Social Security Administration alleviates bureaucratic inefficiencies

The Social Security Administration (SSA) recently implemented a new initiative called Compassionate Allowances that will make the processing of the most severe disability claims more efficient. The program, developed by SSA and the National Institutes of Health, will expedite processing of disability claims for applicants whose medical conditions are so severe that their conditions obviously meet Social Security’s standards. Initially, the expedited decision program will consider fifty conditions, but SSA will increase that number once the program is firmly in place.

Groups such as the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network and the National Organization for Rare Disorders commended SSA for implementing strategies to improve service for those who are unable to perform work. Each day these persons face serious concerns like the loss of income and the cost of treatment, making any improvements of the claim process truly valuable.

This is encouraging news for patients and families who face the hardships caused by disability processing backlogs. I am glad that SSA recognized the need to alleviate the burdens that bureaucratic inefficiencies impose upon people. Claimants often spend unacceptable amounts of time waiting to receive final decisions on their claims. Now the agency is taking steps that will make progress toward fixing these inefficiencies and ensure that Americans with disabilities will get the benefits they need more quickly.

If you would like more information on this new initiative, please visit www.socialsecurity.gov/compassionateallowances.

The Compassionate Allowances initiative is just the latest accomplishment for SSA after the progress made in Fiscal Year 2008. In the last year, SSA hired 190 new Administrative Law Judges to conduct additional claim hearings, opened a National Hearing Center, and implemented a new quick disability determination process in all 50 states. As a result of these and many other activities, the disability backlog at the hearings level, which had been growing at the rate of about 70,000 cases each year since 2000, grew by only about 14,000 cases.

SSA reports additional successes from last year including:

More than 2.6 million initial disability claims processed;

Approximately 560,000 reconsideration cases processed;

Over 575,000 hearing requests processed;

Over 83,000 Appeals Council Reviews processed;

Improvement of the process to identify and expedite military casualty claims;

Implementation of the Request for Program Consultation process nationally to improve accuracy and consistency in the disability decision-making process; and

Implementation of a process that allows public and third parties to file disability reconsideration and hearing requests via the Internet.

Please keep in touch with me on issues that are important to you. You may write Congressman Virgil Goode, 70 East Court Street, Room 215, Rocky Mount, VA 24151; or fax to 1-540-484-1459; or call toll-free to the Danville office, 1-800-535-4008.