Important Addendum To Astrue's Testimony

Commissioner Astrue's statement to the Senate Finance Committee is available through the Committee's website -- with one big exception. There was an important attachment to Astrue's testimony that is not currently available through the Committee website that is available through Social Security's website. Here are a few excerpts (emphasis added):

... The most aggressive timeline for eliminating the backlog is 2012 ...

We project 360 cases per judge as the ideal pending to maximize service to disability claimants without compromising our mission of providing both timely and legally sufficient hearings and decisions. That caseload of 360 cases per judge would result in an average processing time, or the time it would take a claimant to go through the hearings process from the point the request for hearing was made, in the range of 250-275 days. ...

... we are studying the experiment of 1995-2000 that authorized Senior Attorney Advisors to issue fully favorable decisions. ...

Several of our initiatives will be in place within six months. For example, we intend to fill ALJ hearing dockets by streamlining folder assembly on our remaining paper cases; remand likely allowances to the Disability Determination Service disability examiners; and mandate the Findings Integrated Template (FIT) Decision Writing System ...

To make more cases available for review, we are authorizing a streamlined approach to file assembly. Many judges advise us that they do not use the exhibit list, and it is virtually impossible to place all medical evidence in strict chronological order. They have volunteered to hold hearings with files that are not re-assembled and to review files assembled in the same format used by the disability examiners at the DDSs. We are authorizing this practice to support these judges and the claimants they serve. ...

This streamlined approach to file assembly will be used for the 225,000 backlogged paper folders and will be done on a limited basis, starting with ALJs willing to hear cases in this streamlined format. We expect to complete assembly of the paper folders by the end of this calendar year. We are working on acquiring software to automate this function for electronic folders. ...

We ask the ALJs to issue 500 – 600 dispositions each year. We may increase this range to 500 – 700. ...

Using profiles developed by the Office of Quality Performance (OQP), cases will be screened and triaged to determine whether an allowance can be issued without a hearing, whether an allowance may be issued with further development without a hearing, or whether the case requires a hearing. Cases that can be handled at the DDS will be remanded to DDSs for a determination of whether an allowance may be issued. ...

When screening by hearing office staff identifies cases likely to result in favorable on-the-record (OTR) decisions with medical input, we will have those cases reviewed by hearing operation medical experts (MEs) before assignment of the case to an ALJ. ...

Based upon receipts of 550,000 cases per year, the hearing operation could save significant numbers of workyears with the implementation of centralized noticing and printing. ...

Additional software enhancements are needed to implement eScheduling by incorporating calendaring functionality. These enhancements would facilitate the scheduling of ALJs, claimants, representatives, expert witnesses, hearing reporters, interpreters, and hearing rooms through the use of calendars. ...

Working with the OQP [Office of Quality Performance], we will develop and implement a quality assurance program for the hearing process. This quality assurance program will ensure that all offices follow Agency policy. ...

We will be moving toward co-locating all possible future remote hearing sites with field offices where necessary to accommodate the public.