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By: Benyamin Davidsons
Bronx Rep. Ritchie Torres has found another reason to criticize Gov. Kathy Hochul.
As reported by the NY Post, Torres is accusing Gov. Hochul of failing oversight of New York’s early intervention program for toddlers with developmental disabilities, including autism and Down syndrome. “New York has the single worst early intervention program in the nation, ranking 50 out of 50,” Torres said in a letter sent to Hochul on Sunday. “The time has come for you to end your dubious distinction of presiding over America’s worst early intervention program.” Torres noted that there are currently 10,000 children with disabilities on the wait list for early intervention in New York State, a 500% increase since 2020. In addition, early intervention providers, including physical and speech therapists, are experiencing delays receiving payments for their work, further crippling the ailing program, Torres added.
The 36-year-old Democrat, who joined Congress in 2021 and who is eyeing a run for the governor’s seat in the 2026 primary, has been in news for slamming the governor repeatedly over different policies for the past several months.
Per the Post, last year, the early intervention program’s troubles escalated when a state Health Department contractor, Public Consulting Group, launched a new software system for therapists to manage cases and bill for their services. The transition to the new software system has been filled with glitches and providers have been grappling with delayed and missing payments, per a North Country Radio investigation. A whopping 50 percent of NYS’s therapists, who provide early intervention services, are not getting their full paychecks, Albany-based therapist Lacie Schweigart told The Post, citing an industry survey.
Providers now need to click 25 times just to fill out a form for reimbursement, said Tracy Harris, a 30-year veteran speech therapist who has run her own business, Building Blocks in upstate Watertown. “I can’t take on any new clients. They’d end up on a waiting list,” Harris said. “The program is the worst it’s ever been.”
Schweigart and Harris said they sent letters to all members of NY congress, asking them to get involved, and that Torres responded and spoke to them on a Zoom meeting.
Torres said the mismanagement of a program for the most vulnerable toddlers is unacceptable. “Even though the broken system of early intervention long predates your time in office, you have broken the broken system to an extent not seen before, plunging the nation’s worst EIP into a state of complete chaos, confusion, and crisis,” Torres wrote to Hochul, in the letter. “There are families whose disabled children have not gotten federally mandated services. There are working-class providers who have not gotten paid.” Torres urged Hochul to “radically reduce the workforce shortages and waiting lists that have gotten worse under your watch; to stabilize working-class EI providers with an 11% reimbursement rate increase; and to stabilize cash-strapped counties with their fair share of revenues.”
A spokesperson for the state Health Department, responding on behalf of Hochul saying the software glitches have been fixed. “New York State’s first priority is to ensure that the 70,000 children served by the early intervention program continue to receive the health care and resources they need,” the spokesperson said in a statement to The Post. “Since its launch on October 15, technical issues with the EI-Hub have been addressed and providers are being reimbursed in a timely manner.”
