SSI Coalition Newsletter

Massachusetts Legal Services has issued its November-December 2006 SSI Coalition Newsletter. The Newsletter contains this very early report on the implementation of the Disability Service Improvement (DSI) experiment in Social Security's Boston region:

We have heard from a few of you about your experiences with DSI but would like to hear more. Please let us know what you are experiencing as you interact with the FedRO [Federal Reviewing Official]. We are especially interested in seeing copies of FedRO allowances and denials.

Here’s what we have learned from those of you who have cases pending at the Federal Reviewing Official (FedRO) level of appeal: ƒ

• The FedRO acknowledges receipt of the appeal with a notice to the claimant/representative. ƒ
• The acknowledgment notice explains how to get in touch with the office, how to request the file, how to request a subpoena, how to submit additional evidence and when to submit it. The preferred method for submitting new evidence is by fax using the barcode provided with the acknowledgment notice.
• ƒSo far, there seem to be several different forms of the notice in use – but they all seem to impose a 10 day deadline in which to submit additional evidence. See copies of FedRO acknowledgment notices in this newsletter. If you contact the FedRO you can let the FedRO know whether you will need more time. So far, we have not heard that getting more time has been a problem when it has been requested. The worry, of course, is that some, especially unrepresented individuals, will not request additional time and the result will be that important documentation will not make it into the record before the FedRO. ƒ
• The DSI regulations do not impose a 10 day time limit for submitting new evidence. The proposed DSI regulations imposed a deadline, but the final regulations do not. See 20 CFR 405.215. In the response to comment section of the federal register publication of the final regulations, SSA states that evidence may be submitted until the Fed RO issues the final decision. 71 Fed. Reg. 16423, 16433 (3/31/06). ƒ
• Ethel Zelenske, NOSSCR, has informed Jim Winn, Associate Commissioner for the Office of the Federal Reviewing Official, of these concerns about the acknowledgment notice. We understand that the acknowledgment notice is being revised to make it more apparent that additional time can be requested if new evidence cannot be submitted within 10 days.