The company awarded a controversial $11 billion Medicaid contract in New York was accused of \u201cegregious fiscal and operational failures\u201d in other states, The Post can reveal.<\/p>\n
Georgia-based Public Partnerships LLC (PPL) was brought in to replace hundreds of middlemen in the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP) as a cost saving measure in 2024.<\/p>\n
However, it has lost contracts in six other states after sometimes disastrous rollouts of its systems. PPL has also been accused of backdoor dealings and their no-bid contract being rigged, by those scrutinizing the New York deal.<\/p>\n
Consumers and caregivers have complained about things like missed or delayed paychecks, service interruptions, technical glitches and overwhelmed, misinformed customer service lines when dealing with PPL. Downstate New York ADAPT<\/p>\n
Before landing the $11 billion contract in New York, six states had ended contracts with PPL or refused to renew them. Alliance to Protect Home Care, Inc.<\/p>\n
Since PPL took over administering CDPAP \u2014 the\u00a0Medicaid<\/a>\u00a0program that pays friends and family members to care for chronically ill or disabled individuals instead of relying on a traditional home health agency \u2014 in April 2025, consumers and caregivers\u00a0have complained about<\/a>\u00a0missed or delayed paychecks, service interruptions, technical glitches and overwhelmed customer service lines.<\/p>\n Those complaints mirror other states\u2019 experiences with the company.<\/p>\n In New Jersey, PPL were accused of \u201cegregious fiscal and operational failures,\u201d in managing two Department of Human Services programs, according to the Alliance for the Betterment of Citizens with Disabilities (ABCD), leading to an eventual move to other contractors,completed in 2025.<\/p>\n Complaints reported to the ABCD ranged from persistent payment delays and inaccurate payroll processing that denied life-critical services to individuals with disabilities,\u00a0the nonprofit claimed<\/a>, although the claims did not lead to a lawsuit. PPL didn\u2019t respond to those allegations in a response to The Post.<\/p>\n The 2013 transition to PPL in Pennsylvania was described in accounts as a \u201cdisaster\u201d that lead to a 2017\u00a0class action lawsuit<\/a>. PPL won the lawsuit, but it is being appealed. However, their contract ended in 2021 and wasn\u2019t renewed as the state adopted a different model.\u00a0<\/p>\n New York Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul oversaw PPL\u2019s $11 billion contract. The company are accused of failing to disclose it was partially owned by another massive DOH contractor, however, it claims it wasn\u2019t required to. Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/p>\n A performance audit<\/a>\u00a0found the state \u201cignored many red flags that PPL was not fully prepared\u201d to offer services and called the transition \u201cproblematic.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n PPL had contracts to manage similar home care programs in Washington, West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee which have since been terminated or lost.\u00a0<\/p>\n In a statement to The Post, a PPL spokesperson said, \u201cPPL has never lost a contract in any state due to poor performance. We maintain high satisfaction rates.<\/p>\n \u201cPPL operates with close program oversight, reduces administrative burden and costs, and prevents wasteful and fraudulent practices in each state we serve.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n New York\u2019s runaway Medicaid spending is by far the highest in the nation per consumer, and dwarfs states with larger populations like Texas and Florida. <\/p>\n The company said Pennsylvania switched to a different model, and they made a \u201cbusiness decision\u201d to exit the market in Washington. They were outbid by other suppliers in NJ, Tenn. and WV. PPL didn\u2019t address their work in Virginia.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, in New York, PPL did not disclose it was partially owned by another company \u2014 Public Consulting Group \u2014 which already had over $630 million in New York State Health Department contracts, mostly for Medicaid consulting services, The Post can reveal.<\/p>\n \u201cProviders have been warning for years that CDPAP needed guardrails. Instead, when the program became seen as a massive revenue stream, the state effectively handed it to the highest bidder, one that is closely connected to the consulting firm that has been writing policy for the Department of Health,\u201d Julian Hagmann, a healthcare executive and outspoken critic\u00a0who is suing PPL<\/a>, told The Post.<\/p>\n In New Jersey, PPL faced \u201cegregious fiscal and operational failures\u201d in managing two Department of Human Services programs, leading to the contracts eventually being replaced by other providers. Caring Majority Rising<\/p>\n Hagmann is CEO of Caring Professionals Inc., one of the \u201cfiscal intermediaries\u201d who previously arranged home care in New York but have been cut out by PPL.<\/p>\n His lawsuit calls PPL a \u201cstate sanctioned monopoly,\u201d and claims Caring Professionals have been unlawfully asked to give over private patient information, which would violate HIPAA laws.<\/p>\n \u201cThe contract award to PPL was rife with conflicts of interest due to the multiple PPL-related entities and services that are provided by those entities to DOH.