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Public Partnerships, LLC (PPL)

Website:

pplfirst.com/
Type:

Limited Liability Company
Headquarters:

Latham, NY
Formation:

1999

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Public Partnerships, LLC (PPL) is a private firm that manages programs through state Medicaid systems and private health insurers that compensate caregivers for working as home health aides for disabled family members. 1  2

Its management of New York State’s Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program has been controversial, with multiple scandals including the alleged theft of compensation by an employee and allegations that Governor Kathy Hochul (D) or members of her administration influenced PPL’s selection for the contract at the behest of the powerful 1199SEIU health care labor union. 3  4  5

Background

Public Partnerships, LLC is a Delaware limited liability corporation that operates programs that allow senior citizens, people with disabilities, and other home-bound individuals to employ family members as home health aides through state Medicaid systems or private insurers. 6 It is majority owned by private-equity firms DW Healthcare Partners and Linden Capital. 7

Originally based in Alpharetta, Georgia, PPL is now headquartered in Latham, New York. 8

It claims to have operated 50 self-directed care programs with more than 500,000 “participant and caregiver relationships,” and to have processed more than $10 billion in payments. 1

PPL’s top leadership turned over heavily in 2025, with the chief executive officer, president, and chief financial officer roles all changing hands. CEO Vince Coppola was replaced with Miki Kapoor, president Maria Perrin resigned with no replacement named, and CFO Sherwin Krug announced his retirement to be replaced by Adam Thackery.  1  9

CDPAP Controversies

Contract Bidding

Public Partnerships, LLC has been at the center of multiple controversies related to its management of New York State’s Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP). Under CDPAP, individuals can be compensated by New York’s Medicaid program for care they provide to disabled family members.  3  4

By the early 2020s, New York State’s CDPAP program had grown to $11 billion a year, which accounted for roughly 45 percent of all Medicaid home-care spending in the United States. 10 According to the New York state Department of Health, its payments to caregivers averaged $264 per month, compared to a national average rate of slightly under $100 per month.  10

In 2023, the state announced it would be centralizing CDPAP program management from more than 600 firms to just one, chosen through a public bidding process.  10 PPL won the contract, but unsuccessful bidders claimed that the administration of Governor Kathy Hochul (D) had improperly influenced the bid. 11

While PPL representatives testified at an August 2025 New York state Senate hearing that they had not violated procurement rules by communicating directly with Hochul administration staffers during the bid process, the company later admitted that its employees had “general communications” with New York state Department of Health officials during the process. 5  11 New York Senate Investigations Committee chairman Sen. James Skoufis (D-Orange County) claimed that the Hochul administration had attempted to select PPL as the CDPAP program administrator “without even [a request for proposals or RFP], without any kind of bidding process,” but was forced to issue an RFP by state legislators during the budget negotiation process. 12

According to a 2025 lawsuit by former CDPAP management firm Mark’s Homecare LLC, the Hochul administration had been pressured by the powerful 1199SEIU health care labor union to select PPL to run the program, with an SEIU vice president allegedly telling participants on a June 2025 Zoom call that PPL would get the contract, despite there still being two months left before the bid submission deadline. 4 1199SEIU had been attempting to unionize caregivers in the CDPAP program, reportedly asking companies bidding on the CDPAP to sign a memorandum of understanding that promised the union’s assistance in lobbying for increased Medicaid payments from the state in return for the companies’ accession to the union’s organizing efforts. 13

PPL’s management of New York’s CDPAP program has been strongly criticized by representatives of Caring Majority Rising, a left-of-center 501(c)(4) that is fiscally sponsored by left-of-center advocacy group Bend the Arc Jewish Action. 14  15

Missing Wage Claims

Numerous workers complained about missing or incomplete payments after Public Partnerships, LLC took over New York’s CDPAP program. 16  17 In May 2025, the Legal Aid Society of New York filed a lawsuit on behalf of home health care workers who claimed not to have received the payments they were owed. 16

In July 2025, a PPL employee was accused of skimming CDPAP participants’ paychecks and depositing the stolen money in overseas bank accounts. 3 According to a report in the New York Post, as many as 10,000 participants’ payments may have been affected.  3 Neither PPL nor state or federal law enforcement would confirm the theft to the Post.  3

