[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 193 (Monday, October 5, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62779-62781]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-21574]
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SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION
[Docket No. SSA-2020-0027]
Requiring Electronic Submission of Evidence by Certain Claimant
Representatives
AGENCY: Social Security Administration.
ACTION: Notice; implementation of requirement.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with our rules, we are announcing a new
requirement for representatives who request direct fee payment. A
representative must submit all evidence electronically in claims for
Social Security disability insurance benefits under title II of the
Social Security Act (Act), and claims for Supplemental Security Income
(SSI) payments based on disability under title XVI of the Act, if the
representative requests direct fee payment on that claim; the claim or
case has an electronic folder; and the claim is pending at the Office
of Hearings Operations (OHO) or the Appeals Council. We expect
electronic submission of this evidence will benefit claimants,
representatives, and the Social Security Administration by improving
our administrative efficiency and workload management, both during our
COVID-19 health protocols and beyond.
DATES: We will apply this notice beginning on November 4, 2020.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Matthew Wright, Office of Hearings
Operations, Social Security Administration, 5107 Leesburg Pike, Suite
1608, Falls Church, VA 22041,
[[Page 62780]]
(703) 605-8500 for information about this notice. For general
information or inquiries about the electronic folder, please write to
the Office of Electronic Services and Systems Integration, 5107
Leesburg Pike, Suite 1509, Falls Church, VA 22041. 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:
Background
On September 12, 2011, we published final rules that require
representatives to conduct business with us electronically at the times
and in the manner we prescribe on matters for which the representative
requests direct fee payment. (76 FR 56107). See 20 CFR 404.1713,
416.1513. At the time, we did not require representatives to use any
specific electronic service. Rather, in the preamble to the final rule,
we stated that, ``[o]nce we determine that we should make a particular
electronic service publicly available because it works well, we will
publish a notice in the Federal Register. The notice will contain the
new requirement(s) and a list of all established electronic service
requirements.'' (76 FR at 56107). Since we published that final rule,
we established two electronic services requirements for representatives
who seek direct payment of their fees.
First, on January 31, 2012 and March 8, 2012, we published notices
requiring representatives requesting direct fee payment to file
requests for reconsideration or requests for a hearing by an
administrative law judge for disability claims electronically through
the internet Appeals (iAppeals) portal. (77 FR 4653 and 77 FR 13968).
Second, on April 18, 2016, we published a notice announcing the
requirement that, for claims with certified electronic folders pending
at the hearing or Appeals Council levels, a representative must access
and obtain a claimant's folder through Appointed Representative
Services (ARS) in all matters for which the representative requests
direct fee payment. (81 FR 22697). We implemented this requirement to:
(1) Improve administrative efficiency by eliminating the time-
consuming task of providing compact disc copies of the electronic
folder to representatives;
(2) Ensure that representatives provide the best possible service
to claimants by using the most up-to-date information in the claims
folder; and
(3) Manage the unprecedented workload pending at the hearings level
and the Appeals Council.
New Requirement
Due to our COVID-19 pandemic protocols, we need to reduce our
manual workloads, which require physical interaction with evidence. We
are requiring appointed representatives who request direct fee payments
to submit all evidence electronically through Electronic Records
Express (ERE), ARS, or iAppeals in claims for Social Security
disability insurance benefits under title II of the Act and claims for
SSI payments based on disability under title XVI of the Act if: (1) The
representative requests direct fee payment on that claim, (2) the claim
or case has an electronic folder, and (3) the claim is pending at OHO
or the Appeals Council.
We are implementing this requirement to ensure that representatives
provide the best possible service to claimants through the use of our
electronic services, and to allow us to effectively manage our
workloads, particularly during the COVID-19 national public health
emergency. We received approximately 14 million pieces of paper medical
evidence and 36 million pieces of electronic medical evidence in fiscal
year 2019. Submitting evidence electronically eliminates the need for
our staff to process that evidence and manually associate it with the
correct claims folder, promotes administrative efficiency, reduces the
amount of paper evidence that requires physical handling and processing
by our employees and contractors, and minimizes errors that may occur
through manual processing. In addition, while we planned to issue this
new requirement prior to the current COVID-19 national public health
emergency, pursuing it now is even more critical because contactless
transmission of evidence allows for maximum telework flexibilities and
limits the need to handle documents manually.
Increasing the use of the electronic submission of evidence
minimizes manual workloads in the administrative review process and
allows us to direct staff resources toward resolution of cases pending,
rather than toward processing paper evidence, which requires in-office
contact with the evidence and proximity to other individuals.
