CDPAP on the Queens side of the line in Ridgewood

Ridgewood's rowhouses and six-family brick buildings sit right on the Queens and Brooklyn border, and a lot of residents honestly are not sure which borough they live in. For Medicaid and home care purposes it matters: Ridgewood is Queens County. The Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP), which lets a Medicaid member hire and direct a relative or friend as a personal assistant, and agency personal care services (PCS), where an agency employs the aide, are the same two Medicaid options on both sides of the line, and the statewide fiscal intermediary is the same. What changes is the county you write on the form.

Ridgewood has long-standing Polish- and Spanish-speaking communities and a sizable Albanian-speaking population, plus older German and Italian households. The public lines on this page offer interpreters, and the statewide fiscal intermediary reports support in more than 300 languages.

Ridgewood uses ZIP 11385, approximate; verify with USPS. The ZIP straddles the Queens and Brooklyn line, so mail addressed "Brooklyn" still arrives at some Ridgewood doors. Regardless of what the envelope says, write "Queens" in any county field on Medicaid or hearing paperwork.

• NY Connects: 1-800-342-9871 (Relay 7-1-1). Statewide information on long-term services and supports.
• 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.
• Ridgewood has no NYC Aging counseling site of its own. The nearest Queens sites on the citywide listing are RAICES / Astoria Senior Center, 21-21 30th Drive, Astoria, NY 11102, 718-726-9642, Monday through Friday 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and Sunnyside Community Senior Center, 43-31 39th Street, Sunnyside, NY 11104, 718-784-6173 x411, Monday through Friday 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Both by appointment; the M train from Fresh Pond Road or Forest Avenue reaches Sunnyside with a transfer at Queens Plaza. Call Aging Connect first; sites and hours change.

Medicaid in Ridgewood, like everywhere in the city, is run by HRA rather than a county office. The HRA Medicaid Helpline, 1-888-692-6116, covers eligibility, renewals, and address changes. Fee-for-service personal care and CDPAP cases go through HRA's Home Care Services Program at the DSS OneNumber, 718-557-1399. Managed Long Term Care members get authorizations from their plan; New York Medicaid Choice at 1-800-505-5678 (TTY 1-888-329-1541) answers plan questions. HRA office addresses are on nyc.gov/hra, and a Ridgewood resident may be directed to a Queens office even if a Brooklyn one is closer on the map.

1. Medicaid is active through HRA, with "Queens" as the county, and a home care assessment documents the need. New assessments of people 21 and older since September 1, 2025 apply the state's Minimum Needs Requirements; those already authorized continue under the earlier rules, per the Department of Health.
2. The plan or HRA issues an authorization. CDPAP usually requires its own authorization and person-centered service plan, separate from agency personal care.
3. The consumer chooses the personal assistant. The Department of Health excludes the spouse, the designated representative, and the parent of a consumer under 21; an adult child, an in-law, a sibling, or a neighbor from the same building generally may serve.
4. Consumer and 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 facilitator, or by in-office appointment (the DOH consumer resources sheet lists offices in Brooklyn and Forest Hills). Check health.ny.gov/cdpap for current options.
5. The assistant completes the state-required health assessment before service, then records hours through PPL's timekeeping while the consumer approves the time.

• Writing "Brooklyn" or "Kings" as the county because the mailing address says Brooklyn. Ridgewood is Queens County, and a Medicaid case filed under the wrong county can stall.
• Assuming a Polish-speaking grandmother's granddaughter must be "certified" like an agency aide before starting. Under the state's CDPAP rules the consumer trains the assistant; the fixed requirements are the fiscal intermediary's employment paperwork and the pre-service health assessment.
• Appealing a cut in hours to the wrong place. Managed Long Term Care members go to the plan first, within 10 days, and then to OTDA; fee-for-service cases go to OTDA directly. Calling HRA about a plan's decision uses up days the family does not have.

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

Wyckoff Heights Medical Center, on the Bushwick and Ridgewood line, is the hospital residents on both sides of the border know. Orientation only.