Twenty-Seven Times!

According to the Detroit News, Jeffrey Walls kept telling Social Security that his Social Security check was lost or stolen. He kept asking for a replacement check and he kept getting them. He also kept cashing both checks. This happened 27 times before Walls was charged with making false claims.

An 8% Funding Increase Won't Buy Anything Like What You'd Think

Social Security's Overview of the President's proposed budget shows that even with an 8% increase in funding, Social Security expects its number of full time equivalents (FTEs) to increase by only 278 or four tenths of one percent in the next fiscal year (FY). Disability Determination Services (DDS) FTEs will increase by 984 or 6.1%. Social Security expects to hire only 70 additional Administrative Law Judges (ALJs).

The Overview also indicates that Social Security expects to implement online scheduling of appointments in fiscal year (FY) 2011.

Astrue On President's Proposed Budget

A press release from Social Security:

By requesting $12.5 billion for Social Security's administrative expenses, an eight percent increase over the previous year, President Obama has again shown that he clearly understands the workload challenges we face. The additional funding is critical to our efforts to continue driving down the hearings backlog, something we were able to do in fiscal year 2009 for the first time in over a decade. This funding also will allow us to process an increasing number of retirement and disability claims, and improve our aging infrastructure.

For seventy-five years, Americans have depended on Social Security. We know that millions of Americans continue to count on us to provide them with the service they need and deserve. It is critical that Congress enact President Obama's budget proposal in a timely manner.

For more information about the President's 2011 budget request for Social Security, visit www.socialsecurity.gov/budget.

Electronic Medical Records Contracts Awarded

A press release from Social Security:

Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, today announced that 15 healthcare providers and networks have received $17.4 million in contract awards to provide electronic medical records to the agency. These electronic medical records, which will be sent through the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN), will significantly shorten the time it takes to make a disability decision and will improve the speed, accuracy, and efficiency of the disability program.

“Using health information technology will improve our disability programs and provide better service to the public,” Commissioner Astrue said. “We’ve seen a significant increase in disability applications. To process them, the agency sends more than 15 million requests annually for medical records to healthcare providers. This largely paper-bound workload is generally the most time-consuming part of the disability decision process. The use of health IT will dramatically improve the speed, accuracy, and efficiency of this process, reducing the cost of making a disability decision for both the medical community and the American taxpayer.”

The contract awards are funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. They will require awardees, with a patient’s authorization, to send Social Security electronic medical records through the NHIN. The NHIN, a safe and secure method for receiving access to electronic medical records over the Internet, is an initiative of the Department of Health and Human Services supported by multiple government agencies and private sector entities.

For the last year, Social Security has been successfully testing health IT to obtain electronic medical records. Disability applications processed with electronic medical records from the test sites in Massachusetts and Virginia have significantly reduced processing times. Some decisions are now made in days, instead of weeks or months. Social Security expects to receive more than 3.3 million applications in fiscal year (FY) 2010, a 27 percent increase over FY 2008.

Contracts were awarded to the following organizations:

1. Cal RHIO, San Francisco, CA - $1,625,000
2. CareSpark, Kingsport, TN - $1,363,000
3. Center for Healthy Communities, Wright State University, Healthlink, Dayton, OH - $999,000
4. Central Virginia Health Network/MedVirginia, Richmond, VA - $1,139,000
5. Community Health Information Collaborative (CHIC), Duluth, MN - $977,000
6. Douglas County Individual Practice Association, Roseburg, OR - $502,000
7. EHR Doctors Inc., Pompano Beach, FL - $1,000,000
8. HealthBridge, Cincinnati, OH - $1,400,000
9. Lovelace Clinic Foundation (LCF), Albuquerque, NM - $1,083,000
10. Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation, Marshfield, WI - $998,000
11. Memorial Hospital Foundation & Memorial Hospital of Gulfport Foundation, Inc., Gulfport, MS - $1,100,000
12. Oregon Community Health Information Network (OCHIN), Portland, OR - $284,000
13. Regenstrief Institute, Inc, Indianapolis, IN - $350,000
14. Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), Reston, VA - $1,587,000
15. Southeastern Michigan Health Association, Detroit, MI - $2,988,000

President Recommends 8% Budget Increase For Social Security

From the White House:

• $12.5 billion for SSA [Social Security Administration], an increase of $930 million, or 8 percent, above the 2010 enacted level.
  • Includes resources to increase staffing in 2011 and allow SSA to provide services faster with a focus on key service delivery areas, such as processing initial retirement and disability claims, and disability appeals.
  • Funds targeted to lower the initial disability claims backlog below 1 million by processing more than 3 million claims and lower the appeals hearing backlog.

Significantly Increase Program Integrity Efforts

• $796 million for SSA program integrity, including a 9 percent increase in the level of medical Continuing Disability Reviews over the prior year. SSA’s program integrity efforts are part of a strong framework for making sure the government is spending tax dollars efficiently and that benefits are paid only to those beneficiaries who are eligible and are paid in correct amounts. ...

Highlights of this department’s goals are:

• By 2012, SSA will achieve an online filing rate of 50 percent for retirement applications.
• SSA will work towards achieving the agency’s long-term outcomes of lowering the disability backlogs and accurately processing claims. In 2011, SSA’s will process 3.317 million out of a universe of 4.316 million initial disability claims and 799,000 out of a universe of 1.456 million hearing requests.
• SSA will improve program integrity efforts by minimizing improper payments and strengthening the agency’s efforts to protect program dollars from waste, fraud, and abuse. In 2011, SSA’s will process 359,800 out of a total of approximately 2 million medical continuing disability reviews, an increase of 9.4 percent over 2010.

Why Social Security's Budget Shouldn't Be Frozen

The President's recommended budget for the next fiscal year is due out this morning. Here are a couple of charts from an Urban Institute Fact Sheet showing why a budget freeze for Social Security would be devastating. The first is for men and the second for women. Click on each to see full size.

Informal Remand Instructions Released

Social Security has released an emergency message with updated instructions on informal remands, also known as "re-recon." These are cases where a disability benefits claimant has been denied at the reconsideration stage, files a request for a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge, but has his or her case sent back for a new review at the reconsideration level while awaiting a hearing. A not insignificant percent of these cases are approved on re-recon.

ALJ Removed

The Merit Systems Protection Board has affirmed the removal from office of Danvers Long, who had been an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) for Social Security, after he was arrested in Coral Springs, FL for domestic violence battery and culpable negligence.