Public Partnerships LLC is a for-profit company that handles Medicaid payroll and paperwork for people who hire their own home caregivers, and in June 2026 the U.S. Department of Justice sued it — along with two New York State health officials — over the way it won a $10 billion contract to run New York’s home care program.1U.S. Department of Justice. Department of Justice Files Suit to Stop Ongoing Medicaid Fraud Related to New York’s Home Care Program Based in Latham, New York, and known simply as PPL, the company says it manages more than 700,000 participant and caregiver relationships across 50 programs in 18 states and has processed over $10 billion in payments since it was founded in 1999.2Public Partnerships LLC. About Us It is also the defendant in two active wage class actions from home care workers and has lost contracts in at least six other states.
What PPL Does
Under Medicaid’s self-directed care model, an elderly, disabled, or chronically ill participant acts as the employer of their own caregiver — often a friend or family member — and picks who works, when, and how. Because Medicaid law generally forbids paying benefits directly to the participant, a fiscal intermediary sits in the middle to move the money.3MACPAC. Self-Directed Services Chapter PPL is that intermediary. It runs caregiver payroll, withholds and files taxes, issues W-2s, carries workers’ compensation coverage, tracks each participant’s authorized budget, and runs background checks on new hires. Caregivers clock in and out through a mobile app called Time4Care, which the company uses to satisfy federal electronic visit verification rules.4Public Partnerships LLC. Frequently Asked Questions More than 1.5 million people nationwide self-direct their home and community-based services as of 2023.
Who Owns PPL
PPL began as an affiliate of Public Consulting Group Inc., a Boston consulting firm known as PCG.5Home Health Care News. Two Private Equity Firms Reportedly Back Self-Directed At-Home Care Enabler Public Partnerships6New York Post. $11B NY Medicaid Contractor Accused of Fiscal and Operational Failures in Other States7Axios. Public Partnerships DW Healthcare Linden Self-Directed Home Care PCG kept an effective 26 percent stake (16.1 percent held by the company and 9.9 percent by PCG executives). Entities associated with Apollo Global Management hold about 1.6 percent.8New York State Senate. Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund CDPAP Written Testimony
PitchBook lists PPL as having raised $425 million in total funding and employing about 4,296 people.9PitchBook. Public Partnerships Company Profile The company reported losses of $57 million in 2023 and $39 million in 2024.6New York Post. $11B NY Medicaid Contractor Accused of Fiscal and Operational Failures in Other States
The PCG relationship matters for what came later. PCG holds over $630 million in contracts with the New York State Department of Health and about $275 million with other state agencies. Through a staffing affiliate called SSO, roughly 250 PCG-affiliated employees work inside the Department of Health, and about 50 of them have been described as closely involved with home care and the CDPAP program.10New York State Senate. Julian Hagmann Caring Professionals Inc. CDPAP Testimony PPL has said that because PCG is a small shareholder, PCG did not have to be disclosed on the state’s Vendor Responsibility Questionnaire.6New York Post. $11B NY Medicaid Contractor Accused of Fiscal and Operational Failures in Other States
The New York CDPAP Contract
New York’s Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program, or CDPAP, lets Medicaid-eligible residents hire their own personal care aides. Worth roughly $10 billion to $11 billion, it had been managed for years by 600 to 700 separate fiscal intermediaries.11McKnight’s Home Care. DOJ Sues Over New York’s Selection of PPL as CDPAP Fiscal Intermediary12New York State Department of Health. CDPAP SFI Policy for MMCP13Home Health Care News. Amid Ongoing Controversy in New York, Public Partnerships Is Awarded CDPAP Contract The transition was to be complete by April 1, 2025.
