Social Security Administration Field Offices: Reduced Workforce  
Faces Challenges as Baby Boomers Retire (08-MAY-08, GAO-08-737T).
                                                                 
Millions of people rely on the services of Social Security	 
Administration (SSA) field offices. In fiscal year 2007, SSA's	 
approximately 1,300 field offices provided service to about 42	 
million customers. People use these offices to apply for Social  
Security cards, apply for retirement and disability benefits,	 
establish direct deposit, and a host of other services. While	 
customers may conduct their business using SSA's online,	 
telephone, or other service options, many prefer the personalized
contact provided in field offices. Over the last several years,  
staffing reductions have challenged field offices' ability to	 
manage work, while continuing to deliver quality customer	 
service. To assess how field offices are managing these 	 
challenges, GAO was asked to determine (1) the effect that	 
reduced staffing levels may be having on field office operations 
and (2) the challenges that SSA faces in meeting future service  
delivery needs. This statement is drawn from GAO's ongoing study 
on field offices for the committee, which is expected to be	 
issued later this year. To conduct this work, GAO interviewed SSA
officials in headquarters, and other components, and analyzed	 
various data on SSA's workloads and other data. In commenting on 
a draft of this testimony, SSA said that GAO understated the	 
connection between staffing stresses from increased work demands 
and the agency's funding shortfalls.				 
-------------------------Indexing Terms------------------------- 
REPORTNUM:   GAO-08-737T					        
    ACCNO:   A82038						        
  TITLE:     Social Security Administration Field Offices: Reduced    
Workforce Faces Challenges as Baby Boomers Retire		 
     DATE:   05/08/2008 
  SUBJECT:   Baby boomers					 
	     Beneficiaries					 
	     Claims processing					 
	     Customer service					 
	     Disability benefits				 
	     Eligibility determinations 			 
	     Employee retention 				 
	     Erroneous payments 				 
	     Federal employees					 
	     Federal facilities 				 
	     Federal social security programs			 
	     Human capital management				 
	     Human capital planning				 
	     Human capital policies				 
	     Labor force					 
	     Program evaluation 				 
	     Program management 				 
	     Retirement 					 
	     Retirement age					 
	     Retirement benefits				 
	     Social security benefits				 
	     Staff utilization					 
	     Strategic planning 				 
	     Supplemental security income			 
	     Program goals or objectives			 
	     Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Program		 
	     Social Security Disability Insurance		 
	     Program						 
                                                                 
	     SSA Supplemental Security Income			 
	     Program						 
                                                                 

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GAO-08-737T

   

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Testimony: 

Before the Committee on Finance, U.S. Senate: 

United States Government Accountability Office: 
GAO: 

For Release on Delivery: 
Expected at 10:00 a.m. EDT:
Thursday, May 8, 2008: 

Social Security Administration Field Offices: 

Reduced Workforce Faces Challenges as Baby Boomers Retire: 

Statement of Barbara D. Bovbjerg, Director Education, Workforce, and 
Income Security Issues: 

GAO-08-737T: 

GAO Highlights: 

Highlights of GAO-08-737T, a testimony before the Committee on Finance, 
U.S. Senate. 

Why GAO Did This Study: 

Millions of people rely on the services of Social Security 
Administration (SSA) field offices. In fiscal year 2007, SSAï¿½s 
approximately 1,300 field offices provided service to about 42 million 
customers. People use these offices to apply for Social Security cards, 
apply for retirement and disability benefits, establish direct deposit, 
and a host of other services. While customers may conduct their 
business using SSAï¿½s online, telephone, or other service options, many 
prefer the personalized contact provided in field offices. 

Over the last several years, staffing reductions have challenged field 
officesï¿½ ability to manage work, while continuing to deliver quality 
customer service. To assess how field offices are managing these 
challenges, GAO was asked to determine (1) the effect that reduced 
staffing levels may be having on field office operations and (2) the 
challenges that SSA faces in meeting future service delivery needs. 

This statement is drawn from GAOï¿½s ongoing study on field offices for 
the committee, which is expected to be issued later this year. To 
conduct this work, GAO interviewed SSA officials in headquarters, and 
other components, and analyzed various data on SSAï¿½s workloads and 
other data. In commenting on a draft of this testimony, SSA said that 
GAO understated the connection between staffing stresses from increased 
work demands and the agencyï¿½s funding shortfalls. 

What GAO Found: 

SSA field offices largely met work demands between fiscal years 2005 
and 2007 despite operating with fewer staff and an increased demand for 
services, but staffing reductions may have had some adverse effects. 
Field offices were able to minimize the impact of staffing reductions 
on work because staff productivity increased by 4.9 percent. SSA and 
its field offices used various strategies to manage its work with fewer 
staff. Field offices shared work among offices and redirected staff to 
meet critical needs. SSA also encouraged customers to make greater use 
of Internet and other electronic services. Additionally, SSA deferred 
work that it deemed a relatively low priority, such as conducting 
reviews of beneficiariesï¿½ continuing eligibility. Deferring these 
reviews, means that beneficiaries who no longer qualify for benefits 
may still receive paymentsï¿½which may decrease SSAï¿½s chances of 
recovering the erroneous payments. Despite SSA efforts to manage the 
staffing reductions, customers experienced longer waiting times and 
more unanswered calls to field offices, according to SSA data. Also, 
staff reported experiencing high stress levels and insufficient time 
for training. 

Table: Comparison of Field Office Staffing and Work Completed, Fiscal 
Year 2005-2007: 

Fiscal year: 2005; 
Number of field office employees: 28,790; 
Field office work (in work units)[A]: 37.1 million; 
Work units completed per Employee: 1,289. 

Fiscal year: 2006; 
Number of field office employees: 27,383; 
Field office work (in work units)[A]: 37.0 million; 
Work units completed per Employee: 1,350. 

Fiscal year: 2007; 
Number of field office employees: 26,743; 
Field office work (in work units)[A]: 36.2 million; 
Work units completed per Employee: 1,352. 

Percent change, 2005 to 2007: 
Number of field office employees: -7.1%; 
Field office work (in work units)[A]: -2.5%; 
Work units completed per Employee: +4.9%. 

Source: GAO analysis of SSA data. 

[A] SSA measures the amount of work produced by multiplying the volume 
of actions completed by the amount of time required to complete each 
type of action. The result is what SSA terms ï¿½work units.ï¿½ Because some 
types of actions take longer than others to complete, SSA views work 
units as a more precise measure than a simple count of the number of 
actions completed. 

[End of table] 

Growth in claims from the nationï¿½s baby boomers and a retirement wave 
of its most experienced staff may pose serious challenges for SSA if 
the agency does not have a clear plan. The first wave of approximately 
80 million baby boomers is reaching the age of retirement eligibility, 
and SSA estimates that retirement and disability filings will increase 
the agencyï¿½s work by approximately 1 million annual claims by 2017. To 
further compound this challenge, SSA projects that 44 percent of its 
workforce will retire by 2016. Because retirements will occur among the 
agencyï¿½s most experienced staff, this will have a serious impact on 
field officesï¿½ institutional knowledge. SSA is planning on hiring an 
additional 2,350 new employees this fiscal year for regional and field 
office operations, almost all of whom will go to the field offices. 
Agency officials stated, however, that it typically takes 2 to 3 years 
for staff to gain the experience they need to function independently. 
SSA is using various strategies to recruit new employees to fill 
knowledge gaps. SSA is finalizing its Annual Strategic Plan which will 
describe the agencyï¿½s strategies for addressing these issues. 

To view the full product, including the scope and methodology, click on 
[hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-737T]. For more 
information, contact Barbara Bovbjerg at 202-512-7215 or 
[email protected]. 

[End of section] 

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee: 

I am pleased to be here today to discuss the state of Social Security 
Administration (SSA) field office services. SSA's approximately 1,300 
field offices are a vital component of SSA's operations, serving 
approximately 42 million customers in fiscal year 2007. Employing 
slightly less than half of the agency's 64,000 employees, field offices 
serve as SSA's primary points for face-to-face contact with the public. 
People visit their local field offices to apply for Social Security 
cards and for Social Security benefits, to request replacement benefit 
checks, and for a host of other services. SSA has served the public for 
over 70 years. Recent staffing reductions are increasingly challenging 
field offices' ability to meet the demand for services. My remarks 
today will address (1) the effect that staffing reductions may be 
having on field office operations and (2) the challenges SSA faces in 
meeting field service delivery needs in the future. 