<\/p>\n \u201cPPL\u2019s horrendous history of operating Medicaid programs in other states should have disqualified PPL from the award,\u201d Hagmann testified before the New York State Senate in August.<\/p>\n CDPAP, or Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program, is New York\u2019s Medicaid program that pays friends and family members to care for chronically ill or disabled individuals instead of relying on a traditional home health agency. FOX 5<\/p>\n Healthcare exec Julian Hagmann, who is suing PPL, told a congressional hearing: \u201cThe contract award to PPL was rife with conflicts of interest.\u201d Courtesy of Julian Hagmann<\/p>\n Massachusetts-based Public Consulting Group (PCG), which owns 26% of PPL, has at least 250 embedded employees at New York\u2019s Department of Health (DOH), many working in Medicaid policy.<\/p>\n But in PPL\u2019s Request For Proposal (RFP) \u2014 a formal, competitive solicitation submitted to New York State in summer 2024 \u2014 the company did not disclose PCG owned 16.1% of the company, with PCG executives holding an additional 9.9%, totaling 26% effective ownership. Hagmann claims this is a clear conflict of interest.<\/p>\n PCG recently sold off 74% of its stake in PPL to two private equity firms, Utah-based DW Healthcare Partners and Chicago\u2019s Linden Capital Partners.<\/p>\n At a New York State Senate hearing in August 2025 lawmakers heard accusations that PPL was awarded its $11 billion contract through a sham \u201cno bid\u201d process. NYSenate<\/p>\n Uncovered emails showed PPL had private communications with DOH officials before the official bidding began. One apparent draft April 2024 New York budget bill explicitly named PPL for a contract \u2014 before bidding had even begun. FOX 5<\/p>\n PPL say they complied with all required disclosures when making their bid.<\/p>\n A spokesperson said, \u201cPPL disclosed all ownership interests as required by the applicable Vendor Responsibility Questionnaire.\u00a0 As a small shareholder, Public Consulting Group was not required to be disclosed.\u201d<\/p>\n According to financial records obtained exclusively by The Post, DW Healthcare purchased its stake of PPL for $184 million in 2022 with millions in \u201cgoodwill,\u201d indicating the company was losing money at that time.<\/p>\n PPL reported huge losses \u2014 $57 million in 2023 and $39 million in 2024, the records show, making DW\u2019s decision to invest puzzling. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThose private equity guys don\u2019t buy anything that isn\u2019t on a balance sheet.\u201d Hagmann noted.<\/p>\n PPL workers share videos encouraging others to become home health aides but the company has faced troubles in at least six other states before landing its \u201clifeline\u201d New York deal. PPL First<\/p>\n Uncovered emails\u00a0<\/a>showed PPL had private communications with New York DOH officials before the official bidding began and, in one telling move, an apparent draft April 2024 New York budget bill explicitly named PPL for a contract \u2014 despite bidding not having even begun.<\/p>\n Sources exclusively told The Post last week the US Department of Justice is gearing up to slap Gov. Kathy Hochul\u2019s administration\u00a0with a civil suit<\/a>\u00a0over the handling of CDPAP and giving the $11 billion contract to PPL.<\/p>\n An analysis by The Post found PCG holds over $630 million in current and former contracts with the New York State Department of Health, with an additional $275 million in contracts from other New York State agencies \u2014 almost a billion dollars, before its affiliate PPL got the $11 billion home care deal.<\/p>\n Amir Bassiri \u2014 then a senior official at the New York DOH overseeing the Medicaid home care transition \u2014 submitted a sworn statement in a 2024 court case acknowledging that roughly\u00a0250 PCG employees<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 through their staffing affiliate company called SSO \u2014 worked in the DOH\u2019s Medicaid program including about 50 staff \u201cclosely intertwined\u201d with home care, which looks after CDPAP.<\/p>\n These staff are in operational and policy capacities within DOH\u2019s long-term care and Medicaid divisions, handling tasks like program management, policy development, and implementation related to Medicaid reforms, including those affecting CDPAP, according to recent testimony before the state Senate.<\/p>\n PCG did not respond to The Post\u2019s requests for comment.<\/p>\n The Post previously uncovered how New York lost at least $1.2 billion to scammers and middlemen through the CDPAP program. New York officials claim the PPL takeover has saved the state $2 billion. Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/p>\n On March 3, The Post learned that federal Medicaid czar Dr. Mehmet Oz is launching a probe into New York\u2019s Medicaid program, which he has claimed is rife with waste, fraud and abuse. AP<\/p>\n The Post previously uncovered how New York lost at least\u00a0$1.2 billion to scammers<\/a>\u00a0and middlemen through the CDPAP program, before PPL\u2019s involvement. New York officials claim the PPL takeover has saved the state $2 billion.<\/p>\n After an estimated $9 billion in Medicaid money was stolen by fraudsters in Minnesota, attention has\u00a0shifted to New York<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 where Medicaid spending is set to top $126 billion in 2026, the most costly Medicaid program in the nation. New York spends vastly more than Texas or Florida, at $51 billion and $35 billion respectively, despite both states having larger populations.<\/p>\n