Because this policy offers important benefits beyond reducing the
risk of COVID-19, we plan to retain this requirement even after the
COVID-19 pandemic ends. Specifically, the ability to process evidence
and develop cases electronically allows us to balance our workloads
across the country by assigning the work to a broader network of
available staff and adjudicators. This practice has proven successful
with reducing the hearings backlog since 2016, and will help us carry
out our mission now, while our offices currently maximize telework, and
in the future. For more information about our ongoing plan to manage
our hearings workload, please visit our website (https://www.ssa.gov/appeals/), where we provide information about the ``Compassionate And
Responsive Service'' (CARES) plan for 2016, 2017, and 2018-2019.
The new requirement is subject to the conditions discussed below.
Requiring Electronic Uploads for Representatives Seeking Direct Fee
Payment
In accordance with 20 CFR 404.1713, 416.1513, as of November 4,
2020, representatives are required to use ERE, ARS, or iAppeals, as
available, to submit evidence electronically in claims for disability
insurance benefits under title II of the Act and claims for SSI
payments based on disability under title XVI of the Act, for which: (1)
The representative requests direct fee payment, (2) the claim or case
has an electronic folder, and (3) the claim is pending at OHO or the
Appeals Council.
Although we do not require it, we also strongly encourage
representatives who are not requesting direct payment to submit
evidence electronically through ERE, ARS, or iAppeals.
The requirement that a representative submit evidence
electronically, as described above, constitutes an affirmative duty
under 20 CFR 404.1740(b)(4), 416.1530(b)(4). We may investigate to
determine if representatives have violated this duty or are attempting
to circumvent our rules, including by having claimants whom they
represent submit their own evidence via non-electronic means when this
requirement is applicable to the representative. We may sanction a
representative who does not follow our rules. 20 CFR 404.1740-1795 and
416.1540-1595. However, we will not reject or delay a claimant's
hearing or process a claim differently if a representative fails to
comply with this electronic upload requirement.
We acknowledge there may be a few situations where case
characteristics, our systems, or other limitations preclude a
representative's ability to submit evidence electronically. In these
situations, we will consider the representative's individual
[[Page 62781]]
circumstances when deciding whether to pursue sanctions for failing to
comply with this requirement. Claimants' representatives who are not
eligible for direct payment, and representatives who do not request
direct payment of fees in a case may continue to submit evidence
through non-electronic means such as mailing, faxing, hand delivering,
or sending documents to a contract scanner. However, we strongly
encourage all representatives to submit evidence using the variety of
platforms we outlined in the background of this notice and below.
Additional Information
Additional information is available on our Representing Social
Security Claimants website at http://www.ssa.gov/representation/.
Instructions for requesting access to the electronic folder are
available at https://www.ssa.gov/ar/. Instructions for requesting an
ERE account or submitting evidence through ERE without an account are
available at https://www.ssa.gov/ere/.
Our Electronic Systems
We presently operate three systems through which users are able to
upload evidence electronically: (ERE), (ARS), and iAppeals. A
description of each system follows in the chart below.
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Available at OHO and
Application Purpose Users appeals council levels?
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Electronic Records Express (ERE).. ERE is a free web- Yes.
based tool that allows Representatives.
users to securely upload Other 3rd
evidence directly to a Parties (e.g.
claimant's electronic medical
record, either online or professionals,
by fax, using a barcode contractors)..
specific to that record.
Using this tool
has a number of
advantages including (1)
immediate fax or upload
of evidence; (2) secure
transfer of sensitive and
personally identifiable
information..
Appointed Representative Services ARS permits an Yes.
(ARS). appointed representative Representatives.
to examine an electronic
folder online, download
material from the
electronic folder, and
upload new evidence to
the electronic folder.
iAppeals.......................... The iAppeals Yes.
application accepts both Representatives.
Medical (Disability) & Individuals
Non-Medical (Non- (Claimants)..
Disability) appeals on Other 3rd
Title II and Title XVI Parties..
denied claims or
dismissals.
This process
allows an individual to
file the necessary
application to appeal the
decision and submit
evidence on-line.
Evidence can be
submitted with the
appeal, but subsequent
evidence must be uploaded
via ERE or ARS.
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The Commissioner of the Social Security Administration, Andrew
Saul, having reviewed and approved this document, is delegating the
authority to electronically sign this document to Faye I. Lipsky, who
is the primary Federal Register Liaison for SSA, for purposes of
publication in the Federal Register.
Faye I. Lipsky,
Federal Register Liaison, Office of Legislation and Congressional
Affairs, Social Security Administration.
[FR Doc. 2020-21574 Filed 10-2-20; 8:45 am]
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