Cecilia Sparks Ford
Esquire


Experienced administrative judge and senior executive with a track record of creative management of federal administrative adjudication processes.  Has more than 30 years of federal sector experience in litigation, adjudication, alternative dispute resolution, and management.  Expert in federal administrative law with particular emphasis on Department of Health and Human Services programs.   Was a member of the Departmental Appeals Board which is known for high quality decisions rarely reversed in Federal court.  Has adjudicated hundreds of complex disputes over Medicare/Medicaid funding and program participation involving states, Head Start and other grantees, and nursing homes and other providers of medical care and services.  Instituted strategic planning practices that more than doubled productivity for Medicare coverage and payment cases.   Established policies and procedures and directed the assignments for an organization of more than 70 staff.     
 

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

United States Department of Heath and Human Services (HHS)

Chair, Departmental Appeals Board (DAB) 1999 – 2006

As Chair and the HHS Dispute Resolution Specialist, I was a career SES Staff Division Head in the Office of the Secretary, reporting to the Deputy Secretary of HHS.   I retired from this position in April, 2006. 

I managed the adjudication process under various statutory and regulatory authorities requiring hearings or other administrative procedures for issuing final decisions of the Secretary which may be appealed to federal court.  

I continued to sit on consensus-based decision-making panels as a member of the Board and of the Medicare Appeals Council (see decisions on the web at www.hhs.gov/dab) and adjudicated disputes involving enforcement of participation requirements for HHS programs or payment or recovery of federal funds.   My cases included:  disallowances of Medicaid or other entitlement program funds claimed by the states; claims for Medicare coverage or payment; exclusions of physicians and other providers from the Medicare and Medicaid programs; and terminations or civil money penalties imposed based on nursing home quality of care violations.

I brought effective and creative leadership to the DAB by advocating for and obtaining funding increases and by implementing strategic planning processes for the DAB’s various caseloads.  DAB’s budget submissions were regarded as high quality because based on extensive supporting data and productivity analysis.  During my tenure, the DAB’s annual budget doubled to almost nine million and its staff increased by 25% as a result of supplemental funding from Congress to address increases in nursing home quality of care cases.   

To improve the productivity of the Medicare claims adjudication process at the Medicare Appeals Council (transferred to the DAB from the Social Security Administration (SSA) in 1995), I led the redesign of the work processes in that component and put in place an ongoing process of strategic planning and employee incentives which more than doubled productivity.  

I worked on the intradepartmental HHS team that implemented the 2005 transfer to HHS from SSA of the responsibility for hearings in Medicare coverage and payment cases.   This team was responsible for managing the case transfer from SSA and for designing the administrative law judge hearing function for HHS.   Directly as a result of my efforts, HHS saved $13 million of the $50 available to pay for SSA adjudications during part of the transition.

In general, as Chair, I – 

• Initiated and led DAB’s ongoing strategic planning and process improvement initiatives (such as for development of e-filing); and monitored caseloads and set priorities for all divisions.
• Managed four divisions of judges and lawyers who provide adjudication and alternative dispute resolution (ADR) training and services in disputed matters (DAB’s Sharing Neutrals Program was recently recognized by the federal Office of Personnel Management for its contribution to federal sector ADR).
• Supervised directly 12 DAB judges/staff; drafted decisions, rulings, and other documents; made the jurisdictional rulings required by the Board’s Charter; and oversaw budget preparation and execution.

Member, Departmental Appeals Board 1980 – 1999

I was one of three Members appointed to the Board in 1980 as its first full-time adjudicators (previously the Board had contracted with retired senior officials to serve on decision panels).  

My work on the Board was recognized for high quality as early as the 1980’s when the Administrative Conference of the United States found the Board to be a model for administrative dispute resolution.  As a Board, we made early use of mediation and other forms of ADR.  

The Board’s regulatory objective is fair, quick, and flexible decision making and its goal, which I generally met, was to issue a decision within 30 days of closing the record in a case. The Board’s decisions have rarely been reversed in court.

I was on the Office of the Secretary’s first intradepartmental ADR team.  As a trained mediator and facilitator and Member of the Board, I –

• Presided on hundreds of complex disputes in HHS programs including precedent setting cases involving research misconduct (Popovic and Imanishi-Kari), fraud and abuse enforcement (Hanlester Network), administrative requirements for grants (Rural Day Care Association of North Carolina), and cost policies (Vanderbilt University).
• Set procedures tailored to the specific case; issued rulings; held evidentiary hearings or informal conferences to develop the case record; worked with counsel to narrow and clarify issues and explore settlement possibilities; and drafted decisions.
• Co-convened the negotiated rulemaking for solvency standards for a new type of Medicare health care provider; trained as mediator and facilitator. 
• Led management initiatives such as for DAB’s reinvention plan (the DAB’s plan was used as a model for other HHS components) and its internal management team which developed strategies for addressing budget and resource issues.

Staff Attorney, Office of General Counsel 1973 - 1980    

• Advised contracting officers on procurement and appropriations law questions and represented HHS in administrative hearings before the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals.
• Handled general administrative law matters such as freedom of information and privacy and federal surplus property donation.
• Advised grants policy staff on federal grants administrative requirements.
• Was on a litigation task force made up of attorneys from several divisions assigned to work with the Department of Justice on social services retroactive claims litigation brought by 14 states.

Previous experience – includes one year as an attorney in the Office of General Counsel at the federal Office of Economic Opportunity (1972-73) where I advised the office that awarded and managed the economic development grant program which included grantees such as PRIDE in Washington, D.C., and two years as a summer associate with Deal, Hutchins, and Minor (Davis & Hamrick, LLP) in Winston Salem, North Carolina (1970 and 1971) where my work supported a general state law practice, including by searching titles for the real estate practice. 

EDUCATION

• American Health Lawyers – Mediation and Arbitration Workshops, 2006
• Executive Leadership Development (various programs) – John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, 1999-2001
• JD, University of Virginia School of Law (Member, Editorial Board of the Virginia Journal of International Law), 1972
• AB, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (first class of General College women), 1969

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

• Classroom volunteer at Chesterbrook and Haycock Elementary Schools.
• PTA Board at Longfellow Middle School and McLean High School.
• McLean High School Athletic Booster Club Board.
• McLean High School Crew Club Board (President 2003-04).
• Solitaire Homeowners Association (President 1995-96).
• Carolina (UNC-CH) Parents Council (2005-06)

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

• Member – Virginia Bar since October, 1972.
• Member – American Health Lawyers, 2006.

PERSONAL 

Born December 11, 1947
Married, three children