Articles from prior issues of The Advocate

November/December, 1999

Common Topics and Concerns Discussed by Hearing Officers

DURING THE NATIONAL NADE TRAINING Conference in Denver, NADE's Hearings Officers met for a breakout session. Many issues facing hearings officers were discussed. Some were referred to the NADE Hearings Officer Committee for their review. Keith Odom, Hearings Officer from New Mexico is chairman of this committee. These issues included: claimant exclusion, ongoing and refresher training, SSA conference feedback to hearings officers, and overview of the new Federal reviews of hearings officers' decisions.

Other issues discussed included 18 year old redetermination cases, legal guardianship, rescheduling of hearings of adult mental cases who fail to appear for a scheduled hearing, and the medical equivalence issue.

Procedure issues differ from state to state and across the country and are tailored to the needs of the states and hearings officers. Some states are handling hearings by telephone in certain circumstances when other means of holding a hearing are not workable. The length of hearings varies substantially nationwide from 20 minutes to three hours. There was discussion on hearings dismissed by the Administrative Law Judges when a claimant fails to appear and the question was raised as to why the hearings officers do not have the same option. Hearings officers present at the breakout session expressed interest in feedback from the June 1999 SSA Hearing Officer Conference held in Annapolis. This included interest in the decision writing course taught at the June session by Jean Benvenuti and a "Big Fat Handout" that is to be made available to each Disability Hearings Unit. Many states have not received Jean's handout and feel that it would be a valuable resource to them. A list of states wanting a copy of Jean's handout was recorded.

During the hour long session, it became apparent that issues facing hearings officers vary greatly across our organization.