Following through on an initiative launched by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in January to control Medicaid costs, New York State is narrowing its requirements for enrollment in long-term care programs that provide senior and disabled populations with home-based care, reports City Limits.

The program – Consumer Directed Personal Assistant Program, or CDPAP – has provided recipients with an alternative to assisted living and elderly care facilities, allowing them to live independently in the comfort of their own homes with dignity.

The cuts follow findings by the Medicaid Redesign Team that the program has been subject to fraud, waste and abuse of its participating members – a claim that has been roundly criticized by healthcare advocates, who say there are multiple ways to control costs without depriving New Yorkers of the necessary support they have grown to rely upon. Without programs like CDPAP, many people will have no choice but to enter nursing and assisted living communities, which critics point out are even more expensive.

“It’s not like the care becomes free,” asserts Rebecca Novick of The Legal Aid Society’s Health Law Unit. “Nursing homes are very expensive. Homecare can be very efficient.”