[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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