The Legal Aid Society is calling on Governor Kathy Hochul to delay implementing a new process for paying home healthcare workers until it can be done in a way that guarantees no interruption of service or pay.

New York’s Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP) allows Medicaid members who are eligible for home care services to choose and hire their own personal caregivers. The program is currently transitioning to a single statewide entity that will pay these providers. However, this process had been haphazard, leaving both consumers and workers at risk.

“This program sustains consumers’ lives in their communities and pays critical wages to the personal assistants whose work is essential to the consumers’ well-being,” reads a statement from Legal Aid. “Both consumers and personal assistants are threatened by the precipitous cut-off of support.”

Legal Aid is also sounding the alarm over the lack of language access in the enrollment process, as many consumers and workers face language barriers.