How to become a CDPAP personal assistant in New York: the steps with PPL, and what keeps you active

A personal assistant (PA) in the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP) is hired by the person receiving care, called the consumer. No agency is involved, and you do not need a certificate or license. You do need a consumer who is already approved for CDPAP, a registration with Public Partnerships LLC (PPL), the state's single fiscal intermediary, a passed health assessment, and the required trainings within 90 days of your start date.

Staying active is its own job. You clock in and out through PPL's app or phone line. Your time is due Saturday night, the consumer approves it by Sunday noon, and you repeat the health assessment every year. Miss that assessment and PPL places you on hold, which means you cannot submit time.

The most common mistake is starting at the wrong end. A PA cannot register until the consumer is in. Here is the sequence as PPL's registration page lays it out.

PPL states the gate plainly. "Before you can register with PPL as a personal assistant in CDPAP, your consumer must be signed up with PPL, have a valid service authorization, and contact PPL to link you to their account."

Who may be the PA is a separate question. The spouse, the designated representative, and the parent of a consumer under 21 are excluded, as explained in can a family member be a paid CDPAP personal assistant. How the consumer, the plan, and PPL divide the work is in what the CDPAP fiscal intermediary does and does not do.

The Department of Health's registration guide lists five options. Registration is free.

1. By phone. Call PPL at 1-833-247-5346, or a language line: Arabic 1-833-278-4829, Bangla 1-833-278-5781, French 1-833-279-3511, Haitian Creole 1-833-279-3513, Italian 1-833-279-3514, Mandarin 1-833-279-3467, Spanish 1-833-281-0927, Urdu 1-833-281-3277, TTY 1-833-204-9042. The main line has "dedicated translators in over 300 languages."
2. Online, through PPL@Home. Sign up with an email address or a cell phone number, using the links on PPL's CDPAP page.
3. With a CDPAP facilitator. Facilitators are "community-based organizations located throughout New York State who can help you register with PPL and provide ongoing customer service." Using one is optional, and only the ones listed by the Department and PPL are approved.
4. In-person or virtual sessions. Registration sessions and in-office appointments at PPL's seven offices, booked on its events page.
5. In-home appointments. If you cannot get to a session or an office, "you may request an in-home appointment by contacting a Facilitator."

The forms. PPL lists what a PA completes in PPL@Home: an offer letter (one per consumer), the Personal Assistant Agreement, IRS Form W-4, New York Form IT-2104, USCIS Form I-9 with supporting documents, a payment method form, and the health assessment. The I-9 is the federal form that proves identity and permission to work in the United States. Bring the documents that form accepts.

The health assessment. State regulation makes the fiscal intermediary responsible for "ensuring that the health status of each consumer directed personal assistant is assessed prior to service delivery pursuant to 10 NYCRR section 766.11(c) and (d)." That is the same health standard used for agency home care workers. PPL puts it simply: "PAs must complete a health assessment to begin working in CDPAP and every year after that."

PPL assigns your assessment provider when you register. The first assessment includes a physical exam, proof of immunity to measles, mumps, and rubella, and tuberculosis testing. Most results take three to five business days. Exemptions are medical only: "Vaccine exemptions for religious reasons cannot be provided." Each year after that, you complete a health questionnaire reviewed by a nurse, plus a TB screening.

The trainings. PPL's program page: "Required trainings must be done within 90 days of a PA's PPL start date." They sit inside PPL@Home and Time4Care, and training time is paid. The EVV training, which teaches the timekeeping system, is due by your hire date. The Department's chart confirms a CDPAP PA is not required to complete the "training (minimum 40 hours) and competency evaluations" an agency aide must. The consumer trains you for the tasks in their plan of care.

Federal law requires electronic visit verification (EVV) for Medicaid home care, and New York requires it for every CDPAP shift. PPL gives you two EVV-compliant ways to record time: the Time4Care app, or the telephony line at 1-833-278-3959. The phone method only works "from the phone number the consumer registered with in PPL@Home."

Three rules shape the paycheck. PPL "is only able to pay for the hours the consumer is authorized for in CDPAP." When a consumer has several PAs, "only one can be on the clock at a time." And PAs cannot be paid "for time that their consumer is in the hospital or a healthcare facility, except for the date of admission and the date of discharge."

