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Aug 31, 2023

Speech Analytics Technology In Use At SSA


     Social Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG) has issued a report on Controls over the Social Security Administration’s National 800-number Service During the COVID-19 Pandemic. It should surprise no one that the controls started off rough and got better with time. What I found interesting is information about a method the agency is using to evaluate telephone service:

... Speech analytics is a method, separate from service observation, designed to improve the efficiency and quality of service 800-number employees provide to the public. SSA’s speech analytics technology, which it began using in April 2017, converts recorded 800-number calls to a text format. SSA uses it to pinpoint patterns for further research and analysis via manual process. Employees in the Office of Customer Service and/or teleservice centers apply such criteria as words, phrases, or duration of calls to search the converted text to identify calls that should be referred to regional management for further evaluation. Calls can be identified through speech analytics based on the use of derogatory terms, a disconnected call that did not assist callers, and employees not responding to callers during the call. ...

Aug 30, 2023

AI And White Collar Social Security Jobs: Part II


     Continuing on with my series on what Chat GPT can do in the Social Security context, here's another question and answer:

Question: I am an attorney representing a Social Security disability claimant. She is 56 years old, has a 10th grade education and has worked for the last 20 years as a CNA. She has two bad knees and is a diabetic with peripheral neuropathy. What arguments can I use to prove disability?

Chat GPT Answer: Given your client's circumstances, you could use the following arguments to prove disability:

1. **Medical Evidence**: Gather detailed medical records, test results, and doctor's assessments that clearly document her knee problems, diabetes, and peripheral neuropathy. Highlight any treatments, medications, surgeries, or therapies she has undergone to manage these conditions.

2. **Functional Limitations**: Describe how her medical conditions impact her daily life and ability to work. Highlight how her knee pain and neuropathy limit her mobility, standing, and ability to perform physical tasks required in her previous job as a CNA.

3. **Vocational History**: Emphasize her 20 years of work as a CNA, and how her conditions now prevent her from performing the physical demands of that job. Discuss any attempts she may have made to continue working despite her disabilities.

4. **Transferable Skills**: Evaluate whether her skills from being a CNA can be transferred to a less physically demanding job, given her current limitations. If not, this strengthens the argument that she is unable to work.

5. **Age and Education**: Her age and education level can be factors in proving disability. Explain how her limited education might restrict her ability to transition to a new job that requires less physical activity.

6. **Residual Functional Capacity (RFC)**: Obtain a detailed RFC assessment from a medical professional, outlining her ability to perform work-related activities. This can provide clear evidence of her limitations.

7. **Consistency of Treatment**: Highlight any inconsistencies in her medical records or treatment history that might suggest her conditions have not been managed consistently.

8. **Expert Opinions**: If necessary, seek expert opinions from medical professionals, vocational experts, or disability specialists who can testify to her inability to work based on her medical conditions and limitations.

9. **Impact on Daily Living**: Describe how her disabilities affect her ability to perform everyday tasks like cooking, cleaning, shopping, and personal care. This can provide additional evidence of her limitations.

10. **Social Security Blue Book**: Refer to the Social Security Administration's "Blue Book" that outlines the specific medical criteria for qualifying as disabled. Match her medical conditions to the relevant listings.

Remember, the key is to build a comprehensive case that demonstrates how her medical conditions substantially prevent her from engaging in substantial gainful activity. Consulting with legal experts experienced in Social Security disability claims can further enhance your client's chances of success.

    Duh, I'm looking to prove this lady is limited to sedentary work and I may have a good shot at it given the facts I've mentioned. So, why couldn't Chat GPT give more than an extremely generic answer which doesn't speak to the facts I've given? I'd have to give this answer a failing grade -- my job seems secure -- but stay tuned. Part III shows Chat GPT doing something that's impressive in its own way.

More In-Office Work For Some Managers

    From Federal Times:

The Social Security Administration announced Monday that the agencies’ managerial corps will be required to work in-person four times per two-week pay period, starting in the coming months.

A spokesperson confirmed the announcement applies only to senior executives effective Oct. 2 and managers and supervisors with a headquarters duty station on Nov. 6. The agency did not elaborate on why that decision was made. ...


