Get The Computer To Do The Work

From a notice posted by Social Security on FedBizOpps.gov:

The Social Security Administration (SSA) is seeking providers of software solutions for natural language processing in a medical context. ... In support of SSA's disability process, we are pursuing several initiatives in health IT [Information Technology] directed toward interoperable exchange of claimant medical records to speed receipt and subsequent case decisions. A significant element of these efforts is the application of intelligent analysis to the medical evidence received to assess any potential matches with policy guidance and facilitate subsequent manual review.

Concerns From The Field

From the minutes of a conference call of the Executive Committee of the National Council of Social Security Management Associations (NCSSMA), an organization of Social Security management personnel:

• FO [Field Office] phones are still a problem and we need additional staffing for that.
• DDSs [Disability Determination Services] are releasing a lot of appeals to the FO which require back-end work.
• RZ/LI [two different types of post-eligibility reviews of Supplemental Security Income non-medical factors] goals difficult to meet.
• Walk-in visitors are very high. Waiting times are also up because resources are going to answering the phones.
• The Field is the “start and finish” of all processes, yet other components seem to be getting the staffing.
• iClaims [claims filed over the Internet] have significantly increased.
• Overall quality is a concern.
• Employees are stressed out, burned out, and in some cases don’t want to work any more OT.
• Concerns that SDW [Special Decisional Workload, a project to clear up errors in payments of benefits that have resulted in huge underpayments of benefits to claimants; SDW cases are extraordinarily complicated and time consuming and can only be undertaken by the most experienced employees and they must have extensive training] workloads will be farmed back out to the FOs.
• Cannot keep up with all the ePath [a web-based application that assists employees in completing certain SSA transactions, such as changes in mailing address, residence address, telephone number, and direct deposit] stand alone events coming from the TSCs [TeleService Centers].
• Martinez [class action lawsuit on fugitive felons] settlement and ACB [American Council of the Blind -- a class action requiring Social Security to prepare Braille notices] special notices require FO resources.
• Work CDR [Continuing Disability Review] goals and Internet goals difficult to meet.
• Staffing increases at the TSCs should focus on areas that help the Field.

Robert Myers Passes

A broadcast e-mail from Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue:

A Message To All SSA And DDS Employees

Subject: Robert J. Myers

It is with sadness that I report the passing of Robert J. Myers on February 14, 2010. He was 97 years old.

Bob was one of the great leaders of Social Security, beginning his work in 1934 as an actuary with the Committee on Economic Security. He later served as SSA’s Chief Actuary from 1947 – 1970. Following several years as an Actuarial Consultant in other federal agencies, Bob returned to Social Security as the Deputy Commissioner (1981 – 1982). He continued to champion Social Security in other ways, including as Executive Director of the National Commission on Social Security Reform (1982-1983), also known as the Greenspan Commission. I

n addition to his dedicated service, Bob authored more than 900 articles and 5 books on the Social Security program. According to our history page, he made it into the Guinness Book of Records for having testified before Congress 175 times during his tenures as Chief Actuary and Deputy Commissioner.

Please join me in remembering and honoring Robert J. Myers.

Michael J. Astrue
Commissioner

Plain Dealer On Furloughs

An editorial in the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

Ohio, by furloughing federally paid state employees who screen Social Security disability claims, is penny-foolish and pound-foolish, too, the U.S. Social Security commissioner said during a recent visit to Cleveland. He has a point.

Because of Ohio's budget troubles, state employees represented by five unions agreed last year to take 10 unpaid days off per year for two years. They're "cost savings days," but everyone calls them furlough days.

Bureau of Disability Determination employees are among those taking furloughs, though they are paid by the federal government, not Ohio. Commissioner of Social Security Michael Astrue said that by furloughing them, Ohio will lose $6.9 million in federal money.

Furloughs will also add to their case-review backlogs. To their credit, state employees have in the last four months closed 5,000 more disability cases than in the year-earlier period. But in the meantime, more cases are being filed. From 2008 to last year, Ohio claims rose 59 percent, far steeper than the 40 percent U.S. rate. Ohio's backlog nears 46,000 cases.

A Strickland spokeswoman said Ohio can't exempt Disability Determination employees from furloughs because the state's contracts with employee unions require "parity" in givebacks. That is, givebacks must be uniform. Gov. Ted Strickland himself warned last summer that violating parity could jeopardize the $90.3 million in give-backs his negotiators won from unionized state employees.

But an Ohio Civil Service Employees Association (AFSCME Local 11) spokesman says that its contract gives a state agency the right, if it cites an "operational need," to prevent an employee from taking furlough days. (Then, at the end of each fiscal year, the agency must pay an employee for time worked on "prevented" furlough days.) And the union spokeswoman said such an agency decision wouldn't require reopening the union's contract with the state.

Strickland's spokeswoman countered that the contract clause in question "was intended for extraordinary, specific operational emergencies" -- say, if a furlough day for workers in the Taxation Department's mailroom fell on April 15. Contract wording, however, doesn't appear to be nearly that limiting.

She added that trying to spare an entire class of state employees (such as those reviewing disability applications) from furlough days "would likely lead to legal challenges that [it] violated parity."

The Strickland administration, possibly fearing union grumbling in an election year, is lawyering a molehill into a mountain.''

HIE Contract Awarded

From a press release:

On Feb. 1, 2010, the U.S. Social Security Administration awarded a contract to Community Health Information Collaborative (CHIC) and its technical partner MEDNET (www.MEDNETWorld.com). CHIC, with MEDNET, built a health information exchange (HIE) -- known as “HIE-Bridge™” -- in Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin to allow for the exchange of clinical health data over the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN). Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minn., MEDNET is a leader in NHIN connectivity and HIE applications and services.

The contract will allow HIE-Bridge member providers to transition from a paper-based disability claim process to an automated claim process over the NHIN, resulting in significantly reduced costs, streamlined processes and improved patient care.

The Labyrinth

From the Kansas City Star:

The nation’s disability insurance system is in rehab.

But it’s far from well, and problems in Kansas City are particularly acute.

An aging baby boom population and high unemployment rates are combining to flood the Social Security Administration with applications for disability insurance benefits.

The result: a backlogged system that can take years to pay out benefits.

Blame the agency’s staff cuts in previous years.

Blame people who try to fake disabilities.

Blame a labyrinthine claims system that volleys legitimate applicants between federal and state offices

And, in Social Security offices such as Kansas City’s, blame a sluggish productivity rate for disability hearings.

In Kansas City, applicants for Social Security Disability Income at the end of 2009 were waiting an average of 604 days for a decision from an administrative law judge.

That processing time ranked 135th out of 143 Social Security Office of Disability Adjudication and Review offices around the country, according to an agency report.

Why did the reporter make every sentence a new paragraph? Am I just old fashioned or is this an example of poor writing and editing?

ALJ Attorney Fee Limit Raised

I have no citation but I am told that the limit on the amount of attorney fees that may be approved by an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) in a fee petition case has been increased from $7,000 to $10,000. Apparently, the ALJs have been notified of this change but nothing has been released publicly yet. Fee petitions are submitted in only a small fraction of the cases heard by ALJs.

ALJ Disposition Data Posted

Social Security has now posted data online showing Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) dispositions, showing how many allowances and denials per ALJ. One hint: the difference between the "total dispositions" and "total decisions" figure would be dismissals. A few ALJs will have a very high number of dismissals. These would probably be Hearing Office Chief ALJs (HOCALJs). HOCALJs typically issue the obvious dismissals of late requests for hearings and premature requests for hearings for their office.