NOSSCR has learned in recent meetings with ODAR [Office of Disability Adjudication and Review] officials that some 10,000 appeals are pending at the hearing level with no medical issue, including overpayments (Title II and SSI) and SSI income/resource appeals. These claims are being documented with the help of new software tools and DDS [Disability Determination Services] training, and then transferred to the National Hearing Centers (NHCs) for a "limited" time to work down this large backlog. The agency plans to return jurisdiction to the local ODAR offices by the end of the calendar year. Non-disability cases already "scheduled" will not be transferred.Advocates first reported one year ago that non-medical appeals were being transferred from the local hearing offices to a cadre of field ALJs [Administrative Law Judges] serving as specialists. The ALJ union objected – and has renewed its concerns about the new NHC version of the same plan – contending that the normal rotational policy is necessary to ensure the reality and appearance of fairness. Assigning claims based on ALJ specialization has significant APA implications.
Non-disability cases apart from overpayment cases are so diverse that the idea of special software tools for them seems bizarre. What would DDS training have to do with non-disability cases? Why would anyone train DDS employees on SSI income and resources or determination of age or paternity? How would that help the ALJs? DDS employees are certainly not capable of training ALJs in these fields. This explanation makes no sense to me. If anything, this sounds more like someone was trying to think of a justification for keeping the NHCs in the event that backlogs go down to low numbers -- a possibility that looked more likely before the last election than it looks today.
3 comments:
The special tools summarize information from several SSA computer queries into a word document where the analyst can add information without having to manually pull all the queries. As you suspect, the training was incomplete on the analysts, and the work mainly has to be redone by senior attorneys when the cases arrive in the original ODARs. The NHC ALJs, who do not have access to office senior attorneys, will have a very hard time identifying and understanding the non-disability issues; such issues often require field office experience and familiarity with POMS. Representatives beware!
just write a competent brief in any case that you think is difficult
Might be hard for some reps to swallow, but they might have to do some actual work.
It is not DDS, but rather OQP (Office of Quality Performance(?) that is providing the "help", using a tool they designed, that includes the letters "D,D,and S" in the name. The earlier comment that suggests it may be a "challenge" without district office/operations experience is the understatement of the year.
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