Articles from prior issues of The Advocate

September/October, 2001

NADE Marks Achievements And Highlights
by Jeff Price, President-elect

During the 2000-2001 NADE Year, NADE has achieved the following:

Held a highly successful national conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico in September, 2000.

Met with SSA Commissioner Ken Apfel at his office in Baltimore, Maryland, in October, 2000 to discuss the future of DCM, prototype, and other issues of critical importance to our members.

Met with Associate Commissioner for Disability Ken Nibali and Deputy Associate Commissioner Lenore Carlson, in October, 2000 to discuss NADE’s expectations for future involvement in the planning and implementation of SSA projects having an impact on DDS staff personnel. This includes the re-write of the medical listings, prototype, etc.

Met with the staff director and other staff members from the Social Security Advisory Board in October, 2000 to discuss NADE’s views of the issues facing the disability program. We shared members’ opinions regarding the current status of the disability program and the outlook for the future of the program. Partially as a result of this meeting, the Board’s January and February, 2001 advisory reports to Congress and to SSA were favorable to the DDS point of view.

Met with staff personnel from the National Academy of Social Insurance in October, 2000 to establish a working relationship with this advisory group. Consequently, NADE has received invitations to attend many of the Academy’s meetings in Washington, D.C. and other locations.

NADE was represented at the DDS Administrators/SSA Management mini-Forum in November, 2000 by President Sue Heflin and NADE’s DDS Administrators Liaison, Susan LaMorte.

NADE was contacted by the new President’s transition team in December, 2000 and asked for comments regarding the status of Social Security and the type of person the Association would support for a new Commissioner.

NADE has nearly concluded a four-year process to strengthen its own certification program that should make our certification program more attractive and more meaningful. The final changes will be put before the membership for ratification at this year’s national conference.

NADE held its mid-year Board of Directors meeting in Washington, D.C. in March, 2001. The meeting featured joint discussions with SSA’s Associate Commissioner for Disability, the Staff Director from the Social Security Advisory Board, the Assistant Director for Income Security at the General Accounting Office, the Staff Director for the House Social Security Subcommittee and others. A general exchange of information between these persons and the NADE Board and mutual discussions regarding the future of disability highlighted this three day meeting and afforded the NADE Board the opportunity to communicate the views of our members. NADE drafted a position paper regarding SSA’s plans to move toward a national certification process for disability examiners.

NADE has held four successful regional and bi-regional training conferences in 2001. Many NADE Chapters also held successful state training conferences.

NADE met with staff personnel from the offices of many members of Congress, including both senators and representatives in March, 2001 to discuss issues of importance to our membership. This included lobbying for passage of legislation pending in the House of Representatives calling for the elimination of the 5-month waiting period in Title II claims (H.R. 344). NADE has continued its ongoing dialogue with members of Congress and their staff personnel to maintain their in this legislation as well as our other issues.

NADE has worked with the National Research Council to provide information about a study of the disability determination process for mental retardation. The Council was under contract to SSA to conduct this study and NADE was invited to offer comments.

NADE was represented at the DDS Administrators/SSA Management Forum held in Phoenix, Arizona in May, 2001 by President Sue Heflin and President-elect Jeff Price.

NADE was represented by President Sue Heflin, and President-elect Jeff Price at the first annual One SSA conference sponsored by SSA in June, 2001. The purpose of this conference was to encourage all of the diverse groups that have an impact on the disability adjudicative process to begin to work together toward meaningful solutions to real-life problems.

NADE provided written testimony at several congressional hearings held earlier in the year (see the NADE Advocate for a copy of these testimonies). NADE also appeared as an invited witness at a key congressional hearing held on June 28, 2001 that dealt with “ The Challenges and Opportunities Facing the Social Security Disability Program.” NADE just recently completed its comments on the draft report on the DCM project. These comments were forwarded to SSA on July 30, 2001.

NADE also just recently completed a response to Congressman Clay Shaw, Chairman of the House Social Security Subcommittee. Congressman Shaw expressed great interest in NADE’s testimony on June 28, 2001 and asked the Association to respond in greater detail to several specific questions. The Association responded to Congressman Shaw on July 31, 2001.

Continued to publish a bi-monthly professional journal, the NADE Advocate. This important journal helps to keep our members informed of what is happening within the Association and in the disability program. It also shares our Association’s concerns and highlights our positions on the various issues to those outside the Association that receive the Advocate.

Continued to maintain a web site for interested persons to access current information about NADE. The site is located at www.nade.org.