ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — ​The April 1 deadline for the hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers participating in the Medicaid-funded Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP) remains the law, according to the NYS Commissioner of the Department of Health. Dr. James McDonald, alongside the head of New York's Medicaid system, and President of the state-selected Fiscal Intermediary taking over CDPAP services, Public Partnership LLC (PPL), all gathered in Albany, Monday afternoon to announce updates to the transition progress. CDPAP allows people living with a variety of health needs the ability to choose their own home aide provider, oftentimes family members. The Governor's Office and the Department of Health have repeatedly cited fraud in the current system setup, which had upwards of 600 Fiscal Intermediaries, essentially middle-businesses taking on administrative tasks, including payroll. The overhaul of the $9 million program is said to be helping the state save an estimated $1 billion; however, the process thus far has been riddled with lawsuits and calls for, at the very least, a delay to the transition deadline. On Monday, state agency leaders announced a 30-day grace period for those still needing to make the switch over to PPL, but emphasized this is not considered a 'delay.' "Just to make sure the point's really clear - the only fiscal intermediary that's going to be paid after April 1st, just short 7 days from today, is PPL. The other 600 fiscal intermediaries are not going to be paid. It's just an important distinction to make sure it's clear," Dr. McDonald said."Part of the reason I wanted to get really clear there's no extension, is continuing an extension would issue and enable the same bad behavior that was occurring to still occur, we would have been in the same situation - we're paying more than every other state having all these Fiscal Intermediaries -- that really wasn't in the state's best interests and so it's really clear this is not a delay nor is it an extension," he added. Last week, Assemblymember Josh Jensen, who represents the 134th district and is the ranking Republican on the Health Committee, alongside Senator Patrick Gallivan, introduced a bill (S.6689) amplifying calls for the deadline to be pushed back. "We both submitted for introduction legislation that would change the transition date for the CDPAP program from April 1 to July 1," Jensen said, "it's a very simple bill which is not common. It crosses out the word April and replaces it with July to give three months for this transition to happen to allow everybody to transition if they choose, and for stakeholders across the healthcare continuum to get their unanswered questions, answered." "There's questions about health insurance, payroll, will they get unemployment - so there's just so many outstanding questions and there's a lot of nervousness, there's a lot of fear and any time government is the thing instilling that, that's a problem," he added. Devin Hamilton lives with Cerebral Palsy and has been using CDPAP services for years. He told News8 he is concerned about PPL's ability to effectively take over all of the payroll services, questioning if the company is equipped to handle the hundreds of thousands of users and aides attempting to sign on. "I called last week to begin the transition. I had to wait three days just for a callback," said Devin.Alexis Pena, one of several aides, has been working with Devin for more than four years. "That's not really like an acceptable time in this kind of manner, especially for how fast they want this transition to happen," said Pena. In Monday's news conference in Albany about CDPAP, PPL President Maria Perrin said there is about a 70% call-back rate for those calling the company seeking answers, among several options for folks to switch over to the single FI, also noting there are virtual registration events three times a week and the company is expanding its subcontractor network.In a news release from the Department of Health, the agency broadly states that since the beginning of the transition period in early January, "nearly 220,000 CDPAP consumers have taken action in advance of the April 1 transition deadline. This includes approximately 165,000 consumers who have either started or completed the registration process with PPL and nearly 55,000 who are in the process of transitioning from CDPAP to Personal Care Services (PCS)." Per the DOH release, PPL will continue its outreach, but consumers and personal assistants must complete their registration as soon as possible through one of the following options:Option 1: Call PPL's support center at 1-833-247-5346 or TTY: 1-833-204-9042 and a PPL team member will help you complete the process.Option 2: Access PPL@Home by going to PPL's website.Option 3: Work with PPL or another approved CDPAP facilitator who can guide you through the process. A list of approved CDPAP facilitators can be found here.Assemblymember Jensen noted the challenges in getting a bill to move through the Democrat-controlled state houses, but says he remains committed to continuing to pursue action where possible. "You know certainly digging in, and continuing to fight against what is obvious is misguided - people are concerned, they're nervous, they're scared, and DOH should be listening to stakeholders who have been calling for a common-sense delay so questions can be answered and people can feel more comfortable with a very difficult process; that would have been the right thing and I'll continue to call for that delay to work with all my colleagues to hopefully do the right thing," Jensen said. ...read more read less