[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 84 (Monday, May 2, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24557-24560]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-10487]


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SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION


Privacy Act of 1974; as Amended; Proposed Alteration to an 
Existing Privacy Act System of Records, Housekeeping Changes, and New 
Routine Use

AGENCY: Social Security Administration (SSA).

ACTION: Altered system of records and housekeeping changes.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a(e)(4) and 
(e)(11)), we are issuing public notice of our intent to alter an 
existing system of records, make housekeeping and other miscellaneous 
changes, and add a routine use applicable to our system of records 
entitled the Listing and Alphabetical Name File (Folder) of Vocational 
Experts, Medical Experts, and Other Health Care Professional and/or 
Non-Health Care Professional Experts (Medicare) (60-0012). Hereinafter, 
we will refer to the system as the File (Folder) and Hearing 
Availability and Scheduling Information of Vocational Experts, Medical 
Experts, Other Health Care Professional and/or Non-Health Care 
Professional Experts (Medicare), and Verbatim Hearing Reporters.
    We propose the following changes:
     Change the system of records name from the Listing and 
Alphabetical Name File (Folder) of Vocational Experts, Medical Experts, 
and Other Health Care Professional and/or Non-Health Care Professional 
Experts (Medicare) to the File (Folder) and Hearing Availability and 
Scheduling Information of Vocational Experts, Medical Experts, Other 
Health Care Professional and/or Non-Health Care Professional Experts 
(Medicare), and Verbatim Hearing Reporters to more accurately reflect 
the functions and persons covered by the system of records.
     Expand the category of persons covered by the system of 
records to include persons who provide verbatim reporter services.
     Expand the category of records we maintain in the system 
of records to include Social Security number (SSN), employer 
identification number, primary specialty, business address(es), and 
telephone numbers; e.g., business, fax and cell phone. The expanded 
category also will include the blanket purchase agreement number, 
contract beginning and ending dates, renewal date, termination date, 
and termination reason.
     Add new routine use number 9 to the system of records to 
allow us to disclose information to the Department of Treasury to 
assist in collecting erroneous payments made to persons who provide 
services in disability and non-disability hearing cases.
     Edit the document to ensure a more reader-friendly 
document and correct miscellaneous and stylistic format errors.
    We discuss the system of records changes in the Supplementary 
Information section below. We invite public comments on this proposal.

DATES: We filed a report of the system of records with the Chairman of 
the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, the 
Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and 
the Administrator, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office 
of Management and Budget (OMB), on April 21, 2011. The system of 
records will become effective on May 30, 2011, unless we receive 
comments before that date that require further consideration.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons may comment on this publication by 
writing to the Acting Executive Director, Office of Privacy and 
Disclosure, Office of the General Counsel, Social Security 
Administration, Room 3-A-6 Operations Building, 6401 Security 
Boulevard, Baltimore, Maryland 21235-6401, or through the Federal e-
Rulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov. All comments we 
receive will be available for public inspection at the above address 
and will be posted to http://www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Christine W. Johnson, Social Insurance 
Specialist (Senior Analyst), Disclosure Policy Development and Services 
Division I, Office of Privacy and Disclosure, Office of the General 
Counsel, Social Security Administration, 3-A-6 Operations Building, 
6401 Security Boulevard, Baltimore, Maryland 21235-6401, telephone: 
(410) 965-8563, or e-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background and Purpose of the System of Records

A. General Background

    This system of records allows us to collect, maintain, and use 
information about persons who have contracted with the Office of 
Disability Adjudication and Review, under a Blanket Purchase Agreement, 
to provide expert witness and hearing reporter services in disability 
and non-disability hearing cases.

[[Page 24558]]

B. Discussion of the System of Records

    The proposed alteration brings together information on all external 
experts and verbatim hearing reporters who are recognized providers of 
service and are approved to do business with us. It also allows us to 
implement an automated scheduling process that will give us real-time 
access to information concerning participant availability for hearings.
    The current process for scheduling a hearing is a very complex and 
time-consuming activity. For example, in addition to securing the 
hearing site, the scheduler manually coordinates the calendars and 
availability for the administrative law judge, expert witness, hearing 
reporter, appointed representative, and the interpreter.
    In the automated scheduling process, approved external experts and 
verbatim hearing reporters who register through the Integrated 
Registration Electronic Services and Automated Scheduling Registration 
processes will have the ability to access the automated scheduling 
calendar(s) to provide information about their availability for 
hearings. Appointed representatives will have access to automated 
scheduling through the Appointed Representative Suite of Services 
facility.
    Thus, in addition to real-time access to essential information, the 
automated scheduling process will enable us to schedule hearings in a 
more timely and efficient manner and ultimately save significant 
resource time.

