CDPAP means the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program. It is a Medicaid program designed and implemented by New York state. You will not find it in other states.
The program exists because certain New York administrators and elected officials thought it was important for individuals in the state who used Medicaid to choose their own personal caregivers. In this article, we will discuss the program in detail and why it matters.
Friends And Family Members
The CDPAP started based on the notion that if an individual on Medicaid wanted someone they knew to care for them, they should have that choice. It’s not hard to see why that makes sense if you think about it. A personal caregiver might have to be around an individual on Medicaid very often, or even all the time. You might have an older individual on Medicaid who has diminished mental or physical capacity. It’s also possible you could have a younger person on Medicaid, but they need help because of a physical or cognitive issue.
If you’ve got someone around you that you know, you will feel a lot better about them taking care of you. By contrast, if Medicaid assigned you someone who helped you with things like dressing or undressing, bathing, eating meals, etc., you might not like that very much. You might have a family member or friend care for you through this program, and it’s not as invasive. Without this initiative, many individuals would doubtless feel uncomfortable with Medicaid assigning some random caregiver to them.
The Program Will Pay That Family Or Friend
There is one more thing about the CDPAP that you should understand if you live in New York state and want to use this program. It will actually pay the caregiver you choose to watch over you.
You know that caregivers need financial compensation for the time they spend taking care of someone. It’s a job, the same as any other. Your caregiver can get money for the time they spend with you, but you need to make sure that they meet the qualifications. It should not surprise you that this program watches carefully for fraud or suspected fraud.
Who Can Use The CDPAP?
To use the CDPAP, you need to meet a few specific qualifications. First, you need to live in New York state. Again, this program does not exist all across the country. Next, you must be on Medicaid. Also, you must require home health care for a legitimate purpose. A doctor or certain other medical professionals must certify and sign off on you needing someone to care for you. That will require a doctor or mental health professional looking you over and identifying a condition where it’s obvious you need help.
The last thing is a little tricky. You need to self-direct or have a representative to direct your care. In other words, you need to have the mental capacity to say you want a certain person to care for you. If you have cognitive decline, you probably can’t do that. That’s why you can also have a representative, usually a close family member, who can make decisions for you. For instance, maybe you suffered a traumatic brain injury from a car accident. Your spouse can decide who will care for you through the CDPAP.
If you meet these qualifications, you can definitely apply to the program. You or your representative can get things moving as soon as possible so that you can get the care you need, and the person you choose can get money from the program for the time they spend with you.
More CDPAP Information
If you start to learn about this program, you’ll soon find there are many noteworthy aspects. Again, the foundation behind the program does not want anyone to defraud them out of any money. We’ll answer a few of the questions about the CDPAP right now.
A child can get money if they care for their parent. That child must reach legal adulthood, though. Otherwise, the state still considers them a minor, and you must select someone else of legal age to care for you.
A spouse cannot get money to care for you through this program. That’s one of the main problems that some people have with it. A spouse getting money to care for you if you need help seemingly makes a lot of sense, but that’s one thing the program does not allow.
Sometimes, a parent can get money if they need to care for a child with a mental or physical issue. If you have a child who is 21 or older, they can choose a parent to care for them if they like. If a child has not reached age 21, they can’t select the parent for this role.
A sibling can be the one to care for someone who needs their help under the program rules. Immigrants can also do it if they have papers stating they’re in the country legally.
Now, we’ll break down how someone helping you under the CDPAP differs from a home health aide assisting you.
What’s The Difference?
A home health aide usually has some general medical training. You can become a home health aide much faster and easier than becoming a registered nurse or medical doctor.
If you require a home health aide, you might have some of the same conditions you’d have if you used the Medicaid program and the CDPAP. The things someone collecting money through the CDPAP can do differ from what a home health aide can legally do. That’s the real difference between the two of them. For instance, a home health aide cannot legally inject insulin into the person who needs it. They can’t administer oxygen to them, either. Someone collecting money through the CDPAP can do those things if you need them.
If you need help in your daily life, you’ll need to look very carefully at the rules governing home health aides and those who collect money through the CDPAP. You may need to choose one or the other based on what specific services you need. You might also have to go from one to the other based on whether your health declines at some point. Maybe you start by using a home health aide. As your health deteriorates, though, you need someone to administer oxygen or give you insulin every day. If so, you may have to find someone who can do that for you since a home health aide can’t legally do it. You may need to find a friend or close family member who can take over those chores.
What The CDPAP Accomplishes
The CDPAP seems to work well, which is why so many people in New York state continue to use it. It’s not as though someone who cares for an individual on Medicaid will get rich with the money the program gives them. It’s meant to act as a stipend to compensate them for their time and effort.
Mostly, the program exists because if you have someone caring for you who loves you and wants the best for you, they will stick by you. It’s not so much about the money but about the potential turnover rate if you use a home health aide instead. Home health aides might have to move on if they find a job that pays better or for some other reason. A family member or friend is not as likely to do that.
Also, if you use the program and have someone who loves you caring for you, they will probably do what they can to make sure you don’t end up in a nursing home. Perhaps that’s the only viable option if you have a home health aide, but you need more help than they can provide.
With the CDPAP, the person caring for you gets money instead of you having to pay for their services. You can stay comfortably at home that way instead of making the transition to the nursing home at some point. Nothing says you won’t like the nursing home, but you probably want to stay in your own space if possible.
Do You Need Training For This Position?
Whether or not you need training is the one thing that sometimes preoccupies potential candidates. You do need training, but you can get that through the program without having to pay for it. You can go to certain facilities New York state set up for the purpose. You can do the training and get to work helping a loved one very quickly.
A doctor will need to look you over before you complete the training as well. You must have certain physical abilities to take on this job. As a CDPAP personal assistant, you can do almost anything that the person who needs your help requires.
If you’re on Medicaid and need someone to help you at home, look into this program before paying for a home health aide.