My written statement is based on our ongoing work for this committee, 
and we will provide you a full report later this year. To conduct our 
work, we interviewed SSA headquarters officials responsible for 
operations, budget, and strategic and human capital planning and 
obtained relevant documentation. We interviewed managers and staff in 
21 field offices and two Social Security Card Centers to gain their 
perspectives on the effect of staffing reductions. We selected a wide 
variety of the field offices based on the size of the populations they 
served, their geographic location, the number of staff, and customer 
wait times. Table 7 lists the field offices we visited and their 
beneficiary populations. To gain further perspectives on the effect of 
field office staffing reductions, we interviewed officials in two SSA 
regional offices and three area offices. To assess field office waiting 
times, SSA provided us summary data. As we are currently in the process 
of completing our work, we have not yet validated SSA's waiting time 
data. Our work is being conducted in accordance with generally accepted 
government auditing standards. Those standards require that we plan and 
perform the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide 
a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit 
objectives. 

In summary, SSA field offices largely met work demands despite 
operating with fewer staff and an increased demand for services, but 
the lower staffing levels may have contributed to adverse effects. 
Field offices were able to minimize the impact of staffing reductions 
on work because staff productivity increased by 4.9 percent. SSA and 
its field offices used various strategies to manage its work with fewer 
staff. Field offices shared work among offices and redirected staff 
from their usual responsibilities to meet critical needs. SSA also 
encouraged customers to make greater use of Internet and other 
electronic services to conduct their business. Additionally, SSA 
deferred work that it deemed a relatively low priority, such as 
conducting reviews of beneficiaries' continuing eligibility. Deferring 
these reviews, however, means that beneficiaries who no longer qualify 
for benefits may still receive payments--which may decrease SSA's 
chances of recovering the erroneous payments. Despite SSA efforts to 
manage the staffing reductions, customers are experiencing longer 
waiting times and poor telephone service, according to SSA data. 
Between fiscal years 2002 and 2006, SSA reported that the average 
waiting time for field office service increased by 40 percent from 
about 15 minutes to 21 minutes, and in fiscal year 2007, more than 3 
million customers waited for over 1 hour to be served. Further, SSA's 
2007 Field Office Caller Survey found that 51 percent of customer calls 
to field offices went unanswered. These factors may have contributed to 
a 4 percent drop in SSA's overall customer satisfaction rating from 
fiscal year 2005 to 2007. In addition, staff reported high levels of 
stress and a lack of time for training. 

As the oldest of the nation's approximately 80 million baby boomers are 
now reaching the age of retirement eligibility, increases in retirement 
and disability filings and a significant retirement wave of SSA's most 
experienced staff may pose difficult challenges for SSA to meet future 
service delivery needs without a clear plan for addressing them. SSA 
estimates that retirement and disability filings will increase the 
agency's work by about 1 million annual claims by 2017. Further, SSA 
will experience an agencywide retirement wave in the coming years, and 
projects that 44 percent of its staff will retire by 2016. The retiring 
employees will be among the agency's most experienced who account for 
decades of institutional knowledge. However, with an increase in its 
fiscal year 2008 funding, SSA is planning to hire an additional 2,350 
staff in its regional and field offices this fiscal year, almost all of 
whom will go to field offices. Agency officials stated, however, that 
it typically takes 2 to 3 years for staff to gain the experience they 
need to function independently. SSA is using various strategies to 
recruit new staff, including programs to hire and retain older workers 
to fill knowledge gaps. SSA is currently working to finalize its Annual 
Strategic Plan that is expected to describe the strategies for 
addressing these challenges. 

Background: 

Almost all Americans have sought the services of SSA at some point in 
their lives, and for many, their first experience is applying for a 
Social Security number (SSN).[Footnote 1] SSA offers a range of 
services, which includes providing financial assistance to eligible 
individuals through the following three major benefit programs: 

* Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) provides benefits to retired 
workers and their families and to survivors of deceased workers; 

* Disability Insurance (DI) provides benefits to eligible workers who 
have qualifying disabilities, and their eligible family members; and: 

* Supplemental Security Income (SSI) provides income for aged, blind, 
or disabled individuals with limited income and resources. 

In fiscal year 2007, these three benefit programs provided a combined 
total of approximately $613 billion to about 54 million beneficiaries. 
SSA projects that the benefit payments and number of beneficiaries for 
the three programs will increase in fiscal years 2008 and 2009 (see 
tables 1 and 2). 

Table 1: Federal Benefit Outlays for OASI, DI, and SSI Programs, Fiscal 
Years 2007 to 2009 (Dollars in billions)[A]: 

Program: OASI; 
Fiscal year 2007 (actual): $479.7; 
Fiscal year 2008 (estimate): $502.5; 
Fiscal year 2009 (estimate): $530.6. 

Program: DI; 
Fiscal year 2007 (actual): $97.0; 
Fiscal year 2008 (estimate): $102.9; 
Fiscal year 2009 (estimate): $109.5. 

Program: SSI; 
Fiscal year 2007 (actual): $36.0; 
Fiscal year 2008 (estimate): $41.2; 
Fiscal year 2009 (estimate): $43.2. 

Program: Total Outlays; 
Fiscal year 2007 (actual): $612.7; 
Fiscal year 2008 (estimate): $646.6; 
Fiscal year 2009 (estimate): $683.4. 

Source: GAO analysis of SSA data. 

[A] Totals may not add due to rounding. 

[End of table] 

Table 2: Average Number of Beneficiaries for OASI, DI, and SSI Programs 
in Payment Status, Fiscal Years 2007 to 2009 (number in millions)[A]: 

Program: OASI; 
Fiscal Year 2007 (Actual): 40.7; 
Fiscal Year 2008 (Estimate): 41.2; 
Fiscal Year 2009 (Estimate): 42.0. 

Program: DI; 
Fiscal Year 2007 (Actual): 8.7; 
Fiscal Year 2008 (Estimate): 9.0; 
Fiscal Year 2009 (Estimate): 9.3. 

Program: SSI; 
Fiscal Year 2007 (Actual): 7.0; 
Fiscal Year 2008 (Estimate): 7.2; 
Fiscal Year 2009 (Estimate): 7.3. 

Program: Concurrent recipients[B]; 
Fiscal Year 2007 (Actual): (2.6); 
Fiscal Year 2008 (Estimate): (2.6); 
Fiscal Year 2009 (Estimate): (2.7). 

Total beneficiaries: 
Fiscal Year 2007 (Actual): 53.8; 
Fiscal Year 2008 (Estimate): 54.7; 
Fiscal Year 2009 (Estimate): 56.0. 

Source: GAO analysis of SSA data. 

[A] Totals may not add due to rounding. 

[B] Recipients receiving benefits from the OASI and SSI or DI and SSI 
programs. 

[End of table] 

Besides paying benefits through these three programs, SSA issues Social 
Security cards, maintains earnings records, and performs various other 
functions through a network of field office and headquarters operations 
using an administrative budget of over $10 billion. SSA's field 
operations consist of: 

* field offices, which serve as the agency's primary points for face- 
to-face contact, perform a full range of services, including making 
eligibility determinations for Social Security benefits; 

* Social Security Card Centers, which issue SSNs; 

* Teleservice Centers, which offer national toll-free telephone 
service; and: 

* Program Service Centers, which make entitlement decisions for 
benefits, as well as assist in answering toll-free calls. 

Table 3 shows the type of work that is performed by various SSA field 
components. 

Table 3: Type of Work Conducted by Various SSA Field Components: 

Type of work: Claims for OASI, DI, and SSI benefits; 
Function: Takes applications for benefits, evaluates evidence, and 
makes determinations of eligibility and benefit amounts. Makes 
nonmedical eligibility determinations for DI and SSI, but does not 
determine if individuals are medically eligible for disability 
payments; 
Field entities involved in this work: Field offices Teleservice Centers 
Program Service Centers. 

Type of work: Program Integrity; 
Function: Conducts continuing nonmedical eligibility reviews to ensure 
payment accuracy; 
Field entities involved in this work: Field offices (nonmedical 
eligibility reviews). 

Type of work: SSNs; 
Function: Takes applications for and issues SSNs after determining the 
validity of required evidence. Also, updates records of people who have 
been issued SSNs to keep them current and accurate; 
Field entities involved in this work: Field offices Social Security 
Card Centers. 

