Another phase of the resolution process for NYC Human Resources Administration's Medical Assistance Program (HRA NMAP) cases has commenced. (Please refer to OAH Transmittal 97-36 for a description of the conferencing procedure).
The targeted group for this phase of the resolution process are homebound appellants, who will be contacted and offered the opportunity for a conference in anticipation of settling any outstanding fair hearing issues.
The Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) has identified appellants who have a telephone hearing request pending to determine if their needs might be best served by a conference with the HRA NMAP office, whether they wish to continue to pursue a hearing, or whether they wish to withdraw their hearing request. Scripted letters are being sent to an initial group of homebound appellants.
The letter (generated by OAH on letterhead of the NYC HRA's Office of Medical Assistance Program) includes a tear-off section which allows the client to choose to attend a conference with the agency, withdraw the fair hearing request, or proceed with the fair hearing. The tear-off section will be returned by the appellant to Ms. Helen Greif from the Fair Hearing Division/Conference Unit of the Human Resources Administation's Medical Assistance Program, who will in turn provide these forms to Ms. Evelyn Cobian at our 330 West 34th Street site. Until such time as the HRA NMAP office forwards these returned tear-off sections to OAH, the hearing will remain in "M" scheduling status.
If HRA NMAP staff succeed in resolving a hearing issue with a homebound appellant over the telephone, the appellant must be advised by HRA to submit a signed written withdrawal to OAH. At such time as a signed appellant withdrawal is received from the appellant, OAH staff will enter on the PFHMOD screen a Disposition of WITH Withdrawal), "CONF" (to signify MA Conference) in the Subcategory field, and "CONF, date, and initials" in the Comment section of PFREQ3.
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