The award drew immediate suspicion. State Senator James Skoufis produced draft budget language from April 2024 that appeared to name PPL as the program administrator before any formal bidding, reportedly stating that the Department of Health “shall partner with Public Partnerships, LLC.” Of more than 130 bidders, only four met the eligibility criteria written into the final legislation, which required the company to already be providing statewide fiscal intermediary services in at least one other state as of April 1, 2024.14City & State NY. State Planned to Give No-Bid Contract to PPL, Lawmaker Claims The contract was also exempted from review by the state comptroller. PPL officials initially told the state Senate there had been no communications with health officials before the award; a later letter from PPL executive Patricia Byrnes acknowledged that “general communications” with department staff had taken place in March and April 2024.15The New York Times. Public Partnership Homecare
A Chaotic Transition
Moving roughly 236,000 caregivers and their clients from hundreds of small intermediaries to a single company went poorly. By March 2025, the Department of Health reported that about 150,000 consumers had started or completed registration with PPL, while roughly 45,000 had left CDPAP for other personal care services.16New York State Department of Health. CDPAP Transition Update A petition by State Senator Steven Rhoads reported that roughly 60,000 consumers exited the program and another 40,000 failed to complete the transition by the April deadline.17New York State Senate. Halt CDPAP Transition — Demand Full Public Review
After PPL took over on April 1, 2025, complaints about missing and inaccurate paychecks surged. A survey by the advocacy group Caring Majority in early May 2025 found that half of 402 responding consumers or workers had not been fully paid during the first three pay periods; a follow-up in June found a third of workers had experienced pay cuts and a majority reported difficulty enrolling.18City & State NY. PPL Touts High Customer Satisfaction Amid Turbulent Home Care Transition PPL countered that more than 99 percent of registered personal assistants who submitted timesheets by the deadline were paid, and blamed most payment problems on incorrect timesheets. Hochul’s office called the transition “well managed” and characterized the old system as rife with “unethical middlemen.”19Spectrum News. Lawmakers, Hochul Clash on CDPAP Legislative Fix Before Session Ends
In July 2025, PPL fired an employee who was accused of misdirecting caregiver direct deposits to wrong accounts and routing money to offshore accounts. Up to 10,000 CDPAP participants were potentially affected, and hundreds of thousands of dollars could have been involved. According to reporting by the New York Post, a source said the FBI was involved in the investigation, though the bureau did not confirm that.20New York Post. Worker at Hochul’s Hand-Picked CDPAP Payment Firm Allegedly Siphons Off Cash Meant for Participants CEO Vince Coppola and President Maria Perrin both left the company that summer.21News10. Public Partnerships LLC Going Through Leadership Shakeups Miki Kapoor, previously an operating partner at Linden Capital Partners and a PPL board member, replaced Coppola as CEO.22Public Partnerships LLC. PPL Expands Leadership Team
The DOJ Fraud Lawsuit
On June 16, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a civil lawsuit in the Eastern District of New York against PPL, New York State Health Commissioner James McDonald, and State Medicaid Director Amir Bassiri. The case, United States v. Public Partnerships LLC et al., No. 1:26-cv-03601, alleges violations of federal health care fraud statutes, false health care statements, and conspiracy.23Georgetown Law Litigation Tracker. United States v. Public Partnerships LLC et al.
The complaint alleges the state ran a “sham bid process” in the summer of 2024 to pre-select PPL, that PPL billed the state at hourly rates higher than its contract allowed and “raided” the program for unauthorized profits, and that both PPL and state officials knowingly misrepresented the transition timeline to the public and the legislature while knowing the April 1, 2025 deadline would not be met.1U.S. Department of Justice. Department of Justice Files Suit to Stop Ongoing Medicaid Fraud Related to New York’s Home Care Program Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald said “New York’s backroom deal with PPL has cost taxpayers millions of dollars and cast countless Medicaid patients to the curb.”11McKnight’s Home Care. DOJ Sues Over New York’s Selection of PPL as CDPAP Fiscal Intermediary
Federal prosecutors are asking the court to freeze the flow of gross revenue to PPL under the contract and to appoint a temporary receiver.24The Hill. DOJ Sues New York Health PPL denies the allegations and says it “strongly disagrees with the characterizations in the complaint,” calling its selection a “transparent, competitive process.”11McKnight’s Home Care. DOJ Sues Over New York’s Selection of PPL as CDPAP Fiscal Intermediary Hochul’s office called the lawsuit an attempt to “weaponize the justice system.”25The New York Times. DOJ New York Health Care Lawsuit As of mid-2026, briefing is ongoing and no preliminary rulings have issued.23Georgetown Law Litigation Tracker. United States v. Public Partnerships LLC et al.
