No one is even pretending that "Quick Disability Determinations" (QDD) will solve Social Security's backlogs. It is hard to convince those in the field that there is anything new about QDD, other than the name, but QDD is the only fig leaf at hand. From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, announced that the Social Security Administration has implemented its new quick disability determination (QDD) process in Missouri's disability determination services. Under QDD, a predictive model analyzes specific elements of data within the electronic claims file to identify claims where there is a high potential that the claimant is disabled and where evidence of the person's allegations can be quickly and easily obtained. ... "The length of time many people wait for a disability decision is unacceptable," Commissioner Astrue said. "I am committed to a process that is as fair and speedy as possible. While there is no single magic bullet, with better systems, better business processes and better ways of fast-tracking targeted cases, we can greatly improve the service we provide to the citizens of Missouri."
Really, there is a "magic bullet." It is called "being able to hire enough personnel to get the work done."
You are right in that it's just a new name but nothing new. Automation can be improved, even now with all the extent investment in it, but it won't make the necessary (read: timely) dent in the backlog without the staff...
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