How to apply for CDPAP in New York, step by step (2026)

The Department of Health says CDPAP consumers must:

• Have Medicaid.
• Have a stable medical condition.
• Be assessed as needing home care help.
• Meet the Minimum Needs requirement if 21 or older. Since September 1, 2025, that means needing at least limited help with more than 2 daily activities, or supervision with more than 1 if you have Alzheimer's or dementia. People already getting services on that date keep them.
• Be able to direct their own care, or have a designated representative who can.

1. Get Medicaid. If you do not have it, apply with form DOH-4220 (and DOH-5178A if you are 65 or older or disabled) at HRA in NYC or your county social services office.
2. Get assessed. With active Medicaid, call the New York Independent Assessor at 1-855-222-8350 (TTY 1-888-329-1541). The state says the nurse assessment and clinical appointment should be done within 14 calendar days of your call. If you are already in a Medicaid long-term care plan, call your plan first.
3. Ask for CDPAP by name. Tell your plan or local office you want consumer directed services, not an agency aide. PPL notes the choice between CDPAP and agency care is yours.
4. Wait for the approval and hours. Your plan or local office sets the hours in a service authorization and sends it to PPL. If the hours are too low, you can appeal. See our appeals guide.
5. Choose your aide. You recruit and hire the personal assistant. A family member can do it, but not your spouse, your designated representative, or a parent of a consumer under 21.
6. Register with PPL. After PPL gets the authorization, it contacts you. Register through PPL@Home online, by phone at 1-833-247-5346, at an office appointment, or with a facilitator. You sign the Memorandum of Understanding in PPL@Home.
7. Your aide registers. You link the aide to your account. They complete the offer letter, tax forms, I-9, payment method, and the health assessment. Our personal assistant guide walks through it.
8. Start within your hours. Wait for PPL to confirm a start date. The aide logs time in the Time4Care app or by phone at 1-833-278-3959, and you approve it.

If you have no one to help and need care right away, ask your local social services office (HRA in NYC) for Immediate Need processing. You send the signed attestation from form DOH-5786, a practitioner form, and a Medicaid application if needed. The form says the office decides Medicaid within 7 days of getting everything, and home care within 12 days. See our Immediate Need guide.

• Medicaid ID (CIN), or proof of your Medicaid application.
• A list of medicines, doctors, and diagnoses.
• Notes on daily tasks you need help with, and when.
• Your aide's name, phone, and ID documents for the I-9.
• If someone will act for you, the designated representative's contact information.

Plan approval time after the assessment varies. Ask your plan or local office when to expect the authorization.

• Calling PPL first. PPL can't start until the plan or local office sends the authorization.
• Having the aide work before PPL confirms the start date. Hours worked before then may not be paid.
• Scheduling more hours than authorized. PPL says it can only pay authorized hours, which reset every Sunday at 12 a.m.
• Picking a spouse as the paid aide. That is not allowed.