From Pounds of Paper to PDFs: Hearings and Appeals Section to Go Paperless

From left to right: Lori Anne Caskey, Gurman Kaur, Viola Pradieu, Henry Harding and Sandhya Bellamkonda. The Human & Social Web Applications Management Unit of DHHS’ Information Technology Division (HSWAM) is helping Caskey’s office go paperless.

June 15, 2018 – Lori Anne Caskey’s request seemed simple enough. Something needed to be done about the pounds of paper her hearing officers transported to weekly hearings at county Departments of Social Services (DSS) offices across the state. 

Caskey is the Appeals Chief at DHHS’ Hearings & Appeals Section, which has 16 full-time hearing officers. They handle state appeal requests received from county DSS offices on eligibility for numerous assistance programs including Medicaid, Food & Nutrition Services and Work First. 

Caskey wanted the appeals process to go paperless, but it was more complicated than just scanning all the documents. A single paper case file may range from a quarter inch to over 12 inches thick depending on the amount of evidence submitted in the appeal. At times, there are thousands of sheets of paper, filling several large expandable case folders or a box.  

The Hearings & Appeals Section renders over 9,000 decisions a year. Over 75 tall filing cabinets at DHHS store the paperwork for the cases. Retention periods vary by case, but the shortest retention period is six months following the decision. Many documents also include personally identifiable information (PII) and protected health information (PHI). 

Caskey turned to the Human and Social Web Applications Management Unit (HSWAM) at DHHS’ Information Technology Division for help. The 12-person unit creates and maintains websites Department-wide, and has supported the Hearing and Appeals Section for many years. Caskey asked them to go an extra step by moving the section from a paper process to one using electronic PDFs. 

The HSWAM unit took on the project, knowing it would be challenging to convert such a complex and large-scale process to a paperless format. A new system, expected to launch late summer, has been developed to meet hearing officers’ needs. It will eliminate paper case files and increase security. Called the Hearings and Appeals Tracking System, or HATS, it is a web-based system that will house all the documents and create on-demand reports.

The hearing officer will soon be able to download all the records as PDFs to encrypted laptops and annotate the PDFs with virtual sticky notes that are searchable. This will create greater efficiency, with less time spent creating paper files and filing, and a lot of trees will be saved in the process. The Department will also save money by reducing the need for shredding services.  

Henry Harding, Information Technology Manager for HSWAM, cited collaboration as key to the success of the project. He was especially appreciative of team members Gurman Kaur, Sandhya Bellamkonda and Viola Pradieu.

“They all worked real hard on this and it was truly a team project,” Harding said.

Caskey sees great advantages with the new system for her staff.

“While we are still in the testing phase, we are all looking forward to the implementation of going paperless in late summer,” Caskey said. “It will be great to have everything accessible by laptop. Many thanks to the HSWAM team!”