selected PPL for the contract.
Federal prosecutors are asking for a court order to pause the flow of any gross revenue to PPL under the CDPAP contract and appointing a temporary receiver.
“New York’s failure to police a favored vendor that unlawfully siphoned millions of dollars of Medicaid funding is egregious and betrays the public trust,” Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate said in a statement.
The New York Department of Health and PPL have both denied any wrongdoing in awarding the contract, according to Politico.
Misty Severi
Source: https://justthenews.com/government/federal-agencies/justice-department-sues-new-york-over-10-billion-medicaid-home-care
No comments:
Post a Comment