Type of work: Earnings records; 
Function: Posts updates to workers' records. Links the earnings records 
to SSNs and, when no match can be found, tracks the reported earnings 
and attempts to resolve the discrepancy; 
Field entities involved in this work: Field offices Program Service 
Centers. 

Type of work: Employment eligibility verification (E-Verify); 
Function: Assists employers in verifying the name/SSN/citizenship/work 
authorization of new hires, and assists workers in resolving 
discrepancies between SSA and Department of Homeland Security data; 
Field entities involved in this work: Field offices. 

Type of work: Medicare program assistance; 
Function: Takes applications and determines eligibility for the 
Medicare program and processes applications for replacement Medicare 
cards. Also, makes eligibility determinations and redeterminations for 
the prescription assistance subsidy offered under the Medicare 
Prescription Drug Program, among other Medicare work; 
Field entities involved in this work: Field offices. 

Source: GAO analysis of SSA information. 

[End of table] 

Field offices, which served approximately 42 million customers in 
fiscal year 2007, are a vital component for delivering SSA services to 
the public. Field offices are located in communities across the United 
States, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and Guam, and deliver services 
through face-to-face contact, over the phone, and through the mail. 
Field offices range in size from large urban offices with 50 or more 
employees to very small offices in remote areas called resident 
stations. In August 2007, there were approximately 1,271 field offices 
and 37 resident stations. Resident stations have more limited services 
and are staffed by one or two individuals in their homes or in a 
separate office (other than an SSA field office). Field offices also 
offer services to the public through about 1,200 contact stations. 
These stations provide very limited functions and are staffed with one 
SSA field office employee who travels to certain locations, such as a 
hospital, once a month. Additionally, SSA has begun using video 
conferencing to take claims and provide other services to customers in 
remote locations in North Dakota, Wyoming, and South Dakota. SSA is 
planning to expand the video network to provide additional sites and 
services. 

While SSA field offices take applications and determine if claimants 
meet basic, nonmedical eligibility requirements for DI and SSI 
disability claims, state Disability Determination Services (DDS) that 
are under contract with SSA make medical eligibility determinations for 
these claims. SSA's Hearing Offices and Appeals Council make decisions 
on appeals of these determinations. Appendix II describes the functions 
of each of these entities in the medical disability determination 
process for DI and SSI claims. DDSs also conduct continuing disability 
reviews for DI and SSI beneficiaries to ensure that they are still 
medically eligible for payments. 

In addition to field offices, SSA offers customers a variety of other 
options for conducting their business. Individuals may call SSA's toll- 
free helpline to file for benefits or to obtain general information. 
They may also use the Internet to file for benefits or visit a Social 
Security Card Center to request a Social Security card. Figure 1 shows 
the various options by which customers may conduct their business with 
SSA. 

Figure 1: SSA Service Delivery Options: 

[See PDF for image] 

This figure is an illustration of SSA service delivery options, as 
follows: 

Field offices: 
* Visit an SSA field office to conduct face-to-face business with a 
staff person. Range of services include: 
- applying for Social Security benefits; 
- requesting change of address; 
- requesting change in direct deposit; 
- requesting Social Security card; 
* Call or mail in documents; 
* Self-help services available for requesting change of address and 
benefit verification letters. 

Teleservice Centers: Toll-free telephone services: 
* Apply for retirement benefits; 
* Obtain answers to general questions; 
* Perform other actions. 

Internet: 
* Apply for retirement, disability, or spousal benefits; 
* Change address; 
* Change direct deposit; 
* Obtain Medicare replacement cards; 
* Perform other actions. 

Social Security Card Centers: 
* Visit a card center to request Social Security cards. 

Source: GAO analysis of SSA data. 

[End of figure] 

Field Offices Largely Met Work Demands with Fewer Staff, but Staffing 
Reductions May Have Contributed to Some Adverse Effects: 

Despite operating with fewer staff from fiscal year 2005 to 2007 and an 
increased demand for services, field offices largely met work demands; 
however, staffing reductions may have contributed to some adverse 
effects. SSA and its field offices used various strategies to manage 
work demands, such as sharing work among offices, redirecting staff to 
serve critical needs outside of their usual responsibilities, 
encouraging customer use of the internet and telephone services, and 
deferring certain work. Despite these efforts, many field office 
managers and staff stated that they cannot keep up with their work. 
Reduced field office staffing may have contributed to customers waiting 
longer to be served, and customer calls to field offices are not always 
being answered. These factors may have contributed to a 4 percent drop 
in SSA's customer satisfaction rating between fiscal years 2005 and 
2007. In addition, staff are experiencing high stress levels, lacking 
sufficient time for training, and facing other adverse effects 
according to field office managers and staff. 

Increased Staff Productivity Helped Minimize Potential Impact of 
Staffing Decline: 

Despite a 7.1 percent staffing decline during fiscal years 2005 to 
2007, the amount of work that field offices produced decreased by only 
2.5 percent.[Footnote 2] As a result, the average amount of work 
produced by field office staff increased by 4.9 percent between fiscal 
years 2005 and 2007 (see table 4). The field office staffing reduction 
comprised nearly 60 percent of SSA's overall reduction (from 65,112 to 
61,594 between fiscal years 2005 and 2007). 

Table 4: Comparison of Field Office Staffing and Work Completed, Fiscal 
Year 2005 to 2007: 

Fiscal Year: 2005; 
Number of field office employees: 28,790; 
Field office work (in work units): 37.1 million; 
Work units completed per employee: 1,289. 

Fiscal Year: 2006; 
Number of field office employees: 27,383; 
Field office work (in work units): 37.0 million; 
Work units completed per employee: 1,350. 

Fiscal Year: 2007; 
Number of field office employees: 26,743; 
Field office work (in work units): 36.2 million; 
Work units completed per employee: 1,352. 

Fiscal Year: Percent change, 2005 to 2007; 
Number of field office employees: -7.1%; 
Field office work (in work units): -2.5%; 
Work units completed per employee: +4.9%. 

Source: GAO analysis of SSA data. 

[End of table] 

SSA officials attribute the staffing reductions to inadequate 
appropriations and are concerned about growth in work required for 
other federal agencies. Table 5 shows the Commissioner's and the 
President's budget requests and SSA's final appropriations for fiscal 
years 2002 to 2008. The table also shows the recent staffing decline. 
The table does note that SSA received a $500 million budget increase in 
2005 to manage the implementation of the Medicare Prescription Drug 
program and hire associated staff. In addition, other work that SSA 
conducts on behalf of other federal agencies has grown. For example, 
new state laws requiring federal government verification of work 
authorization are resulting in additional work and field office visits 
associated with the Department of Homeland Security's E-Verify program. 

Table 5: Social Security Administration's Limitation on Administrative 
Budget Account for Fiscal Years 2002 to 2008 (Dollars in millions): 

Fiscal year: 2002; 
Commissioner's request: $7,982; 
President's budget request: $7,574; 
Final appropriation: $7,570; 
End of year SSA staff total: 63,611. 

Fiscal year: 2003; 
Commissioner's request: $7,974; 
President's budget request: $7,937; 
Final appropriation: $7,885; 
End of year SSA staff total: 65,191. 

Fiscal year: 2004; 
Commissioner's request: $8,895; 
President's budget request: $8,530; 
Final appropriation: $8,313; 
End of year SSA staff total: 64,184. 

Fiscal year: 2005; 
Commissioner's request: $9,310; 
President's budget request: $8,878; 
Final appropriation: $8,733[ A]; 
End of year SSA staff total: 65,122[A]. 

Fiscal year: 2006; 
Commissioner's request: $10,106; 
President's budget request: $9,403; 
Final appropriation: $9,109; 
End of year SSA staff total: 63,054. 

Fiscal year: 2007; 
Commissioner's request: $10,250; 
President's budget request: $9,496; 
Final appropriation: $9,298; 
End of year SSA staff total: 61,594. 

Fiscal year: 2008; 
Commissioner's request: $10,440; 
President's budget request: $9,597; 
Final appropriation: $9,745[B]; 
End of year SSA staff total: N/A. 

Source: GAO analysis of SSA data. 

