We Can't Answer Our Phones But We're Up To Date In Cutting People Off Benefits

From: ^Commissioner Broadcast
Sent: Wednesday, August 22, 2018 12:50 PM
Subject: Achievement of Medical CDR Currency

A Message To All SSA and DDS Employees  

Subject: Achievement of Medical CDR Currency

I am pleased to announce that in August 2018, we achieved currency with the release of all available medical Continuing Disability Reviews (CDR) for fiscal year 2018.  This is a major achievement as it is the first time we’ve reached this milestone since 2002, and only the second time in Social Security history!

From the Disability Determination Services and their staff, to the Office of Budget and Office of Systems, and the regional and field offices across the country, reaching this monumental achievement truly was a team effort.  Our pledge going forward will be to maintain currency with the CDR workload, which is an important part of our program integrity workloads and our stewardship responsibilities.

As part of our program integrity and stewardship responsibilities, we need to ensure that only those who continue to meet our eligibility requirements for disability receive benefits.  I want to express my sincere appreciation to all of you for helping us stay mission-focused for the public we serve.

Nancy A. Berryhill
Acting Commissioner

Culbertson SCOTUS Oral Argument Set For November 7

     Culbertson v. Berryhill, on whether fees subject to Social Security Act's 25-percent cap include only fees for representation in court or also fees for representation before the agency, is scheduled for oral argument before the Supreme Court on November 7.

Five Rare Disorders Added To Compassionate Allowance List

     Social Security has added the following new medical conditions to its Compassionate Allowance list: 

• Fibrolamellar Cancer
• Megacystis Microcolon Intestinal Hypoperistalsis Syndrome
• Megalencephaly-Capillary Malformation Syndrome
• Superficial Siderosis of the Central Nervous System
• Tetrasomy 18p 

     These are all rare disorders. It's rare for any compassionate disorder condition to show up in a disability claim. I've yet to see one.

     It always seems like Social Security adds to the compassionate allowance list when they've got a Congressional hearing coming up and they want to show how, uh, "compassionate" they are. I don't know of an upcoming Congressional hearing, however.

Miami ALJ Maher Having Problems

     I recently posted about the arrest of Administrative Law Judge Timothy Robert Maher of Social Security's Miami hearing office on charges of threatening his girlfriend with a gun in the presence of their child. There's more to the story. Police were called to Maher's residence on three consecutive nights after his arrest. Maher also recently got into what sounds like a road rage incident with another driver.

SSA To Launch GitHub Site -- What's That?

     From Healthcare IT News:

The Agency for Health Research and Quality and the Social Security Administration here on Monday announced plans for kicking off challenges to identify technologies that solve specific problems.

SSA Executive Director of Health IT Jude Soundararajan said here at the White House Blue Button 2.0 Developer Conference that in September SSA will launch a GitHub site with its use case for disabilities. And he said that developer contests will follow.

"We get tons of faxes, tons of unstructured data we want to analyze. Look for challenges around that and look for challenges around FHIR for our use case," Soundararajan said. "I'm looking forward to working with the developer community." ...

     Can someone explain this one to me?

Miami ALJ Arrested

     Social Security Administrative Law Judge Timothy Maher of Miami has been arrested on the charge of threatening his ex-girlfriend with a gun.

Your Daily Conn Case News -- Squatters, File Access And Attorneys Appearing By Video

     The saga continues. From WYMT:

The saga of former disability attorney Eric C Conn continues as U.S. Marshalls began the process of seizing the property where his offices are located in Stanville.

Marshalls say they came to change the locks and to secure thousands of Conn clients medical files. Prestonsburg attorney Ned Pillersdorf who represents many of those clients says more than just files were found when U.S. Marshals went inside.

"He also advised me that once he got there he encountered some squatters who apparently were living in the office," said Pillersdorf. ...

"The Department of Justice has asked Janet [Stumbo, Pillersdorf's wife, a former Kentucky Court of Appeals Judge] to put in an application to be appointed the receiver," said Pillersdorf. "They gave her keys to the office so that she could see what was in there. So she could formulate her proposal." ...

     In other Conn case news, I haven't heard anything yet from Social Security about allowing me to participate in hearings by video but others are hearing that the agency is telling Administrative Law Judges to allow this.

A Sign Of The Times

     Here's a sign that was placed outside a Social Security office in Kentucky where almost 2,000 former Eric Conn clients face the loss of their Social Security disability benefits. Appalred is the local legal services unit trying valiantly to arrange representation for these claimants. They're running short of volunteers. You can help. E-mail maryg [@] ardfky.org or call them at the number you see on the sign. Social Security is trying to run roughshod over these innocent people. Don't let them.