[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 154 (Thursday, August 10, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45890-45891]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-13102]


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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 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 testing of the two redesign 
features of the disability prototype for up to 3 years in the following 
disability determination services (DDSs): New York, Pennsylvania, 
Alabama, Michigan, Louisiana, Missouri, Colorado, California (Los 
Angeles North and West Branches), and Alaska. We are not extending 
testing of these features in the New Hampshire DDS due to the 
publication of the final rule changes to 20 CFR 404.1527(f)(1) and 20 
CFR 405.201 that take effect August 1, 2006. These rule changes are 
initially only in effect in the Boston Region.

DATES: We are extending our selection of cases to be included in these 
tests from September 30, 2006 until no later than September 30, 2009. 
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: Phil Landis, Office of Disability 
Determinations, Social Security Administration, 6401 Security 
Boulevard, Baltimore, Maryland 21235-6401, 410-965-5388.

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 DDSs use. The 
prototype included three redesign features, and we previously extended 
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 extending the testing of the two redesign features of 
the disability prototype.
    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 
extending the period during which we will select cases to be included 
in this test of the single decisionmaker feature in the following DDSs: 
West Virginia, Florida, Kentucky, North Carolina, Kansas, Nevada, Guam, 
and Washington. We are not extending this test in the Maine and Vermont 
DDSs due to the publication of the final rule change to 20 CFR 
404.1527(f)(1). The rule change goes into effect on August 1, 2006 in 
the Boston Region only.

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. We subsequently published 
notices in the Federal Register extending selection of cases for these 
tests. Most recently, on September 26, 2005, we published a notice 
extending selection of cases for the tests until no later than 
September 30, 2006 (70 FR 56204). 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 September 30, 2006. We 
expect that our selection of cases for these tests will end on or 
before September 30, 2009.

[[Page 45891]]

    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: August 3, 2006.
Linda S. McMahon,
Deputy Commissioner for Operations.
[FR Doc. E6-13102 Filed 8-9-06; 8:45 am]
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