Electronic Records Express is an initiative by Social Security and state Disability Determination Services (DDS) to increase use of electronic options for submitting health or school records related to disability claims. An Electronic Records Express website will soon be available.
You can use electronic processes now. Contact your state DDS Professional Relations Officer to learn how.
The CPMS management reports we tested were accurate, though ODAR managers did not always use the CPMS reports in their workload management. For instance, we found that claims were not being processed timely because the hearing offices were waiting extended periods of time for the claim folder to be sent from the FOs. Although the CPMS management reports noted the delays, hearing office managers were not taking action on these claims. Hearing office employees told us they received adequate CPMS training, and we observed that they were skilled at using CPMS to manage their workloads. However, we found that hearing office staff need training in using the appropriate codes for tracking potentially violent claimants. Moreover, CPMS does not have an electronic indicator on the scheduling sheet that would allow hearing office employees to readily identify potentially violent claimants prior to their hearing. Finally, SCTs told us they need additional training in extracting pertinent claim information from SSA’s systems related to incoming claims.
Update -- June 22, 2006: Social Security is already changing its mind on the date for the conference. It is now listed as being either January 16-19, 2007 or January 29-February 1, 2007.
The Social Security Administration has a requirement for a hotel that can provide the necessary services for a conference to be held in Boston, MA on December 4, 2006 through December 7, 2006. Sleeping rooms are not part of this acquisition, as attendees are responsible for making their own reservations for sleeping rooms. However, the facility must be able to accommodate 175 sleeping rooms for the nights of the conference. The facility must be able to provide meeting room/ballroom space(3,400 sq. ft) to accommodate 175 participants for plenary sessions, five soundproof breakout session rooms (each 700 sq ft), and audiovisual equipment to include LCD projectors, screens, electrical cords, carts, microphone and podium, flipcharts, and flipchart paper and markers. The facility must also provide full catering services for morning and afternoon breaks, one evening reception, and two mandatory lunches.
Last year, we estimated that a card with enhanced security features would cost approximately $25.00 per card, not including the start-up investments associated with the purchase of equipment needed to produce and issue this type of card. According to estimates made last year, reissuance of all new cards for the 240 million cardholders over age 14 would be approximately $9.5 billion. Since that estimate, we know that the cost of issuing SSN cards has increased by approximately $3.00 per card due to new requirements for additional verification of evidence, so we anticipate an increase in the total cost estimate when we update our figures to reflect current dollar costs.
Currently, staff of the agency devotes approximately 3,300 work years of effort to the SSN card issuance process. Last year’s estimate indicates that we would need an additional 67,000 work years to process 240 million new cards. This would require hiring approximately 34,000 new employees if we were required to complete the work within 2 years and 14,000 new employees to complete the work in 5 years. This estimate assumes replacing cards for 240 million individuals; if fewer were replaced, the cost would be lower. An approach that mandated new tamper resistant cards would be issued only during the normal course of initial issuance and reissuance would involve relatively modest additional costs. If a phased approach were mandated that limited new cards to only the approximately 30 million people who change jobs at least once during a year and the additional 5 million young people reaching age 14, the cost would be approximately $1.5 billion per year, using last years cost numbers.
