Case Studies

The title Departmental Appeals Board (“DAB”) refers both to the Board Members (collectively the “Board”) that the Secretary appoints and to the larger staff organization. The DAB provides impartial, independent review of disputed decisions in a wide range of Department programs.

The DAB includes the Board itself (supported by the Appellate Division), Administrative Law Judges (supported by the Civil Remedies Division), and the Medicare Appeals Council (supported by the Medicare Operations Division). The DAB has three adjudicatory divisions, each with its own set of judges and staff, as well as its own areas of jurisdiction.  The DAB also has a leadership role in implementing Alternative Dispute Resolution across the Department, since the DAB Chair is the designated Dispute Resolution Specialist under the Administrative Dispute Resolution Act of 1996.

The Challenge

The DAB has a need for an electronic web-based case management system to track and manage all cases received through closure.

The Solution

The Automated Case Tracking System has two main databases one (“MODACTS”) for the Medicare Operations Division and one (“DAB”) for the Appellate Division, Civil Remedies Division, and the Alternate Dispute Resolution Division.

The MODACTS database provides case history including the ability to upload related documents, time tracking, and work-effort accounting useable by all levels of staff.  The database also provides a reporting system for managerial accounting to access and improve the Medicare Operations Division’s work efficiency – individually and collectively.

The DAB database tracks open cases as they move through the system until closure. The DAB database houses historical and statistical data and time spent working on all cases. The time management portion of the database system includes weekly entries for selected staff members and includes time worked on cases, training, and administrative matters, special projects and leave.  Documents can be uploaded into DAB that are related to a specific case. The database can be used to generate standardized case management and individual staff productively reports on a monthly, quarterly, and annual basis.

CTAC’s Role

CTAC provides support services to the DAB including:

• Business continuity analysis and design
• Application platform analysis and design
• Managed physical / dedicated servers
• Managed performance based IP bandwidth
• Managed process and content matching monitoring
• Managed dynamic storage / backup and disaster recovery
• Managed load balancing, firewall security, and virus protection
• Program / Project Management
• System Administration
• System monitoring, testing, adjustments and tuning
• Software updates
• End user training and support

About the System

The Automated Case Tracking System is a Java based custom built web application developed for HHS internal use utilizing innovative technology to integrate internal operational, business process and workflow requirements with legislative mandates into a single case management tool.  The application is data driven in that it provides the user with the necessary data to manage case events, which are recorded and stored in Oracle with associated metadata.

The Customer Base

The scope of the Automated Case Tracking System extends to the following:

• The Department of Appeals Board
  • The Board Members
  • The Appellate Division
  • Administrative Law Judges
  • Administrative Appeals Judges
  • The Civil Remedies Division
  • The Medicare Appeals Council
  • The Medicare Operations Division
  • The Alternate Dispute Division