OHO Caseload Analysis Report

 

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Some Pics

     The Commissioner of Social Security, Martin O'Malley, visited Raleigh yesterday for an event at the Governor's Mansion to celebrate the 70th anniversary of North Carolina's Disability Determination Service (DDS). My partner and I received an invitation to the event. Here are a few pictures. 

    First, me with Commissioner O'Malley:

    Second, a picture of my partner, Crystal Rouse, with the Commissioner:

    Next, a picture of Rose Mary Buehler, the Regional Commissioner for the Atlanta Region, myself, Joseph Lytle, the Deputy Commissioner for Hearings Operations and Crystal.

    Finally, a picture of the NC DDS employees in attendance.

    The venue was not large enough to accommodate the entire workforce at NC DDS.

Report On OHO Operations

     A statistical report from Social Security on performance at its Office of Hearings Operations:

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OHO Caseload Analysis Report

     A statistical report from Social Security on performance at its Office of Hearings Operations:

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Hearing Office Wait Time

    From the Commissioner:

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    By the way, what happened to Alaska?

OHO Caseload Analysis Report

     A statistical report from Social Security on performance at its Office of Hearings Operations:

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What Can We Expect On Monday?

       A tweet from the Social Security Administration:

Social Security offices will open for public service on Monday, 7/22. Staff impacted by the widespread Microsoft and CrowdStrike issues are being brought back online. Our phone lines remain operational and many online services at http://ssa.gov remain available. 

     Great, but how capable will they be of doing business? And that’s just the field offices. What about other parts of the Social Security Administration, such as the Teleservice Centers, the Program Service Centers and the Office of Hearings Operations? I know OHO was able to hold hearings yesterday but I don’t know about their work otherwise.

OHO Operating Stats

    A statistical report from Social Security on performance at its Office of Hearings Operations:

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Report On OHO Operations

     A statistical report from Social Security on performance at its Office of Hearings Operations:

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Why The Overtime?

     Below is the recently released stat sheet concerning operations at Social Security's Office of Hearings Operations (OHO).

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    Why is OHO getting any overtime? These funds are urgently needed for other parts of the agency. 59,000 hours in April?

94% Satisfaction Rate At Canada's OHO

     The Social Security Tribunal of Canada is something like the Office of Hearings Operations at the U.S. Social Security Administration except that it has a wider jurisdiction, taking in unemployment insurance as well. The folks at the Social Security Tribunal of Canada publish the results of quarterly client satisfaction  surveys. The surveys are taken after a hearing and before a decision. The most recent survey showed a 94% satisfaction rate.

    I wonder what that number would be in the U.S.

Perfect Timing?

    Wouldn't now be the time to end the reconsideration step in Social Security disability determination? Over the years the objection to doing that has been that that it would throw too many cases to the hearing level but at the moment the backlogs are enormous at the initial and reconsideration steps and quite low at OHO. Doing it now would kill two birds with one stone. You'd dramatically reduce the backlogs at DDS and you'd give OHO something to do at a time when they're rapidly running out of work. It would create the "drinking from a fire hose" problem at OHO but I'd rather see that than have OHO lacking work while DDS struggles. 

    By the way, I have a vested interest in seeing this come to pass since I have a vested interest in seeing Social Security disability claims resolved expeditiously. Is that a bad thing?

 

Backlog Improvement At OHO

    Dispositions continue to outpace receipts at Social Security's Office of Hearings Operations (OHO), i.e.,  it's taking less time to get a hearing on a disability claim. The biggest reason is that cases are hung up at lower levels of review where backlogs are burgeoning. One day that dam will burst and OHO will be inundated.

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OHO Hearing Backlog At Its Lowest Level In 30 Years

     Posted by Social Security's Commissioner, Martin O'Malley, on Twitter:

Some good news: I’m proud to report that #SSA hit a 30-year low in the number of pending hearings as of last week, thanks to our dedicated staff! This is a major milestone, and I know we can do even more with sufficient, sustained funding

Monthly OHO Report

 

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Monthly OHO Report

 

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Operating Stats From Office Of Hearings Operations

 

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Backlog Of ALJ Decisions

     Over the last few months there's been a dramatic increase in the wait time to receive a decision from an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) here in North Carolina. It affects multiple hearing offices. 

    I can't tell. Is this a national problem? Regional?

    What's behind this problem? I know that some decision writers were detailed to work with Disability Determination on the huge backlogs of initial and reconsideration determinations but this new backlog to receive an ALJ decision seems far beyond anything that could be explained by that.

    Why are they scheduling ALJ hearings if they can't get out decisions?

OHO Stats

     Just released by Social Security:

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OHO Caseload Analysis

 

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