Aug 29, 2023

New Proposed Regs In Pipeline

     The Social Security Administration has sent a set of proposed regulations to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for approval. Here's the description, limited as it may be:

We propose to develop intermediate improvements to reduce the burden in our current disability adjudication process as a step towards longer-term reforms to ensure our disability program remains current and supports equitable outcomes. Actions could include decreasing the years of past work we consider when making a disability determination, as well as other potential regulatory changes.

Aug 28, 2023

AI And White Collar Social Security Jobs: Part I

     There's been talk lately of Artificial Intelligence (AI) taking over white collar jobs. I thought I would take a look at what Chat GPT, the widely available free AI app could do in the Social Security context. In Part I of a three part series this is a question I asked and the Chat GPT response:

Question:  What kinds of disability benefits does the Social Security Administration offer?

Answer: The Social Security Administration offers several disability benefits programs, including Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). SSDI provides benefits to disabled individuals who have worked and paid Social Security taxes, while SSI offers assistance to disabled individuals with limited income and resources. Additionally, there are programs like Disabled Adult Child (DAC) benefits for adults with disabilities who were dependent on a parent's Social Security earnings, and Compassionate Allowances for faster processing of severe medical conditions. Keep in mind that eligibility criteria and benefits can vary, so it's best to check the SSA's official website for the most up-to-date information.

    It missed Disabled Widow and Widower benefits which is not good. On a more obscure note, it missed that disability benefits for blindness are a separate category in both Titles II and XVI of the Social Security Act.

Aug 26, 2023

Gruber Passes

      Theresa Gruber, who was Deputy Commissioner for Hearings Operations, has passed away at the age of 54. No cause of death is listed.

     Gruber had been the subject of an article in the Washington Post on July 12 of last year. The article revealed that Gruber had displayed "significant anomalies" at work over the course of at least a year, including slurred speech in which she "appeared intoxicated,leaving meetings without notice, slouching in her chair and aggressive behavior.” Shortly thereafter, Gruber left her position.

Aug 24, 2023

A Top Ten List

     It's a slow time in the world of Social Security, so here's a list of the top ten most read posts on this blog in the last twelve months. The number given is for those who went straight to the post, perhaps as a  result of receiving a link in an e-mail or seeing the link listed in some other forum,  rather than going on the blog generally and reading the post listed here along with others.

Aug 23, 2023

Proposed Regs On ISM

      I’m not going to try to explain it but tomorrow Social Security will publish proposed regulations to alter the In-Kind Support and Maintenance (ISM) rules that reduce Supplemental Security Income benefits by one-third if an individual receives reduced cost food and shelter. The proposal is to apply nationally standards that already exist in several states as a result of litigation. The proposal would reduce the number of individuals affected by the ISM rules. That’s a good thing. Of course, the ISM rules ought to be abolished altogether but that would take legislation.

     Let’s get this into effect well before next year’s election.

Aug 22, 2023

Signature No Longer Required On One Form

     From Emergency Message EM-23054:

This emergency message (EM) notifies technicians that we no longer require a signature on any version of the SSA-455 [a Continuing Disability Review form sent to claimants]...

SSA recently received OMB [Office of Management and Budget, whose pro forma OK is required before changing forms] approval to discontinue the requirement for a signature on the CDR Mailer form SSA-455 and SSA-455-OCR-SM. The latest inForm Library version of the SSA-455 has been updated to remove the signature box. ...

     If we can dispense with the signature requirement on this form, can't we dispense with some other signature requirements or at least verification of electronic signatures? There's a lot of field office time wasted on this.

Aug 19, 2023

AFGE Backs O’Malley Nomination


      It comes as no surprise but the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the largest union representing Social Security employees, has announced its support for the nomination of Martin O’Malley to become Commissioner of Social Security.

