ACMS FAQs and Glossary

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What date should I enter if I don’t know the DOB (Date of Birth)?
If you don’t have a DOB for a claimant, enter 01/01/1753.

Can Counties or Covered California online their own appeals?
Counties and Covered California have the ability to submit appeals in ACMS, but refer to your agency’s policy regarding submitting appeals in this manner.

How can I tell if a claimant has an e-filer account?
If you bring up the claimant’s profile in ACMS, there will be a username at the bottom. This means the claimant has an e-filer account. However, just because an e-filer has an account, doesn’t mean they access their appeal information through ACMS – you should check their Preferred Mode of Communication.

How long will ACMS data be retained and retrievable?
We have no plans to archive or disable any accounts in ACMS. All appeal information in ACMS will be retained and accessible.

I need help troubleshooting something in ACMS. I’ve talked to my Super-User and checked all the videos and guides on the ACMS website, but I can’t find a solution to my problem. What should I do?
Although Super-Users and our support website, videos, tutorials and guides are very helpful, there are just some things they don’t cover. If that’s the case, please email the ACMS support team at acms@dss.ca.gov or give us a call at 800-743-8525 and select Option 6 for ACMS Support.

Some rural claimant have both a physical address and a mailing address, which one should be entered into ACMS?
Please use the mailing address.

When an agency changes the hearing representative for a case, ACMS generates another ‘Submit SOP’ task for the new hearing representative. How should the extra ‘Submit SOP’ task be handled?
You may close the ‘Submit SOP’ task that no longer applies. This will remove the task from the former hearing rep’s queue.

What browsers can I use to access ACMS?
Although ACMS works with any browser, we've noticed that ACMS doesn't perform well in Internet Explorer. We recommend using Google Chrome browser or Microsoft Edge.

There's a case in my queue that shouldn't be there because I already completed it. How do I get it off the queue?
Queues are populated by open tasks. If you've completed the task and it still in your queue, then the task is probably still open. You can go to the Task tab, find the task, and close it.

Glossary

ACA - Affordable Care Act
ACMS - Appeals Case Management System
ALJ - Administrative Law Judge
AR - Authorized Representative
Breadcrumbs - the blue links under the top navigation bar that can get you to other pages on the current appeal. 
HR - Hearing Representative or Hearing Request
HWDC - Health and Welfare Data Center
M&O - Maintenance and Operations
Modality - Format of hearing: in-person, phone, video
Queue - a list of appeals
RFA - Resource Family Approval
SHD - State Hearings Division
SHN - State Hearings Number
SOP - Statement of Position
Sprint - a period of time in which small chunks of system functionality are designed, built, tested and implemented
SSN - Social Security Number
UAT - User Acceptance Testing
Widget - those icons at the bottom of some ACMS screens; they typically access other tabs via a pop-up window