New! To watch our video about CDPAP please click here or scan the below QR code:
The Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP):
Our Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP) enables the chronically ill and/or physically disabled individuals manage their personal care services in the comfort of their home. A service recipient is referred to as a Consumer. The aides employed under this program are called Personal Assistants and are paid well and enjoy excellent fringe benefits (more on this below). Our agency serves as a liaison for the Consumer by managing the payroll and fringe benefits available to a Personal Assistant. We do not, however, provide our certified home care workers to a Consumer, who is solely responsible for recruiting and/or hiring a Personal Assistant.
A Consumer’s Role:
A Consumer is a service recipient authorized by the New York City Human Resource Administration or Managed Care Organization / Managed Long Term Care to receive and self-direct his or her personal care services in the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program without the assistance of a Designated Representative. If a Consumer is able to self-direct, there is no need for a Designated Representative. A parent, legal guardian, or responsible adult directing on a Consumer’s behalf is referred to as a Designated Representative. To prevent a potential conflict of interest, a Designated Representative may not serve in the capacity of Consumer’s Personal Assistant.
A Consumer's weekly/daily service hours are approved and ascertained by New York City Human Resource Administration or Managed Care Organization / Managed Long Term Care. The service hours approved range from 4 hours to 168 hours per week. Our agency is able to accommodate all cases regardless of the number of hours approved.
A Consumer is responsible for recruiting, interviewing, hiring, training, supervising, scheduling, and, if necessary, disciplining and/or terminating a Personal Assistant to suit his or her needs and lifestyle. A Consumer may choose to hire whomever he or she likes with two exceptions: (1.) a spouse or (2.) parents if a Consumer is under 21-years-old. For example, a Consumer may hire his or her close relatives such as siblings, cousins, uncle, aunt, grandparents, grandchildren, neighbors, or friends; and starting in year 2016, a Consumer who is 21-years-old or older may hire his or her own parents. Consumers may also hire anyone outside of the family or friend circle.
A Consumer and a Personal Assistant may also reside in the same residence. Namely a Consumer and a Personal Assistant may share the same address. Current New York State Department of Health regulation does not prohibit a Person Assistant from residing with the Consumer during the course of the Personal Assistant's employment caring for the Consumer.
A Consumer accepts full responsibility for any personal injury or loss/damage of property which may result from the action of the Personal Assistant during the course of employment. In essence, the working relationship between a Consumer and a Personal Assistant is that of an employment contract in which the terms and conditions of the employment are set up and agreed upon by both the Consumer and the Personal Assistant, and such employment contract is binding on both sides. As such, the employment contract may be dissolved by any one side--Consumer or Personal Assistant. It is the responsibility of the Consumer to notify our agency of his or her decision, if applicable, to terminate a Personal Assistant.
To prevent a lapse in service, a Consumer should arrange a back-up Personal Assistant to cover for a regular Personal Assistant’s vacation, holidays, illness, or in the event of an emergency when the regular Personal Assistant is not available. For those Consumers looking for a back-up or a temporary replacement, our Online Recruitment center offers an option to search for available Personal Assistants. The use of this database is subject to the terms and conditions delineated.
All timekeeping is done electronically via the Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) system, which is simply a method that let's a Personal Assistant clock-in and clock-out using a Consumer's home or mobile phone, a task which bears no cost for a Consumer as the call is a toll-free number. All calls are allocated for proper and timely processing of a Personal Assistant's work hours. A Consumer should encourage a Personal Assistant to clock-in and clock-out because doing so is the most effective way to ensure the timely payment of wages and accurate calculation of accrued sick leave and vacation hours.
The use of manual timesheet is a last resort: For those Consumers with absolutely no means of obtaining access to a telephone. A Consumer or his/her Designated Representative is in charge of verifying the manual timesheet to ensure accuracy in coverage and work hours. A Consumer or Designated Representative's signature & date are required on the timesheet in addition to the Personal Assistant's signature & date. A blank timesheet can be downloaded at our Download Center. (Our agency verifies all timesheets submitted.)
