Office of Medicare Hearings Just Called Me

[amporci]

PeeJay - The OMHA office is actually in Arlington VA - did you select that?

[Asterisk]

To the posters who have been contacted by Medicare: Do you have Medicare experience, which you enumerated on your application/resume? Could be that the folks at HHS want people already familiar with program, and with experience, unlike th "OTJ" training anticipated by SSA.

Additionally, does anyone know if the HHS selectees get separate training from the ODAR's? While certain aspects are similar, the actual nuts and bolts are different, and I can't see how combining the two would be efficient or effective - at least for the HHS people - assuming the training is geared to the ODAR program, which I believe it is (although I really don't know). Thanks.

[aljsouth]

privateattorney said:

I did not select Arlington, Cleveland, or Miami. I believe justfoundthisboard is correct re: prior experience. I served as an Attorney Advisor before OMHA became a separate agency. I listed my experience in drafting Part A & B Medicare cases under Titles XI and XVIII on my application. Frankly, it has been so long ago, I would have to refamiliarize myself with the regulations. When the staff person placed the call to me, she said she wanted to find out if I would be interested in interviewing for positions in Irvine and Miami (she left a message). When I called her back and informed her I did not select Miami as a preferred location, she said she had not looked at my geographic selections when she placed the call. That leads me to believe the selection criteria that OMHA provided to OPM was candidates with experience, although it is interesting that justfoundthisboard doesn't have any specific experience in Medicare. Maybe the fact that his score is in the higher range led to his selection. In comparison, my score wasn't high enough to get a call on that basis alone.

Question: Does anyone know whether ALJs with OMHA are permitted to work from home as with ODAR ALJs? I was agonizing over my decision as to whether or not I should accept the offer to interview, but I wasn't sure if it would count against me if I declined. Frankly, live hearings with ODAR seem a lot more interesting to me than telephone hearings as one person described. The other question I have is what opportunity will one have to transfer to SSA after a few years? Will I be labeled as an OMHA ALJ or will I have the opportunity to transfer? As some have pointed out, the cost of living in Irvine is quite expensive. Finally, does anyone have any idea as to how accomodating any agency will be to a private attorney who needs time to shut down his or her private practice? I have been talking with another younger attorney about joining my practice because I didn't know the outcome of my ALJ application. He may take over my practice, but I will need some time to train him. Sorry for such a longwinded response, but any insight would be greatly appreciated!

Several ALJ's just moved from OMHA to ODAR this summer. It seems OMHA is not a happy place. I believe these kind of transfers will be available. They are cheap for the agency, which refuses any relocation assistance. You can go lots of places but none will be the most popular destinations, D.C. being the most popular.

All OMHA judges are "supervisory" and I am not aware of them being able to work at home. It is a sham but there you are.

Give up on the idea of being given time to train a young lawyer to take over your practice. I had about 5 weeks notice and so did the attorneys in private practice. This varies somewhat and it is possible with two training classes you might have 3 months notice if you get the later class.

[workdrone]

privateattorney said:

Question: Does anyone know whether ALJs with OMHA are permitted to work from home as with ODAR ALJs?

Flexplace 1 day a week with HQ approval (my buddy at Irvine is doing 1 day at home every week). Transfer back to ODAR is possible, as evidenced by a number of OMHA ALJs transferring to ODAR this year because they want to go to geographical locations where OMHA does not have offices.

Also, if you don't like travel, OMHA is good for that because VTC and teleconferences have taken care of the need to ride circuit. That's one thing my friend at OMHA really likes, since he was a prior ODAR judge and he disliked traveling to remote sites for hearings.

[counselor95]

a summary:
JFTB -- had indicated availability for Cleveland & Arlington (medical-legal experience)
AWCP -- available for Irvine
WW -- available for Cleveland, Irvine, & Miami (Medicare experience)
Cybear -- available for Irvine & Miami (medical-legal experience)
PA -- available for Irvine (some experience with Medicare)

And, PA was told his geographic availability was not looked at before the call was placed. It looks like the certificate requested by OMHA was for Cleveland, Irvine, & Miami, but OMHA is working it without regard to locations specified by the candidate.