Aug 18, 2023

Mortality, Disability and Work

     From the Social Security Advisory Board:

The Board will hold an event on “The Future of Mortality, Disability, and Work: Helping to Inform the Social Security Trust Fund Projections” on Friday, August 25, 2023, from 9:45 am to 3:30 pm ET. The forum begins with opening remarks followed by two panels on mortality and disability, respectively, an hour break between 1 and 2 pm, and a third     panel on work.

Register for the Event

Each year, the Board of Trustees reports to Congress on the current and projected financial and actuarial status of the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) and Disability Insurance (DI) programs. The Social Security Administration’s Office of the Chief Actuary (OCACT), on behalf of the Trustees, projects future OASDI program cost and income based on assumptions about key demographic and economic variables affecting the number of people paying into and receiving benefits from these programs over time. This forum will bring together OCACT in conversation with other experts to consider the implications of recent research and scientific findings on future expectations for a subset of those variables—mortality, disability, and work. ...


Aug 17, 2023

ALJ Trends

     Social Security's Office of Inspector General has issued a report on Administrative Law Judge Trends.

    Below are three charts from the report. As always, click on the image to view full size.





Aug 16, 2023

What's Going On With The Investigation Of The IG?


     Faith Williams, Director of the Effective and Accountable Government Program at the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), has spoken with Federal News Network about the situation with Social Security's Inspector General. It's a bad situation. There's also a written report.

    When are we going to get some resolution? The investigation of the IG is going on and on. How many people are there to interview? How many documents have to be reviewed? Why is this taking so long?

Aug 15, 2023

SSI Application Drawing Congressional Attention

     The Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over Social Security, has written to the Acting Commissioner of Social Security to express concern over the process for applying for Supplemental Security Income benefits. The letter asks a number of pointed questions about what is going on.

Aug 14, 2023

Happy 88th Birthday, Social Security

 

And you made it despite constant Republican warnings that you were about to collapse.

Aug 11, 2023

Why Do Attorneys Keep Submitting Appointment Paperwork Over And Over?

     For some time now attorneys like me who represent Social Security claimants have had a problem with field offices delaying processing paperwork we submit appointing us to represent claimants. At least where I am this has gradually gone from an occasional problem to a common problem. We may be on the way to this becoming a problem in every case.

    Until the field office processes the appointment paperwork we can't really represent the claimant. No one at Social Security will talk with us. We can't access the claimant's file online. We don't receive notification about actions the agency takes.

    Taken to an extreme, and I fear that's where we're headed, representation of claimants becomes an impossibility. 

    This isn't happening because anyone at Social Security decided that it should happen. It's local field offices overwhelmed with work putting off tasks they regard as of secondary importance. The problem is that the workloads aren't going to decrease. There's always going to be work you can't get to. I fear that we're approaching a "Not now. Not later. Not ever" situation.

    You frequently see comments on this board from agency employees bemoaning the fact that attorneys keep submitting their appointment paperwork over and over and keep calling to ask about unprocessed appointment paperwork. What the hell do you expect to happen if you don't process the paperwork? The attorney has no idea whether the problem is that the agency never received the paperwork. They're anxious to begin representing their clients. Of course, they're going to resubmit the paperwork. Of course, they're going to call. Quit blaming the victim of your inability to process all the work you've been given to do. If you want to stop the re-submission of appointment paperwork and pestering calls about it, assign processing appointment paperwork a higher priority. Get it done in a reasonable time and we'll stop pestering you. 

Aug 9, 2023

SSI Coming To iClaims

     From a notice published today by the Social Security Administration in the Federal Register (footnote omitted):

... SSA is embarking on a multi-year effort to simplify the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) application process. ...

As part of this effort, our goal is to develop a fully online, simplified SSI application process. As an important step toward that goal, we are currently planning to implement in late 2023 the SSI Simplification Phase I initiative, or iSSI. iSSI will be a pathway in the existing Social Security internet Claim (iClaim) System that will streamline and shorten the SSI application for Title XVI disability applicants. iClaim is an online portal the public can use to apply for multiple types of Social Security benefits. Currently, this includes Retirement, Spouse's, and Disability Insurance benefits (DIB) (Title II SSDI).  ...

