Better planning, management and evaluation could help address the Social Security disability benefit backlog, GAO has said.
At the end of fiscal year 2006, some 1.5 million disability claims were awaiting a decision – about 576,000 of them backlogged due to compounding processing delays, according to GAO-08-40.
It said backlogged claims in the Social Security Administration’s processing system doubled from 1997 to 2006, with blockages at most stages of the claims process, mostly at the hearing level which has slowed.
Substantial growth in the numbers of disability claims, staff losses and turnover, as well as management weaknesses have contributed to the backlog problem, GAO said.
It said that from 1997 to 2006 initial applications for benefits grew by over 20 percent while the agency lost claims examiners in the state determination offices and administrative law judges and support staff in the hearings offices.
Further, management initiatives to address the backlogs have failed and have sometimes added to the problem, the report said.
It said that in 2006, SSA introduced a disability service improvement initiative but suspended a national rollout in order to concentrate on the hearings backlog and full implementation of its electronic case processing system.
While the DSI is still underway in the Boston region, it is hampered by rushed implementation, poor communication, and a lack of financial planning, and has shown mixed results, GAO said.