Note: SSA's Limitation on Administrative Expenses appropriation 
provides SSA with funding to administer the OASI, DI, and SSI programs, 
and to assist the agency in performing activities in support of the 
Medicare program. The appropriation provides a limitation on the 
amounts that may be expended, in total from the OASI, DI, SSI and 
Medicare programs, to meet the administrative expenses of the agency: 

[A] SSA's final appropriation for fiscal year 2005 includes a $500 
million appropriation for administrative start-up costs to implement 
the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act 
(MMA). The MMA created an outpatient prescription drug benefit that 
enables Medicare beneficiaries to enroll in competing private drug 
coverage plans, and offers a prescription assistance subsidy for 
certain low-income Medicare beneficiaries. 

[B] The appropriation amount shown is the enacted amount. 

[End of table] 

Despite the staffing reductions, field offices served are serving a 
growing volume of visitors. Comparing the first 3 months of calendar 
years 2006 to 2008, visitor volume increased by almost 450,000 (about 4 
percent). SSA field managers and staff told us that they also expect 
visitor volume to increase with the retirement of the baby boomers. As 
figure 2 shows, from fiscal years 2005 to 2007, SSA processed more OASI 
claims; post-entitlement[Footnote 3] actions (other than for continuing 
eligibility reviews); enumerations; and Medicare actions. [Footnote 4] 
During the same time period, SSA processed fewer DI and SSI claims 
(nonmedical determinations only); continuing disability reviews; and 
SSI redeterminations. SSA attributes the high volume of post- 
entitlement actions to the growth in beneficiary populations. 

Figure 2: Field Office Work Units Completed by Major Work Category, 
Fiscal Years 2005 to 2007: 

[See PDF for image] 

This figure is a vertical bar graph depicting the following 
information: 

Work category: OASI; 
Number of work units, FY 2005: 5,114,152; 
Number of work units, FY 2006: 5,075,072; 
Number of work units, FY 2007: 5,280,622. 

Work category: Disability; 
Number of work units, FY 2005: 6,569,912; 
Number of work units, FY 2006: 6,410,572
Number of work units, FY 2007: 6,038,162. 

Work category: SSI; 
Number of work units, FY 2005: 6,028,942; 
Number of work units, FY 2006: 6,139,682; 
Number of work units, FY 2007: 5,612,662. 

Work category: Post-entitlement actions; 
Number of work units, FY 2005: 9,757,340; 
Number of work units, FY 2006: 10,417,000; 
Number of work units, FY 2007: 10,991,900. 

Work category: Continuing disability reviews and redeterminations; 
Number of work units, FY 2005: 5,245,112; 
Number of work units, FY 2006: 3,594,350; 
Number of work units, FY 2007: 3,319,440. 

Work category: Enumeration; 
Number of work units, FY 2005: 3,351,980; 
Number of work units, FY 2006: 3,455,840; 
Number of work units, FY 2007: 3,629,040. 

Work category: Medicare; 
Number of work units, FY 2005: 619,466; 
Number of work units, FY 2006: 1,475,030; 
Number of work units, FY 2007: 967,836. 

Work category: Other; 
Number of work units, FY 2005: 411,204; 
Number of work units, FY 2006: 412,281; 
Number of work units, FY 2007: 321,621. 

[A] Other work includes resolving discrepancies in workers' earnings 
statements, updating information for student benefits, and replacing 
lost checks. 

Source: GAO analysis of SSA data. 

[End of figure] 

SSA Used Various Strategies to Manage Staffing Declines: 

SSA is shifting work among field offices based on their workloads in an 
effort to increase overall efficiency. If a field office has work 
demands that it cannot immediately cover, that office can request that 
some work be transferred to another office. Offices that have a 
particular expertise in a certain type of work make themselves 
available, as they can process it more quickly. Field managers told us, 
however, that sometimes they are reluctant to share work because the 
office that receives and processes the work receives numerical credit, 
which helps an office justify a greater staff level for the future. 

Managers are also using claims processing personnel to fill in as 
necessary to perform the duties typically done by lower-graded 
employees, and in some cases, even office managers take on the duties 
of their employees. Such duties include answering the telephone, 
providing initial services to arriving customers, processing requests 
for new or replacement Social Security cards, and conducting some 
administrative duties. While all field office personnel recognize the 
need to serve visitors, many also told us that such work is taking away 
from time spent processing claims and managing the office. 

SSA is encouraging customers to use automated services to help field 
offices accomplish their work. However, many field staff said that real 
gains in the use of automated services will only likely be achieved by 
future generations of customers. SSA's vision for its "eService" 
program is that the public, businesses, and government agencies will be 
able to conduct all business through secure, electronic channels-- 
thereby increasing the efficiency with which the agency can serve the 
public. SSA reported that in 2007 the public performed 2.9 million 
electronic transactions, such as applying for disability benefits or 
requesting a change of address. SSA's electronic services are available 
to the public over the Internet and by telephone, using the voice 
recognition capabilities of SSA's toll-free number. While field office 
staff and managers welcome automated tools that the public can use, 
some added that relatively few customers use them, and that due to 
erroneous or missing information in online forms, field staff can lose 
time having to contact the customers for clarification or more 
information. While they believe that automated tools should continue to 
be developed, many managers and staff told us that these tools are not 
a sufficient to compensate for reduced staffing levels. 

Finally, with fewer staff available, SSA focused on field office work 
it considered essential to its "core workloads," such as processing new 
claims for Social Security benefits and issuing Social Security cards, 
but deferred other types of work. Field office managers and staff told 
us that certain post entitlement actions are typically delayed or 
deferred, when an office is under stress, including changes of address, 
changes to direct deposit information, and reviews to determine 
beneficiaries' continuing eligibility for DI and SSI benefits. Reviews 
of continuing eligibility, however, are key activities in ensuring 
payment accuracy. SSA estimates that continuing disability reviews 
yield a lifetime program savings of $10 for every dollar invested, and 
SSI redeterminations yield a lifetime program savings of $7 for every 
dollar invested. 

In recent years, SSA has not been able to conduct as many reviews as it 
had planned, citing budget limitations and an increase in core work 
(see fig. 3). When reviews of benefits are delayed, some beneficiaries 
may continue to receive benefits when they no longer qualify. While 
delays in these reviews relieve work pressure, some field managers and 
staff told us that such delays cause future challenges when staff 
attempt to obtain necessary documentation over multiple years, and 
overpayments accrue to the point that beneficiaries have difficulty 
repaying benefits for which they were not eligible. 

Figure 3: Number of SSI Redeterminations and Continuing Disability 
Reviews Completed, Fiscal Years 2002 to 2007 and Projected Fiscal Years 
2008 to 2009: 

[See PDF for image] 

This figure is a vertical bar graph depicting the following data: 

Fiscal year: 2002; 
SSI Nondisability redeterminations: 2,311,500; 
Continuing disability reviews: 1,586.090. 

Fiscal year: 2003; 
SSI Nondisability redeterminations: 2,449,670; 
Continuing disability reviews: 1,371,260. 

Fiscal year: 2004; 
SSI Nondisability redeterminations: 2,278,570; 
Continuing disability reviews: 1,604,680. 

Fiscal year: 2005; 
SSI Nondisability redeterminations: 1,724,880; 
Continuing disability reviews: 1,515,480. 

Fiscal year: 2006; 
SSI Nondisability redeterminations: 1,070,820; 
Continuing disability reviews: 1,337,640. 

Fiscal year: 2007; 
SSI Nondisability redeterminations: 1,038,950; 
Continuing disability reviews: 764,852. 

Fiscal year: 2008; 
SSI Nondisability redeterminations: 1,200,000; 
Continuing disability reviews: 1,065,000. 

Fiscal year: 2009; 
SSI Nondisability redeterminations: 1,486,000; 
Continuing disability reviews: 1,149,000. 

Source: GAO analysis of SSA data. 

[End of figure] 

Despite SSA's efforts to manage work with reduced staff, managers 
responding to a survey conducted in February and March 2007 by the 
National Council of Social Security Management Associations 
(NCSSMA)[Footnote 5] stated that many of them are finding it 
increasingly difficult to keep up with the work. On average, the 
managers responding to the survey estimated that they would need a 
staffing increase of 16.7 percent to provide adequate public service. 
In the offices we visited, most of the managers also told us that they 
did not have an adequate number of staff. 

