List Of Sanctioned Represetatives

     Social Security has recently released a long list of attorneys and claimant representatives who have been barred from practicing before the agency because of misconduct. Note that the list goes back many years. Also note that the list doesn't include the name of Eric Conn.

First Sign Of Re-Recons

     I heard today of a claimant's request for hearing being diverted to an "informal remand" review, also called re-recon. This is an effort to get strong disability claims approved without the long wait for a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge. This has been done in the past to help deal with the hearing backlog. 

     I have no idea how many of these will be done or what the criteria will be. I would caution that Social Security's Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR) has been doing Senior Attorney reviews, which are somewhat similar to re-recons, in the last few years but they have amounted to almost nothing because so few reviews have been done and because they have been done under such restricted standards that few claims could be approved. The Senior Attorney reviews done in recent years may have been a waste of staff time. We'll have to see if the agency has gotten past its fears of being accused of "paying down the backlog."

ALJ Productivity Has Plummeted

From FY 2015 Financial Report

One Backlog Soars While Other Backlogs Improve -- A Reflection Of Agency Priorities?

 

 From FY 2015 Financial Report

     Also, Social Security dramatically improved its telephone service as the hearing backlogs soared.

     The Acting Commissioner can say she's really concerned about the hearing backlog and that the agency is working hard to reduce it but the numbers suggest that it hasn't been a priority.

Utah Man Tried To Carry Explosive Device Into Social Security Hearing

     A man was arrested in Salt Lake City on Thursday after carrying an explosive device into a federal building. He had come to the building for a Social Security hearing.

NADE Newsletter

     The National Association of Disability Examiners (NADE), an organization of the personnel who make initial and reconsideration determinations on Social Security disability claims, has issued its Fall 2015 newsletter.

Replacement Social Security Cards To Be Available Online

     From the Washington Post:

... The Social Security Administration on Thursday announced that Americans who need a replacement [Social Security] card will soon be able to apply for the document online. The process will work for basic card replacements. ...

The program will roll out slowly, first in Wisconsin and Washington state, before spreading to several other states and D.C. ...

Merry Christmas

Looks Like This Plan Didn't Work

     In an effort to make it more difficult for claimants to object to video hearings, Social Security adopted new rules on June 25, 2014 requiring claimants to object to a video hearing shortly after asking for a hearing, long before they would know whether the agency would actually want to schedule a video hearing for them. The agency expected this would increase video hearings from 28% to 30% of their cases. See the table below from Social Security's Financial Report for 2015 for what actually happened. You may have to click on the table to be able to read it.

A Message To OIG

     I have asked to receive e-mail notification from Social Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG) when they issue new reports.  In the last couple of weeks I've started receiving this message whenever I try to access one of their reports:

This Connection is Untrusted

You have asked Firefox to connect securely to oig.ssa.gov, but we can't confirm that your connection is secure.

Normally, when you try to connect securely, sites will present trusted identification to prove that you are going to the right place. However, this site's identity can't be verified.
What Should I Do?

If you usually connect to this site without problems, this error could mean that someone is trying to impersonate the site, and you shouldn't continue.

This site uses HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) to specify that Firefox only connect to it securely. As a result, it is not possible to add an exception for this certificate.

     What have you got against Firefox, OIG? Maybe I should ask, what's wrong with your security, OIG? In any case, if OIG wants users of Firefox, which is a lot of people, to access its reports, it's going to have to get its internet act together. Apart from OIG, I don't know that I've ever seen this message, so OIG, you've really gone out of your way to be inaccessible.

More Than 600 Commit Suicide In Britain As Result Of Disability Reviews

     Recipients of social security disability benefits in the United Kingdom are being subjected to "work capability assessments" and many are being cut off benefits. Researchers at the universities of Oxford and Liverpool have done a study showing that there is an increased risk of suicide among those subjected to these "work capacity assessments." There may have been more than 600 extra suicides as a result of the "work capacity assessments" done so far.

