MEMORANDUM

DISCUSSION:

FSD staff members from the IM Policy Unit in Central Office and from the IM Training and Development Unit have been meeting with personnel from the Division of Legal Services, Administrative Hearing Unit, to develop the content for the courses contained in the Administrative Hearing Curriculum. The Administrative Hearing Curriculum was announced in Memorandum IM-79 dated 12/30/2010.

As a result of these discussions FSD is changing some of the procedures involved in initiating and preparing for an administrative hearing. This memorandum addresses the following topics:

• Procedural changes regarding submission of the IM-87, Application for State Hearing.
• Procedural changes regarding submission of the IM-90, Withdrawal of Request for Hearing.
• Procedural changes regarding agency exhibits.
• Training on Initiating and Preparing for an Administrative Hearing

Procedural Changes – IM-87

Effective immediately the timeframe for submitting the IM-87 and supporting documents is changed. The IM-87 and supporting documents must be submitted to the Administrative Hearing Unit as soon as possible after receipt of the hearing request, but no later than the close of business on the first working day following receipt of the hearing request. This timeframe applies to all program lines. There is no longer a different timeframe for Food Stamp program hearing requests and IM program hearing requests.

Effective immediately, the method for submitting the IM-87 and supporting documents to the Administrative Hearing Unit is changed.  The IM-87 and supporting documents must be scanned, saved to a PDF file, and e-mailed to the Administrative Hearing Unit regional office that serves your county. Below are instructions for completing this task.

Supporting documents that must be included with the IM-87 when it is scanned and e-mailed to the Administrative Hearing Unit include:

• Copy of the case action notice or advance notice of adverse action notice which generates the hearing request.
• If the hearing request is made in writing by the claimant, a copy of the claimant’s written request for a hearing must be included with the IM-87.

County and office managers must implement procedures that allow for an audit trail for the IM-87 files that are e-mailed to the Administrative Hearing Unit. This includes establishing procedures to identify the staff members responsible for scanning documents to a PDF file and e-mailing those files to the Administrative Hearing Unit. The staff members responsible for this task must maintain these PDF file folders on their office PC and/or their local server.

Below are instructions for scanning the IM-87 and supporting documents to a PDF file and e-mailing the file to the Administrative Hearing Unit.

• From a scanner, scan the IM-87 and supporting documents to a PDF file.
• Send the file to the Outlook e-mail address of the designated staff member who is responsible for submitting hearing requests.
• The staff member designated to submit hearing requests locates the scan of the PDF file in their Outlook e-mail inbox.
• The designated staff member opens the e-mail file, renames the file, and saves the file.  Format for renaming and saving the file is as follows:
  • File name should begin with “IM87”, followed by the date of the request (YYYY-MM-DD) and the name of the claimant requesting the hearing.
  • EXAMPLE:  “IM87-2011-11-01-JohnDoe.pdf”
• Designated staff member saves the renamed file in a folder entitled “Hearing Requests”.
• Designated staff member sends an e-mail to the Administrative Hearing Unit regional office that serves your county and attaches the PDF file that contains the hearing request. The e-mail should include a brief message indicating that attached to the e-mail is a file that contains documents for a hearing request from (name and address of county office).

Use the e-mail addresses listed below to submit files to the Administrative Hearing Unit regional offices.

• Jefferson City regional office – DLS.JCIMHRG@dss.mo.gov
• Kansas City regional office – DLS.KCIMHRG@dss.mo.gov
• St. Louis regional office – DLS.STLIMHRG@dss.mo.gov

Managers may contact Ken Haigler, FSD IM Training Coordinator, with questions regarding scanning and e-mailing files to the Administrative Hearing Unit at: Kenneth.E.Haigler@dss.mo.gov.

Upon receipt of this memorandum, county offices must implement the above procedures regarding scanning and e-mailing hearing requests to the Administrative Hearing Unit. After the hearing request forms have been scanned and e-mailed to the Administrative Hearing Unit, do not follow up by faxing or mailing hard copies of hearing request documents. This may cause problems with double scheduling of hearings.