A Personal Assistant’s Role:
A Personal Assistant recognizes the Consumer or Designated Representative as the supervisor and completes all designated tasks in a manner which enhances the Consumer’s ability to live independently. The Personal Assistant shall respect the Consumer’s health, well being, privacy, and property. The services provided by the Personal Assistants are based on the individual Consumer’s needs. In short, the working relationship between a Personal Assistant and his/her Consumer embodies an employment contract, in which the Consumer is the employer and the Personal Assistant is the employee. Such contract can be dissolved at anytime by any one side.
A Personal Assistant must inform our agency of all payroll related information such as change of address or telephone number, leave requests, absences, a Consumer's hospital admission and/or discharge, or employment termination. Having the most updated address on our agency's database ensures that pay checks, pay stubs, W2, and notice of annual medical exam due are delivered in time to the Personal Assistant's address.
To ensure accurate and timely processing of work hours, a Personal Assistant must clock-in and clock-out using a Consumer's home or mobile phone. Clocking-in-or-out is very simple, and anyone can learn to do it. Doing so is also the most effective way to get paid on time as the work hours are processed by our state-of-the-art computing system. A Personal Assistant may not ask anyone else but himself/herself to clock-in or clock-out. The use of manual timesheet is not suggested.
Important! A Personal Assistant must not work for a Consumer if the Consumer is admitted to a hospital and/or nursing home. This is because CDPAP service is supposed to be rendered at home. Once the Consumer is admitted to a hospital or nursing home, Medicaid stops paying for CDPAP service and our agency cannot bill Medicaid even if the Personal Assistant already worked. Therefore, we cannot pay a Personal Assistant who, against our agency's advise, cares for a Consumer at a hospital, nursing home, or skilled nursing facility.
A Personal Assistant must also satisfactorily complete a pre-employment medical exam and, thereafter, an annual medical exam, which is due in the 11th month following the last medical exam. Upon receiving a notice in the mail, a Personal Assistant must call Mobile Health to make an appointment and show up on the date and time allotted. It is the responsibility of the Personal Assistant to submit, if any, missing medical-related documents to our agency.
Personal Assistants who work in the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program enjoy competitive pay and excellent fringe benefits, which are one of the best in the home care industry. Their wage and benefits are described here @ https://www.cpchap.org/career
Our Agency’s Role:
Our agency’s role in the CDPAP service is that of a fiscal intermediary (FI), in which we are responsible for paying the Personal Assistant once every two weeks, keeping payroll records, deducting the required income tax and FICA (Social Security) and forwarding such to the local, state, and federal taxation government entities. In short, our agency helps the Consumers manage their care by acting as a paymaster. When funding allows, our agency funds and administers an excellent fringe benefit package available to Personal Assistants, a key factor which helps Consumer recruit and retain Personal Assistants.
As a paymaster and fiscal intermediary, we verify all electronic and manual timekeeping. If there is a discrepancy in the times submitted, we reserve the right to conduct a thorough investigation before paying a Personal Assistant. We are also required by the law to investigate all allegations of fraud. We take all allegations of fraud seriously and also take steps to prevent such occurrence. Our state-of-the-art computer system, linked with other home care agencies', generates a conflict of hours report if a Personal Assistant works for two Consumers from two individual homes on the same day and during the same time frame. If a Personal Assistant is found to have intentionally committed an act of fraud, we are mandated to report such occurrence to the Office of Medicaid Inspector General's office.
We do not get involved in the hiring decision made by a Consumer, nor do we offer our opinion on the suitability of a candidate for the Personal Assistant position. The working relationship between a Consumer and a Personal Assistant is that of an employment contract in which the terms and conditions of the employment are set up and agreed upon by both the Consumer and the Personal Assistant. As such, the employment contract may be dissolved by any one side. Our Online Recruitment center offers current Consumers an option if needed to search for available Personal Assistants. Personal Assistants who are looking for another job or interested in working additional hours may also register in this database. The use of this database is subject to the terms and conditions delineated.
Our agency also monitors the results of a Personal Assistant's pre-employment and annual medical exam and reports to the Consumer of any findings which could hinder the ability of the Personal Assistant to successfully carry out his/her job duties. We reserve the right to report any abnormal medical findings to the New York City Human Resource Administration or the Managed Care Organization / Managed Long Term Care agency. The decision to retain or let go of a Personal Assistant rests entirely on the Consumer or his/her Designated Representative.