US Attorneys Don't Think Much Of OIG's Referrals For Criminal Prosecution

From Social Security's Financial Report for 2015. OIG is Social Security's Office of Inspector General

Did This Court Understand What Social Security Is Doing To Eric Conn's Former Clients

     From the ruling in the case brought against the Social Security Administration (SSA) by Eric Conn's former clients:

... During the appeals process, however, the plaintiffs can challenge the SSA’s determination that fraud might have been involved in their applications for benefits. ...[T]he plaintiffs know exactly what the SSA is doing and can challenge the suspicion of fraud during the appeals process ...

     However, Social Security's staff instructions say that "... the claimant may not appeal the agency's statutory mandate to disregard evidence based on OIG [Office of Inspector General] referrals of information ..." How is a claimant going to challenge the finding of fraud when Social Security's staff instructions say that finding can't be challenged? Did this court understand what is going on?

Setback In Kentucky And West Virginia

     A motion for preliminary injunction was filed to prevent the Social Security Administration from going ahead with its plan to make almost 1,500 Social Security disability recipients in Kentucky and West Virginia who had been represented by Eric Conn prove all over again that they are disabled. After what I consider an extraordinary delay the District Court has denied the motion. The agency is free to continue with its plan without making any showing of evidence that there was fraud or similar fault involved in these claimants being awarded benefits. Everyone will just assume the evidence exists.

     I would remind everyone who is sure that there must be strong evidence of fraud or similar fault that no criminal charges have been brought against Mr. Conn, no disciplinary action has been brought against him by the Kentucky Bar and he is still free to represent claimants before the Social Security Administration. How can that be if the evidence against him is strong? Charges aren't true just because you saw them on 60 Minutes. And no one has accused these claimants of doing anything wrong. They just hired the wrong lawyer.

Should I Worry About My Clients Being Thrown Into This Briar Patch?

     The Clinical Neuropsychologist, a scientific journal, has published Official Position of the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology Social Security Administration Policy on Validity Testing: Guidance and Recommendations for Change. This is their summary of the paper:

The milestone publication by Slick, Sherman, and Iverson (1999) of criteria for determining malingered neurocognitive dysfunction led to extensive research on validity testing. Position statements by the National Academy of Neuropsychology and the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology (AACN) recommended routine validity testing in neuropsychological evaluations. Despite this widespread scientific and professional support, the Social Security Administration (SSA) continued to discourage validity testing, a stance that led to a congressional initiative for SSA to reevaluate their position. In response, SSA commissioned the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to evaluate the science concerning the validation of psychological testing. The IOM concluded that validity assessment was necessary in psychological and neuropsychological examinations (IOM, 2015 ). Objective : The AACN sought to provide independent expert guidance and recommendations concerning the use of validity testing in disability determinations. Method : A panel of contributors to the science of validity testing and its application to the disability process was charged with describing why the disability process for SSA needs improvement, and indicating the necessity for validity testing in disability exams. Results : This work showed how the determination of malingering is a probability proposition, described how different types of validity tests are appropriate, provided evidence concerning non-credible findings in children and low-functioning individuals, and discussed the appropriate evaluation of pain disorders typically seen outside of mental consultations. Conclusions : A scientific plan for validity assessment that additionally protects test security is needed in disability determinations and in research on classification accuracy of disability decision.

     I notice that this is the "Official Position" of the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology but it makes reference to the National Academy of Neuropsychology. In addition there are the American Board of Professional Psychology which certifies neuropsychologists, the American Board of Clinical Neuropsychology, the International Neuropsychological Society and the Society for Clinical Neuropsychology. There aren't that many neuropsychologists in the U.S. There may not be 50 in my state, North Carolina. Why do neuropsychologists have so many professional organizations? What is the standing of the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology? I don't know. I can say that one of the eight co-authors of this "Official Position" derives at least part of his income from one of the tests that the authors of this report recommend. That's revealed at the end of the report itself. I can also say that widespread use of validity testing by Social Security would create a lot of business for psychologists. It doesn't prove that what they're saying is wrong but it is best to keep in mind that the financial interest of some psychologists is at stake here.
     You might expect me to oppose validity testing but I'm not sure what to think. If anything, I suspect it might help claimants. As a practical matter, at the initial and reconsideration levels of review of Social Security disability claims, Social Security is applying a near conclusive presumption that claimants alleging disability due to pain, intellectual disability or mental illness are malingering. Those claims aren't being approved at those levels except in the most extreme cases. It's not quite like that when these cases get before Administrative Law Judges but there's still a significant bias against claimants who have these problems. I suspect that many claimants who complain of pain, intellectual disability or mental illness would test out as "valid" on the tests being recommended and would be approved more quickly.
     I'm old enough to have been around when the grid regulations were introduced. There was great fear then that those regulations would result in fewer disability claims being approved. What actually happened was that more disability claims were approved.
     Should I worry about my clients being thrown into this briar patch?

