The report shown below was obtained from Social Security by the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR) and published in its newsletter, which is not available online to non-members. It contains basic operating statistics for Social Security's Office of Hearings Operations (OHO).
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Pending being 3xx,xxx is something that, a very short time ago, seemed like fairytale talk. The detailed numbers also suggest the existence of a smaller class of older cases (all the dismissals that cannot be effectuated, all the in-person holdouts, ?) that is getting older, but a large class of other cases going through the whole process in a few months.
ReplyDeleteBig thanks to all you OHOers who sprinted on that treadmill for the last four or so years, I know it's been rough.
I'm now getting hearing date scheduled files on applications filed seven months ago. Management has removed dismissal power from ALJs and reserved it for GS-13s in the Regional Office, so if someone abandoned their case, I can't dismiss without layers of permission and those cases sit on the books immovable, can't schedule and can't dismiss. Everything else the ALJs are cutting through like a hot knife through butter.
ReplyDeleteReceipts down 70,000 over (430,000 in FY 2020 to 3578,000 FY 2021 through August with average receipts around 30,000 per montnth means down about 40,000 for the year.
ReplyDeleteDispositions were 585,918 in FY 2020 and through August 415,110 and assuming the average of around 35,000 monthly will mean a decrease of about 125,000 for the year.
Average dispositions per ALJ were 1.75 in FY 20 down from around 2.0 precovid and now was 1.37 monthly by August 2021.
How is that working remotely working out now?
We are now seeing the hearing offices schedule cases with less than 75 days notice because they are running out of cases. While I appreciate the effort, if ALJ's are going to still hold claimants and representatives to the five business day rule then I will ask for the required 75 day notice.
ReplyDelete@2:40PM -- easy explanation is we're running out of cases. We're supposed to request 50 hearing slots per month and the judges in my office have been getting no more than 35 for a few months now. Also, we are sitting on thousands of potential dismissals that we're not allowed to process. There's just not as much "in the pipe."
ReplyDeleteI know OHO gets a lot of flack and SO much of it is richly deserved, but I can tell you that the people in my office (ALJs and staff alike) have been hauling absolute a** during COVID telework. It's working out great.
@4:43, 75 days, 60 days, 45 days… what does it matter? You’re going to wait until 2-4 weeks before the hearing date to request the records anyway.
ReplyDeleteWhen officers open up, that average processing time is going drop 90 days within the first 3 months of reopening. Dockets will be filled with no shows that will be dismissed.
@10:28
ReplyDelete"You’re going to wait until 2-4 weeks before the hearing date to request the records anyway."
Snorted audibly at this one. Well said.
No, our office typically request records 60 to 70 days before the hearing. Over the last 20 years the response to requests for medical records has become slower and slower and slower and slower and slower and slower. Oftentimes multiple follow ups are necessary.
DeleteFor those wondering what's in store, Veterans Benefits applications have recently spiked and the VA is hiring 2,000 people to help process them.
ReplyDeleteThe current SSA budget about to be voted on includes money for hiring at the DDS level to get through that backlog there. 3-6 months from now, it's going to feel like an open firehose of new applications at OHO.
@ 8:41: I sure hope you're right. If our numbers are any indication, that should be the case. We're a high volume regional law firm. Less than 5% of our total case volume is at the OHO level now. We have thousands of cases very slowly working their way through the initial app and recon levels. I've never seen anything like this in my 25+ years of practice. It's definitely put a crimp on cash flow as the initial app and recon awards are keeping us afloat and our hearing attorneys sit around with decreased case loads. However, I anticipate their lives will become much busier next year as the log jam of initial cases begin to break and hearings return to in person, requiring them to start traveling again to hearing sites.
ReplyDelete@8:48, I'd like to think so, but here in region 8, even my initial applications are moving through in record time. If there is an initial level backlog it must be very region specific.
ReplyDeleteI think it wont be until hearing offices open that we see a significant uptick in applications, and those from walk-in SSI applicants.
No worries, with the early retirement solicitation this morning, I'm sure it will just be a matter of time until until wait times are back to normal.
ReplyDeleteOur office is running out of things to do. We reduced work ups from 10 to 8 per week, and now are skipping work ups some weeks because we barely have any cases pending. With lack of cases, we are burning through our other assignments and several of us are resorting to just answering the main phone lines.
ReplyDelete