[cybear]

Much of my experience is medico-legal. I have taught Medicare CLE on a couple of occasions and if memory serves me correctly, I noted as much in my CV. Having said that, I think we're "chasing rabbits" if we speculate that OMHA is even aware of much other than our scores and geographic availability.

What I think we may reasonably conclude from the facts at hand is that the act of limiting one's geographic availability, without first knowing one's score, may have significant ramifications for the register as a whole.

[jagghagg]

With regard to declinations for interviews or for offers, in the thread of "Here's Something Else to Think About",

Chris wrote:

<<<I think people are confusing two different concepts, the legal and the practical.

Legally, things seem fairly clear:

"If you decline consideration for a geographical location for which you previously indicated availability, you will be removed from further consideration for that location. "

The only issue raised by that sentence is what constitutes "consideration." I suspect that declining either an interview or an offer is declining consideration, so you can decline once and the only legal penalty is that you will no longer be considered for that location.

With respect to actual offers, "if you decline two (2) job offers, your name will be suspended from the register for one (1) year or until the register is terminated, whichever occurs first."

So the legal part of this seems fairly clear.

What has been discussed by Pixie and others recently is the PRACTICAL effect of declining an offer. If SSA offers you a position anywhere and you decline, you cannot expect them to exert any further effort trying to place you in the near future. >>>>

[awcpurple]

mrnovember or learnedhand (or anyone in the know) - In regard to making these positions "supervisory ALJs:" Does this mean the position is hired out as an ALJ-2 for pay purposes? Thanks for your insight. awcp

[workdrone]

Nope, as a SALJ, You still start as an ALJ 3/A with locality pay (Although I heard there are some limited exceptions for high paying federal employees, but I'm not sure about the details). Here's the ALJ pay chart with locality pay factored in for reference:

www.opm.gov/oca/07tables/html/alj_loc.asp

[chinook]

Reading the discussion it might appear that OMHA might have gotten individuals on their certificate that, although with high scores, are not necessarily numbers 1 through ?? on the list. Does anybody know if there is a way for an agency to get an exception to the rule of 3 and pick somebody lower that the "top 3"

[tootsie]

To those who received calls from OMHA-

OK- we are waiting with bated breath? Did you get interviews? When are they? Are you sworn to secrecy?

Or, are you still "on hold"?

[Pixie]

chinook said:

Reading the discussion it might appear that OMHA might have gotten individuals on their certificate that, although with high scores, are not necessarily numbers 1 through ?? on the list. Does anybody know if there is a way for an agency to get an exception to the rule of 3 and pick somebody lower that the "top 3"

I'm not aware of any legal way to do it.

[calalj]

I met an ALJ at the National Judicial College back in 2005 who worked in the Irvine Office. He was bored because all of his hearings were video-conferenced.

[kingfisher]

calalj said:

I met an ALJ at the National Judicial College back in 2005 who worked in the Irvine Office. He was bored because all of his hearings were video-conferenced.

Ditto a Miami ALJ, who does hers via telephone to Puerto Rico.

[aljhunter]

I remain perplexed by the Certificate process, and by the potential that an extremely high-scorer like PeeJay did not garner an interview with OMHA. So, excuse my possibly ignorant question. Did the application that everyone submitted have "Irvine, California" listed specifically in the geographical preference section? I simply cannot recall. . .

Also, has anyone made more sense of the OMHA Certificate situation recently?

I am looking forward to everyone's input. Thanks!

[nothingventured]

Judge Arthur Liberty has been named as the new Managing ALJ of OMHA in Cleveland upon the retirement of the current MALJ.

[nothingventured]

I think Judge Liberty is coming from HUD and will be in Cleveland within the month.

[advancedage]

While on vacation, I received a call from OMHA asking if I'd be interested in interviewing for Miami or Irvine. Only Irvine was on my list of geographical preferences.

[aljhunter]

And, advancedage, are you going to interview? Or, did OMHA say something like "Call in the next 10 minutes or the offer for the interview expires."

[watchfulwaiting]

I chose all. I double checked my application materials on Application Manager, and the list of all the actual locations appears.