Data Quality Act

The Data Quality Act requires that each agency:

...issue guidelines ensuring and maximizing the quality, objectivity, utility and integrity of information ... (including statistical information) disseminated by the agency ... [and] establish administrative mechanisms allowing affected persons to seek and obtain correction of information maintained and disseminated by the agency that does not comply with the guidelines ..."

The Office of Management and Budget has issued regulations interpreting this Act.

There are many questions about the meaning of the Data Quality Act. It is far from clear that it could be used to make a court challenge to a proposed regulation. No one has even tried to use it to attack an existing regulation, such as Social Security's "grid regulations", which justify denials of disability claims based upon data that everyone concedes is ridiculously out of date and unreliable. However, the Data Quality Act certainly will be useful if, or more likely when, Social Security produces studies upon which it will finally update or replace the grid regulations.

Union Seeks More Work At Home Options

From the National Council Digest, a publication of the American Federation of Government Employees local which represents a large portion of Social Security's workforce:

Will more Social Security employees ever be able to work from home?

Witold Skwierczynski, the President of Council 220, thinks it’s a possibility and one that could be discussed during the next round of contract nego-tiations.

“If employees put that high on the list of their preferences, it will be high on the list,” he told the DIGEST.

The contract doesn’t expire until August, 2009 but the Union is already preparing for the next set of labor/management negotiations.

“It would appear that the current Commissioner of Social Security is not inclined to expand tele-work (or working at home) to employees who work in field offices and teleservice centers,” Skwierczynski said. “Hopefully a new Administra-tion which will take office in January will have a different attitude when this issue is addressed in contract negotiations next year.

Social Security Legislative Proposal On ALJs

An anonymous person posting on the ALJ (Administrative Law Judge) Discussion Forum has revealed what appears to be the text of a legislative proposal from the Social Security Administration. Here is the purported text:

A BILL

To amend the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 to enact changes related to actions against administrative law judges.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of
Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the "Civil Service Reform Act Amendments of 2009".

TITLE X—PROVISIONS RELATING TO ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGES , SEC. 101 ACTIONS AGAINST ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGES.
(a) Section 7521 of the Civil Service Reform Act (5 U.S.C. 7521) is amended—
(1) in subsection (a), by striking "An" and
inserting "Except as provided in subsection (c), an";
(2) in subsection(b), by striking "this
section" and inserting "subsection(a)"; and
(3) by adding at the end the following new
subsections:
"(c) To ensure the integrity and impartiality of the position of administrative law judge, an agency may immediately discipline any administrative law judge appointed under section 3105 of this title without prior good cause established by the Merit System Protection Board when an administrative law judge:
"(1) is indicted or convicted of a crime for which a sentence of imprisonment may be imposed under state or Federal law;
"(2) is disbarred or suspended from the practice of law by any State, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any territorial court established under the United States Constitution;
"(3) is found by a state or Federal court, or by an administrative tribunal charged with enforcing discrimination laws, to have discriminated against an individual in a protected class, showed disrespect to an individual in a protected class, committed discriminatory physical or verbal conduct against a protected class member, or committed sexual harassment; or
"(4) is indicted or convicted of a misdemeanor involving fraud, theft, assault, physical violence, prostitution, solicitation, sexual misconduct, or an offense involving narcotics or is found civilly liable for engaging in one or more of these activities. "(d) An administrative law judge disciplined under subsection(c) is entitled to the protections provided employees under section 7513 of this title.",
(b) Effective Date.—The amendments made by this section shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act and shall apply to agency actions filed on or after such date.

Some of this is worthy of consideration (getting rid of an ALJ quickly if he or she is convicted of a felony sounds like a good idea), but it seems far too broad to me. Summarily firing someone just because of an indictment? Did anyone else notice what happened in the Duke Lacrosse Case? Most people who are indicted are guilty, but not all. What is "administrative tribunal charged with enforcing discrimination laws"? Could that be the Appeals Council? What does "showed disrespect" mean?

Response To I.O.U.S.A.

I had posted about the new documentary movie, I.O.U.S.A.. Here is an early response to the movie:

For years, Americans have been told revenue-slashing tax cuts are the answer to our financial woes and a borrow-and-spend economy is not a problem. Now, when faced with the ensuing budget deficits and an economic meltdown we’re being told we can’t afford Social Security and Medicare. This is not “speaking the truth” as David Walker has claimed. Instead, we are seeing the same old anti-Social Security and anti-Medicare ideology now masquerading as fiscal responsibility. We must talk about tax reform, spending and responsible healthcare reform if we’re serious about controlling our fiscal future. Unfortunately, that balance is still missing in this debate."

Barbara B. Kennelly, President/CEO, National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare

Paper And Productivity

I reviewed an emergency room report recently. The patient was seen due to hyperglycemia. She is a diabetic and her blood sugar had gotten too high. This is a routine sort of emergency room visit. The report on the ER visit ran to 36 pages. Ten years ago, maybe even five years ago, the report would have been about three to five pages. I strongly doubt that her treatment was any different than it would have been five or ten years ago, but the hospital generated a lot more paper. This is routine in most medical settings today. Medical care generates far much more paper than it used to.

It takes more time these days to review an average Social Security disability claimant's file than it used to, because the average claimant's file is thicker than it used to be. This has an effect upon productivity. People in the field may not talk about this or even notice it because it has happened slowly over the years, but it is important.

I mention this because it is a reality that seems not to penetrate to the higher reaches of the Social Security Administration. Above a certain level one never reviews an actual claim file.

Commenting On Old Posts

Efforts have been made to use the commenting feature of this blog to promote pornography websites. Comments were posted about old items as part of an underhanded search engine optimization effort. I have deleted these posts and set the blog to require my approval before comments are posted on anything more than three days old.

Social Security -- The Movie

I have a hard time believing this will get many viewers, but I.O.U.S.A., a movie, is being released today. A blurb describes it as being … an alternately amusing and alarming primer on America's off-the-charts fiscal irresponsibility ...

The Comptroller General, Patrick Creadon, is featured in the movie according to the International Movide Data Base. I guess he is trying to go down the same path as Al Gore.

Apparently, Social Security must be discussed prominently in the movie, since the National Academy of Social Insurance is offering to make "experts" available to discuss the movie with reporters.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution Editorial And Commissioner Responds

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is running an editorial on Social Security's backlog situation. The article tells us that the current level of service at Social Security is "unacceptable" and notes that "The reason for the backlog is not in dispute —- not enough workers to process the claims, and not enough administrative law judges to hear appeals of denials."

The editorial makes the common naive mistake of asking for "streamlining." In my opinion, Social Security is suffering from an excess of efforts to "streamline." These efforts, which have become more and more desperate and even ridiculous have had the perverse effect of making things worse because they have not worked (other than to cut corners, reducing the quality of the decision-making process) and because they have diverted attention and resources from the real problem of lack of staff.

The editorial also suggests that there is something awful about long term disability (LTD) insurers having offsets in their policies for Social Security disability benefits. Think about it a bit. Without that offset, how expensive would LTD be? Without being able to offset Social Security disability benefits, LTD would be so expensive that almost no one would be covered. The LTD available now is quite imperfect, but it is far better than nothing.

Michael Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, was given an opportunity to respond. His response was adapted from a statement he made to a Congressional committee. It is not clear whether this was Astrue's choice or the newspaper's choice. There is nothing new in it.