On August 12, the firm, along with co-counsel at New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG), obtained an important victory for disabled New Yorkers at risk of losing access to critical in-home care services through the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP), which allows Medicaid patients to select and train their own personal aides.

The program, which supports approximately 280,000 New Yorkers and employs about 400,000 aides, is transitioning from 600 fiscal intermediaries to one, Public Partnerships, LLC (PPL), and had required all program participants and caregivers to enroll with the company by the end of March to continue care. The registration process and initial deadline proved ineffective, as less than half of participants had successfully enrolled within weeks of the cutoff date.

On March 26, the firm and NYLAG filed a putative class action in the Eastern District of New York, alleging that New York’s planned transition for CDPAP violated the 14^th Amendment and the Medicaid Act—which require that Medicaid recipients have notice, an opportunity to be heard, and continuing care before they lose service. The firm argued that the rushed transition would deprive tens of thousands of New Yorkers of CDPAP services without these prerequisites because PPL lacked the administrative capacity to prevent gaps in care.

On March 31, following a hearing, the Court granted a temporary restraining order requiring the State to “ensure and take whatever action necessary to ensure that all CDPAP consumers and [home health aides] who receive care and payment before [the April 1 transition deadline], regardless of their present registration status, . . . continue to receive care from their existing [home health aides], who shall be timely paid for their services.”

Ten days later, the Court granted a preliminary injunction that extended the registration deadline until May 15 for CDPAP consumers and June 6 for home health aides. The New York State Department of Health also created a CDPAP Transition Hotline to aid program participants and their caregivers with this process.  As a result of the firm’s and NYLAG’s advocacy, the court extended the injunction two additional times to ensure that there was sufficient time for consumers to complete the transition.

The Court granted conditional approval of a settlement agreement between the parties on July 7, pending an opportunity for class members to object in writing or by video at a fairness hearing.

The settlement requires the DOH to send additional written communications to consumers that describe resources available for help, along with robust outreach to participants at risk of being disenrolled from their long-term care plans due to the transition. This is an outstanding outcome for the several hundred thousand CDPAP consumers and their caregivers, allowing them an extra four months to transition to PPL as well as a chance to be heard before the termination of their benefits.

Judge Block commended firm attorneys “for their hard work in the spirit of cooperation…Patterson Belknap’s commitment to its pro bono practice and NYLAG’s service to marginalized New Yorkers has impressed the Court and undoubtedly inspired our legal community.”

The Patterson Belknap team, which includes Lisa Cleary, Kate Ross, Jonah Wacholder, Jacqueline Brandon, and Emma Brill, with early support from Benjamin Seymour, Joshua Goldman, Voratida Sangchant and Maddy More, was featured in the American Lawyer’s “Litigator of the Week” column for their work on the matter. The team was also recognized by the New York Legal Assistance Group with its 2025 Champion of Justice Award for their efforts.

To read press coverage from the New York Law Journal, please click here and here.

To read press coverage from Law360, please click here.