References

  1. “About Us.” PPL First, September 29, 2025. https://pplfirst.com/about-us/.
  2. “Understanding Public Partnerships, LLC (PPL) : Resources.” The Arc of New Jersey Family Institute. Accessed October 6, 2025. https://www.thearcfamilyinstitute.org/resources/understanding-public-partnerships-llc-ppl.html.
  3. Golden, Vaughn. “Exclusive: Worker at Hochul’s Hand-Picked Homecare Payment Firm Allegedly Siphons off Cash Meant for Participants.” New York Post, July 15, 2025. https://nypost.com/2025/07/15/us-news/worker-at-hochuls-hand-picked-cdpap-payment-firm-allegedly-siphons-off-cash-meant-for-participants/.
  4. Golden, Vaughn. “Exclusive: NY State Got Help from Powerful Union to Rig the Bidding for Gov. Hochul’s $9B Home Health Aide Program Overhaul: Suit.” New York Post, December 16, 2024. https://nypost.com/2024/12/16/us-news/a-powerful-union-helped-ny-state-rig-the-bidding-for-gov-hochuls-9b-home-health-aide-program-overhaul-suit/.
  5. Ashford, Grace. “N.Y. Lawmakers Press Officials about Home Health Program’s Issues .” The New York Times, August 21, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/21/nyregion/cdpap-new-york.html.
  6. “Entity Details for Public Partnerships LLC.” Delaware Department of State: Division of Corporations, 1999. https://icis.corp.delaware.gov/ecorp/entitysearch/namesearch.aspx.
  7. Clark, Dan. “NY Lawmakers Question CEO Swap at Company Managing CDPAP Home Care Program.” Albany Times-Union, July 14, 2025. https://www.timesunion.com/state/article/ny-lawmakers-question-leadership-swap-company-20768793.php.
  8. “Business Entity Summary.” Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1999. https://corp.sec.state.ma.us/CorpWeb/CorpSearch/CorpSummary.aspx?sysvalue=ANVNBIsZoG8HuebIc_t4x8mTNpkbS2fx273MdC7n0Mk-.
  9. Dominguez, Carina. “Public Partnerships LLC Going through Leadership Shakeups.” News10 Albany, July 10, 2025. https://www.news10.com/news/public-partnerships-llc-going-through-leadership-shakeups/.
  10. Dominguez, Carina. “Doh and PPL Address CDPAP Transition Concerns.” News10 Albany, April 28, 2025. https://www.news10.com/news/doh-and-ppl-address-cdpap-transition-concerns/.
  11. Ashford, Grace. “Questions Arise over Hiring of Firm to Run $11 Billion Health Care Program.” The New York Times, September 5, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/05/nyregion/public-partnership-homecare.html.
  12. Clark, Dan. “Packaging Reduction, Biosolids, A.I: What Passed and Did Not in the Assembly.” Capitol Confidential with Dan Clark, June 18, 2025. https://www.capitolconfidential.com/p/packaging-reduction-biosolids-ai?utm_source=publication-search.
  13. Golden, Vaughn. “Exclusive: Powerful Nurses Union Scheming to Make Bank off Hochul’s Changes to NY’s $9b Medicaid Program.” New York Post, September 19, 2024. https://nypost.com/2024/09/19/us-news/powerful-nurses-union-scheming-to-make-bank-off-hochuls-changes-to-nys-9b-medicaid-program/.
  14. Dominguez, Carina. “Public Partnerships LLC Going through Leadership Shakeups.” News10 Albany, July 15, 2025. https://www.news10.com/news/public-partnerships-llc-going-through-leadership-shakeups/.
  15. “We Are Caring Majority Rising.” Caring Majority Rising. Accessed October 6, 2025. https://caringmajorityrising.org/.
  16. Lucas, Dave. “New York’s CDPAP – PPL Transition Continues.” WAMC, May 1, 2025. https://www.wamc.org/news/2025-05-01/new-yorks-cdpap-ppl-transition-continues.
  17. Khafagy, Amir. “Immigrant Caregivers Say State-Backed Home Care Agency Stole Their Wages.” Documented, April 29, 2025. https://documentedny.com/2025/04/29/immigrant-caregivers-home-care-agency-cdpap-ppl-wage-theft/.
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