[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 46 (Friday, March 7, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12495-12496]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-4531]


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SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION

[Docket No. SSA-2008-0009]


Modifications to the Disability Determination Procedures; 
Reinstatement of ``Prototype'' and ``Single Decisionmaker'' Tests in 
States in the Boston Region

AGENCY: Social Security Administration (SSA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: Effective March 23, 2008, we are reinstating New Hampshire as 
a ``prototype'' State in the disability redesign tests we are 
conducting under the authority of our regulations. We are also 
reinstating Maine and Vermont as States that use ``single 
decisionmakers'' under the same authority. These three States stopped 
participating in the disability redesign tests on August 1, 2006, when 
they began to participate in the Disability Service Improvement (DSI) 
initiative that we have been testing in our Boston region since that 
date. On January 15, 2008, we published a final rule in the Federal 
Register suspending the Federal Reviewing Official review level of the 
DSI process. The final rule will be effective on March 23, 2008. 
Therefore, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont will resume their 
participation in the disability redesign tests on the effective date of 
the final rule.

DATES: On March 23, 2008, New Hampshire will resume its participation 
as a prototype State, and Maine and Vermont will resume their 
participation as single decisionmaker States. Selection of cases for 
the current tests is scheduled to end no later than September 30, 2009. 
(71 FR 45890). We will use the same date for Maine, New Hampshire, and 
Vermont. If we decide to continue selection of cases for these tests 
beyond this date in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and the other States 
that are participating in the tests, we will publish another notice in 
the Federal Register.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michele Schaefer, Office of Disability 
Programs, Social Security Administration, 6401 Security Boulevard, 
Baltimore, MD 21235-6401, 410-594-0083, for information about this 
notice. For information on eligibility or filing for benefits, call our 
national toll-free number, 1-800-772-1213 or TTY 1-800-325-0778, or 
visit our Internet site, Social Security Online, at http://www.socialsecurity.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Our current rules at Sec. Sec.  404.906 and 
416.1406 authorize us to test, individually or in any combination, 
different

[[Page 12496]]

modifications to our disability determination procedures. We have 
conducted several tests under the authority of these rules. One of 
these tests is a ``prototype'' that incorporates two modifications to 
the disability determination procedures that we use:
     A single decisionmaker (SDM), in which disability 
examiners in the State agencies that make disability determinations for 
us may make the initial disability determination in most cases without 
requiring the signature of a medical or psychological consultant, and
     Elimination of the reconsideration level of the 
administrative review process.
    Another test uses SDMs, but keeps the reconsideration level.
    Until August 1, 2006, there were 10 States participating in the 
prototype test: Alabama, Alaska, California (Los Angeles North and West 
Branches), Colorado, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, New 
York, and Pennsylvania. Another 10 State agencies participated in the 
SDM-only test: Florida, Guam, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Nevada, North 
Carolina, Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia. On August 1, 2006, 
Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, which are States in our Boston 
region, stopped participating in their respective tests because they 
were among the first States to implement the DSI process.\1\ The tests 
in the other States have continued.
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    \1\ The other States in the Boston region are Connecticut, 
Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.
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    On January 15, 2008, we published a final rule entitled, 
``Suspension of New Claims to the Federal Reviewing Official Review 
Level'' (73 FR 2411).\2\ The Federal Reviewing Official review level 
was part of the DSI process and replaced the reconsideration level of 
our administrative review process for cases we adjudicated in the 
Boston region under the DSI process. As the title of the final rule 
states, we will be suspending the Federal Reviewing Official process. 
This means that we will be going back to the same processes we were 
following before August 1, 2006, whether that process was 
reconsideration under Sec. Sec.  404.907 and 416.1407 or the testing 
procedures under Sec. Sec.  404.906 and 416.1406. Therefore, as of the 
effective date of the final rule suspending the FedRO process:
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    \2\ In the notice we published on January 15, 2008, we stated 
that the effective date of the final rule would be March 15, 2008. 
However, on February 27, 2008, we published a correction notice in 
the Federal Register providing that the effective date would be 
March 23, 2008 (73 FR 10381).
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     New Hampshire will become a prototype State again,
     The first level of appeal in all the other States in the 
Boston region will be reconsideration by the State agency, and
     Maine and Vermont will use SDMs.
    Since the rule suspending the use of the Federal Reviewing Official 
will be effective on March 23, 2008, that is also the date on which we 
will make the changes described here in Maine, New Hampshire, and 
Vermont.
    In a Federal Register notice we published on August 10, 2006, we 
explained that the selection of cases for the current tests is 
scheduled to end no later than September 30, 2009 (71 FR 45890). We 
also explained that we may decide to extend the tests, and that, if we 
do, we will publish another notice in the Federal Register. We are not 
extending the scheduled ending dates of these tests now, and will use 
the same date for Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont that we use for the 
other States participating in the tests. Therefore, our selection of 
cases in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont will end on or before 
September 30, 2009, unless we publish another notice in the Federal 
Register extending the tests.

    Dated: March 3, 2008.
Linda S. McMahon,
Deputy Commissioner for Operations.
[FR Doc. E8-4531 Filed 3-6-08; 8:45 am]
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