OIG Report On Pandemic Effect On DDS Processing Of Disability Claims

     From a report by Social Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG) on the effects of the pandemic on processing of Social Security disability claims:

While SSA received fewer initial claims during the pandemic, it took the DDSs [Disability Determination Services] longer to process them than the year before. Before the pandemic, DDS’ average processing time for an initial claim was 95.5 days. This increased to 139.4 days and 135.5 days, respectively, during the first and second years of the pandemic. Numerous factors contributed to this:

• CEs - The number of CEs [Consultative Examinations] performed during the pandemic decreased, as SSA suspended in-person CEs for a period of time. Once DDSs resumed in-person CEs, they still had issues scheduling CEs because for example, (1) not all CE providers returned to conducting CEs and (2) claimants refused to attend in-person CEs because of fear of exposure to COVID-19.
• DDS Staffing and Training – About 4,000 DDS employees resigned or retired during the pandemic, but DDSs hired 4,305 employees during this same time. However, it takes a newly hired disability examiner an average of 2 years to become proficient at processing most initial claim workloads.
• Telework and Communication with Claimants – During the pandemic, most DDS employees teleworked, so the DDSs needed to adjust to how they processed certain workloads. SSA provided the DDSs with basic cellular telephones to communicate with claimants, but claimants were wary of answering the calls as the telephones’ caller identification did not show the incoming call was from a state agency.
• Policies and Procedures – During the pandemic, SSA updated policies and procedures on how the DDS should operate. The updates included combined instructions with the field office, which confused some DDS employees about what pertained specifically to DDS processes.