Staffing Reductions May Have Contributed to a Buildup of Certain Work, 
Longer Customer Waiting Times, More Unanswered Customer Calls, and 
Other Adverse Effects: 

According to SSA officials, staffing imbalances resulted in a buildup 
of 1,000 workyears, for work that SSA was not able to complete[Footnote 
6] by the end of fiscal year 2007. SSA projects that the buildup will 
grow to 4,800 workyears by the end of fiscal year 2009; however, 
officials said that they are re-evaluating this figure in light of 
increases in productivity and overtime. Staff reductions may have also 
led to longer customer waiting times. Between fiscal years 2002 and 
2006, the average waiting time to first contact for all customers 
increased by 40 percent from 15 to 21 minutes (see fig. 4). Nationally, 
8 percent of customers--about 3 million people--waited more than 1 
hour, which included 420,000 customers who waited more than 2 hours for 
service in fiscal year 2007 (see table 6). We also found significant 
variation in waiting times among field offices for customers without 
appointments. For example, for customers without appointments, more 
than 300 offices had average waiting times of less than 10 minutes, 
while 23 offices had average waiting times that exceeded 1 hour in 
fiscal year 2007. Further, customers without appointments during that 
period waited more than 1 hour on average at four of the offices we 
visited. In contrast, customers at the office in Devils Lake, North 
Dakota, waited on average for less than 1 minute (see table 9). We 
found that customers with appointments waited significantly less time 
than those without appointments. For example, SSA reported that 1,214 
offices had waiting times of less than 10 minutes for customers with 
appointments, while only two had waiting times of more than 1 hour. 

Figure 4: SSA Average National Waiting Times, Fiscal Years 1994 to 
2006: 

[See PDF for image] 

This figure is a line graph depicting the following data: 

Year: 1994; 
Waiting time (in minutes): 13.3. 

Year: 1995; 
Waiting time (in minutes): 12.7. 

Year: 1996; 
Waiting time (in minutes): 12.5. 

Year: 1997; 
Waiting time (in minutes): 11.4. 

Year: 1998; 
Waiting time (in minutes): 12.5. 

Year: 1999; 
Waiting time (in minutes): 12.9. 

Year: 2000; 
Waiting time (in minutes): 14.3. 

Year: 2001; 
Waiting time (in minutes): 15.2. 

Year: 2002; 
Waiting time (in minutes): 15.2. 

Year: 2003; 
Waiting time (in minutes): 15.6. 

Year: 2004; 
Waiting time (in minutes): 17.4. 

Year: 2005; 
Waiting time (in minutes): 19.5. 

Year: 2006; 
Waiting time (in minutes): 21.2. 

Note: Fiscal year 2006 data is from October 2005 to June 2006. 

Source: GAO analysis of SSA data. 

[End of figure] 

Table 6: Fiscal Year 2007 Waiting Times: 

Waiting times (in minutes): 0-60; 
Number of customers: 33,739,090; 
Percentage of total: 91.7%. 

Waiting times (in minutes): 61-120; 
Number of customers: 2,616,920; 
Percentage of total: 7.1. 

Waiting times (in minutes): More than 120; 
Number of customers: 420,245; 
Percentage of total: 1.1. 

Source: GAO analysis of SSA data. 

[End of table] 

Insufficient staffing may have also been a factor in poor office phone 
coverage and other adverse effects on customer service. SSA's 2006 
Field Office Caller Survey found that 51 percent of customer calls to 
48 randomly selected field offices went unanswered. Because SSA based 
its results only on customers who were ultimately able to get through 
to the field offices, the actual percentage of calls that went 
unanswered may have been higher.[Footnote 7] In addition, staff at 13 
of the 21 offices we visited characterized their phone service as 
inadequate, while 2 of these offices did not answer their offices' 
phones at all. Employees we interviewed also cited inadequate telephone 
service as a common customer complaint at 15 offices. In 2007, 
officials told us they initiated a pilot program called "Forward on 
Busy" in 25 field offices to address these deficiencies. Under the 
pilot, calls receiving a busy signal at field offices are automatically 
forwarded to a Teleservice Center. SSA plans to expand the pilot to a 
total of 100 field offices. In addition to poor phone service, staff at 
some of the offices we visited indicated that they now have less time 
to spend with customers. This limited time potentially could lead to 
mistakes and limit the ability of staff to ensure that customers fully 
understand their options and benefits. These factors may have 
contributed to a 4 percent drop in SSA's customer satisfaction rating 
between fiscal years 2005 and 2007. 

SSA has not established performance standards for customer waiting 
times and field office telephone service, nor does the agency measure 
customer service at individual field offices. Without such standards 
and measures, SSA has no systematic way of evaluating field office 
performance, or identifying offices that need improvement. While SSA 
provides field offices with customer comment cards, at 10 of the 21 
offices we visited, officials told us they did not use them, and where 
the cards were available, the results were not always systematically 
tabulated. 

Work demands and staffing reductions have increased the pressure placed 
on the field office staff, resulting in higher stress and lower morale, 
according to field office staff. We asked 153 SSA employees at the 21 
offices we visited to rate the stress that they experienced in 
attempting to complete their work in a timely manner, and 65 percent of 
those surveyed reported feeling stress to a "great" or "very great" 
extent on a daily basis. The stress of expanding workloads and staffing 
constraints was felt most acutely by the office managers, 74 percent of 
whom described high levels of stress. At many offices, staff indicated 
that mounting workload pressures have led to cutbacks in the amount of 
time allocated for training and mentoring new staff. In addition, 
managers and staff told us that they often do not have time to take 
their breaks, including lunch. Some staff told us they feel they are 
letting down their colleagues and feel guilty about taking time off, 
regardless of whether they use credit hours or annual leave. While 
these responses may not be indicative of the opinions of the overall 
field office workforce, they do suggest that increasing demands placed 
on SSA staff may be diminishing their job satisfaction, potentially 
with long-term implications for employee retention. SSA officials 
acknowledged that growing workloads have seriously compromised agency 
morale and that they have tried to ease the stress on staff by 
authorizing the use of overtime. 

Growth in Work Demands and an Employee Retirement Wave May Pose Serious 
Challenges for Service Delivery in the Future without a Clear Plan: 

Retirement and disability filings by the nation's approximately 80 
million baby boomers are projected to significantly increase SSA's 
workload, providing additional stress on the field office workforce. 
SSA estimates a 13 percent rise in claims filed among its three major 
claims types over the next 10 years, rising from 9.4 million in fiscal 
year 2008 to 10.7 million in fiscal year 2017 (see fig. 5). 

Figure 5: Projected Growth in Field Office ASI, DI, and SSI Claims, 
Fiscal Years 2008 to 2017: 

[See PDF for image] 

This figure is a stacked vertical bar graph depicting the following 
data: 

Fiscal year: 2008; 
OASI: 4,064,701
DI: 2,730,400; 
SSI: 2,627,000
Total: 9,422,101. 

Fiscal year: 2009; 
OASI: 4,284,100; 
DI: 2,752,700; 
SSI: 2,621,200
Total: 9,658,000. 

Fiscal year: 2010; 
OASI: 4,380,400; 
DI: 2,871,700; 
SSI: 2,631,800; 
Total: 9,883,900. 

Fiscal year: 2011; 
OASI: 4,390,200; 
DI: 2,780,300; 
SSI: 2,649,500; 
Total: 9,820,000. 

Fiscal year: 2012; 
OASI: 4,547,900; 
DI: 2,802,600; 
SSI: 2,674,800; 
Total: 10,025,300. 

Fiscal year: 2013; 
OASI: 4,698,900; 
DI: 2,817,300; 
SSI: 2,693,700; 
Total: 10,209,900. 

Fiscal year: 2014; 
OASI: 4,768,100; 
DI: 2,835,300; 
SSI: 2,709,500; 
Total: 10,312,900. 

Fiscal year: 2015; 
OASI: 4,838,000
DI: 2,855,500; 
SSI: 2,727,100; 
Total: 10,420,600. 

Fiscal year: 2016; 
OASI: 4,922,900; 
DI: 2,874,300; 
SSI: 2,744,800; 
Total: 10,540,000. 

Fiscal year: 2017; 
OASI: 5,005,900; 
DI: 2,890,100; 
SSI: 2,761,500; 
Total: 10,657,500. 

Source: GAO analysis of SSA data. 

[End of figure] 

A growth of 22 percent in the number of beneficiaries, from about 49.6 
million in calendar year 2007 to about 60.5 million in calendar year 
2015, is also projected.[Footnote 8] By 2050, there will be an 
estimated total of 95.6 million OASI and DI beneficiaries (see fig. 6). 

Figure 6: Actual and Projected Number of OASI and DI Beneficiaries, 
Calendar Years 2007 to 2050: 

[See PDF for image] 

This figure is a vertical bar graph depicting the following data: 

Calendar year: 2007; 
Millions of beneficiaries: 49.6. 

