A case of swine flu kept me from attending the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR) conference in San Francisco last week. Geri Kahn reports in his California Social Security Lawyer Blog on a presentation at the conference on a new program to allow attorneys and others representing Social Security claimants to have electronic access to their clients' Social Security files. Kahn reports that open enrollment will begin in Spring 2010.
8 comments:
I find it remarkable that the agency allows members of NOSSCR to access records from their office, but it will not allow agency employees (attorneys or judges) to have the same access so that we can work from home.
Are you sure geri kahn is a male attorney?
I think this access will apply to all representatives, not just members of NOSSCR.
As for agency employees working from their homes, give me a break...you folks don't work as it is.
http://www.gerikahn.com/
as sure as he is that Geri Kerl isn't an attorney
They think that this system is going to work? It is an absolute disaster due to complete mismanagement, incompetence and corruption that exists in the organization that is supposed to be providing this service, and many other services. The few ethical people there that have been trying to expose the mismanagement of this project have been punished by the same corrupt management. GOOD LUCK if you think you are getting anything out of them in the near future.
Giving attorneys the opportunity to check and make sure all medical evidence is in the record prior to a hearing sounds like a good idea to me.
And this initiative was not limited to NOSSCR members.
The phrase "attorneys and others" intrigues me. So anyone representing, or connected with anyone representing, SSA claimants could have access. This might include DSS reps in DCAP programs, and other agencies. How much access would be allowed? Read-only, wholesale printing, CD burning, or what? With all of the concern over identity theft, the door is suddenly open to minimum wage clerical temps accessing SSA records. And, as stated above, while actual SSA employees, bound by privacy and disclosure regulations, cannot access the cases unless they are on-site, on-duty.
There are some excellent points here. In this regard, it all comes down to the issue of data security. One might ask if those responsible for this system have followed any prescribed security procedures and precautions. If there were an investigation of this issue, the resulting findings might be that no proper security measures were implemented, which could lead to unauthorized access to sensitive data, and potential abuse of the system.
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