Hearing Backlog Report

Social Security has posted its "Annual Report 2008 on The Plan to Eliminate the Backlog and Prevent Its Recurrence." Interestingly, the report is signed not by the Commissioner of Social Security, but by the outgoing Deputy Commissioner for the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review, Lisa de Soto. Should we ascribe any significance to this?

De Soto reports that "Fiscal Year 2008 was a tremendous year filled with impressive accomplishments" and, in a sense, it may have been since I am sure that everyone involved worked hard and some productivity gains were achieved, albeit usually at the expense of quality. However, the backlog still grew and that is the subject of this report, so it is hard to see how the last fiscal year could honestly be described as "tremendous."

The report predicts that the backlog will decline dramatically in coming years, but this prediction appears to be based upon an expectation of unprecedented increases in productivity.

Putting things in a positive light is one thing. Crowing about great successes when you have failed miserably is another. I do not know whether to call this spin or just fantasizing, but this report does not seem to be based upon reality -- a common complaint about the outgoing Bush Administration.

GAO Report On Medical Evidence Collection

From Collection of Medical Evidence Could Be Improved with Evaluations to Identify Promising Collection Practices, a report issued by the Government Accountability Office (GAO):

Obtaining timely and complete medical records is a challenge to DDSs [Disability Determination Services, state agencies who do disability determination for the Social Security Administration] in promptly deciding disability claims ... 14 of 51 DDSs reported the percentage of requests for which they did not receive records was 20 percent or more in fiscal year 2007. In response to this challenge, all DDSs conduct follow-up with providers and claimants to urge them to provide records. Over half of the DDSs (34 of 51) have also implemented more timely payments for records and six increased the amount they pay. ...

Recruiting and retaining qualified providers is a challenge to obtaining consultative exams needed to supplement insufficient medical records. For example, 41 of 51 DDSs reported routinely asking claimants' own providers to perform these exams; yet 34 reported providers never or almost never agree to do so. DDSs directors in our survey believe that current payment rates account for some of the difficulty recruiting and retaining consultative exam providers. In response to these challenges, 32 DDSs rely on medical providers who specialize in performing disability evaluations, and 20 pay providers for time spent preparing for appointments claimants fail to attend. SSA evaluates evidence from consultative exams, but these evaluations and the data they yield are too limited to identify and share promising DDS practices.

SSA has made progress moving to electronic collection of medical records, but faces challenges in fully implementing electronic retrieval and analysis of medical evidence. SSA now uses electronic images instead of paper copies of new claimants' records. Though SSA seeks to obtain all records electronically and provides options for online submission of records, only one large provider accounts for most of the records submitted online, and about half of all records received are on paper. To date, SSA has taken only limited action to identify and analyze the barriers providers face in using current electronic record submission options, and has not developed a strategy to address them. In the long run, SSA is participating in an advanced prototype to collect medical records in formats that can be searched and analyzed by electronically querying a hospital’s records database and directly retrieving the claimants’ records.

Social Security Bulletin Released

The latest issue of the Social Security Bulletin, a publication of the Social Security Administration, has been issued. It contains a nice article on the late Robert Ball.

A Message From The Commissioner Of Social Security

This came out today from the Commissioner of Social Security:

A Message To All SSA And DDS Employees

Subject: Continuing Resolution

Since October 1, we have been operating under a continuing resolution (CR) that holds us to last year’s funding level. The CR causes a significant strain not only because our workloads are increasing, but also because our fixed costs, such as rent and guard services, increase substantially each year. This CR has exacerbated our already fragile situation. We have done what we can to mitigate the deterioration in service, but the reality is that our inability to replace most staff during the CR will result in longer waiting and processing times.

I am sure by now you have noticed the adverse impact that the declining economy has had on our day-to-day work. The actuaries recently issued new projections of even higher workloads than we are already seeing in our front-line operations. Retirement applications are up, although not as much as we might expect because for every person who is taking retirement due to an unexpected termination, there is probably another person deferring retirement due to a loss in retirement savings. Calls and visits to field offices are up substantially, and both disability filings and appeals are surging.

We are hopeful that we will have a full-year appropriation for FY 2009 soon. Current indications are that Congress plans to pass an appropriation for us in January, shortly after the inauguration. Congress on both sides of the aisle understands our needs. The House Appropriations Subcommittee has recommended an additional $100 million for the agency above the President’s request, and the Senate Appropriations Committee has recommended an additional $50 million above the President’s request. These figures indicate that we could receive more than the President’s Budget for FY 2009, which would give us some much needed relief.

I want you to know that I am aware of the strain that you are under. I really appreciate your hard work and dedication in these difficult times. I will keep you posted on the future developments concerning our appropriations.