Calendar year: 2010; 
Millions of beneficiaries: 52.8. 

Calendar year: 2015; 
Millions beneficiaries: 60.5. 

Calendar year: 2020; 
Millions of beneficiaries: 68.8. 

Calendar year: 2025; 
Millions of beneficiaries: 77.1. 

Calendar year: 2030; 
Millions of beneficiaries: 84. 

Calendar year: 2035; 
Millions beneficiaries: 88.7. 

Calendar year: 2040; 
Millions beneficiaries: 91.4. 

Calendar year: 2045; 
Millions beneficiaries: 93.4. 

Calendar year: 2050; 
Millions beneficiaries: 95.6. 

Source: SSA, 2008 Annual Report of the OASI Trustees. 

[End of figure] 

SSA's ability to meet its growing workload challenges will be more 
difficult with the anticipated retirements of many of the agency's most 
experienced field office workers. Today, 25 percent of all SSA 
employees are eligible to retire, and that figure will grow to 39 
percent in the next 5 years. Based on the agency's projections, 44 
percent of today's SSA workforce will retire by 2016. The peak of these 
retirements began in 2007 and is expected continue into 2009, before 
starting to decline gradually (see fig. 7). SSA's projections suggest 
that the ranks of SSA's supervisors will be most affected, with 71 
percent eligible to retire in the next 10 years. These will be the 
agency's most experienced staff, which will mean a loss of decades of 
institutional knowledge. For 2008 in particular, SSA estimates that it 
will lose about 2,000 staff to full or early-out retirements. Field 
office managers and staff at many of the locations we visited stated 
that it typically takes 2 to 3 years for new employees to become fully 
proficient. Therefore, staff hired now may not reach full proficiency 
before the peak of the retirement wave. Also, new hires would benefit 
from being mentored by veteran employees before the latter retire. As a 
result of the approximately $150 million that SSA was appropriated 
above its request in the President's budget for fiscal year 2008, SSA 
will hire an additional 3,900 staff for operations. This will include 
2,350 new hires for regional and field office operations, almost all of 
whom will go to field offices. SSA officials stated that the increase 
in staffing will put the agency back at its fiscal year 2005 staffing 
level. 

Figure 7: Actual and Projected Retirements of SSA Staff, Fiscal Years 
2007 to 2016: 

[See PDF for image] 

This figure is a vertical bar graph depicting the following data: 

Fiscal year: 2007; 
Number of retirements: 3074. 

Fiscal year: 2008; 
Number of retirements: 2959. 

Fiscal year: 2009; 
Number of retirements: 2948. 

Fiscal year: 2010; 
Number of retirements: 2919. 

Fiscal year: 2011; 
Number of retirements: 2869. 

Fiscal year: 2012; 
Number of retirements: 2789. 

Fiscal year: 2013; 
Number of retirements: 2695. 

Fiscal year: 2014; 
Number of retirements: 2578. 

Fiscal year: 2015; 
Number of retirements: 2462. 

Fiscal year: 2016; 
Number of retirements: 2343. 

Source: GAO analysis of SSA data. 

[End of figure] 

SSA has used a variety of strategies to maintain adequate staffing. SSA 
offers recruitment, relocation, and retention bonuses to individuals 
with needed skills and considers employees' private sector experience 
when computing annual leave. SSA also offers workplace flexibilities to 
assist workers in balancing work and family. Additionally, SSA uses 
dual compensation (salary offset) waivers from the Office of Personnel 
Management (OPM) to respond to emergency conditions[Footnote 9] and to 
hire for certain hard-to-fill positions. For example, SSA was granted a 
waiver to re-employ federal annuitants who retired under an early-out 
authority to provide relief in areas affected by Hurricanes Katrina and 
Rita. Further, SSA has developed recruiting efforts that reach out to a 
broader pool of candidates. For example, SSA began recruiting retired 
military and disabled veterans in 2002 because of its commitment to 
helping veterans. 

SSA currently lacks a plan to address the mounting service delivery 
challenges that it faces, though officials told us that they are 
currently working to finalize the agency's Annual Strategic Plan, which 
is expected to address these issues. We recommended, as early as 
1993[Footnote 10] and most recently in 2000,[Footnote 11] that the 
agency develop a plan to meet its responsibilities in the context of 
resource constraints and other challenges. At that time, we suggested 
that the plan take into account changing customer needs and 
expectations; the views of oversight bodies and interest groups; and 
other future challenges, such as growing workloads. We also specified 
that the plan should spell out, for the future, who will be providing 
what type of services and where these services will be made available. 
In the absence of this kind of overarching strategy, SSA may be unable 
to effectively marshal its key resources to meet the challenges 
described above. 

Conclusions: 

Recent staffing declines may have been a factor in reducing field 
offices' ability to complete all of their work while providing quality 
customer service. In managing staffing reductions, customers are 
waiting longer to be served, their calls to field offices frequently go 
unanswered, certain stewardship activities are being deferred, and 
staff are stressed. Projected increases in claims for benefits from the 
nation's approximately 80 million baby boomers and a large retirement 
wave among SSA's most experienced staff will place additional pressure 
on field offices, and SSA may find it increasingly difficult to manage 
without a clear plan for addressing these challenges. SSA is currently 
working to finalize its Fiscal Year 2008 Annual Strategic Plan. 
Strategic planning for service delivery and staffing before SSA's 
workload grows beyond available resources is essential. In a time of 
budgetary constraints, thinking creatively about service delivery and 
how best to operate efficiently and effectively will be important 
aspects of SSA's planning effort. The time for SSA to prepare itself 
for the future is running out and without a clear direction SSA will 
not be prepared to meet its service delivery challenges. 

Mr. Chairman, this concludes my prepared statement. I would be happy to 
respond to any questions you or other members of the committee may have 
at this time. 

For further information regarding this testimony, please contact 
Barbara D. Bovbjerg at (202) 512-7215 or [email protected]. Contact 
points for our Offices of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs 
may be found on the last page of this statement. Individuals making key 
contributions to this testimony include Blake Ainsworth (Assistant 
Director), Mary A. Crenshaw, Paul Wright, Matthew Lee, and Charlie 
Willson. 

Agency Comments and Our Evaluation: 

We provided SSA with a draft of our testimony for their comment. In 
their response, SSA said that the testimony understated the connection 
between the stress that field offices are under from increased work 
demands and the agency's funding shortfalls. SSA stated that its 
current business model is non-sustainable and that past underfunding 
has forced the agency to shift resources from less visible--though 
vital--areas to process the most critical workloads. SSA also said that 
it is using its current strategic plan and operational plan to meet its 
many challenges. In order for its plans to succeed, SSA stated that it 
must be properly and timely funded on a sustained basis. 

In response, we acknowledge the service delivery challenges that SSA 
faces, and believe that we have fairly characterized field office 
staffing declines as a significant factor in meeting work demands and 
the resulting adverse effects. Ensuring that SSA has the resources to 
meet future service deliver challenges is essential. However, we 
continue to believe that SSA must employ a more strategic and creative 
approach to meet these challenges. 

[End of section] 

Appendix I: Data on SSA Field Offices GAO Visited: 

Table 7: List of Social Security Administration Field Offices GAO 
Visited and Their Beneficiary Populations, as of September 30, 2006: 

Field office: New York Washington Heights, Brooklyn, N.Y.; 
Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance beneficiary 
population: 6,584; 
Supplemental Security Income beneficiary population: 14,075. 

Field office: Brooklyn Avenue X, N.Y.; 
Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance beneficiary 
population: 9,697; 
Supplemental Security Income beneficiary population: 21,911. 

Field office: Anacostia, Washington, D.C.; 
Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance beneficiary 
population: 4,209; 
Supplemental Security Income beneficiary population: 7,690. 

Field office: Fairfax, Va.; 
Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance beneficiary 
population: 3,871; 
Supplemental Security Income beneficiary population: 2,225. 

Field office: Culpeper, Va.; 
Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance beneficiary 
population: 2,659; 
Supplemental Security Income beneficiary population: 1,222. 

Field office: Wheaton, Md.; 
Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance beneficiary 
population: 4,664; 
Supplemental Security Income beneficiary population: 3,491. 

Field office: Casa Grande, Ariz.; 
Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance beneficiary 
population: 4,852; 
Supplemental Security Income beneficiary population: 2,902. 

