In New York State individuals who qualify for Medicaid Long Term Care and need home care, personal care or skilled nursing services have the option to choose who will help them with their daily needs. Through New York State’s Consumer-Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP) elderly and disabled people are afforded the opportunity to manage their own home care, which means they can choose, hire, monitor and terminate their own home care provider or personal assistant (PA). For many individuals the option to have a family member or a loyal friend help with their home care needs is more appealing than having services provided by a home care agency.

The PA’s wages including health care and paid time off are paid by the New York State. PAs must be 18 years of age, are not required to have special certification or licensing, and can administer skilled services such as wound care, giving insulin shots, and suctioning tracheostomies.

The purpose of this program is to care for people in their homes and ultimately limit hospital admittances. The findings are that for many CDPAP participants: clinical outlook is better, communication improves, medical complications are caught earlier, and health tragedies avoided.

To see if you are eligible contact your NY county department of health or department of social services and human services (DSS) office, and complete the application process.

Benefits of Hiring A CDPAP/CDPAS

Direct Your Own Care: Caregivers and your healthcare plan are usually directed by the homecare provider that you hire. With consumer-directed personal assistants, you get to choose what healthcare services you receive.

Family Members Are Eligible: CDPAP/CDPAS allows family members to get paid to take care of you. Most of the time, family members quit their jobs or take time out of their own busy lives to help take care of you, but don’t get paid for it. These positions allow your family to take care of you and get paid for doing it.

Perform Tasks Caregivers Cannot: Caregivers cannot do certain tasks such as administering medications, dressing wounds, and giving insulin injections. Consumer-directed person assistants can do these tasks because they are not bound by the same regulations as other home healthcare professionals.

Contact Us Today to Hire Your CDPAP/CDPAS

At Sunshine Homecare Services, we provide consumer-directed personal assistant programs to Rockland County, NY. If you want to direct your own homecare, hire a loved one as your home health aide, and get help taking medications, a CDPAP/CDPAS is the right choice for you. To see if you are eligible contact your NY county department of health or department of social services and human services (DSS) office, and complete the application process.