[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 65 (Friday, April 4, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16210-16211]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-8712]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------


SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION

Testing Modifications to the Disability Determination Procedures; 
Disability Determination Services Full Process Model

AGENCY: Social Security Administration.

ACTION: Notice of the additional test sites and the duration of tests 
involving modifications to the disability determination procedures.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Social Security Administration (SSA) is announcing the 
locations and the duration of additional tests that it will conduct 
under the current rules at Secs. 404.906, 404.943, 416.1406, and 
416.1443. Those rules authorize the testing of several modifications to 
the disability determination procedures that we normally follow in 
adjudicating claims for disability insurance benefits under title II of 
the Social Security Act (the Act) and claims for supplemental security 
income (SSI) payments based on disability under title XVI of the Act. 
This notice announces the test sites and duration of tests involving a 
combination of features of the proposed redesigned disability process.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Harry Pippin, Disability Models Team 
Leader, Office of Disability, Disability Process Redesign Staff, Social 
Security Administration, 6401 Security Boulevard, Baltimore, Maryland 
21235, 410-965-9203.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Current regulations at Secs. 404.906, 
404.943, 416.1406, and 416.1443 authorize us to test different 
modifications to the disability determination procedures. The tests are 
designed to provide us with information so that we can determine the 
effectiveness of the models in improving the disability process. On or 
about April 7, 1997, we will begin tests of a full process model that 
combines four features of the proposed redesigned disability process. 
These features are: The use of a single decisionmaker who may make the 
disability determination without requiring the signature of a medical 
consultant; the conducting of a predecisional interview in which a 
claimant, for whom SSA does not have sufficient information to make a 
fully favorable determination or the evidence requires an initial 
determination denying the claim, can present additional information to 
the decisionmaker; the elimination of the reconsideration step in the 
administrative review process; and the use of an adjudication officer 
who will conduct prehearing procedures and, if appropriate, issue a 
decision wholly favorable to the claimant. We plan to test this model 
in eight States. We will select cases for evaluation of these tests for 
approximately nine months, and may continue to have cases processed for 
another six months. In addition, we may choose to extend the test to 
obtain additional data. We will publish another notice in the Federal 
Register if we extend the duration of the test. For the purpose of 
these tests, the single decisionmaker will be an employee of the State 
agency that makes disability determinations for us, while the 
adjudication officer will be either a State employee or a Federal 
employee. The sites selected represent a mix of geographic areas, case 
loads, and both Federal and State employees. The adjudication officer 
under this model will process cases as adjudication officers are doing 
in those States in which that feature is being tested separately. 
(Refer to Federal Register, February 1, 1996 (61 FR 3757).) The single 
decisionmaker will process cases as single decisionmakers are doing in 
those States in which that feature is being tested separately (see 
Federal Register, May 3, 1996 (61 FR 19969)), except that the single 
decisionmaker in this combined model will offer a predecisional 
interview to a claimant for whom a fully favorable determination cannot 
be made based on the initial information obtained. If a claimant is 
dissatisfied with the initial determination, he or she may appeal 
directly to an administrative law judge. The adjudication officer will 
be the claimant's primary point of contact before a hearing is held 
with an administrative law judge. Tests of the model will be held at 
the following locations: *COM007*
     Disability Determination Services, Division of 
Rehabilitation Services, Department of Social Services, 10065 Harvard 
Avenue, Denver, CO 80231-5941;
     Disability Adjudication Section, Division of 
Rehabilitation, Clark Harrison Building, 330 W. Ponce De Leon Avenue, 
Decatur, GA 30030;
     Office of Disability Determinations, New York State 
Department of Social Services, 99 Washington Avenue, Room 1239, Albany, 
NY 12260;
     Office of Disability Determinations, New York State 
Department of Social Services, 300 Cadman Plaza West, 13th Floor, 
Brooklyn, NY 11201-2701;
     Office of Disability Determinations, New York State 
Department of Social Services, Ellicott Square Building, Room 664, 295 
Main Street, Buffalo, NY 14203-2412;
     Bureau of Disability Determination, Office for Collections 
and Compensation, Room 220--Central

[[Page 16211]]

Operations, 1171 South Cameron Street, Harrisburg, PA 17104-2594;
     Disability Determination Division, South Carolina 
Vocational Rehabilitation Department, 1709 Mobile Avenue, West 
Columbia, SC 29170;
     Disability Determination Section, Division of 
Rehabilitation Services, Department of Human Services, Citizens Plaza 
Building, 400 Deaderick Street, Nashville, TN 37248-1000;
     Disability Determination Services for SSA, Office of 
Rehabilitation, Utah State Office of Education, 555 E. 300 South, Salt 
Lake City, UT 84102; and
     Disability Determination Bureau, Division of Health, 
Department of Health and Family Services, 722 Williamson Street, 
Madison, WI 53703.
    All cases processed under the full process model in the State of 
Pennsylvania will be adjudicated at the initial level by single 
decisionmakers at the Harrisburg site mentioned above. However, appeals 
of these cases will be processed by adjudication officers at one of two 
locations. One location is the Harrisburg site. The other site is:
     Bureau of Disability Determination, Office for Collections 
and Compensation, 264 Highland Park Boulevard, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18702.
    Not all cases received in the test sites listed above will be 
handled under the test procedures. However, if a claim is selected to 
be handled as part of the test, the claim will be processed under the 
procedures established under the final rules cited above.

    Dated: March 28, 1997.
Carolyn W. Colvin,
Deputy Commissioner for Programs and Policy.
[FR Doc. 97-8712 Filed 4-3-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4190-29-P