Paying a relative to care for a parent in Rego Park

Rego Park is a neighborhood of co-op towers and six-story rentals where a great many parents live a floor or a building away from the adult child who already shops, cooks, and translates for them. That is exactly the household the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP) was built for, and it is also the household most likely to be told wrong things about it. Rego Park has large Russian-speaking and Bukharian Jewish communities alongside Spanish and Chinese speakers, and the statewide fiscal intermediary, the public help lines, and the fair hearing office all provide interpreters. Ask in the language you prefer.

ZIP 11374 covers most of Rego Park (approximate; verify with USPS). The neighborhood sits between Forest Hills and Elmhurst along Queens Boulevard and 63rd Drive. For Medicaid purposes it is in Queens County, and "Queens" is what you write in any county box.

• NY Connects: 1-800-342-9871 (Relay 7-1-1). Start here if the parent is not on Medicaid yet or nobody has said which program applies.
• HIICAP: 1-800-701-0501. When the recording asks for your county, say "Queens." Or call NYC Aging Connect at 212-244-6469 and ask for HIICAP.
• The nearest NYC Aging in-person counseling site is RAICES / Corona Senior Center, 102-47 43rd Avenue, Corona, NY 11368, 718-458-7259, Monday to Friday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., by appointment. From 63rd Drive the Q38 or Q72 bus gets you close; or take the M or R to Jackson Heights and transfer. Call first; sites change.

Medicaid for Rego Park residents is run by the NYC Human Resources Administration (HRA), not by a Queens office. Eligibility, renewal, and address questions go to the HRA Medicaid Helpline at 1-888-692-6116. If the parent is 65 or older and not in a managed care plan, home care runs through HRA's Home Care Services Program, reached through the DSS OneNumber at 718-557-1399. If the parent is in a Managed Long Term Care plan, the plan authorizes hours, and New York Medicaid Choice (1-800-505-5678, TTY 1-888-329-1541) answers plan enrollment questions. HRA lists its Queens office locations on nyc.gov/hra; this page does not print addresses because they change.

1. Medicaid is in place through HRA, and a home care assessment has found a need for help with daily activities. For assessments on or after September 1, 2025, the Department of Health's Minimum Needs Requirements apply to adults 21 and over.
2. The plan (or HRA, for fee-for-service cases) issues an authorization for personal care. CDPAP needs its own authorization; the Department's comparison chart says a switch between agency care and CDPAP requires a new person-centered service plan and plan of care.
3. The family chooses the personal assistant. The Department of Health says the assistant may be a friend or family member as long as they are not the consumer's spouse, designated representative, or the parent of a consumer under 21. A son, daughter, son-in-law, or daughter-in-law is named as allowed on the Department's chart.
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, online through PPL@Home, through a community facilitator, or at an in-person session. The Department's consumer packet lists a PPL office location in Forest Hills; check health.ny.gov/cdpap for the current list.
5. The assistant completes the health assessment the Department requires before service delivery, and time is recorded through PPL's timekeeping systems with the consumer approving it.

Nobody on this page can tell you how many hours will be authorized or when. That is the assessment and the plan.

• Planning for the husband or wife to be the paid assistant. Many Rego Park couples care for each other, and a spouse cannot be the CDPAP personal assistant under the Department of Health's rule. An adult child, a niece, or a neighbor can be considered instead.
• Paying a relative in cash while "waiting for the paperwork." Nothing counts until the assistant is registered with the statewide intermediary and time is approved through its systems. Informal payment does not become CDPAP later.
• Calling the intermediary to ask for more hours. PPL processes wages and records; it does not decide hours. A cut in hours is a plan or HRA decision and is appealed through the plan and then the state fair hearing system, with a 10-day window to keep services running while you appeal.

Long Island Jewish Forest Hills is the closest large hospital, east on Queens Boulevard. NYC Health + Hospitals / Elmhurst is a few subway stops west. Neither decides Medicaid home care.