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CCH® UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE — 2/28/08

GAO investigates disability claims backlog

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently investigated the backlog in processing disability claims that has long plagued the Social Security Administration. Between the 1997 and 2006 fiscal years, backlogged disability claims doubled to about 576,000 cases. Backlogs occurred at most stages of the claims process, with significant declines occurring only at the last stage: the Appeals Council, where fewer cases are processed. Seventy-two percent of the total backlog was at the hearing level stage, where backlogged claims exceeded 415,000. Processing times have also increased, with claimants now waiting an additional 95 days at the hearing level stage.

According to the GAO,

substantial growth in the numbers of disability claims, staff losses and turnover, and management weaknesses have contributed to the backlog problem. Initial applications for benefits grew more than 20 percent over the period while SSA experienced losses in key personnel: claims examiners in the state determination offices and administrative law judges and support staff in the hearings offices. In addition, management weaknesses evidenced in a number of initiatives to address the backlogs have failed to remedy and sometimes contributed to the problem.

The GAO also found that initiatives designed to reduce the backlogs have been hampered by rushed implementation, poor communication, and inadequate financial planning. For example, a new office to handle first level appeals in the Boston region, the Office of the Federal Reviewing Officer (OFedRO), and a specialized office to provide medical expertise, the Office of Medical and Vocational Expertise (OMVE), were only half staffed. The rollout of the initiative in the Boston region was rushed over a period of four months, with little advance information for those managers responsible for administering it, according to the GAO. Additionally, the initiative has cost an additional $24 million in administrative costs, although the SSA had envisioned that the initiative would not increase the existing budget

In response to this report, the Social Security Administration announced that it was suspending the operation of the Federal Reviewing Officer and the Office of Medical and Vocational Expertise for all new claims (see the story in Report Letter 682, dated January 28, 2008).

The GAO recommended in its report that the Commissioner fully monitor the backlog and better execute and evaluate the initiatives to address them.

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