The corporate awarded a controversial $11 billion Medicaid contract in New York was accused of “egregious fiscal and operational failures” in different states, The Submit can reveal.
Georgia-based Public Partnerships LLC (PPL) was introduced in to exchange a whole bunch of middlemen within the Shopper Directed Private Help Program (CDPAP) as a value saving measure in 2024.
Nonetheless, it has misplaced contracts in six different states after typically disastrous rollouts of its techniques. PPL has additionally been accused of backdoor dealings and their no-bid contract being rigged, by these scrutinizing the New York deal.
Since PPL took over administering CDPAP — the Medicaid program that pays family and friends members to take care of chronically unwell or disabled people as a substitute of counting on a conventional residence well being company — in April 2025, shoppers and caregivers have complained about missed or delayed paychecks, service interruptions, technical glitches and overwhelmed customer support strains.
These complaints mirror different states’ experiences with the corporate.
In New Jersey, PPL have been accused of “egregious fiscal and operational failures,” in managing two Division of Human Providers applications, based on the Alliance for the Betterment of Residents with Disabilities (ABCD), resulting in an eventual transfer to different contractors,accomplished in 2025.
Complaints reported to the ABCD ranged from persistent cost delays and inaccurate payroll processing that denied life-critical providers to people with disabilities, the nonprofit claimed, though the claims didn’t result in a lawsuit. PPL didn’t reply to these allegations in a response to The Submit.
The 2013 transition to PPL in Pennsylvania was described in accounts as a “catastrophe” that result in a 2017 class motion lawsuit. PPL received the lawsuit, however it’s being appealed. Nonetheless, their contract led to 2021 and wasn’t renewed because the state adopted a distinct mannequin.
A efficiency audit discovered the state “ignored many pink flags that PPL was not absolutely ready” to supply providers and known as the transition “problematic.”
PPL had contracts to handle comparable residence care applications in Washington, West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee which have since been terminated or misplaced.
In a press release to The Submit, a PPL spokesperson stated, “PPL has by no means misplaced a contract in any state attributable to poor efficiency. We keep excessive satisfaction charges.
“PPL operates with shut program oversight, reduces administrative burden and prices, and prevents wasteful and fraudulent practices in every state we serve.”
The corporate stated Pennsylvania switched to a distinct mannequin, they usually made a “enterprise determination” to exit the market in Washington. They have been outbid by different suppliers in NJ, Tenn. and WV. PPL didn’t deal with their work in Virginia.
In the meantime, in New York, PPL didn’t disclose it was partially owned by one other firm — Public Consulting Group — which already had over $630 million in New York State Well being Division contracts, largely for Medicaid consulting providers, The Submit can reveal.
“Suppliers have been warning for years that CDPAP wanted guardrails. As an alternative, when this system turned seen as a large income stream, the state successfully handed it to the best bidder, one that’s intently linked to the consulting agency that has been writing coverage for the Division of Well being,” Julian Hagmann, a healthcare government and outspoken critic who’s suing PPL, instructed The Submit.
Hagmann is CEO of Caring Professionals Inc., one of many “fiscal intermediaries” who beforehand organized residence care in New York however have been reduce out by PPL.
His lawsuit calls PPL a “state sanctioned monopoly,” and claims Caring Professionals have been unlawfully requested to present over non-public affected person data, which might violate HIPAA legal guidelines.
“The contract award to PPL was rife with conflicts of curiosity as a result of a number of PPL-related entities and providers which are offered by these entities to DOH.
“PPL’s horrendous historical past of working Medicaid applications in different states ought to have disqualified PPL from the award,” Hagmann testified earlier than the New York State Senate in August.
Massachusetts-based Public Consulting Group (PCG), which owns 26% of PPL, has at the very least 250 embedded workers at New York’s Division of Well being (DOH), many working in Medicaid coverage.
However in PPL’s Request For Proposal (RFP) — a proper, aggressive solicitation submitted to New York State in summer season 2024 — the corporate didn’t disclose PCG owned 16.1% of the corporate, with PCG executives holding a further 9.9%, totaling 26% efficient possession. Hagmann claims it is a clear battle of curiosity.
PCG just lately bought off 74% of its stake in PPL to 2 non-public fairness companies, Utah-based DW Healthcare Companions and Chicago’s Linden Capital Companions.
PPL say they complied with all required disclosures when making their bid.
A spokesperson stated, “PPL disclosed all possession pursuits as required by the relevant Vendor Duty Questionnaire. As a small shareholder, Public Consulting Group was not required to be disclosed.”
In line with monetary data obtained completely by The Submit, DW Healthcare bought its stake of PPL for $184 million in 2022 with hundreds of thousands in “goodwill,” indicating the corporate was shedding cash at the moment.
PPL reported large losses — $57 million in 2023 and $39 million in 2024, the data present, making DW’s determination to speculate puzzling.
“These non-public fairness guys don’t purchase something that isn’t on a stability sheet.” Hagmann famous.
Uncovered emails confirmed PPL had non-public communications with New York DOH officers earlier than the official bidding started and, in a single telling transfer, an obvious draft April 2024 New York price range invoice explicitly named PPL for a contract — regardless of bidding not having even begun.
Sources completely instructed The Submit final week the US Division of Justice is gearing as much as slap Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration with a civil swimsuit over the dealing with of CDPAP and giving the $11 billion contract to PPL.
An evaluation by The Submit discovered PCG holds over $630 million in present and former contracts with the New York State Division of Well being, with a further $275 million in contracts from different New York State companies — nearly a billion {dollars}, earlier than its affiliate PPL acquired the $11 billion residence care deal.
Amir Bassiri — then a senior official on the New York DOH overseeing the Medicaid residence care transition — submitted a sworn assertion in a 2024 court docket case acknowledging that roughly 250 PCG workers — by way of their staffing affiliate firm known as SSO — labored within the DOH’s Medicaid program together with about 50 workers “intently intertwined” with residence care, which takes care of CDPAP.
These workers are in operational and coverage capacities inside DOH’s long-term care and Medicaid divisions, dealing with duties like program administration, coverage improvement, and implementation associated to Medicaid reforms, together with these affecting CDPAP, based on current testimony earlier than the state Senate.
PCG didn’t reply to The Submit’s requests for remark.
The Submit beforehand uncovered how New York misplaced at the very least $1.2 billion to scammers and middlemen by way of the CDPAP program, earlier than PPL’s involvement. New York officers declare the PPL takeover has saved the state $2 billion.
After an estimated $9 billion in Medicaid cash was stolen by fraudsters in Minnesota, consideration has shifted to New York — the place Medicaid spending is ready to high $126 billion in 2026, the costliest Medicaid program within the nation. New York spends vastly greater than Texas or Florida, at $51 billion and $35 billion respectively, regardless of each states having bigger populations.
On March 3, The Submit discovered that federal Medicaid czar Dr. Mehmet Oz is launching a probe into New York’s Medicaid program, which he has claimed is rife with waste, fraud and abuse.
“New York’s common Medicaid spending per resident was the best within the nation — almost 80% larger than the nationwide common.
“These elevated prices mirror a mixture of extra New Yorkers enrolled in Medicaid relative to the state’s inhabitants, potential fraud, expansive profit constructions, and extreme supplier cost ranges inside New York’s program in contrast with most different states,” Oz, Administrator for the Facilities for Medicare & Medicaid Providers, wrote in a letter to Hochul.