Wage Class Actions from Caregivers
Two class actions on behalf of New York CDPAP workers accuse PPL of failing to pay them accurately or on time. Philip Calderon v. Public Partnerships, LLC, filed on April 25, 2025, in the Eastern District of New York by The Legal Aid Society with co-counsel Katz Banks Kumin LLP, alleges that PPL’s “fundamentally broken infrastructure for onboarding workers, tracking time, approving wages, and processing payroll” produced widespread wage violations.26Legal Aid Society of New York. Philip Calderon v. Public Partnerships LLC Flanagan v. Public Partnerships, LLC, filed the same month in the Western District of New York under the Fair Labor Standards Act, survived PPL’s motion to dismiss in March 2026 and is now in pretrial proceedings.27CourtListener. Flanagan v. Public Partnerships LLC Both cases are active.
A separate class action from Pennsylvania ended differently for PPL. Ralph Talarico v. Public Partnerships, LLC, filed in 2017, alleged PPL was a joint employer of direct care workers and owed them overtime under the FLSA and Pennsylvania wage laws. After a seven-day bench trial in 2023, the district court ruled in January 2025 that PPL was not a joint employer, and the Third Circuit affirmed in a nonprecedential opinion on May 19, 2026, finding that PPL did not exercise “significant control” over the workers’ day-to-day functions.28Justia. Ralph Talarico v. Public Partnerships LLC, No. 25-1369 That ruling is nonprecedential and involved a different state’s program, so it does not resolve the New York cases.
Separately, Julian Hagmann, CEO of Caring Professionals Inc., has sued PPL in New York state court, calling the company a “state-sanctioned monopoly” and alleging that PPL unlawfully demanded former fiscal intermediaries hand over private patient information, potentially violating HIPAA.6New York Post. $11B NY Medicaid Contractor Accused of Fiscal and Operational Failures in Other States
Track Record in Other States
PPL has lost or failed to renew contracts in at least six other states.
- In Pennsylvania, PPL’s 2013 takeover of the state’s self-directed program was called a “disaster” in a performance audit that found the state “ignored many red flags that PPL was not fully prepared.” The contract ended in 2021 when Pennsylvania moved to a different model.6New York Post. $11B NY Medicaid Contractor Accused of Fiscal and Operational Failures in Other States
- In New Jersey, PPL ran the Personal Preference Program and Self-Directed Services for the Division of Developmental Disabilities. The Alliance for the Betterment of Citizens with Disabilities accused the company of “egregious fiscal and operational failures.” The state moved to a new provider, Acumen Fiscal Agent, with a go-live date of December 2025. PPL says it was “outbid by other suppliers.”29New Jersey Department of Human Services. Acumen Transition30ABCD NJ. Egregious Fiscal and Operational Failures by Public Partnerships LLC Were Predictable6New York Post. $11B NY Medicaid Contractor Accused of Fiscal and Operational Failures in Other States
- In Washington, PPL described its departure as a business decision to exit the market.
- In Tennessee, West Virginia, and Virginia, PPL says it was outbid by competitors.6New York Post. $11B NY Medicaid Contractor Accused of Fiscal and Operational Failures in Other States
PPL has denied ever losing a contract because of poor performance.
Consumer Complaints
The Better Business Bureau has logged 132 consumer complaints against PPL over the past three years, with 38 in the most recent twelve-month period. Service or repair issues accounted for the largest share at 63 complaints. Caregivers described missing payments for hours worked, wrong paycheck amounts, and technical problems with the Time4Care app. Customer service complaints cited long hold times, unfulfilled callback promises, and difficulty reaching departments that could resolve specific payroll or enrollment issues.31Better Business Bureau. Public Partnerships LLC PPL Complaints PPL has responded that many issues were resolved through direct communication and that the company provides education to consumers and caregivers on managing authorized hours.