Title XVI applicants who want to use the internet to apply for SSI will use the iClaim system to initiate the application process and establish the protective filing date of the application. Applicants filing for themselves can authenticate online using one of our existing authentication methods, while applicants assisting others can use iClaim without authenticating. Although SSA encourages respondents to authenticate in iClaim, they can continue to use the system without authentication. 

 When applicants who use iClaim authenticate themselves, the iClaim system can use some information already within SSA records. For all applicants, the iClaim system will prompt the Social Security Disability (Disability Insurance Benefit (DIB)) questions and pre- populate the applicant's answers within the iSSI portion of the iClaim pages. The applicants would then only need to answer simplified eligibility related questions, excerpted from the deferred SSI application, that will form the core of iSSI. These are what SSA refers to as ``basic eligibility questions.'' 

After answering the DIB and SSI basic eligibility questions, applicants will be automatically transferred to other existing steps within the SSI Application iClaim path, such as providing medical information (using the i3368, OMB No. 0960-0579) and signing a medical release using the i827 (OMB No. 0960-0623). This process will be seamless to the applicant, as the iClaim system will take them from page to page without interruption. Once the applicant submits the information online, SSA technicians will review it for completeness and send it to the Disability Determination Services (DDS) to make a disability determination. ...


Aug 8, 2023

This Might Make Sense If Social Security's Service Delivery Problems Were Subtle, But They're Not, So It's Wasted Resources


    From Federal News Network:

Among tens of millions of beneficiaries, the Social Security Administration is trying to change its approach to customer experience by thinking about the process in reverse order.

The agency starts by considering the beneficiary’s perspective, then works outward to change interactions and services to better fit customers’ needs, said Betsy Beaumon, SSA’s chief transformation officer. ...

It’s the path that the Social Security Administration’s new Office of Transformation is taking, with one of the new office’s components targeting improvements to customer experience. After launching the office in May, the agency set a goal of driving ideas that are both good for customers and good for SSA employees, said Beaumon, the office’s leader. ...

By asking customers for feedback from the start, Beaumon said SSA can continually gather data. The idea is to connect with customers who interact with SSA across various platforms, and proactively identify pain points and areas for improvement.

“We are tapping real-time into what customer satisfaction is across different channels,” Beaumon said. ...

“It’s like gold to be able to hear from our customers directly in that focused manner,” Beaumon said. “It’ll let us make sure that our services are going to align with their expectations better, and make it easier for them to understand the application process and reduce redundancies in the process.” ...

Offering e-signatures and other digital documents, for instance, is one area that SSA employees themselves have specifically recommended a change, Beaumon said, to help ease their workloads and let them focus on other concerns from customers. ...

Aug 7, 2023

Could This Sort Of Thing Happen Here? It Already Is!


     From Government Executive:

...  In Australia, the government set off on a radical plan to reduce overpayment of government benefits in 2016. ...

The Australian government had been manually searching for overpayments in programs for retirees, people with disabilities and students, among others. The 2016 program used algorithms to search out overpayments and send the bills. Christened “Robodebt,” the algorithm checked each individual’s payment against the average income of people in similar circumstances. If the algorithm determined that the person was likely overpaid by the government, it generated a bill.

Robodebt allowed the government to review 20,000 cases per week, instead of the 20,000 cases per year in the manual system it replaced. Government officials no longer had to contact employers to obtain data on employment history and payroll amounts, and the government no longer had to prove an individual had been overpaid. Instead, individuals had to prove that they had received the correct amount. If individuals didn’t pay quickly, debt collectors went to work.

The government launched Robodebt fast and claimed credit for catching recipients who had benefited from mistakes in the system. But many people receiving the notices were distraught. They often had to come up with big payments in just a few weeks. Some people had to sell their cars or take out loans, which was a huge burden on some of the country’s neediest residents. Others drained their meager savings. At least three people committed suicide, a Royal Commission found in a devastating 1,000-page report.

An investigation revealed that some repayment notices were incorrect. Some simply were false. Moreover, a 2019 court challenge found that Robodebt had violated important provisions of Australian law.