C. Discussion of New Routine Use

    Routine use number 9 will allow us to disclose information to the 
Department of Treasury to assist in collecting erroneous payments made 
to persons for services provided in disability and non-disability 
hearings.
    Accordingly, we are establishing routine use number 9 in the File 
(Folder) and Hearing Availability and Scheduling Information of 
Vocational Experts, Medical Experts, Other Health Care Professional 
and/or Non-Health Care Professional Experts (Medicare), and Verbatim 
Hearing Reporters system of records.
    9. We will disclose information under this routine use to the 
Department of Treasury for the purpose of, and to the extent necessary, 
to assist in collecting erroneous payments made to persons who provide 
services in disability and non-disability hearing cases.
    We will disclose information under this routine use to assist in 
collecting erroneous payments to persons who fail to return such 
payments. For example, we will disclose the person's name, SSN, and the 
date and amount of the erroneous payment. In these situations, the 
Department of Treasury serves as collector of the debt.

II. Compatibility of Proposed Routine Use

    New routine use number 9 will allow us to release payment 
information to the Department of Treasury to assist in collecting 
erroneous payments made to persons who provide services in disability 
and non-disability hearing cases. The routine use will improve our 
ability to recoup erroneous payments. In accordance with the Privacy 
Act (5 U.S.C. 552a(a)(7) and (b)(3)) and our disclosure regulations (20 
CFR part 401), we can disclose information maintained in a system of 
records pursuant to a published routine use when the use is compatible 
with the purpose for which we collected the information. This routine 
use meets the relevant regulatory criteria.

III. Records Storage Medium and Safeguards for the Information Covered 
by the System of Records

    We will maintain, in paper and electronic form, information covered 
by this system of records. We will keep paper records in locked 
cabinets or in other secure areas. We will safeguard the security of 
the electronic information covered by the system of records by 
requiring the use of access codes to enter the computer system that 
will house the data.
    We annually provide all our employees and contractors with 
appropriate security awareness training that includes reminders about 
the need to protect personally identifiable information and the 
criminal penalties that apply to unauthorized access to, or disclosure 
of, personally identifiable information. See 5 U.S.C. 552a(i)(1). 
Employees and contractors with access to databases maintaining 
personally identifiable information must sign a sanction document 
annually, acknowledging their accountability for inappropriately 
accessing or disclosing such information.

IV. Effects of the System of Records on the Rights of Individuals

    We propose altering the system of records as part of our 
responsibilities in continuing to expand our business processes. We 
will adhere to all applicable statutory requirements, including those 
under the Social Security Act and the Privacy Act, in carrying out our 
responsibilities. Therefore, we do not anticipate that the proposed 
alteration to this system of records will have any adverse effect on 
the privacy or other rights of the persons covered by the system of 
records.

V. Housekeeping and Other Miscellaneous Changes in the System of 
Records

    We are making housekeeping changes that include changing the system 
of records name from Listing and Alphabetical Name File (Folder) of 
Vocational Experts, Medical Experts, and Other Health Care Professional 
and/or Non-Health Care Professional Experts (Medicare) to the File 
(Folder) and Hearing Availability and Scheduling Information of 
Vocational Experts, Medical Experts, and Other Health Care Professional 
and/or Non-Health Care Professional Experts (Medicare), and Verbatim 
Hearing Reporters to more accurately reflect the functions and persons 
covered by the system. The changes also include edits throughout the 
document to ensure a more reader-friendly document and to correct 
miscellaneous and stylistic format errors.

    Dated: April 21, 2011.
Michael J. Astrue,
Commissioner.

Social Security Administration; Notice of System of Records; Required 
by the Privacy Act of 1974; as Amended

System Number:
    60-0012.

System Name:
    File (Folder) and Hearing Availability and Scheduling Information 
of Vocational Experts, Medical Experts, Other Health Care Professional 
and/or Non-Health Care Professional Experts (Medicare), and Verbatim 
Hearing Reporters, Social Security Administration, Office of Disability 
Adjudication and Review.

Security Classification:
    None.

System Location:
    Social Security Administration (SSA), Office of Disability 
Adjudication and Review (ODAR) regional offices for each hearing office 
in their jurisdiction.
    Contact the systems manager at SSA, ODAR, Division of Field 
Practices and Procedures, 5107 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA. 22041, 
or access http://www.socialsecurity.gov/foia/bluebook/app_f.htm for 
hearing office address information. Each hearing office maintains and 
uses hearing and availability information to facilitate the selection 
of expert witnesses and verbatim hearing reporters.

