Matter of People Care Inc. v. City of New York Human Resources Admin.
The New York Appellate Division, First Department, affirmed the Supreme Court's decision, which annulled the Human Resources Administration's (HRA) demand to recoup approximately $7 million in Health Care Reform Act (HCRA) funds from People Care Incorporated. The core issue was whether HRA possessed the authority to audit and recover these HCRA funds, established as a distinct Medicaid reimbursement program for worker recruitment and retention, from personal care service providers. The Court found that neither Public Health Law § 2807-v (1) (bb) nor the Memorandum of Understanding between the Department of Health (DOH) and HRA delegated such auditing and recoupment powers to HRA. It rejected HRA's arguments that HCRA funds were merely a subset of general Medicaid funds subject to its existing contractual audit authority, or that DOH's actions constituted ratification of HRA's authority. Consequently, the Court upheld the injunction preventing HRA from recouping the disputed HCRA funds from People Care.