From a statement attached to a letter from the Acting Commissioner to the Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee:
... We anticipate that some performance measures will show improvement in FY 2023 [in processing of initial claims at the Disability Determination Services], while others may show temporary degradation. We will process 129,000 or 7 percent more initial disability claims than in FY 2022 (52-week measure). However, wait times for a disability decision at the initial and appeal levels will increase for a period of time because backlogs will continue to grow while we hire and train new staff. ...
As of December 2022, we reduced our pending number of hearings to about 355,000 and reduced the average wait time for a hearing to 442 days from the peak of 633 days in September 2017. We are currently experiencing a temporary increase in the average processing time because we are working through our oldest cases for individuals who chose to wait for an in-person hearing rather than accepting a video or telephone hearing when our offices were closed to the public during the pandemic. We project that our monthly average processing time for hearings will be 390 days at the end of FY 2023. ...
In FY 2023, we expect to transition our National 800 Number to a modern telecommunication platform, improving service and providing more self-service opportunities for the public. In FY 2023, we estimate our speed of answer will be approximately 35 minutes compared to 33 minutes in FY 2022, while our busy rate will be 15 percent compared to 6 percent in FY 2022. ...
Despite the discouraging figures actually presented, the overall tone of the statement is quite positive. I don't know why you'd sugarcoat the situation. Overall, things will keep getting worse until Social Security gets enough money to operate the agency. There's no way to manage the agency out of this mess. It will take more warm bodies to get the work done and that costs money.
12 comments:
Not just warm bodies, but skilled proficient bodies. It can take a minimum of 3 years in the field. No idea how long to become a proficient BA in the PSC.
They can’t manage their way out of this mess, but there’s a ton more they could be doing to improve working conditions and adjust workloads in ways that would improve service tremendously. I reckon about half of the money SSA spends administering the disability programs is spent paying attorneys fees and wages to redo cases because of sloppy errors that could easily be avoided if the agency would just reduce processing expectations by 10%. Instead, all they ever do is keep yelling “do better and do it faster.” It’s like trying to make a restaurant more profitable by electing to only cook the food halfway. You might save a minute or two at the beginning of each service, but pretty soon all the time and money is spent re-firing the kitchen’s mistakes and issuing refunds.
442 days is unacceptable for a hearing. I wonder how many people die waiting. It's nice if they can lower it, but that is still over a year. Still unacceptable. I do hope the 800 number change will be more convenient. Over an hour waiting on the phone is too unacceptable. Congress really needs to step-up and fund the program sufficiently.
@11:07
SSA really needs to simplify their case processing procedures and invest in better IT/automations. They have created very inefficient processes for appointment of reps and paying cases. Field office workers should not be spending any of their time dealing with rep appointment issues. All of that could be automated.
I have no confidence in SSA's ability to train enough competent employees to successfully administer the program as currently designed. I am getting misinformation from FO managers now. There is simply too much complexity built-in. More bodies wont significantly improve the rate of processing errors.
“More bodies wont significantly improve the rate of processing errors.”
For someone complaining about the agency’s failures, you sound eerily like like its most inept managers. This misguided belief is rampant among the executives in Baltimore, and exactly why things have gotten so bad. “Why give your staff enough time to do the work properly when they’re going to screw it up anyway,” they’ve said for decades, wringing every last ounce of morale out of the 50,000+ dedicated public servants they have zero respect for. And now they’re reaping what they’ve sown, with no apparent self-awareness, as even their most dedicated staff can’t see the point in continuing to try and do the impossible.
@2:59, that 440+ days is inflated by cases that could not be scheduled during the pandemic and likely would have been dismissed if they had. It’s not the agency’s doing that they’ve languished for years and increased the overall average wait time.
I have two hearings scheduled for next week that have hearing request dates from 2021, but both opted out of phone/video while we were closed and then postponed at their originally scheduled hearing. More than half of my hearings next week are less than 9 months old and 3 have HR dates from this past September.
@7:05
spot-on. We have a dichotomy of cases. Lingering cases from 2020-early 2022 that continue to evade us (declining hearings, no shows, seeking delay, etc) while we are scheduling (putting on the schedule) within weeks of the hearing request date. In other words, new hearing requests are processed in 270 days or less.
The agency issued guidance 8 months ago covering 90% of the sorts of cases you’ve described, which very clearly explained that such cases can be dismissed (or, as appropriate, that a waiver of right to testify can be found), and very clearly explained the procedures to be followed. Per usual, though, you lot just ignored this policy update.
9:05 You obviously have no idea how OHO works. As a collective we have been drafting and issuing dismissals like crazy but TPTB instituted a 4 level review system and QR was sending them back, sometimes to be rescheduled from step one, for the stupidest reasons. They have reduced the number of reviews but QR is still the last step.
Yeah, they’ve been sent back for the stupidest reasons, like sending the NTSCs to the wrong address, not sending them at all, or making no effort to explain why a claimant’s response failed to show good cause. Get a grip.
1035 I obviously hit a nerve. How about sending it back when claimant is working, states on outreach call that he doesn't want to pursue claim and that he is not going to fill out the request to withdraw form. A ROC is placed in the file. DISM sent back. Talk about a waste of resources. I have several of similar cases. The examples you gave are obvious errors and should be sent back. Those are not the ones I am talking about.
5:54 PM Actually, it is TOTALLY a management issue. Beginning at the top. If Congress won't give you more money, then eliminate, drag your feet, put off all the things Congress WANTS. "We don't have enough funding to keep up with CDRs..." On the other hand, school districts across the country spend way too much on administration and not enough on teachers. I suspect that SSA is likewise overburdened with management. How about educing that burden and converting it to workers? But, that would require MANAGEMENT.
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