The Human Story: Heroes on Wheels
Among Dialysis Patients
Delayed Healthcare During COVID
Required to Stay Alive
These weren’t just drivers—they were healthcare workers providing hands-on care through door-through-door service: going directly to patients’ bedsides, helping with wheelchair and stretcher transfers, navigating stairs, securing medical equipment, and ensuring the most vulnerable patients safely reached their treatments. They serve exclusively wheelchair-bound and stretcher patients—those who cannot use regular transportation. Without them, people would have died.
The Promise: New York Recognizes Its Heroes
In 2022, New York State created the Healthcare Worker Bonus Program, promising up to $3,000 for frontline healthcare workers who “risked their lives” during COVID-19. The law was deliberately broad, covering workers who provided “hands on health or care services to individuals.”
Ambulette companies read the law. It clearly covered their workers. The statute explicitly includes EMTs and paramedics, but more importantly, it covers “All other health care support workers” who provide “hands-on health or care services to individuals.” Ambulette workers provide extensive hands-on care through door-through-door service to wheelchair and stretcher patients. The law contained no exclusion for transportation workers.
Following the Rules: Official Approval
Ambulette workers risk their lives transporting COVID-positive patients and vulnerable populations during the pandemic’s deadliest periods.
Healthcare Worker Bonus Program launches with broad language covering “hands-on health or care services” workers.
Ambulette companies apply in good faith through the official NYS Department of Health portal, providing required employee attestations and documentation.
State approves and pays bonuses through official DOH systems. No rejections. No warnings. No guidance saying ambulette workers are excluded.
OMIG audit blindsides ambulette companies with retroactive determination that transportation workers were “never eligible” despite official approvals.
The Shocking Truth:
Ambulette companies followed every rule. They submitted applications through the official state portal. The Department of Health reviewed their submissions and APPROVED the payments. The money was distributed. Workers received their bonuses.
Then, nearly two years later, auditors decided to change the rules retroactively.
The Betrayal: Moving the Goalposts
What the State Claims Now:
- Ambulette workers were “never eligible” for bonuses
- Only workers “within a patient care unit of a hospital” qualify
- Transportation doesn’t count as “healthcare”
- Companies must repay all bonuses with penalties and interest
What the State Can’t Explain:
- Why did their own portal approve the payments?
- Where is this “hospital only” restriction written in the law?
- How is door-through-door patient care not “hands-on health services”?
- Why wait two years to claim these workers were ineligible?
The Legal Case: Why OMIG is Wrong
1. The Statute Clearly Covers Ambulette Workers
Social Services Law § 367-w uses broad, inclusive language covering workers who provide “hands on health or care services to individuals.” Ambulette workers provide door-through-door service, assisting wheelchair and stretcher patients from bedside to treatment facilities. The law includes catch-all provisions for “all other health care support workers.” There is no exclusion for transportation workers anywhere in the law.
2. Federal Law Recognizes Medical Transportation as Healthcare
The CARES Act Provider Relief Fund explicitly included medical transportation companies as healthcare providers eligible for COVID-19 support funding. Federal regulations require medical transportation as part of healthcare delivery. New York’s own Medicaid program classifies ambulette services as medically necessary healthcare.
3. OMIG Exceeded Its Authority
The 2024 Supreme Court decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo eliminated automatic deference to agency interpretations. OMIG cannot simply rewrite the statute to exclude workers the Legislature included. The Department of Health’s “guidance” documents cannot override clear statutory language.
4. New York Law Requires Liberal Construction
New York courts require remedial statutes to be “construed liberally to favor the intended beneficiaries.” The Healthcare Worker Bonus law explicitly states its purpose is recognizing essential workers who “have seen us through a once-in-a-century public health crisis.” Excluding frontline ambulette workers contradicts this purpose.
5. Due Process Violations
Employers relied on the plain language of the statute and official state approval of their applications. Retroactive enforcement of a restrictive interpretation that was never clearly communicated violates basic due process rights.
The Evidence: Essential Workers Denied Recognition
Recoupment Demands
Facing Retroactive Denial
Across New York State
OMIG audit documents reveal the arbitrary nature of their position. Workers who provided door-through-door service to COVID-positive dialysis patients three times per week are deemed “not healthcare workers.” Workers who assisted wheelchair and stretcher patients from bedside to life-saving treatments are somehow not providing “hands-on health or care services.” The distinction makes no legal or logical sense.
Official Recognition: They Called Them Healthcare Workers
NYC Health + Hospitals Official Guidance (March 2020)
NYC Health + Hospitals issued official “Guidance for Medical Transportation Vendors” that explicitly:
- Treated medical transportation workers as healthcare providers subject to healthcare worker safety protocols
- Applied healthcare worker COVID-19 return-to-work protocols to transportation workers
- Included transportation workers in healthcare worker PPE and safety guidelines
LogistiCare: “Essential Healthcare Service Providers” (April 2020)
LogistiCare, a major Medicaid transportation broker, sent official communications to ambulette companies stating:
The Impossible Contradiction:
How can workers be officially designated as “essential healthcare service providers” during the pandemic, subject to healthcare worker safety protocols, eligible for healthcare worker PPE programs—but somehow NOT qualify as healthcare workers for recognition bonuses?
The healthcare system itself called them healthcare workers. OMIG now says they’re wrong.
The Complete Pattern of Official Recognition
- Executive Order 202.6: New York classified medical transportation as essential healthcare infrastructure during lockdown
- Federal CARES Act: Medical transportation explicitly included as healthcare services eligible for Provider Relief Funds
- Medicaid Requirements: Federal law requires states to ensure transportation for medical services—it’s part of healthcare delivery
- Healthcare Organizations: NYC Health + Hospitals and major Medicaid brokers officially designated ambulette workers as healthcare providers