Let me correct something I posted yesterday. I said that the hearing backlog numbers that Social Security is releasing to the public understate the severity of the problem, since they do not include backlogs that delay requests for hearing reaching Social Security's hearing offices. I am pretty sure this is now incorrect.
The problem of Social Security's hearing backlog statistics being inaccurate because they counted only the time from the date the appeal reached a hearing office rather than from the date it was filed was one that existed in the old Hearing Office Tracking Systems (HOTS), but that has been replaced by the more accurate Case Processing Management System (CPMS), which apparently solved this problem. There is a report from Social Security's Office of Inspector General that discusses the improvements in going from HOTS to CPMS.
Remember, I am an attorney in private practice. I have never used either HOTS or CPMS.
The problem of data entry backlogs at Social Security's Field Offices to which I referred is a very real and growing problem that is receiving virtually no attention.
The problem of Social Security's hearing backlog statistics being inaccurate because they counted only the time from the date the appeal reached a hearing office rather than from the date it was filed was one that existed in the old Hearing Office Tracking Systems (HOTS), but that has been replaced by the more accurate Case Processing Management System (CPMS), which apparently solved this problem. There is a report from Social Security's Office of Inspector General that discusses the improvements in going from HOTS to CPMS.
Remember, I am an attorney in private practice. I have never used either HOTS or CPMS.
The problem of data entry backlogs at Social Security's Field Offices to which I referred is a very real and growing problem that is receiving virtually no attention.
Good correction. The reports count total time from the date the hearing is filed.
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