The SSA has a long-term goal of reducing the average initial appeals process on disability benefit applications, but that period actually has been increasing and projections are that it will grow still worse, an IG audit has said.
Claimants who are denied disability benefits at a disability determination services office can appeal the decision to an administrative law judge in the agency’s office of disability adjudication and review. The process generally entails a hearing before an ALJ as well as the participation of expert witnesses, conducted in person or via a videoconference.
The agency had set a goal in 2007 to complete such reviews, measured from the time it receives the hearing request to the final decision on the case, in an average of 270 days by the end of fiscal 2013. It took steps including streamlining the process and hiring more law judges.
However, the average time stood at 353 days in fiscal 2012 but is projected to hit 470 days this year and rise to 490 days at the end of fiscal 2016, it said. That’s largely due to an increase in hearing requests, a decrease in law judge productivity, a decrease in senior attorney adjudicator decisions, and a recent decrease in the number of available ALJs, it said.
The report is one of a series on management challenges facing the agency as the population ages.