CDPAP, agency aides, and appeal deadlines for families in Corona

Corona is a neighborhood of multi-family houses and small apartment buildings where several generations often share an address, which makes it one of the most natural places in Queens for a family member to be the paid caregiver. The Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP) lets a Medicaid member who needs home care hire and direct their own personal assistant, including most relatives. Agency personal care services (PCS) send an aide employed and supervised by a home care agency instead. This page explains the choice, who can be paid, and what to do when an authorization letter cuts hours.

Corona is largely Spanish-speaking, with families from Mexico, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, and across Latin America, and Chinese-speaking households on the Flushing side of Corona Plaza. Every number below offers interpreters, and the statewide fiscal intermediary reports support in more than 300 languages.

Most of Corona uses ZIP 11368, approximate; verify with USPS. On any Medicaid or hearing form, the county is "Queens."

• NY Connects: 1-800-342-9871 (Relay 7-1-1). The statewide door for long-term services and supports of any kind.
• HIICAP: 1-800-701-0501. Free Medicare counseling; say "Queens" when the recording asks for your county. NYC Aging Connect at 212-244-6469 can also book a HIICAP counselor.
• Corona has its own NYC Aging counseling site: RAICES / Corona Senior Center, 102-47 43rd Avenue, Corona, NY 11368, 718-458-7259, Monday through Friday 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., by appointment. It is a short walk from the 103rd Street stop on the 7. Call Aging Connect first; sites and hours change.

There is no Corona Medicaid office. The NYC Human Resources Administration (HRA) runs Medicaid for the whole city, and the HRA Medicaid Helpline is 1-888-692-6116 for eligibility, renewals, and address changes. Fee-for-service personal care and CDPAP cases go through HRA's Home Care Services Program, reached at the DSS OneNumber, 718-557-1399. If the person is in a Managed Long Term Care plan, the plan authorizes hours, and New York Medicaid Choice at 1-800-505-5678 (TTY 1-888-329-1541) handles plan questions. HRA office locations are on nyc.gov/hra.

1. Medicaid is active through HRA, and a home care assessment documents the need. For new assessments of people 21 and older since September 1, 2025, the state's Minimum Needs Requirements apply; people already receiving services continue under the earlier rules, per the Department of Health.
2. The plan or HRA issues an authorization. Switching from an agency aide to CDPAP, or the reverse, usually requires a new authorization and person-centered service plan, so decide on CDPAP before care starts if you can.
3. The consumer chooses the personal assistant. Per the Department of Health, the spouse, the designated representative, and the parent of a consumer under 21 cannot be the assistant. An adult son or daughter, a daughter-in-law, a cousin, or a neighbor generally can.
4. Both the consumer and the assistant register with Public Partnerships LLC (PPL), the statewide fiscal intermediary designated by the Department of Health: 1-833-247-5346, TTY 1-833-204-9042, with a Spanish line listed on the DOH registration sheet, plus PPL@Home online, community facilitators, and in-office appointments. Check health.ny.gov/cdpap for current options.
5. The assistant completes the state-required health assessment before service, then logs hours through PPL's timekeeping tools while the consumer approves the time.

• Letting an English-only notice about reduced hours sit on the kitchen table until a relative can translate it on the weekend. Aid continuing usually depends on acting within 10 days of the notice date. Call ICAN or the plan the day it arrives and ask for Spanish.
• Assuming the aunt who lives in the same house cannot be paid. Under the state's CDPAP rules a relative who lives with the consumer may serve as the assistant when the amount of care makes that relative's presence necessary; the fixed exclusions are spouse, designated representative, and parent of a consumer under 21.
• Paying a storefront on Roosevelt Avenue to "sign you up." Registration with the statewide fiscal intermediary is free, and the Department of Health's page says consumers may also ask their plan or HRA for help.

Managed Long Term Care members file a plan appeal first; the plan keeps hours unchanged if the appeal is filed within 10 days of the notice date or the effective date, whichever is later. After a final adverse determination there are 120 days to request a fair hearing but only 10 days to keep aid continuing. Fee-for-service cases go to a fair hearing through OTDA at otda.ny.gov/hearings (online, phone, fax, or mail; current channels on that page), generally within 60 days of the notice, with aid to continue if requested before the effective date or within 10 days of mailing. ICAN, the state's free ombudsprogram, is 1-844-614-8800, TTY 711.

NYC Health + Hospitals / Elmhurst, west along Broadway, is the public hospital most Corona residents use; the RAICES / Corona Senior Center on 43rd Avenue is the counseling site. Orientation only.