This transmittal amends OAH Transmittal 07-08 concerning an ongoing pilot project, which originally involved all of the counties in the western region of the state (i.e., 17 local social services districts west of Syracuse) but is now being limited to Erie, Monroe and Niagara Counties. This pilot project deals with fair hearing requests scheduled against the following agencies:
• the Office of Health Insurance Programs (OHIP--formerly OMM, referred to as OHSM on the Fair Hearing Information System),
• the Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities (OMEU),
• the Department of Health's Traumatic Brain Injury Waivered Services Program (DOH1), and
• all Managed Care Organizations (MCOs).
These hearings are removed from the regular hearing calendars to provide more flexibility in scheduling, with the hope of improving the show rate and reducing issuance times.
Many transactions, including scheduling, adjourning, and rescheduling fair hearing, will continue to be handled by Scheduling Unit supervisor, Nancy Irving, and Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) Katherine Volk.
Fair hearings involving these agencies will continue to be scheduled at the customary local district sites but will be scheduled on dates other than regularly scheduled calendars.
Regular Albany office-based scheduling and adjournment procedures will resume in the following counties previously involved in the pilot: Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Allegany, Orleans, Geneseo, Wyoming, Livingston, Steuben, Wayne, Ontario, Yates, Schuyler, Chemung, and Seneca Counties.
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