Performance Details
Department of Administration - Office of Administrative Hearings
Mission
The Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) is an independent statewide hearing office housed within the Department of Administration. OAH’s mission is to deliver high-quality adjudication services, which ensure that fair hearings are conducted in a timely, efficient, and cost-effective manner, and to provide effective, efficient alternative dispute resolution services.
Core Services
- Conduct hearings and alternative dispute resolution processes to resolve administrative cases (appeals and original actions).
- Provide Training for Administrative Adjudicators
Mission Results |
Core Services |
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Performance Detail
A: Result -Provide High-Quality Adjudication Services |
A1: Core Service - Conduct hearings and alternative dispute resolution processes to resolve administrative cases (appeals and original actions). |
Target #2: Increase percentage of cases resolved through alternative dispute resolution to 25%..
Excluding OAH`s fast track labor and employment cases from the Department of Labor and Workforce Development (for which mediation is not available), OAH diverted 353, or 37%, of its 965 active cases in 2022 to formal alternative dispute resolution, usually mediation. OAH`s fast-track mediation program for Medicaid Services cases, implemented in 2016, continues to result in a significant portion of that docket being diverted to mediation, and, ultimately, to successfully resolving. In 2022, 304 Medicaid Services cases were entered into the fast-track mediation program. Of these, over 95% went to mediation, with 86% of fast-track mediations then resolving through either a settlement agreement or a withdrawal by the participant. Outside of the fast-track mediation program, an additional 49 cases were mediated by OAH"s Administrative Law Judges (ALJs), many of whom have formal training in mediation in addition to experience and training in adjudication. Of the 49 cases mediated by OAH ALJs in 2022, 29 resolved during 2022, another ten have since resolved, and six more remain engaged in ongoing ADR efforts. Of the 49 matters mediated in 2022, only four were ultimately unable to be resolved without a hearing. Target Last Modified: 09/26/2023 |
Target #3: Close Cases within statutory and regulatory deadlines..
In terms of cases closed, the 120-day decision deadline was exceeded in just 2% of all non-DOLWD cases OAH closed in 2021. In terms of decisions issued, the 120-day decision deadline was exceeded in 13% of the non-DOLWD full decisions issued in 2022. Target Last Modified: 09/26/2023 |
A2: Core Service - Provide Training for Administrative Adjudicators |
Target #1: Provide informal training through peer review in 20% of the cases completed..
All new cases: Of the 969 new cases referred to OAH in 2022, approximately 16% had formal peer review assignments. However, of the 969 cases, more than 200 were related to OAH`s short-term assumption of DOLWD`s pandemic-related backlog (186 Labor Unemployment Insurance, 16 Commissioner Appeal, and 49 Pandemic Unemployment Assistance). The vast majority of these cases were not given formal peer review assignments in consideration of the unique issues presented in this docket and to facilitate DOLWD`s need for swift resolution of this backlog. Of the 718 non-DOLWD cases, 143 (20%) had an assigned peer review. Decisions Issued: Of the 452 decisions issued in 2022, 54 had formal peer review assignments. Again, however, more than 300 of those decisions were DOLWD Unemployment Insurance (UI) cases being heard outside of OAH`s normal procedures. Of the 150 non-DOLWD decisions issued in 2022, 44 (29%) had an assigned peer review. Many other decisions also received some level of informal peer review, which is not reflected in these figures. Outside the unusual context of the temporary UI docket, OAH exceeded its target of peer reviewing 20% of the decisions being issued in 2022. Target Last Modified: 09/26/2023 |
Last refreshed: 04/25/2024 05:00 pm