Field office: Mesa, Ariz.; 
Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance beneficiary 
population: 16,383; 
Supplemental Security Income beneficiary population: 6,438. 

Field office: Inglewood, Calif.; 
Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance beneficiary 
population: 7,987; 
Supplemental Security Income beneficiary population: 12,475. 

Field office: Los Angeles Downtown, Calif.; 
Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance beneficiary 
population: 4,226; 
Supplemental Security Income beneficiary population: 12,286. 

Field office: Orlando, Fla.; 
Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance beneficiary 
population: 20,892; 
Supplemental Security Income beneficiary population: 17,325. 

Field office: Leesburg, Fla.; 
Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance beneficiary 
population: 12,584; 
Supplemental Security Income beneficiary population: 5,255. 

Field office: Alice, Tx.; 
Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance beneficiary 
population: 3,018; 
Supplemental Security Income beneficiary population: 3,350. 

Field office: San Antonio Northwest, Tex.; Old-Age and Survivors 
Insurance and Disability Insurance beneficiary population: 15,481; 
Supplemental Security Income beneficiary population: 13,429. 

Field office: McAllen, Tx.; 
Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance beneficiary 
population: 13,066; 
Supplemental Security Income beneficiary population: 19,873. 

Field office: Devils Lake, N. Dak.; 
Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance beneficiary 
population: 687; 
Supplemental Security Income beneficiary population: 450. 

Field office: Grand Forks, N. Dak.; 
Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance beneficiary 
population: 4,318; 
Supplemental Security Income beneficiary population: 1,999. 

Field office: Freeport, Ill.; 
Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance beneficiary 
population: 2,090; 
Supplemental Security Income beneficiary population: 969. 

Field office: Bloomingdale, Ill.; 
Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance beneficiary 
population: 5,876; 
Supplemental Security Income beneficiary population: 1,875. 

Field office: Cayey, P.R.; 
Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance beneficiary 
population: 10,074; 
Supplemental Security Income beneficiary population: 1. 

Field office: Arecibo, P.R.; 
Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance beneficiary 
population: 22,469; 
Supplemental Security Income beneficiary population: 4. 

Source: GAO analysis of SSA data. 

[A] Devils Lake is a resident station under the Minot, North Dakota 
Field Office. 

[End of table] 

Table 8: Staffing Levels during Fiscal Years 2005 to 2007 for the Field 
Offices: 

Field Office: New York Washington Heights, Brooklyn, N.Y.; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2005: 36; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2006: 31; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2007: 34; 
Numerical change (2007 compared to 2005): -2. 

Field Office: Brooklyn Avenue X, N.Y.; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2005: 56; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2006: 53; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2007: 46; 
Numerical change (2007 compared to 2005): -10. 

Field Office: Anacostia, Washington, D.C.; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2005: 22; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2006: 22; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2007: 22; 
Numerical change (2007 compared to 2005): 0. 

Field Office: Fairfax, Va.; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2005: 24; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2006: 21; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2007: 21; 
Numerical change (2007 compared to 2005): -3. 

Field Office: Culpeper, Va.; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2005: 9; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2006: 9; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2007: 10; 
Numerical change (2007 compared to 2005): 1. 

Field Office: Wheaton, Md.; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2005: 27; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2006: 23; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2007: 25; 
Numerical change (2007 compared to 2005): -2. 

Field Office: Casa Grande, Ariz.; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2005: 11; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2006: 11; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2007: 11; 
Numerical change (2007 compared to 2005): 0. 

Field Office: Mesa, Ariz.; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2005: 69; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2006: 54; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2007: 49; 
Numerical change (2007 compared to 2005): -20. 

Field Office: Inglewood, Calif.; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2005: 42; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2006: 39; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2007: 37; 
Numerical change (2007 compared to 2005): -5. 

Field Office: Los Angeles Downtown, Calif.; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2005: 61; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2006: 59; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2007: 60; 
Numerical change (2007 compared to 2005): -1. 

Field Office: Orlando, Fla.; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2005: 77; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2006: 69; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2007: 67; 
Numerical change (2007 compared to 2005): -10. 

Field Office: Leesburg, Fla.; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2005: 35; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2006: 33; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2007: 30; 
Numerical change (2007 compared to 2005): -5. 

Field Office: Alice, Texas; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2005: 14; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2006: 12; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2007: 12; 
Numerical change (2007 compared to 2005): -2. 

Field Office: San Antonio NW, Tx.; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2005: 55; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2006: 53; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2007: 53; 
Numerical change (2007 compared to 2005): -2. 

Field Office: McAllen, Texas; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2005: 71; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2006: 70; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2007: 68; 
Numerical change (2007 compared to 2005): -3. 

Field Office: Devils Lake, N. Dak.; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2005: 2; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2006: 2; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2007: 2; 
Numerical change (2007 compared to 2005): 0. 

Field Office: Grand Forks, N.Dak.; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2005: 15; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2006: 12; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2007: 13; 
Numerical change (2007 compared to 2005): -2. 

Field Office: Freeport, Ill.; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2005: 6; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2006: 7; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2007: 6; 
Numerical change (2007 compared to 2005): 0. 

Field Office: Bloomingdale, Ill.; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2005: 24; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2006: 22; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2007: 21; 
Numerical change (2007 compared to 2005): -3. 

Field Office: Cayey, P.R.; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2005: 8; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2006: 6; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2007: 10; 
Numerical change (2007 compared to 2005): 2. 

Field Office: Arecibo, P.R.; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2005: 19; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2006: 19; 
Number of staff fiscal year 2007: 18; 
Numerical change (2007 compared to 2005): -1. 

Source: GAO analysis of SSA data. 

[End of table] 

Table 9: Visitor Volume, Staff and Waiting Time Data during Fiscal Year 
2007 for Offices GAO Visited: 

Field office: New York Washington Heights, Brooklyn, N.Y.; 
Number of visitors: 55,404; 
Number of staff: 34; 
Waiting times with an appointment, in minutes[A]: 61.4; 
Waiting times without an appointment, in minutes: 54.6. 

Field office: Brooklyn Avenue X, N.Y.; 
Number of visitors: 35,369; 
Number of staff: 46; 
Waiting times with an appointment, in minutes[A]: 17.1; 
Waiting times without an appointment, in minutes: 16.2. 

Field office: Anacostia, Washington, D.C.; 
Number of visitors: 41,315; 
Number of staff: 22; 
Waiting times with an appointment, in minutes[A]: 13.1; 
Waiting times without an appointment, in minutes: 39.2. 

Field office: Fairfax, Va.; 
Number of visitors: 42,581; 
Number of staff: 21; 
Waiting times with an appointment, in minutes[A]: 0; 
Waiting times without an appointment, in minutes: 41.6. 

Field office: Culpeper, Va.; 
Number of visitors: 15,003; 
Number of staff: 10; 
Waiting times with an appointment, in minutes[A]: 0; 
Waiting times without an appointment, in minutes: 10.8. 

Field office: Wheaton, Md.; 
Number of visitors: 39,741; 
Number of staff: 25; 
Waiting times with an appointment, in minutes[A]: 12.8; 
Waiting times without an appointment, in minutes: 62.1. 

Field office: Casa Grande, Ariz.; 
Number of visitors: 23,135; 
Number of staff: 11; 
Waiting times with an appointment, in minutes[A]: 0.1; 
Waiting times without an appointment, in minutes: 18.7. 

Field office: Mesa, Ariz.; 
Number of visitors: 67,125; 
Number of staff: 49; 
Waiting times with an appointment, in minutes[A]: 5.7; 
Waiting times without an appointment, in minutes: 65.3. 

Field office: Inglewood, Calif.; 
Number of visitors: 53,440; 
Number of staff: 37; 
Waiting times with an appointment, in minutes[A]: 1.2; 
Waiting times without an appointment, in minutes: 53.1. 

Field office: Los Angeles Downtown, Calif.; 
Number of visitors: 69,019; 
Number of staff: 59; 
Waiting times with an appointment, in minutes[A]: 0.2; 
Waiting times without an appointment, in minutes: 20.4. 

Field office: Orlando, Fla.; 
Number of visitors: 89,319; 
Number of staff: 67; 
Waiting times with an appointment, in minutes[A]: 4.3; 
Waiting times without an appointment, in minutes: 51.9. 

