The purpose of a hearing appeal is to manage hearings held to appeal a decision on a program application, product delivery case, issue case, prior appeal, or a combination of these. A hearing is scheduled to resolve the decisions concerning the appellant(s) on the appeal. These hearings are conducted by the organization and are overseen by a hearing official who was not involved in the original decision which resulted in the appeal. Hearing cases provide the appellant(s) and the respondent with an opportunity to present their positions at a hearing that is conducted by a hearing official employed by the organization. This gives the appellant(s) an opportunity to provide more information and if necessary, bring other case participants to the hearing to testify on their behalf.
Hearings may be oral or desk-based. An oral hearing is a hearing that is held at an organization location, over the telephone, or at an appellant's home. Any number of case participants and users can attend an oral hearing. A telephone, location, home, or desk-based hearing can be held when there is only one appellant on the hearing case appeal. If there are multiple appellants, the hearing can be held at an organization location or be desk-based.
The hearing official is responsible for reaching a decision or decisions on any issues presented at the hearing. A desk-based hearing is a hearing that is decided by a hearing official based solely on a consideration of evidence and statements submitted by the case participants. In this situation, there is no oral hearing to be attended by the participants.
With the exception of desk-based hearings, participants are automatically invited to attend all other hearings that are scheduled for an appeal case. Correspondence is automatically generated to notify hearing case participants of the scheduled hearing.