In July 2023, the Royal Commission pointed to “Robodebt’s unfairness, probable illegality, and cruelty.” When problems surfaced along the way, the commission concluded, “the path taken was to double down, to go on the attack in the media against those who complained and to maintain the falsehood that in fact the system had not changed at all” from the previous system. ...

    Could this happen here? To a great extent, it already is happening. Republicans, abetted by Social Security's Office of Inspector General, have long implied that all overpayments are the result of fraud and that the agency must be merciless in collecting these debts. Recently they have been blaming the agency for not creating overpayments automatically based upon data from payroll companies. Already, there is no statute of limitations, those informed of alleged overpayments are given no information about how the alleged overpayments occurred, and all benefit payments are seized until the desperate claimant asks for a repayment schedule. It's harsh by design despite the fact that the agency often has no basis in fact for asserting an overpayment and many overpayments are due to mistakes made by Social Security. The current attitude is that if the computer says there's an overpayment, there must be an overpayment. It could all get worse with artificial intelligence.

Aug 5, 2023

I Love The Disguise Part!

Only an illustration

     From a press release:

A 38-year-old Harlingen [TX] resident is now in custody on allegations he created false profiles to steal government money ...

Authorities arrested Lee Marvin Nichols today. ...

According to the three-count indictment, returned June 27, Nichols was a claims specialist at the Social Security Administration (SSA) in Harlingen.

Nichols allegedly created fictitious profiles for two children that did not exist. The indictment alleges Nichols linked the profiles of the fictitious children to a recently deceased man and a disabled woman living in Mexico in an attempt to create survivor benefits application.

Nichols used debit cards issued to the children to withdraw funds, according to the charges. When he would obtain the funds, he allegedly attempted to disguise himself by using hats pulled down over his face, sunglasses, balaclavas and other clothing to conceal his appearance.  ...

    What was the point of the disguises? His digital fingerprint was all over the cases at Social Security.

Aug 4, 2023

Proposed Rule Recognizing The Fact That There Are Such Things As Law Firms

     A Notice of Proposed Rule-Making (NPRM) from today's Federal Register:

We propose to revise our regulations to enable us to directly pay entities fees we may authorize to their employees, as required by the decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit (First Circuit) in Marasco & Nesselbush, LLP v. Collins. To make direct payments, issue the necessary tax documents, and properly administer these rules, we propose to require all entities that want to receive direct payment of assigned fees and all representatives who want to be appointed on a claim, matter, or issue to register with us. We also propose to standardize the registration, appointment, and payment processes. We expect that this proposed rule will help us implement the changes required by the Marasco decision, increase accessibility to our electronic services, reduce delays, and help us prepare for more automation, thereby improving our program efficiencies.

    This should have been done over 30 years ago but better late than never. 

    By the way, I have no idea how this got into the Federal Register. These things have to be approved by the Office of Management and Budget and OMB never listed this as pending approval on its website. I don't think I've ever seen this before. It's not listed now as having been approved by OMB even though the NPRM itself shows that OMB was involved.

Aug 3, 2023

A Modest Suggestion


     Supplemental Security Income (SSI) computation is cash based, rather than what accountants call accrual based. It's a needs based program so benefits are subject to reduction due to income received. Because it's cash based, it's the income you received at the time, rather than what was owed to you at the time. There's one big exception to this, the Windfall Offset. When a claimant is approved for back benefits for both SSI and a Title II Social Security disability benefit, usually Disability Insurance Benefits, the Windfall Offset is supposed to, in effect, reduce the SSI as if the Title II benefit had been paid at the time it was due, that is, for this one exception, to compute benefits based upon the accrual method.

    On its face the Windfall Offset presents obvious difficulties for Social Security but along the way things became Byzantine. Reducing the SSI for the Windfall Offset presented a big potential problem at the time it was passed. If you apply the Windfall Offset to reduce SSI, you often wipe out all SSI benefits. This is a problem because those who are eligible for SSI are categorically eligible for Medicaid. Wipe out the SSI and you've wiped out the retroactive Medicaid entitlement as well. This actually doesn't matter that much for the claimant. They’re never going to be able to pay those bills anyway. However, it matters a lot to hospitals who may be on the hook for hundreds of thousands of dollars of care they've provided the claimant if that claimant doesn't get back Medicaid.

