I can't figure out how to reproduce it here but this piece on the hearing backlog at Social Security has a nice interactive chart displaying the backlog at each hearing office. It's noticeable that the worst backlogs seem to be West of the Mississippi.
11 comments:
I don't know about everyone else, but this article's reported time waits aren't even close to accurate for us in MI. According to the list, our MI OHOs span from 220 (Livonia) up to 319 (Detroit). But in our experience, hearings are being scheduled within a month of the request for hearing filing. Our office manager was told that the OHOs don't have enough hearings to schedule. Our monthly hearing counts are down substantially. However, we have a record amount of cases at the initial and recon levels. We're seeing DDS regularly take 12 months or longer to reach an initial decision. That's where the backlog is now. We're waiting for this bottleneck of cases to finally get to hearings hopefully this fall.
That list is from 10/2020 and I can tell you that the number for my office is significantly off and going down every day. Further her comments from that forum appear to be about the DDS process. Look, we have a lot of work to do but I remember when wait times were consistently above 500 across the country. We do not have enough cases to schedule and adding to that problem are reps who refuse phone/video hearings and a lot of no shows/unable to reach unrepresented claimants. I think this article is the start of drumbeats to get the Agency to open back up. When it is safe to do so, we will open up but in the meantime we are trying to do the best we can.
I agree with 10:55 that these figures are not accurate. Louisville OHO is showing over 300 days. It has been down to 6-7 mos (180-210 days) for close to a year now. We had a slight decrease in intakes in 2020, but the number of hearings scheduled for the last few months has been significantly lower. These cases definitely seem to be collecting dust at DDS.
@10:55 The bottleneck of cases won't reach the hearing level under the pandemic is well controlled and that cannot happen until there is herd immunity. And, herd immunity won't be achieved until the fall, at the earliest. Even then, it will take a while after that for the cases to get to the hearing level.
11:45: our office manager was told that a big part of the problem, as you state, are reps declining phone hearings. I can't believe there are reps out there taking that course. Not only are they hurting their clients, but also cutting off their own revenue stream. We have accepted phone hearings since the beginning. So at first, the OHOs cleared all of our cases at hearing level. We were scheduling through the roof last spring and summer. Now, the OHOs are grabbing them as soon as that request for hearing is filed. But with DDS taking so long, most of our cases are sitting at the initial levels. We're not giving the OHOs enough cases to schedule even though the year 2020 was our biggest new client acquisition year ever recorded. Hopefully the district offices will start to reopen this summer and things will start moving a little quicker. With so few hearings and not having to drive to the hearings that are being held, our hearing attorneys need to get busy again!
@2:10 We have also been accepting phone hearings since the pandemic. It has worked out well. The only time I regret it slightly is if the claimant uses an assistive device like a cane or walker. Feel like claimants hobbling into a hearing has some effect on a judge. But if it is a psych case, then all we need is the testimony.
Yeah, even current average wait times are going to be skewed due to the aforementioned not-insignificant number of current claimants who either are waiting for an in-person hearing or with whom OHO has lost contact and their claims can't be adjudicated.
If you're good to go for a phone or new Teams video hearing you're gonna get scheduled very quickly after your RFH pretty much no matter where you live at this point and it's been that way most places for a number of months now.
Amazing, if it is this successful keep it this way permanently and save on office space.
@2:10
We've been taking phone hearings since may, but I disagree rejecting them is "hurting their clients." As you say, it also cuts off the rep's revenue stream, almost as if reps actually have a legitimate reason to reject them. If a hearing has any purpose, it is to require the ALJ to actually look at the person whose benefits they control. That has an impact.
10:13: we have been told from our local OHO that they don't know when, if at all, in person hearings will resume. At the very least, it won't be until 2022 they said. So this means that if a rep holds out for an in person, they are unnecessarily delaying their client's hearing for a year or likely longer.
Plus, it has been our experience that ALJ pay rates have not noticeably changed since the switch to phone hearings. Our experience is supported by published numbers I read from NOSSCR. So, yes, I do stand by the assertion that declining a phone hearing is certainly hurting your client. Most clients can't wait an extra year or longer for an outcome that will likely be the same if they had taken the phone hearing.
“ If a hearing has any purpose, it is to require the ALJ to actually look at the person whose benefits they control.”
Unbelievable. The purpose of a hearing is to allow the individual to be heard. Otherwise, it would be called a seeing.
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