Paper timesheets are an exception, not a choice. The Department's mailer allows them for sincerely held religious beliefs, a home with no internet and no landline, or "another exceptional circumstance."

On pay: PPL publishes minimum base wage rates by region on its New York FAQ, and it adjusted them on January 1, 2026. This site does not print the figures because they change and are not something it can promise for your case. Your base rate "is listed in the offer letter," it is the same whichever facilitator you use, and PPL's page has the current numbers.

CDPAP differs from agency care in what you are allowed to do. The Department's page says a PA's services "can include any of the services normally provided by a personal care aide (home attendant), home health aide, or nurse." Its chart gives examples: "taking health measurements such as temperature, pulse, blood pressure, sugar and glucose tests" and "the self-administration of medications." All of it is done "under the instruction, supervision and direction of a consumer or the consumer's designated representative." The consumer, not a nurse supervisor, decides how the work is done.

The limits come from the plan of care and the authorization. The Department's July 2026 clarification on federal wage law says family members or household residents paid as caregivers "cannot work more than the number of hours per week identified in the authorization." It adds: "Activities outside the authorized plan of care are prohibited for Medicaid payment under CDPAP." Time spent with a relative outside the authorization is not CDPAP employment.

Overtime is governed by the plan or district, not PPL. PPL's FAQ: "PAs must comply with any guidance, limitations, or directives set by the consumer's health plan or the Local Department of Social Services (LDSS)." The regulation expects the consumer to hire "a sufficient number" of assistants to cover the plan of care. What happens when one PA carries too many hours is covered in the excessive hours review for CDPAP personal assistants.

Four things have to stay current at the same time.

• Your annual health assessment. Miss the deadline after "multiple reminders" and PPL places you on hold. "Once placed on hold, PAs will no longer be able to submit time until a health assessment is completed and passed. PAs should not work while they are on hold." Reactivation "can take 2-3 business days" after you pass.
• Your trainings. Within 90 days of your start date. PPL tells PAs who are behind to finish "as soon as possible to remain compliant."
• The consumer's approval of your hours. Every week, by Sunday noon. Under the Department's August 2025 policy, PPL reports a consumer who "is consistently not approving timesheets by the weekly deadline" to the plan or district.
• The consumer's authorization. You can only be paid inside it, and it has an end date. Districts must enter renewals at least ten calendar days before the old one ends, and "it may take up to six business days" for one to appear in PPL@Home. A late renewal risks "payment delays for Personal Assistants or service disruption for consumers." Ask the consumer to check the Service Authorizations tab before the old one runs out.

Working for more than one consumer is allowed: PPL's answer is "Yes, as long as each consumer's needs are being met." Each consumer must link you, and each has its own offer letter. Changing consumers means the same gate as the first time. And when you stop working for someone, the consumer must tell PPL; the regulation requires "timely notifying" PPL of changes in a PA's employment status.

The Department's commissioner wrote to consumers in 2025 that "there is no cost to register with PPL" and "you will not need to provide bank account or credit card information over the phone." PPL's FAQ lists where its calls come from: 1-833-247-5346, and 1-833-204-9039 for registration; texts come from 1-866-709-2810. For any message that does not match its list: "DO NOT CLICK ON THE LINK," and call 1-833-247-5346 to check. Download Time4Care only from the Apple App Store or Google Play. PPL also lists its only approved health assessment partners on its health assessment page; a "screening" call from anyone not on that list is a red flag.

If a group says it is a facilitator but is not on the list, PPL says to call PPL before sharing information. No organization can charge you to become a PA, or act as your fiscal intermediary. Since April 1, 2025, PPL is the only one, by law.

• Registering as a PA before the consumer has an authorization and has asked PPL to link you.
• Treating the health assessment as a one-time step. It is annual, and a lapse means a hold.
• Entering the whole week's time on Saturday night, or editing saved entries. PPL names both as non-compliant. Clock in and out in real time.
• Working past the weekly authorized hours, or while the consumer is in the hospital. Neither is payable.
• Two PAs on the clock at once, or calling the telephony line from a number the consumer did not register.
• Changing bank details and expecting the next deposit on time. PPL says it "may take 1-2 pay periods."