    To prevent this Social Security decided to run the offset in the opposite direction. The Title II benefits are reduced by amount by which the SSI benefits should have been reduced if the Title II benefits were paid at the time due. That sounds complicated but throw in the fact that the field office computes the SSI and a Title II payment center computes the Title II benefit and you've got a much more complicated situation. The field office must compute the amount by which the SSI should have been reduced and communicate that fact to the Title II payment center. In case you don't know, Social Security's components aren't good at communicating with each other. The problems don't end there, though. For historic reasons I'm not going into here, the Title II attorney fee is based upon the amount of back benefits before the Windfall Offset. This means it's an artificial figure. That requires an adjustment in the SSI attorney fee so that fee is artificial as well. It's also complicated because the Windfall Offset is supposed to be based upon the amount of Title II benefits after the attorney fee and that's been difficult for Social Security to do. It's led to a couple of class action lawsuits and I'm not sure that Social Security is getting it right to this day. As I said, it's Byzantine. 

    Isn't it time to cut through this Gordian Knot? By now the vast majority of states have accepted the expansion of Medicaid benefits enacted during the Obama Administration. The rest can do so at any time. This means that the potential for hospitals and providers to be stuck with never being reimbursed for services they've provided is far, far less than it used to be. I say the hell with those benighted states that have refused Medicaid benefits for their low income citizens. Apply the Windfall Offset in a natural way. Reduce the SSI benefits rather than the Title II benefits. This dramatically simplifies Social Security's work. Probably hundreds of thousands of hours of unnecessary work at Social Security each year will end. As far as I'm concerned, the hospitals in the states that have refused the extra Medicaid can complain to their state legislatures rather than Social Security. The agency lacks the resources to protect those hospitals from the folly of their state governments.

    To the best of my knowledge, what I'm suggesting doesn't require legislation or even a change in the regulations. 

    I understand that in theory this could delay first payment of benefits to a claimant from SSI but what I'm seeing now is that those approved for both SSI and a Title II benefit generally receive a monthly Title II payment first anyway. Do as I am suggesting and it's not just one month of benefits paid. It's all the back Title II benefits. That would be far better than the three or four month time frame it's taking Social Security to finish all the Windfall Offset computations in each case. Don't raise any tax issue. The population I'm talking about isn't going to pay taxes on their Social Security benefits anyway.

    By the way, kudos to you if you have read my post about this tedious subject to the end. You're a Social Security pro. You may or may not agree with me but you know what I'm talking about. I wonder whether there are any Congressional staffers who get this far.

Aug 2, 2023

More On Supreme Court Ethics


      Because an article about Supreme Court ethics issues I quoted mentioned a gift offered by a Social Security claimant to a federal judge, I posted about it here. The problem isn't limited to Justice Thomas but he is the prime offender because of his acceptance of gifts and lavish vacations from those interested in the work of the Court.

     I thought I was mostly writing for other attorneys who knew a little about judicial ethics but many of the comments made here were along the lines of “Well, you can’t prove Justice Thomas changed his vote because of what he received so there’s no problem.” Let me clue in the non-attorneys. There is a code of conduct for federal judges. Canon 2 of those rules is titled “A Judge Should Avoid Impropriety and the Appearance of Impropriety in all Activities.” I’m sure that just about every state judiciary has the same rule. I don’t think you can reasonably argue that there’s no appearance of impropriety in Justice Thomas’ conduct. So why hasn’t this story blown up even more than it has? The code of conduct for federal judges doesn’t apply to Supreme Court justices. There is no code of conduct for Supreme Court justices.

     The lack of a code of conduct for Supreme Court justices is shocking. Even without a rule in place, Thomas’ conduct is shocking.

Aug 1, 2023

This Year's COLA To Be Around 3%

     The New York Times reports that current projections are that this year's Cost Of Living Adjustment (COLA) for Social Security benefits will be around 3%, down from last year's 8.7%.