eCAT Works?

From a recent report by Social Security's Office of Inspector General (footnotes and charts omitted):

The objective of our review was to determine the effects of the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) electronic claims analysis tool (eCAT) in States that use the single decision maker (SDM) model and on decisions made by the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR). ...
ECAT is a Web-based application designed to document a disability adjudicator’s analysis and ensure all relevant Agency policies are considered during the disability adjudication process. ...

The allowance rate for SDM cases has been higher than the national allowance average in the last few years ...

In our 500 sample cases ... SDMs who used eCAT had allowance rates closer to the national average. ...

The sample ODAR cases where the DDS used eCAT were processed faster than those without eCAT ...
Additionally, the allowance rate for the cases with eCAT [at ODAR Offices] was in line with the national average [Actually, they were significantly lower but they were also significantly lower in the ODAR offices where eCAT was used even before eCAT. If anything, they came closer to national averages after eCAT.] ...

To determine whether eCAT promoted the consistent application of policy, we selected five policy issues related to the disability determination process and reviewed the sample cases to determine whether these issues were relevant and addressed in the folder documentation.

• 4 policy issues in SDM sample cases and found 11 instances where policy issues were not addressed in cases without eCAT and We reviewed
• 1 policy issue in the ODAR sample cases and found no difference between cases with eCAT and those without eCAT. ...

The eCAT tool has been quite effective. Judges are paying more attention to what the DDS has done because there is an articulated, rational basis. More weight is now being credited to the DDS’ opinions because of this articulated rationale.