Waivers
What are New York's HCBS waivers?
- OPWDD Comprehensive HCBS Waiver
- New York's 1915(c) waiver funding habilitation and support services — day and community habilitation, residential habilitation, respite, supported employment, and more — for nearly 100,000 people. The current renewal runs October 1, 2024 through September 30, 2029.
- Care Coordination Organizations / Health Homes (CCO/HH)
- New York's care-management vehicle: seven Care Coordination Organizations staffed by care managers who build and maintain each person's Life Plan through person-centered planning, coordinating developmental-disability, health, and behavioral-health services in one plan.
- Self-Direction
- The option for anyone enrolled in the OPWDD waiver to control an individual budget — choosing services, hiring and scheduling staff, supported by a Circle of Support, a Support Broker, and a Fiscal Intermediary.
- Access starts at OPWDD's regional 'Front Door' office, followed by a three-step eligibility review by clinician committees. Documentation must include IQ testing, a standardized adaptive-behavior assessment, a medical report, and a social/developmental history showing onset before age 22.
- New York does not report a formal IDD waiver waiting list — KFF's state indicator lists New York as N/A for 2024–2025, and its 2023 detail showed zero people waiting in the I/DD category. KFF cautions that waiting lists are an incomplete measure of unmet need: enrollment without service capacity still means waiting in practice.
Agencies
Who runs services in New York?
- NYS Office for People With Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD)
- Coordinates services for New Yorkers with developmental disabilities through roughly 450 nonprofit provider agencies; operates the Front Door, the Comprehensive HCBS Waiver, and CCO oversight.
- NYS Department of Health — Medicaid
- The state Medicaid agency underlying the OPWDD waiver and Health Home care management.
- NYS Early Intervention Program (Bureau of Early Intervention)
- Early intervention for children under three with disabilities or developmental delays, established in Public Health Law Article 25 and in effect since July 1, 1993.
Aging parents
Caring for an aging parent in New York
- Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP)
- A Medicaid program that lets members eligible for home care “choose and hire their own personal caregiver, or personal assistant”. The Department of Health states this “can include a friend or family member, as long as they are not the Medicaid member's spouse, their designated representative or the parent of a CDPAP consumer under the age of 21”. The consumer recruits, hires, trains, supervises and terminates the assistant and arranges back-up coverage. NYS DOH — Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (as of 2026-09)
- One statewide fiscal intermediary (PPL)
- Public Partnership LLC is the Statewide Fiscal Intermediary for New York CDPAP: it processes the personal assistant's wages, benefits and withholdings and keeps the employment records. The department directs all CDPAP and fiscal-intermediary questions to PPL at 1-833-247-5346, with the member's managed-care plan or local department of social services as the next step. NYS DOH — Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (as of 2026-09)
- Managed Long Term Care (MLTC), and the Minimum Needs Requirements
- MLTC plans are how most Medicaid long-term care is delivered. To enrol, a person must be found eligible for Medicaid, be assessed as needing community-based long-term care for more than 120 days, and meet the Minimum Needs Requirements if they are 21 or over — needing at least limited assistance with physical manoeuvring in more than two activities of daily living. Those requirements took effect for personal care and CDPAS on September 1, 2025. NYS DOH — Managed Long Term Care (as of 2026-09)
School
What's specific about IEPs in New York?
- New York runs special education through the Committee on Special Education (CSE) and, for ages 3–5, the Committee on Preschool Special Education (CPSE) — established under Education Law §§4402 and 4410.
- The governing state rules are Part 200 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education, covering evaluation, IEP development, placement, due process, and the continuum of services.
Common questions
Common questions about care in New York
- Is there an IDD waiver waitlist in New York?
- New York does not report one — KFF lists it as N/A for 2024–2025 — but enrollment without service capacity can still mean waiting in practice.
- Where do I start with OPWDD?
- At the regional Front Door office, followed by a three-step eligibility review. Documentation must include IQ testing, a standardized adaptive-behavior assessment, a medical report, and a social/developmental history showing onset before age 22.
- Can I be paid to care for my parent in New York?
- Through CDPAP, yes, if your parent is eligible for Medicaid home care: they choose and hire their own personal assistant, which can include a family member, as long as it is not their spouse or designated representative. Every CDPAP consumer now works with one statewide fiscal intermediary, Public Partnership LLC.
- Who decides special education in New York?
- The Committee on Special Education, and for ages 3 to 5 the Committee on Preschool Special Education, under Education Law §§4402 and 4410 and Part 200 of the Commissioner's Regulations.
Sources: OPWDD HCBS Waiver (as of 2026-07) · OPWDD care management (CCO/HH) (as of 2026-07) · OPWDD eligibility (as of 2026-07) · NYSED CSE/CPSE process (as of 2026-07) · KFF HCBS waiting lists 2016–2025 (as of 2025-11). General information, not legal or benefits advice.