Assemblyman Matt Slater (R,C-Yorktown) joined his colleagues for a press conference at the New York State Capitol today to address the urgent need for improvements to the state’s Early Intervention (EI) Hub, a critical online system that manages services for children with disabilities. Advocates and service providers from the early intervention field were also in attendance to discuss the significant challenges the system is facing and its impact on children, families and providers.

The EI Hub is a new data system developed for New York state’s Early Intervention Program (EIP), which supports young children with developmental delays. Designed to simplify the work of professionals and providers, the platform centralizes the management of child information, provider data, services, claims, billing and payments. However, the system has been plagued by technological failures, resulting in service disruptions and payment delays for providers. These issues are significantly affecting children with disabilities who rely on timely support to achieve critical developmental milestones.

“The Early Intervention Program serves around 70,000 children and families every year. Failing to fix the tools these families rely on is a disservice to our entire state. These are real children with real needs, and they deserve real support. A glitch in the system is not an acceptable excuse—it must be fixed immediately. If we don’t ensure that young children with disabilities can reach their full potential, we are setting them up for unnecessary challenges in the future,” said Slater.

“I’m proud to stand with my colleagues in calling on the Department of Health to fix the EI Hub immediately. Whether or not you have children or need this service, we can all agree that taxpayer-funded government services must function properly. The future of many children depends on this system working as intended. We cannot let technical failures stand in the way of the opportunities they are entitled to,” Slater concluded.