Code of Maine Rules › 10 - DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES › 144 - DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES - GENERAL › Chapter 1 - ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS REGULATIONS › Section 144-1-IV - DEFINITIONS

Current through 2024-29, July 17, 2024
A.
Adjudicatory Hearing
- Any
				proceeding before a Hearing Officer of the Department in which the legal
				rights, duties, or privileges of specific persons are required by law to be
				determined after an opportunity for hearing.
B.
Agency
- The Maine Department
				of Health and Human Services, or any other instrument of state government for
				which the Division of Administrative Hearings serves as impartial
				administrative hearing authority.
C.
Appellant
- Any person,
				institution, business organization, or other entity requesting an adjudicatory
				hearing regarding action or inaction of the Maine Department of Health and
				Human Services, or of any agency for which the Division of Administrative
				Hearings serves as impartial hearing authority.
D.
Applicant
- A person,
				household or family who has applied or attempted to apply for a benefit program
				administered by the Department of Health and Human Services or for license,
				certificate or a status regulated by the Maine Department of Health and Human
				Services.
E.
Assistance
- Any financial or medical assistance provided by the
				Department.
F.
Authorized
				Representative
- Any person, such as legal counsel, a relative, or a
				friend, who is authorized by a party to represent that party at a hearing.
				Except by special leave granted by the Hearing Officer, no party may have more
				than one authorized representative at any one time. If the Hearing Officer
				allows for more than one representative of a party, only one representative may
				question a particular witness and only one representative can provide a closing
				or opening statement.
G.
Benefit Program
- Any program in which funds, services, or goods
				are provided or intended to be provided, at least in part, on the basis of
				limited financial resources of applicants or recipients. "Benefit Program"
				includes vocational rehabilitation programs.
H.
Chief Administrative Hearing
				Officer
- The person who is responsible for the operation and management
				of the Division of Administrative Hearings including supervision and assignment
				of Hearing Officers to cases.
I.
Commissioner
- The Commissioner of Health and Human Services as
				provided for in 22-A M.R.S. §
									204.
J.
DAH
- Division of
				Administrative Hearings.
K.
Department
- The Department of Health and Human Services of the
				State of Maine.
L.
Hearing
- An adjudicatory hearing.
M.
Hearing Officer
- A person
				designated by the Department to conduct hearings.
N.
Hearing Record
- Those
				materials required by 5 M.R.S. §
									9059 and these regulations to be
				compiled and prepared in the course of an adjudicatory hearing.
O.
Hearing Report
- A memorandum
				addressed to the Division of Administrative Hearings, prepared in response to
				an appellant's hearing request, consolidating information necessary for
				scheduling, and clarifying the responses to issues raised by the appellant.
				Hearing Reports shall be submitted on a form provided or approved by the staff
				of the Division of Administrative Hearings.
P.
Irrelevant evidence
-
				Evidence that does not make the truth of a disputed fact more likely than it
				already is without the evidence or the disputed fact is not of consequence in
				deciding the issues presented in the hearing.
Q.
Order of Reference
- A
				document in which the Department's Commissioner gives specific instructions to
				the Division of Administrative Hearings regarding: the issues to be addressed
				at hearing and the handling of a hearing request. This may include, but is not
				limited to, an instruction for the Hearing Officer to issue recommended
				findings and a recommended decision and reserving the authority to make the
				final findings and decision to the Commissioner.
R.
Party
- A participant in a
				hearing such as an appellant, a respondent, the Department, an intervenor, or
				other person or entity who has an interest in the outcome of the
				hearing.
S.
Preponderance of
				the evidence
- Evidence which, in light of the record as a whole, leads
				the Hearing Officer to believe that the finding is more likely to be true than
				not true.
T.
Recipient
- A person, household, or family who is receiving or has received assistance
				under a benefit program.
U.
Regulation
- The term regulation means:
1. The whole or any part of a regulation,
				standard, code, rule, or other agency statement of general applicability to an
				agency's operation including the amendment, suspension, or repeal of any prior
				regulation, that is intended to be judicially enforceable and implements,
				interprets or makes specific the law administered by the agency or describes
				the procedures or practices of the agency.
2. Regulation does not include: Policies or
				memoranda concerning only the internal management of the agency or the State
				Government and are not judicially enforceable; advisory rulings; decisions
				rendered in adjudicatory proceedings; or any form or instruction or explanatory
				statement of policy that in itself is not judicially enforceable but is
				intended solely as advice to assist persons in determining, exercising or
				complying with their legal rights, duties, or privileges.