Outside agencies -- such as DWD and MWA service providers -- who are involved in specific hearings should continue receiving a copy of the IM-87, Application for State Hearing.  The procedure for notifying those agencies of receipt of a hearing request is not changed. Continue faxing a copy of the completed IM-87 to those agencies. Refer to the revised IM-87 forms instructions for additional information.

Procedural Changes – IM-90

Effective immediately, the procedure for submitting the IM-90, Withdrawal of Request for Hearing, is changed. If the claimant withdraws from a pending hearing, form IM-90 should be scanned to a file and e-mailed to the Administrative Hearing Unit following the same procedures as listed above.  The file containing the IM-90 should also include a scanned copy of the original IM-87, Application for State Hearing. This will assist the Administrative Hearing Unit in identifying the correct case to which the withdrawal should be attached.

NOTE:  FSD staff should not sign the IM-90 Withdrawal of Request for Hearing form. Only the claimant can officially withdraw his/her request for an administrative hearing.  During the case review by the eligibility specialist and IM supervisor, if an agency error is discovered, the following steps should be taken.

• The case action should be corrected following current IM policy for that program.
• A new/revised case action notice should be sent to the claimant.
• Claimant should be contacted to discuss the situation and should be asked if s/he wishes to proceed with their hearing request.
• If claimant does not wish to proceed with the hearing request, s/he should be sent the IM-90 withdrawal form for their signature prior to the form being submitted to the Administrative Hearing Unit.
• If claimant wishes to proceed with the hearing request, FSD staff must proceed with initiating and preparing for the hearing.

Procedural Changes – Agency Exhibits

Effective immediately the timeframe for submitting agency exhibits to the Administrative Hearing Unit is changed. Agency exhibits must be submitted to the Administrative Hearing Unit no later than seven calendar days following submission of the IM-87, Application for State Hearing. This revised timeframe applies to all program lines.

The method for submitting agency exhibits is not changed. Continue sending hard copies of all agency exhibits to the Administrative Hearing Unit by regular mail.

Effective immediately it is no longer necessary to routinely provide claimants with a copy of agency exhibits prior to the hearing. Claimants will receive a copy of agency exhibits at the hearing. However, if claimants, or their representatives, request copies of agency exhibits prior to the hearing, FSD must provide the claimant/representative with copies of the exhibits, or any other information they request from the case record.

It is not necessary to provide copies of agency exhibits to the claimant during the pre-hearing conference, unless the claimant requests copies at that time.

In certain circumstances, claimants may participate in hearings via video conference from a location different than the county office. When this situation occurs, ensure that the claimant receives copies of agency exhibits prior to the date of the hearing.

When submitting agency exhibits to the Administrative Hearing Unit, FSD staff should attach the following cover documents:

• Copy of the original IM-87 hearing request.  This allows Administrative Hearing Unit staff to easily identify the specific case to which the documents are attached.
• Summary page that lists all the documents contained in the agency exhibit packet and the number of pages in each exhibit.
  • EXAMPLE:
    • Agency Exhibit # 1 – Application for Benefits signed by John Doe – 1 page.
    • Agency Exhibit # 2 – Interview Summary signed by John Doe – 6 pages.
    • Agency Exhibit # 3 – Medical Records for John Doe from Regional Medical Center – 5 pages.

Training

The procedural changes announced in this memorandum will be reviewed in the second online course of the Administrative Hearing Curriculum, Initiating and Preparing for the Administrative Hearing (Course Code FS000145). When the course is loaded into the Employee Learning Center, a separate memorandum will be issued providing instructions for completing the course.

Chapter X of the IM Policy Manual is being revised and will include the procedural changes announced in this memorandum.

NECESSARY ACTION:

• Review this memorandum with appropriate staff.
• Implement the procedural changes announced in this memorandum immediately.
• Submit questions regarding these procedural changes to the IM Policy Unit in Central Office through normal channels.
• Submit questions regarding procedures for scanning and e-mailing hearing request documents to the Administrative Hearing Unit to:  Kenneth.E.Haigler@dss.mo.gov.

KEH