The state Health Department has sent several emails since late last week asking state employees to volunteer to help with the ongoing transition of the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program.

The $9 billion Medicaid home care program switches from more than 600 companies to one April 1, but tens of thousands of program users and their personal assistants have until April 30 to complete registration with new management company Public Partnerships LLC.

“The state Department of Health is bringing together all available resources to advance this much-needed transition to ensure the fiscal sustainability of CDPAP, support home care users, and protect New York taxpayers by putting an end to years of runaway administrative costs," DOH spokesperson Cadence Acquaviva said in a statement Wednesday. "Utilizing additional resources will help ensure that more of the highest-need CDPAP users can get registered, particularly as we enter the one-month grace period. The additional resources and grace period are necessary steps in our ongoing efforts to combat blatant misinformation spread by some businesses, which made it harder for some consumers to register on time."

Several DOH emails obtained by Spectrum News 1 show the department offered state and contract staff comp time and overtime pay to process paperwork to transition thousands of people who need to finish registration with the new company.

"Good afternoon, we have an immediate need for volunteers who can support basic paperwork processing for CDPAP workers supporting the Statewide Fiscal Intermediary transition," according to a DOH email that was verified by multiple employees.

Other DOH fliers offered volunteers to do the work at night, on weekends or during the work day if they had the time, starting March 24 through the first week of April.

The Health Department did not answer questions about how much in overtime this is expected to cost or how the agency budgeted for the unexpected expense, and did not address how many employees have signed up for the offer, or why employees would be permitted to work on registrations during work hours.

"This transition is important to the people who rely on CDPAP and we are enlisting more help to support as we enter the final days before deadline and the one-month grace period," according to DOH. "It’s also important to note that this type of Department of Health support is not new or unique – as we will often provide program support especially during times of transition."

Workers will be trained to help with data entry and to run “key information through federal process checks” and document the results. The department did not answer questions about who will do the training, or when.

Nearly 155,000 CDPAP consumers have completed registration with PPL as of Wednesday, according to DOH, and nearly 205,000 personal assistants have either started or completed the registration process. Tens of thousands of program users and their workers have not completed the transition.

Earlier this week, state Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said the department and PPL are on track to register thousands of CDPAP users and workers when the end late registration window ends April 30.

"Workers are being told they don't need to transition," McDonald said. "I'm here to make sure it's really clear, if you want to be a CDPAP worker, you must transition to PPL."

A spokesperson with PPL on Wednesday said the company has more than 2,000 people working the phones in the customer services center to help CDPAP users and PAs transition, and hundreds of other PPL staff checking registration materials.

But the company says additional help from the state is needed.

"To ensure ample resources are available in the last days of the transition when we anticipated a surge of people registering, we are prepping additional resources from other sources as needed," according to PPL. "Our aim has always been to support consumers and personal assistants, and to help ensure continuity of care."

Assembly Health Committee chair Amy Paulin said she's heard from many CDPAP recipients and home care workers who have struggled to register — especially if they don't have a computer.

But assemblywoman said she hopes extra workers from DOH could fill in the gaps.

"People who are trying to register both on the PA side and on the consumer side are having difficulty actually speaking to a human being," Paulin said Wednesday. "Perhaps DOH employees could be that human being who could help them."

Paulin is one of several lawmakers who are concerned the one-month grace period isn't long enough.

"We have a lot of hurdles to overcome, so I don't know if it's enough," she told Spectrum News 1 on Wednesday. "I'm worrying that it's not enough."

Legislative leaders are on Gov. Kathy Hochul's side, and do not have intentions of changing the transition deadline in the budget.

"Deadlines are for a reason," Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie told reporters of the timeline on Tuesday. "It pushes people, it motivates people and hopefully the Department of Health is doing what they're supposed to do."