Field office: Leesburg, Fla.; 
Number of visitors: 30,060; 
Number of staff: 30; 
Waiting times with an appointment, in minutes[A]: 0.1; 
Waiting times without an appointment, in minutes: 29.4. 

Field office: Alice, Tx.; 
Number of visitors: 16,424; 
Number of staff: 12; 
Waiting times with an appointment, in minutes[A]: 0; 
Waiting times without an appointment, in minutes: 16.3. 

Field office: San Antonio NW, Tx.; 
Number of visitors: 64,459; 
Number of staff: 53; 
Waiting times with an appointment, in minutes[A]: 0; 
Waiting times without an appointment, in minutes: 48.7. 

Field office: McAllen, Tx.; 
Number of visitors: 93,682; 
Number of staff: 68; 
Waiting times with an appointment, in minutes[A]: 0; 
Waiting times without an appointment, in minutes: 43.7. 

Field office: Devils Lake, N. Dak.; 
Number of visitors: 4,587; 
Number of staff: 2; 
Waiting times with an appointment, in minutes[A]: 0; 
Waiting times without an appointment, in minutes: 0.2. 

Field office: Grand Forks, N. Dak.; 
Number of visitors: 12,089; 
Number of staff: 13; 
Waiting times with an appointment, in minutes[A]: 5.0; 
Waiting times without an appointment, in minutes: 9.8. 

Field office: Freeport, Ill.; 
Number of visitors: 10,490; 
Number of staff: 6; 
Waiting times with an appointment, in minutes[A]: 0.1; 
Waiting times without an appointment, in minutes: 8.5. 

Field office: Bloomingdale, Ill.; 
Number of visitors: 41,421; 
Number of staff: 21; 
Waiting times with an appointment, in minutes[A]: 6.6; 
Waiting times without an appointment, in minutes: 28.6. 

Field office: Cayey, P.R.; 
Number of visitors: 2,650; 
Number of staff: 10; 
Waiting times with an appointment, in minutes[A]: 14.6; 
Waiting times without an appointment, in minutes: 128.5. 

Field office: Arecibo, P.R.; Number of visitors: 28,404;
Number of staff: 18; 
Waiting times with an appointment, in minutes[A]: 0; 
Waiting times without an appointment, in minutes: 72.8. 

Source: GAO analysis of SSA data. 

[A] Waiting times are measured from the time that customers sign into 
the Visitor Intake Process until the time of customers' first contact 
with an SSA staff person. 

[End of table] 

[End of section] 

Appendix II: Processing Medical Disability Determinations for 
Disability and Supplemental Security Income Insurance Claims: 

Field offices rely on state Disability Determination Services (DDS) and 
various Social Security Administration (SSA) entities to make medical 
disability determinations for claims filed under the Disability (DI) 
and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) insurance programs. Field 
offices begin the application process for these claims and determine if 
claimants meet basic requirements for the applications based on 
nonmedical factors of the programs. For example, for DI claims, field 
offices determine if workers or their dependents quality for benefits 
based on the worker's years of work. For SSI claims, field offices 
determine if claimants meet income requirements. If basic requirements 
are met, field offices forward the application to the state DDS to make 
initial determinations of disability based on medical and work-related 
factors. For claimants found to be eligible, field offices initiate 
action to begin payments. If claimants are not satisfied with the 
determination, they may request reconsideration with a different group 
within DDS. If claimants are not satisfied with the second 
determination by DDS, they may request further reconsideration with 
SSA's hearing office and then SSA's Appeals Council. Figure 8 provides 
a visual depiction of this process. Over the years, backlogs of varying 
degrees have occurred at the DDS, Hearing Office, and Appeals Council 
levels, leaving claimants waiting for years to have their claims 
decided. In recent years, SSA has taken actions to decrease these 
backlogs. 

Figure 8: SSA's Disability Determination Process: 

[See PDF for image] 

This figure is an illustration of SSA's Disability Determination 
Process. The following information is depicted: 

Claimant contacts SSA field offices: 
Application process begins: 
SSA field office personnel: 
* Obtain information and store in electronic record; 
* Determine eligibility for nonmedical factors. 
If nonmedical eligibility factors are met, application is forwarded to 
DDS. 

Initial determination: 
State DDS personnel: 
* Gather, develop, and review medical and nonmedical evidence; 
* Decide eligibility on basis of medical and work-related factors. 
If determination is not favorable, claimant has 60 days to request a 
reconsideration. 

Reconsideration: 
State DDS personnel (different group): 
* Reexamine prior and any new evidence; 
* Render a new, independent eligibility decision. 
If reconsideration is not favorable, claimant has 60 days to request a 
hearing before an administrative law judge (ALJ). 

Administrative law judge hearing: 
SSA hearings office personnel: 
* Review for additional medical evidence; 
* Conduct a hearing and render a new decision by videoconference or in 
person. 
If ALJ decision is not favorable, claimant has 60 days to request an 
Appeals Council review. 

Appeals Council: 
SSA Appeals Council: 
* Decide whether to review the case and new evidence; 
* If case is reviewed, decides whether to reverse decision or return 
case to ALJ. 

Source: GAO analysis of SSA data. 

[End of figure] 

[End of section] 

Related GAO Products: 

Social Security Disability: Better Planning, Management, and Evaluation 
Could Help Address Backlogs [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-
bin/getrpt?GAO-08-40], Dec. 7, 2007. 

Social Security Administration: Additional Actions Needed in Ongoing 
Efforts to Improve 800-Number Service [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-735], Aug. 8, 2005. 

SSA Customer Service: Broad Service Delivery Plan Needed to Address 
Future Challenges [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO/T-
HEHS/AIMD-00-75], Feb. 10, 2000. 

SSA's Management Challenges: Strong Leadership Needed to Turn Plans 
Into Timely, Meaningful Action [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-
bin/getrpt?GAO/T-HEHS-98-113], Mar. 12, 1998. 

Social Security Administration: Significant Challenges Await New 
Commissioner [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO/HEHS-97-
53], Feb. 20, 1997. 

Social Security Administration: Effective Leadership Needed to Meet 
Daunting Challenges [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-
bin/getrpt?GAO/HEHS-96-196], Sept. 12, 1996. 

Social Security: Sustained Effort Needed to Improve Management and 
Prepare for the Future [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-
bin/getrpt?GAO/HRD-94-22], Oct. 27, 1993. 

[End of section] 

Footnotes: 

[1] SSA's process of assigning SSNs to individuals is known as 
enumeration. 

[2] SSA measures the amount of work produced by multiplying the volume 
of actions completed by the amount of time required to complete each 
type of action. The result is what SSA terms "work units." Because some 
types of actions take longer than others to complete, SSA views work 
units as a more precise measure than a simple count of the number of 
actions completed. 

[3] Post-entitlement actions are those occurring after customers become 
eligible for benefits that affect the amount or continuation of 
payment. Such actions include changes of address, benefit 
recomputations, overpayments, and reviews of DI and SSI beneficiaries' 
status to determine their continuing eligibility for benefits. 

[4] There are two types of reviews: 1) continuing disability reviews, 
which are conducted periodically to ensure that disability and SSI 
recipients continue to meet SSA's definition of disability, and 2) SSI 
redeterminations, which verify recipients' living arrangements, income, 
and other nonmedical factors related to SSI eligibility. 

[5] This organization represents SSA field office managers and 
Teleservice Center managers. 

[6] This work does not include DI and SSI disability claims backlogs at 
the DDS, Hearing Office, or Appeals Council levels. 

[7] The survey was based on interviews with 862 sampled callers. 

[8] The Board of Trustees' 2008 Report provided data on the number of 
actual OASI and DI beneficiaries through 2007 and then made projections 
for 5-year spans in the future (e.g., 2010, 2015, etc.). No similar 
data are available for the SSI program. 

[9] This authority allows agencies to waive the dual compensation 
reduction (salary offset) otherwise required for re-employed federal 
civilian annuitants. OPM authorizes agencies to use this authority to 
respond to emergencies resulting from a war or natural disaster or to 
hire for hard-to-fill positions. 

[10] GAO, Social Security: Sustained Efforts Needed to Improve 
Management and Prepare for the Future [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO/HRD-94-22] (Washington, D.C.: 
Oct. 27, 1993). 

[11] GAO, SSA Customer Service: Broad Service Delivery Plan Needed to 
Address Future Challenges [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-
bin/getrpt?GAO/T-HEHS/AIMD-00-75](Washington, D.C.: Feb. 10, 2000). 

[End of section] 

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