1) improve the disability decision making process to ensure that decisions are made as accurately as possible, that those who should be paid are paid as early as possible and that the adjudication process is consistent throughout;

2) improve the return-to-work opportunities for disability beneficiaries so that individuals who want to participate in the nation’s workforce may do so;

3) safeguard the integrity of the disability programs by ensuring beneficiaries meet the strict eligibility criteria for benefit payments and by protecting the programs against fraud; and

4) increase understanding, through research, of both the incidence of disability in the U.S. and disability programs, in general, so that policy makers can craft more responsive policies and legislation to assist individuals with disabilities.

Mr. Nibali went on to say that about 5 percent of the CDR cessations are actually staying off the roles once they have gone through the appeal steps. SSA is currently looking at a disability evaluation study to determine the incident of disability in the U.S. and why some individuals are found to be disabled, but continue to work. Ms. Davis then took the floor. She explained that on Wednesday, March 10, 1999, Regional Commissioners and Chief ALJs met with key SSA officials concerning Commissioner Apfel’s decision on the redesign of the disability program. Others were contacted later in the day on Wednesday.

Commissioner Apfel’s announcement included the following:

Process Unification will continue, specifically rationales

The Single Decision Maker (SDM) will be implemented.

Pre-decision Interview (PDI) will be implemented.

The reconsideration step will be eliminated.

Improvements will also be made in the OHA process The Adjudication Officer (AO) will not be implemented.

Flexible units will be created in the Office of Disability and processing centers to help with the work in OHA and the DDSs.

The Full Process Model (FPM) pilot test will continue.

The Disability Claims Manager (DCM) pilot test will continue.

SSA will use ten states to begin the process. These states are designated as prototype states. Implementation of the new process will start in October, 1999. Full rollout to all states is expected in 2000/2001. It is the intent of SSA to continue using the testing regulations to move forward with the prototype states. This is one of the considerations in deciding which states would be asked to become prototype states. It was the hope of SSA to keep the states at under 20 percent of the offices nationwide. The states that were being asked to consider being prototype states are New Hampshire, 25 percent of New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Michigan, Louisiana, Missouri, Colorado, 25 percent of California, and Alaska. (Alabama will be a prototype test site instead of Tennessee). The new process will be evaluated in these ten states for 12-18 months. It was noted that other states wanted to volunteer. However, the above named ten states are being asked to volunteer. The new plan will also affect the OHA offices. The final rollout to all offices is expected to take place in 2001/2002. It was noted that during the evaluation period with the prototype states if it is found that this is not the best plan, the reconsideration step will still be in place in the other states. If the new process does not work, SSA will look at going back to the old system. However, the Commissioner has announced that recon will be done away with and this is what SSA will try to implement. The draft of the final regulations to implement all of the above mentioned processes will be worked on while the prototypes are being evaluated. The OHA portion is equally important. A workgroup has come up with a plan to make cases move quicker through the OHA process. However, OHA has a lot of work to do. OHA needs to bring their caseloads up to date in the ten prototype states so the full process can be evaluated. Six PSCs and ODO will have trained examiners that will be able to help OHA to get their caseloads ready. They will also be available to the DDSs for temporary assistance. The good news is OHA is catching up with their workload. There processing is picking up. A triage unit in OHA will prepare the case for hearing, but will not be able to adjudicate the case, not even fully favorable cases. A team will set up the case for the ALJ for the hearing . On the subject of the PDI, it was explained that this will be implemented as we know it from the FPM, but we will need to improve on the PDI as we prototype. We will need to improve the notice that is sent to the claimant. We need to insure that the claimant has been contacted. We may need to implement some of the steps we currently use in Failure to Cooperate cases to ascertain that the claimant has every opportunity to a PDI. We will also need to look at the whole record, explain the whole record, and the whole process and balance it out on time spent on each case. Pediatric and mental cases will not go through SDM. In regards to OHA, the message was that we all need to help them. We need to bring OHA back into the family. Their pending numbers dropped by 100,000 in 1998. The returns are coming in on quality assurance reviews. In the new plan, the OHA Chief Judges will handle the easier cases and spend more time managing their offices. Mike Brennen, the President of the National Council of Disability Determination Directors, stated there is some talk that when an ALJ orders a CE that the whole record would be returned to the DDS. When the CE is received by the DDS, the DDS will review the case again for a possible allowance before it is returned to the ALJ. The preliminary results from the DCM pilot shows that the federal DCM workers are able to process four and one-half cases a week. The state DCM workers are processing an average of six cases a week. All of the DCM workers seem to like the process. They also enjoy working with the public. As previously stated, the DCM pilot will be continued. The Office of Quality Assurance is addressed in the new plan, but this will also need additional work. It was noted that the Process Unification facilitators will be called back together to help with additional training for all components. SSA’s upper management will also be looking at DPRT to see where to put their functions into SSA. Upon completion of Mr. Nibali and Ms. Davis’ presentations, the NADE board thanked them for their continued willingness to work with NADE.