[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 121 (Monday, June 24, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42594-42595]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-15844]


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SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION


Modifications to the Disability Determination Procedures; 
Extension of Testing of Some Disability Redesign Features

AGENCY: Social Security Administration (SSA)

ACTION: Notice of the extension of tests involving modifications to the 
disability determination procedures.

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SUMMARY: We are announcing the extension of tests involving 
modifications to our disability

[[Page 42595]]

determination procedures that we are conducting under the authority of 
current rules codified at 20 CFR 404.906 and 416.1406. These rules 
provide authority to test 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 for supplemental security income payments based on 
disability under title XVI of the Act. We have decided to extend the 
testing of two redesign features of the disability prototype for six 
months to enable us to address transition issues.

DATES: We are extending our selection of cases to be included in these 
tests from June 28, 2002, until no later than December 30, 2002. If we 
decide to continue selection of cases for these tests beyond this date, 
we will publish another notice in the Federal Register.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Candace Skurnik, Disability Process 
Redesign Staff, Office of Disability, Social Security Administration, 
6401 Security Boulevard, Baltimore, Maryland 21235-6401, 410-965-4636.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Current regulations at 20 CFR 404.906 and 
416.1406 authorize us to test, individually, or in any combination, 
different modifications to the disability determination procedures. We 
have conducted several tests under the authority of these rules, 
including a prototype that incorporates a number of modifications to 
the disability determination procedures that the State agencies use. 
The prototype included three redesign features, and we are extending 
the tests of two of those features: the use of a single decisionmaker, 
in which a disability examiner may make the initial disability 
determination in most cases without requiring the signature of a 
medical consultant; and elimination of the reconsideration level of 
review. We are not extending the testing of the predecision interview, 
which we call a claimant conference.
    We also have conducted another test involving the use of a single 
decisionmaker who may make the initial disability determination in most 
cases without requiring the signature of a medical consultant. We are 
also extending the period during which we will select cases to be 
included in this test of the single decisionmaker feature.

Extension of Testing of Some Disability Redesign Features

    On August 30, 1999, we published in the Federal Register a notice 
announcing a prototype that would test a new disability claims process 
in 10 States, also called the prototype process (64 FR 47218). On 
December 23, 1999, we published a notice in the Federal Register (65 FR 
72134) extending the period during which we would select cases to be 
included in a separate test of the single decisionmaker feature. In 
these notices, we stated that selection of cases was expected to be 
concluded on or about December 31, 2001. We also stated that, if we 
decided to continue the tests beyond that date, we would publish 
another notice in the Federal Register. On December 28, 2001, we 
published a notice extending selection of cases for these tests until 
no later than June 28, 2002 (66 FR 67347). We also stated that, if we 
decided to continue selection of cases for these tests beyond that 
date, we would publish another notice in the Federal Register. We have 
decided to extend selection of cases for two features of the prototype 
process (single decisionmaker and elimination of the reconsideration 
step), and the separate test of single decisionmaker beyond June 28, 
2002. We expect that our selection of cases for these tests will end on 
or before December 30, 2002.
    This extension also applies to the locations in the State of New 
York that we added to the prototype test in a notice published in the 
Federal Register on December 26, 2000 (65 FR 81553).

    Dated: June 14, 2002.
Martin H. Gerry,
Deputy Commissioner for Disability and Income Security Programs.
[FR Doc. 02-15844 Filed 6-21-02; 8:45 am]
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