People Who File Disability Claims Rarely Go Back To Work, Even If Denied

Gotta Go After That Waste, Fraud And Abuse

     From The Columbian:

MEDFORD, Ore. — Wanda Ames was elated when she received a letter from the Social Security Administration over what she thought was a one-time increase on her disability check. 

“At first I was happy,” the 56-year-old Medford woman said. “I thought they were giving me extra money. I thought I was going to get 260 extra dollars.” 

For someone who lives on $766 a month from Social Security plus $350 for food stamps, the small windfall would have been a big help, especially as she worries that she and her husband may lose their modest west Medford house because they can’t afford the payments. Her 55-year-old husband, Michael, is unemployed and looking for work. 

But when Ames read the Sept. 30 letter a little more carefully, she discovered she actually owed Social Security $260.40, apparently as the result of a payment made to her mother when Ames was a child more than 40 years ago. 

The letter from Social Security warned her that her December check would be reduced, which she said would be a major blow to her pocketbook.

“If it isn’t one bomb, it’s another,” she said. 

Ames, who has spinal arthritis and other health issues, found out she’s not the only one to receive letters from Social Security about decades-old bills. 

“Of course, it’s not an isolated situation,” said Dorothy Clark in the Social Security press office. Clark said she didn’t have specifics on the number of letters the agency has sent out for back payments.

     The law requires that Social Security do this. Congressional Republicans seem to lack interest in changing the law.

In Memory

What's Ahead On The Budget Front?

     My understanding is that the Bipartisan Budget Agreement recently passed by Congress and signed into law by the President will allow total domestic discretionary spending, which includes Social Security's administrative budget, that will be almost identical to the total provided for by the President's proposed budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2016, which began on October 1, 2015. 

     The Bipartisan Budget Agreement just sets the total amount for all domestic agencies. The amount each agency gets must be determined by individual appropriations acts. Those are still to come. Social Security and other agencies are currently operating on a continuing funding resolution which runs for about another month.

     The President's budget proposal can only be a rough guide for what to expect when an appropriation is finally passed but Social Security's administrative budget isn't a contentious matter so the President's budget may not be too far off what is to come. The President's proposal was for about a 5% increase in Social Security's operating budget, taking it to $12.8 billion. This contrasts with $11.8 billion in the House appropriations bill and $11.6 billion in the Senate appropriations bill that were under consideration prior to the Bipartisan Budget Agreement.

     My hope is that the Social Security Administration will use as much of the extra money as possible to hire new employees. I know that it takes time to hire and train new employees. Every time the agency hires new people I wince because I know they're going to make mistakes which will take time to correct. Using overtime would reduce, or perhaps I should say, stabilize backlogs more quickly. However, the agency needs more employees for the long haul. We keep going through a boom and bust cycle every year. Part of the year there's little or no overtime. Backlogs go up. Part of the year there's money for overtime and backlogs go down or at least hold steady. On the whole, backlogs keep rising. This can't keep going on. I know that agency management worries about having to furlough new employees but how likely is that? Appropriators seem to try hard to avoid furloughs. Really, which politician wants to be responsible for furloughs at Social Security? The agency would function so much better with several thousand more employees.

Social Security Headcount Climbs Back To 2012 Level

     The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has just posted updated figures for the number of employees at the Social Security Administration as of the end of the second quarter of 2015:

• June 2015 65,666
• March 2015 64,432
• December 2014 65,430
• September 2014 64,684
• June 2014 62,651
• March 2014 60,820
• December 2013 61,957
• September 2013 62,543
• June 2013 62,877
• March 2013 63,777
• December 2012 64,538
• September 2012 65,113
• September 2011 67,136
• December 2010 70,270
• December 2009 67,486
• September 2009 67,632
• December 2008 63,733
• September 2008 63,990