[[Page 24559]]

Categories of persons covered by the system:
    This system covers vocational experts, medical experts, other 
health care professional and/or non-health care professional experts 
(Medicare), and verbatim hearing reporters who have contracted with 
ODAR, under a blanket purchase agreement (BPA), to provide expert 
witness and hearing reporter services in disability and non-disability 
hearing cases and who are within the hearing office service area.

Categories of records maintained in the system:
    As applicable, this system will contain personally identifiable 
information and contact information for all vocational experts, medical 
experts, other health care professional and/or non-health care 
professional experts (Medicare), and verbatim hearing reporters 
contracted under a BPA with ODAR to provide expert witness and verbatim 
reporter services in disability and non-disability cases, and who are 
within the hearing office service area. For example, the system will 
contain name, Social Security number (SSN), employer identification 
number, business address(es), and telephone numbers; e.g., business, 
fax, and cell phone. The system also will contain business information 
such as primary specialty, usage records (e.g., documentation of 
occasions on which each expert and hearing reporter provided services 
to ODAR), BPA number, contract beginning and ending dates, renewal 
date, termination date, and termination reason.
    Additionally, ODAR regional offices and/or hearing offices will 
maintain a folder for each expert and verbatim hearing reporter, which 
may contain a copy of the BPA, professional qualifications, travel 
orders, invoices, correspondence and other written records, such as 
reports of contact by telephone or letter.

Authority for maintenance of the system:
    Sections 205, 1631(d)(1), (42 U.S.C. 405 and 1383), Titles XI and 
XVIII of the Social Security Act, and Section 413(b) of the Federal 
Coal Mine Health and Safety Act (the Coal Act), as amended.

Purpose(s):
    The File (Folder) and Hearing Availability and Scheduling 
Information of Vocational Experts, Medical Experts, Other Health Care 
Professional and/or Non-Health Care Professional Experts (Medicare), 
and Verbatim Hearing Reporters system of records enables us to have 
electronic access to information concerning vocational experts, medical 
experts, other health care professional and/or non-health care 
professional experts (Medicare), and verbatim hearing reporters 
contracted under a BPA with ODAR to provide expert witness and verbatim 
reporter services in disability and non-disability hearing cases.
    We also will use the information maintained in this system of 
records to carry out our administrative management responsibilities. 
For example, we will use the information in connection with budgetary 
planning, service and usage assessment, contract renewals, and to 
develop statistical or summary reports. Additionally, we will use the 
information in this system to assist in collecting erroneous payments 
made to persons who provide services in disability and non-disability 
hearing cases.

Routine uses of records covered by the system of records, including 
categories of users and the purposes of such uses:
    Routine use disclosures are indicated below; however, we will not 
disclose any information defined as ``return or return information'' 
under 26 U.S.C. 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) unless 
authorized by the IRC, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), or IRS 
regulations.
    1. To a congressional office in response to an inquiry from that 
office made at the request of the subject of a record or a third party 
acting on the subject's behalf.
    2. To the Office of the President in response to an inquiry the 
Office of the President made at the request of the subject of the 
record or a third party acting on the subject's behalf.
    3. To the Department of Justice (DOJ), a court or other tribunal, 
or another party before such court or tribunal when:
    (a) SSA or any of our components; or
    (b) any SSA employee in his or her official capacity; or
    (c) any SSA employee in his or her individual capacity when DOJ (or 
SSA) has agreed to represent the employee; or
    (d) The United States or any agency thereof, when we determine that 
the litigation is likely to affect the operations of SSA or any of our 
components, is a party to litigation or has an interest in such 
litigation, and we determine that the use of such records by DOJ, a 
court or other tribunal, or another party before such court or tribunal 
is relevant and necessary to the litigation. In each case, however, we 
must determine that such disclosure is compatible with the purpose for 
which we collected the records.
    4. To contractors and other Federal agencies, as necessary, to 
assist us in efficiently administering our programs. We will disclose 
information under this routine use only in situations in which we may 
enter into a contractual or similar agreement with a third party to 
assist in accomplishing an agency function relating to this system of 
records.
    5. To the General Services Administration and the National Archives 
and Records Administration (NARA) under 44 U.S.C. 2904 and 2906, as 
amended by the NARA Act of 1984, information that is not restricted 
from disclosure by Federal law for their use in conducting records 
management studies.
    6. To student volunteers, persons working under a personal services 
contract, and others when they need access to information in our 
records in order to perform their assigned duties.
    7. To the Secretary of Health and Human Services or to any State, 
information required in writing by the Secretary for the purpose of 
administering any program administered by the Secretary, if records or 
information of such type were so disclosed under applicable rules, 
regulations, and procedures in effect before the date of enactment of 
the Social Security Independence and Program Improvements Act of 1994.
    8. To the appropriate Federal, State, and local agencies, entities, 
and persons when (1) We suspect or confirm a compromise of the security 
or confidentiality of information; (2) we determine that, as a result 
of the suspected or confirmed compromise, there is a risk of harm to 
economic or property interests, risk of identity theft or fraud, or 
risk of harm to the security or integrity of this system or other 
systems or programs that rely upon the compromised information; and (3) 
we determine that disclosing the information to such agencies, 
entities, and persons will assist us in our efforts to respond to the 
suspected or confirmed compromise and prevent, minimize, or remedy any 
harm. We will use this routine use to respond only to those incidents 
involving an unintentional release of our records.
    9. To the Department of Treasury for the purpose of, and to the 
extent necessary, to assist in collecting erroneous payments made to 
persons who provide services in disability and non-disability hearing 
cases.