Michael J. Astrue

No Match Resolution Process Working Poorly

From a report by Social Security's Inspector General:

As part of the Annual Wage Reporting process, the Social Security Administration (SSA) attempts to match the names and Social Security numbers (SSN) on Wage and Tax Statements (Form W-2) that are submitted by employers against SSA’s Numident file — the repository for all issued SSNs. A Form W-2 that contains a name and SSN combination that matches the Numident file is posted to the Master Earnings File (MEF). However, in cases where the name and SSN combination cannot be matched to SSA’s records, the wage information on the Form W-2 is posted to the ESF—the repository of unmatched items.

To resolve name/SSN combinations that cannot be matched, also known as “no-matches,” SSA began sending EDCOR letters to employers in 1994. These letters are commonly called “no-match letters.” The EDCOR letter was designed to help educate employers about their name/SSN no-matches and remind employers about the importance of submitting accurate information on Forms W-2. The EDCOR letter explains to employers that some of the name/SSN combinations reported do not agree with SSA’s records and asks employers to submit a Statement of Corrected Income and Tax Amount (Form W-2C) within 60 days for each SSN listed on the letter. In addition, it explains that some of the name/SSN no-matches may be the result of common mistakes, such as transcriptions or typographical errors, incomplete or blank name/SSN, or the failure of an employee to report a name change to SSA. SSA mails EDCOR letters to employers on a flow basis beginning in February of each year. As shown in Table 1, over the years, SSA has used various criteria to determine whether employers should receive an EDCOR letter....

SSA’s EDCOR letters were not effective in communicating wage-reporting problems to employers and reducing the size of the ESF. While EDCOR letters were established to help employers resolve name/SSN no-matches, for TY 2005, we found about 74 percent of employers who reported wage items with mismatched names and SSNs did not receive an EDCOR letter primarily because of the Agency’s criteria for issuing the letters. In addition, employers who received EDCOR letters were not always informed about all of their no-matches because the EDCOR letters only listed up to 500 mismatched SSNs. For example, about 1,650 employers received EDCOR letters that did not include about 1.7 million of their 2.6 million no-matches. Moreover, our review found EDCOR letters provided employers with limited information needed to resolve name/SSN no-matches. The letters only included mismatched SSNs and not the reported names.

Furthermore, name/SSN no-matches were less likely to be resolved under the EDCOR process as compared to the DECOR process. In TYs 2001 through 2005, about 680,500 wage items were reinstated because of the DECOR process, whereas only 60,500 wage items were reinstated because of the EDCOR process. Finally, although SSA had developed a more effective process for employers to review and correct name/SSN no-matches electronically, we found employers seldom used the Business Service Online, which is a suite of Internet services for employers to exchange information with SSA.

Video Hearings From Representatives Offices -- Claimant Must Be There

Social Security is making extensive use of video hearings. Recently, Social Security has begun experimenting with allowing attorneys and other representatives to do video hearings through their own equipment. I have been concerned that an attorney or other representative could appear via video without ever meeting their client in person, even on the day of the hearing. There is too much substandard representation already. Social Security should not be aiding those who engage in this.

I have recently obtained from Social Security a copy of the agreement that the agency is having those participating in this experiment sign. Here is an excerpt, making it clear that Social Security wishes to make this impossible:

The claimant and his or her representative must both appear from the same representative-owned VTC [Video Tele-Conference] site, except in instances where the ALJ determines that it is in the best interests of the claimant to penmit the claimant and his or her representative to appear from separate locations. Examples of such exceptions would be when the claimant lives in a remote area and there is limited access to representation within the standard 75 mile commuting area, or the claimant moves to a different area of the country but wishes to keep a representative with whom there is an existing business relationship. Please note that any and all non-SSA locations being used for a multi-point connection must be certified as a representative-owned VTC site and otherwise meet all the requirements for this program.

Preponderance Of Evidence Standard Adopted

The Social Security Administration is publishing final regulations in the Federal Register tomorrow to officially adopt a preponderance of the evidence standard of proof at all levels other than the Appeals Council. Unless there is some deep purpose that I cannot understand, this is so trivial that I cannot see why Social Security went to the trouble.

Update: And here is the link to the final regulations as posted in the Federal Register. By the way, I have gotten a number of messages about this saying that, yes, this should be so obvious that no regulation is needed, but that there are enough confused Administrative Law Judges that this regulation really is needed.

More Deflation -- COLA Consequences?

Consumer prices were down by 1% in October. It has just been announced that they declined by a record 1.7% in November! Neither of these was factored into the cost of living adjustment that affects Social Security benefits paid beginning next month, but both will affect the cost of living adjustment to be announced in mid-October 2009. The odds now are pretty good that there will be a net deflation in the year leading up to next year's cost of living adjustment. My reading of the statute is that there will be no negative adjustment in Social Security benefits if that is what happens, but Social Security will need to put out some press release on this in the not too distant future. What about the following year, however? Would any deflation in 2009 be taken out of the 2010 cost of living adjustment -- assuming there is inflation in 2010?