SSA: we are unable to attribute improvements to any single initiative. Image: DCStockPhotography/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffThe SSA’s hearings backlog has decreased in recent years both in terms of numbers and average waiting time, but the agency needs to better measure the effect of initiatives it has undertaken to address them, says an IG report.
It said that over 2016-2022, the backlog (which SSA defines as appeals pending for more than 270 days) in the Office of Hearing Operations fell from more than 1.1 million to about 350,000, and the average processing time from 543 days to 333 days.
In that time, it said, the SSA has had three separate versions of its Compassionate And REsponsive Service (CARES) plan involving 45 initiatives involving everything from “promoting a service-oriented, accountable, and responsible organizational culture” to improved data analytics. However, all but three of those “lacked sufficient measurements or metrics to support their correlation” to reducing the backlog and average processing time, it said.
SSA told the auditors that “We believe that the aggregated effect of reducing the backlog is the result of various initiatives moving the needle, even if we are unable to attribute that improvement to an individual initiative.”
However, management agreed with recommendations that future CARES Plan initiatives should establish and document metrics to measure their impact.
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