Last Update: 10/13/11 (Transmittal I-3-42)
Citations:
The Appeals Council (AC) may review a hearing decision or order of dismissal on its own motion within 60 days after the date of notice. The AC may review a decision or dismissal on its own motion for the same reasons it may grant a request for review. (See I-3-3-1 ff.) The AC does not ordinarily review a case on its own motion when the end result would remain unchanged unless there is a compelling reason to do so.
The Appeals Council (AC) considers for own motion review a sample of unappealed title II and title XVI disability decisions and dismissals as well as title II and title XVI decisions and dismissals referred by effectuating and reviewing components.
The Division of Quality, part of the AC, selects unappealed disability hearing decisions and dismissals from among fully electronic cases and forwards them to the appropriate Quality Review Branch. After analyzing a case, the AC may approve effectuation of the decision or assume own motion review.
An effectuating component may question a decision or dismissal or may refer the case to the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR) for consideration of additional evidence.
When the AC receives a substantive protest memorandum within 60 days of the date of the notice, the analyst will consider whether to refer the case to the AC with a recommendation for own motion review.