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Feb 28, 2007

Dual Monitors At NC DDS

Many of those dealing with paperless EDIB files at Social Security and state disability determination services (DDS) have dual monitor displays on their wish list. Dual monitors make it easier to deal with paperless files. An employee can view a claimant's file on one monitor and use a different program on the other monitor.

I can report that North Carolina DDS has recently made the transition to dual monitors. Are other state DDS's following suit? What about employees at Social Security's Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR)? Readers can use the comment feature to respond.

7 comments:

  1. I work in the Office of Disability Operations in Baltimore as a Claims Authorizer. Yesterday a computer specialist came by my desk to put a card in my computer.
    She said it was for the dual monitor which would come by the end of March.

    I'd like to add that I have had overtime every Saturday and two days a week for 20 years until last October, when it was suddenly cut to no CA overtime at all. This has never happened before while I have been working.

    When overtime was cut once years before, before it was never for this long and it was because we were caught up on our work.

    Now we have work piling up in the CA paperless backlog and a desk piled up with unprocessed Administrative Law Judge cases which have not been worked.

    The PC7 CA's are the ones who put the claimants into pay after the ALJ awards them.

    Here the ALJ finally awards these people years after they file, and they face further delays due to the total cut in PC7 CA overtime.

    We were barely holding our own with unlimited overtime, with no overtime the cases simply cannot be worked with the existing CA staff.

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  2. I work in the DDS in Oregon. We have had dual monitors for over a year and I must say it makes the job a lot easier. Processing time has decreased some but I think not as much as SSA would like.

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  3. there's been dual monitors at the DDS in washington state for more than a year now. Nothing for SSA employees here yet though.

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  4. We have had dual monitors for over a year in the Dallas Regional Office. In particular they are useful for being able to take notes while viewing medical records. The LCD monitor is in a "portrait" orientation which cuts down on scrolling to see scanned pages.

    I have also had the chance to view an OHA file on CD but I get the impression that is still a rarity.

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  5. I work in a hearing office. All of the employees working on eDib folders have been offered dual monitors.

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  6. most of the NY DDS staff has had dual monitors since we implemented edib.

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  7. Just a note to the first comment. If correct, you are probably one of the people that handle, or will be handling my case file. Ofcourse I have been waiting for more than 120 days since my approval letter.

    A great need of reform is in status updates. When you try contacting anyone from Social Security, you get no answers, no updates, just the "being processed" line.

    I am still in wait with no word at all, bills piling even further and no knowing if I will get something within the next week or the next year.

    At this point, I have the worry of, what if my file was lost, or perhaps even ignored? Was mine just glanced at and then others stacked upon it?

    Personally, I think much of what the payment center should have, and all offices for that manner, is an efficient electronic system. With such, delay times are shrunk due to less time needed for mailing and other such issues.

    With such a system, everyone will know what is going on at any time, payment center processing time should decrease very quickly.

    These dual monitors are not everything, they still represent a cost in that manner. That being said, it is an understandable addition, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see the performance advantages. If even wanted, or needed, you could have three or even four at one time, but I think even two might take adjustment time for some people.

    Everything else aside, I am still waiting for my benefits, no back payments or monthly payments, no letter even mentioning what I might get. It makes you wonder though, how many others are in the same situation as me.

    The way I see things, just give Social Security some of NASA's budget, at least you can notice results in Social Security.

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