Policies and practices for storing, retrieving, accessing, retaining, 
and disposing of records in the system:
Storage:
    We will store records in this system in paper and electronic form.

[[Page 24560]]

Retrievability:
    We will retrieve records alphabetically by name, BPA number, and 
hearing office.

Safeguards:
    We retain paper and electronic files with personal identifiers in 
secure storage areas accessible only to our authorized employees and 
contractors. We limit access to data with personal identifiers from 
this system to only authorized personnel who have a need for the 
information in the performance of their official duties. We annually 
provide all of our employees and contractors with appropriate security 
awareness and training that includes reminders about the need to 
protect personally identifiable information and the criminal penalties 
that apply to unauthorized access to, or disclosure of, personally 
identifiable information. See 5 U.S.C. 552a(i)(l). Employees and 
contractors with access to databases maintaining personally 
identifiable information must sign a sanction document annually, 
acknowledging their accountability for inappropriately accessing or 
disclosing such information.

Retention and Disposal:
    For purposes of records management dispositions authority, we 
follow the NARA and Department of Defense (DOD) 5015.2 regulations (DOD 
Design Criteria Standard for Electronic Records Management Software 
Applications). We will maintain records for 2 years after expiration of 
the contract at which time we will shred the records.

System manager(s) and address(es):
    Social Security Administration, ODAR, 5107 Leesburg Pike, Falls 
Church, VA 22041.

Notification procedures:
    Persons can determine if this system contains a record about them 
by writing to the system manager at the above address and providing 
their name, SSN, or other information in this system of records that 
will identify them. Persons requesting notification by mail must 
include a notarized statement to us to verify their identity or they 
must certify in the request that they are the person they claim to be 
and understand that the knowing and willful request for, or acquisition 
of, a record pertaining to another person under false pretenses is a 
criminal offense.
    Persons requesting notification of records in person should provide 
the same information, as well as provide an identity document, 
preferably with a photograph, such as a driver's license. Persons 
lacking identification documents sufficient to establish their identity 
must certify in writing that they are the person they claim to be and 
that they understand that the knowing and willful request for, or 
acquisition of, a record pertaining to another person under false 
pretenses is a criminal offense.
    Persons requesting notification by telephone must verify their 
identity by providing identifying information that parallels the 
information in the record about which they are requesting notification. 
If we determine that the identifying information the person provides by 
telephone is insufficient, the person will be required to submit a 
request in writing or in person. If a person requests information by 
telephone on behalf of another person, the subject person must be on 
the telephone with the requesting person and us in the same telephone 
call. We will establish the subject person's identity (his or her name, 
SSN, address, date of birth, and place of birth, along with one other 
piece of information, such as mother's maiden name) and ask for his or 
her consent to provide information to the requesting person. These 
procedures are in accordance with our regulations (20 CFR 401.40 and 
401.45).

Record access procedures:
    Same as notification procedures. Requesters also should reasonably 
specify the record contents they are seeking. These procedures are in 
accordance with our regulations (20 CFR 401.40(c)).

Contesting record procedures:
    Same as notification procedures. Requesters also should reasonably 
identify the record, specify the information they are contesting, and 
state the corrective action sought and the reasons for the correction 
with supporting justification showing how the record is incomplete, 
untimely, inaccurate, or irrelevant. These procedures are in accordance 
with our regulations (20 C.F.R. Sec.  401.65(a)).

Record source categories:
    We obtain information covered by this system of records from the 
persons covered by the system or our officials.

Exemptions claimed for the system:
    None.

[FR Doc. 2011-10487 Filed 4-29-11; 8:45 am]
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