Signs of Stress at SSA

The following is an e-mail from Linda McMahon, the Deputy Commissioner of Operations for Social Security, to District Office personnel:

Ordinarily I would be sending you a Happy New Year note at this time, but the circumstances we are facing seem to call for a different message. I didn't want you to think I'm out of touch with reality and don't know about the significant challenges you are experiencing. Ever since the Medicare Modernization Act passed, those of you on the front line have been expressing your deep concern that SSA is not positioned well to help people understand, enroll in and negotiate the new Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Program. Now we are seeing the consequences of that fact. Our National 800 Number Network has been overwhelmed for weeks, with busy rates running above 35 percent many days. In the last few weeks, those folks who can't get us on the phone have been coming into our field offices in large numbers. In fact, during the first two weeks in January, we had nearly 200,000 visitors a day -- as many as 60,000 more than we saw in the fall. We already had large backlogs in our Processing Centers, and those will be exacerbated by the need to put more people on the phone to bring down the busy rate and keep people from needing to visit field offices. Of course, if we aren't careful, we will generate more calls and visits from the folks whose actions will have to pend longer in the PCs. It's not a rosy picture, and the news doesn't get better. Congress finally passed our FY06 budget in late December, and they gave us $300 million less than the President requested. That means we will not be able to replace all the employees we lose to retirement this year or accomplish all the automation projects we had intended to do to streamline work processes. At the same time, we have been given new mandates to do more thorough screening before we process Social Security Number applications and to include children under the age of one in that process. So, where does that leave us? What are we going to do to cope with these problems? First, we have negotiated some new workload goals with OMB. Specifically, we will do fewer SSI Redeterminations and Limited Issues as well as fewer Continuing Disability Reviews. These workloads only affect the field offices and are heavily weighted to Title 16, so that certainly doesn't solve our problems. We will be working within Operations to provide further guidance on workload priorities to all components so you can concentrate on the things that most need attention rather than trying to do everything. This is certainly not ideal, and I recognize that work delayed becomes more complicated when we tackle it at a later date. However, we don't have a lot of options at this point. Second, we are working very closely with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to help them find ways to improve service for the Part D program. For example, at our request, they have set up critical case units to which we can refer problem cases where people can't get answers from the 1-800-Medicare number or their PDP or pharmacy. We have also given CMS detailed information on the types of calls that are being referred to SSA erroneously so they can improve training and guidance for their Teleservice Representatives. Third, we are looking at all non-personnel-related spending to see what we can curtail in order to free up money for overtime. Unfortunately, I don't expect a lot of payoff from this effort because we have very little wiggle room within that portion of our budget. Finally, we are speeding up a couple of projects that will reduce the time it takes for 800 Number agents to answer calls and improve the likelihood that callers will opt for automated services. We are also improving our marketing of Internet services in order to get more people to opt for handling their business via the Internet instead of coming to the office or calling us. I won't try to kid you. This is going to be a very difficult year, and the budget picture for next year doesn't look any better. I commit to you that I will continue to work with the Commissioner to tell our story and enhance our chances of getting a better budget. I will be closely monitoring the impact of our decisions and will make adjustments as necessary to ensure that we maximize the use of our resources and minimize the negative fallout from the shortfall. Of course, that means we will probably be changing priorities as the year unfolds, so please prepare yourselves mentally for that possibility. Someone recently told me that, even though times are tough, we are still blessed to be doing important work and to be pretty well paid for the privilege. That's something worth remembering when we're feeling particularly pressured. Thanks for doing your best to cope with this difficult situation and for continuing to do everything you can to serve the public well despite the challenges.