Dec 3, 2007

Tidbits From NADE Newsletter: A Surprise, DOT And Functional Evaluation

The National Association of Disability Examiners (NADE), an organization of Disability Determination Service (DDS) employees has issued its Fall 2007 newsletter. Here are a few tidbits.

NADE got a surprise when Barbara Styles, who had been president of NADE, resigned because she had taken a job at Social Security's central offices, making her no longer a DDS employee. She has been replaced by Georgina Huskey.

Glenn Sklar, Social Security's Associate Commissioner for the Office of Disability Programs, spoke at a NADE National Training Conference in Sioux Falls, SD. Here is NADE's summary of some of what he had to say.:
The DOT [Dictionary of Occupational Titles] was last updated in 1991. There is no easy replacement as the Department of Labor [DOL] owns the DOT. DOL has no interest in updating the DOT, which does not address non-exertional issues, internet jobs, etc. ODP is trying to interest NIH [National Institutes of Health]in the functional aspects of step 4 and 5, as there is divergence seen between ODAR [Office of Disability Adjudication and Review] and DDS at this point in sequential evaluation. This will be a five year project. There will be ongoing vocational training for experienced adjudicators and reviewers to be conducted in FOs and individual DDSs.
So, what is Social Security's plan for dealing with the obsolescence of the DOT? Get the NIH to give Social Security a bulletproof tool for determining residual functional capacity? Sounds like a great idea. Maybe they can come up with a meter for measuring pain while they are at it.

No comments: