You Can Do Your Business With Social Security By Video -- If You Can Get Through To Them By Phone.

     You can now schedule a video conference with Social Security to discuss your business with the agency. The big catch is that you have to call Social Security to schedule the video conference. As you may have heard or experienced, that's hard to do.

The Future?

From the Huron Daily Tribune of Michigan:

BAD AXE — The Social Security Administration’s real-time video conference system is set to officially go online next week. ...

It’s been about nine months since the SSA has had a representative available in Bad Axe to meet with local residents. ...

The county entered into an agreement letting SSA set up a real-time video conference system that will be available at the county building.

Social Security claimants will approach a screen featuring a SSA representative who will immediately help them with their business.

Bad Axe Service Gets The Axe

From the Huron, MI Daily Tribune:

BAD AXE — County officials learned April 1 the Social Security Administration no longer will send representatives to the county building on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month to help residents with Social Security business.

“Because the administration is cutting back on travel, they no longer will be sending a representative twice a month to the court house,” explained Huron County Board of Commissioners Executive Secretary Jodi Essenmacher, who received notice April 1 that effective that day, Social Security Administration (SSA) representatives no longer would be coming to the county.

Instead, the county on Tuesday entered into an agreement to allow SSA to set up a video terminal to service county residents.

A View Of The Future?

From the Sun Journal of Maine:

Thousands of people in the River Valley area, and Oxford and Franklin counties are expected to visit the Rumford Public Library soon for their Social Security needs rather than drive to Auburn.

Late Wednesday morning, representatives from the U.S. Social Security Administration, and Maine offices joined congressional, state and local officials in touting the administration's new real-time video service program.

The program, which allows people to file a claim or complete Social Security business face-to-face via a two-way video monitor with a representative about 50 miles away in Auburn, is the first of its kind to debut in New England, Jennifer M. Bowie, Social Security district manager in Portland, said.

For the record, I have no problem with this for sparsely populated areas. I am afraid that there are some who see this as a way of centralizing service delivery for Social Security. My experience is that Social Security's field operations are vastly more successful than its centralized operations such as the payment centers and the teleservice centers. There have always been those in Social Security management who are mistrustful of field operations and desire greater centralization. I do not understand their thinking.

Video Service Delivery

The National Council of Social Security Management Associations (NCSSMA), an organization of Social Security management employees, included an article about video service delivery in its July 2008 newsletter. Here is more detail on video service delivery from the minutes of the August 7 teleconference meeting of the NCSSMA's Executive Committee:

Video service delivery [VSD], a new way of conducting SSA business, is being piloted in Wyoming. The public can conduct business with SSA at their local libraries. Equipment provided by two different vendors is being utilized. The public can file applications or conduct SR [Service Representative] type actions via VSD.

The first month of the pilot, 250 people utilized the SR VSD window, and 80% of claims that were scheduled were filed compared to the higher no show rate at a field office. One of the service options is to have a private reading room, which affords even greater privacy than in the FO [Field Office]. A future enhancement could allow documents viewed through the camera to be considered similar to viewing in person. Some of these VSD centers are within close proximity to actual FOs so that if the process fails, the public can still conduct business at the actual FO.

The Division of International Operations (DIO) is considering a VSD pilot in London, which can be set up for a fraction of the cost in foreign embassies. VSD is pretty much behind SSA firewalls so it is more secure and information is encrypted. It currently appears that there is no possibility of PII being compromised. VSD with DSL connections is good enough to see markings on drivers' licenses.

... The pilot is deemed an outstanding success. The Regional Commissioners all seemed to like it, and there is talk in the regions about which states will pilot VSD. It has also been very successful on Native American Reservations. The agency sees the value of VSD as being another form of face- to- face service and an alternative to internet usage. ...

I have written before about the problems that Social Security has with international claims. This would be an enormous improvement over the messy situation now, with untrained or poorly trained State Department employees taking claims. I am sure this will help improve service in sparsely populated areas of the United States as well. Unfortunately, it could also be used to justification for shutting down Social Security's field offices, which would be a terrible idea.