Social Security Battles Backlogged Disability Claims

WASHINGTON–The massive backlog of Social Security disability
benefit cases could soon begin shrinking nationwide now that the
“quick disability determination” process has been extended to all
state disability determination services.

The agency issued a final regulation last month extending the
QDD process to all states after successfully testing it in New
England. It will be gradually implemented over the next several
months, agency officials said.

Under QDD, a predictive model analyzes specific elements of data
within the electronic claims file to identify those where there is
a high potential that the claimant is disabled and where evidence
of the person’s allegations can be quickly and easily obtained.

By utilizing the new system, 97 percent of the cases in New
England were decided within 21 days; the average decision time was
11 days. About 85 percent of the cases were allowed during the
initial review, and more were allowed with additional
documentation, officials said.

“The quick disability determination has been very successful and
efficient so far in New England and I am happy to say it will help
people filing for disability benefits anywhere in the United
States,” said Michael J. Astrue, commissioner of Social Security,
in announcing the final rule.

Social Security receives more than 2.5 million new disability
cases and more than 2.3 million Supplemental Security Income cases
each year. Pending hearings have doubled since 2001, even though
administrative law judges who hear the cases have a high
productivity rate, Astrue said. In July, Social Security had a
backlog of about 738,000 cases that were awaiting hearing
decisions; those cases had an average waiting time of 505 days, the
highest in Social Security history.

“The length of time many people wait for a disability decision
is unacceptable,” said Astrue. “I am committed to a process that is
as fair and speedy as possible. While there is no single magic
bullet, with better systems, better business processes and better
ways of fast-tracking targeted cases, we can greatly improve the
service we provide this vulnerable population.”

Astrue said he was particularly proud of the diminishing pending
disability cases that had reached 1,000 days.

“We have aggressively worked on these cases and now have fewer
than 600 pending, down from more than 63,000 cases in October of
last year,” he said.

In addition to extending the QDD nationwide, Astrue said he also
hopes to expand the system to incorporate as many diseases as
possible. He said Social Security was “committed to pushing the
number of cases that can be decided through the model as high as we
can possibly go while maintaining accuracy.”

For more information about Social Security’s disability
programs, go to www.socialsecurity.gov.