M E M O R A N D U M

IM-164 11/15/00  CLAIMS AND RESTITUTION ADMINISTRATIVE HEARING


SUBJECT:
CLAIMS AND RESTITUTION PENDING ADMINISTRATIVE HEARING, REPORT NO. FCLMR485-01
 
DISCUSSION:
Food stamp claims are entered in the Claim Accounting and Restitution System (CARS) as either Inadvertent Household Error (IHE) or Agency Error (AE) claims.  All food stamp IHE claims are referred to the Welfare Investigative Unit (WIU) for investigating whether the claim is a result of fraud.

If WIU determines that a food stamp claim is not the result of fraud, the claim is referred back to the county for the collection process to begin (Report No. FCLX3711).  If WIU determines that fraud may be involved, a notice of possible disqualification is sent to the household.  A "Y" is entered in the "administrative hearing" field in the OVCA/OVCC screen.  The "Y" indicator prevents demand letters from being sent to the household.  No collection on these claims is possible with the "Y" indicator entered.  After the decision is made in the administrative hearing, the "Y" is removed and demand letters are sent to the household to begin the collection process.

After review of CARS, a problem has been identified with the administrative hearing field.  A large number of food stamp claims have a "Y" in the administrative hearing field.  Some of the claims have been in this pending status for an excessive amount of time.  It cannot be determined by looking at the system only whether there is a backlog of administrative hearings or if policy/procedure regarding this field is unclear to staff.

The Claims and Restitution Pending Administrative Hearing Report  No. FCLMR485-01 lists all food stamp claims in which the "Y" indicator is entered.  A copy of this report is being sent to each county that appears on the report.  Please pull the cases shown on the report and take the following action.

  • Review each case listed to determine if the case record can be found.  If the case cannot be located, terminate the claim and reduce the balance to zero.
  •  If the case record can be located, remove the "Y" immediately.  Demand letters will be sent to the household requesting contact with the agency to begin collection.
Food Stamp Program and Policy staff, Central Office Claims and Restitution staff, and Data Processing staff are currently working on changes to CARS that ensure our food stamp claims and collection processes run more efficiently.  Memorandums will be issued as policy and procedural changes are made.
 
NECESSARY ACTION:
  • Discuss this memorandum with all appropriate staff.
  • Review the policy and procedures regarding pending administrative hearings with all staff who enter food stamp claims into CARS.
  • Review the cases on Report No. FCLMR485-01 to determine if the case record can be located.  Terminate claims if the record cannot be found.
  • Remove the "Y" indicator if the case record is found. 
REM
Distribution #3
Attachment not available online
[ Memorandum Table of Contents ]