Despite combined efforts, DDS staffing losses and SSA’s limited ability to address them delayed claimants’ disability determinations. Image: Jonathan Weiss/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffIn a report looking at 2019-2023 but whose findings are timely for the current environment, the inspector general at SSA has linked losses in technical staff to declining productivity and increased time to process disability applications there.
The report said in that time, “disability determination services” staffs–who are funded by the agency although state government employees—“lost key technical staff, including disability examiners who developed medical evidence and made disability determinations.” Attrition among examiners averaged 19 percent annually—reaching as high as 25 percent—while overall attrition of DDS staff averaged 13 percent, it said.
Those losses “coincided with a 15-percent reduction in disability determinations, from 2.2 to 1.9 million, and an 81-percent increase in processing times, from 121 to 219 days . . . . This resulted in 15 percent fewer initial disability determinations and a 96-percent increase in the number of pending determinations,” it said.
The report added that while the SSA’s ability to address DDS staffing is “limited by the complexities of the Federal-state relationship and historical budget constraints,” it did work with DDS management to develop such initiatives as offering workload assistance, streamlining procedures, and creating a recruitment and retention workgroup to share best practices.
“However, despite combined efforts, DDS staffing losses and SSA’s limited ability to address them delayed claimants’ disability determinations and any benefits to which they were entitled,” it said.
It said the agency agreed with recommendations to “focus on what is within its control, such as working with states to ensure appropriate job classifications and giving DDSs the authority to replace staffing losses as needed to prevent further reduced productivity and increased processing times.”
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