The Board had to decide whether its records should be centralized in a single location. SSI recipients with payment problems spilled out of the offices into the biting cold. Pending hearings were soon up 17.4 percent over 1980 and were expected to rise even more in 1982 and 1983. From these beginnings in the 1970s came significant advances in later years. SSA also implemented a Representative Video Project to allow claimant representatives to use their own equipment to participate in hearings from their offices. It fails to address Social Security's longevity issue. SSA was considered a well-run organization. Interviews by Larry DeWitt. The agency also instituted special Federal Quality Reviewer screening units and a Medical Expert Screening process to help identify cases that can be allowed without a hearing. Each strip began with a 3-digit entry based on the Russell Soundex System (in which all surnames having the same basic consonants are grouped together), followed by the individual's surname, given name, middle initial, and SSN. Interview by Larry DeWitt. Today, more than eight decades since the Social Security program began, the nine digits that guarantee retirement benefits have become essentially every American's ID number. In 2016, Social Security paid $911 billion in benefits to retired workers, disabled persons, and dependents of retired, disabled or deceased workers. ———. 1956. It would be December 2, 1936, before the Civil Service Commission delivered a civil service register for the Bureau of Old-Age Benefits to use (McKinley and Frase 1970). Estimate your Social Security retirement benefits online now at www.socialsecurity.gov/estimator. Gerry, Martin H. 2006. Simultaneously, the agency had to implement changes to the OASDI program. This is not only unacceptable service, it is also demoralizing to SSA's employees, who care deeply about the level of service they provide (McMahon 2008). The real takeaway However, SSA's efforts to improve the disability process have been hindered by inadequate funding. Social Security Administration retirement wave report: Component/regional analysis, fiscal years 2009–2018. As of the date of enactment, no new noncitizens could be added to the SSI recipient rolls, and all existing noncitizen recipients would be removed from the rolls as of August 1997 unless they met one of the exceptions in the law. Along with information about the business establishment, the SS-4 asked for the number of workers employed. SSA is the first federal agency to exchange electronic medical records via NHIN as part of SSA's Health Information Technology (HIT) project. Area offices worked extensive overtime to compute the benefit increases that resulted from the 1954 amendments. 1989. From 2001 to 2007, the number of pending hearings had doubled. In 1935, the Social Security Board, predecessor of the Social Security Administration (SSA), started to plan the implementation of the Social Security Act. Over the past 75 years, SSA's responsibilities have involved programs as wide-ranging as unemployment insurance, child welfare, and credit union supervision, among others. Conversion cases totaled 3.4 million, of which 38,418 were still not processed as of June 30, 1974. To deal with pending case increases, SSA has hired 16 new administrative appeals judges, 45 new appeals officers, and almost 200 new paralegals and attorney advisers. Available at http://www.socialsecurity.gov/history/oasis/august1960.pdf. SSA also developed the Customer Help and Information Program, a decision-support system to help agents handle calls correctly and consistently. Files are no longer physically transferred: Any employee involved in processing a case can access the contents of the electronic folder. Social Security Administration, 1984 annual report to the Congress. The regional office relocated, and the field office employees and hearing workloads were distributed to other locations until they could be reopened. In the 1930s, the Supreme Court struck down many pieces of Roosevelt's New Deal legislation, including the Railroad Retirement Act. The WPA, headed by … ———. ———. Systems Modernization Plan: From survival to state of the art. In addition, SSA set up a central office Systems Planning and Development Work Group with representatives from all SSA components to discuss SSI activities and to initiate systems development (SSA 1973b, 5; House Ways and Means Committee 1974, 38; SSA 1996b; SSA 1994a). Having campaigned on a platform opposing big government, President Ronald Reagan took steps to reduce the size of the federal workforce in the 1980s. For BL claims, as with DI claims, DDSs requested the available medical records. Social Security expands fast-track disability processes; more than 100,000 disabled applicants get quick decisions. Baltimore, MD: SSA. Keeping a record of each individual's lifetime earnings was an unprecedented task, and the technology to support this Herculean effort did not even exist—the Board had to work with private industry to create the needed technology (OTA 1986, 94). 2009a. In the 1990s, SSA attempted to develop standardized software that could be used in all DDSs, but most states resisted; only a few locations adopted the Modernized Integrated Disability Adjudicative System (MIDAS) that SSA developed for their use. OASIS 1(8): 10–13, 21–22, 30. Forms and procedures for nonprofit organizations had to be developed by January 1, 1951, and interpretations of the law had to be settled to provide states with guidance in framing legislation and negotiating coverage agreements. 110-574. [description] => Introduced This project would be just the first of many SSA attempts to find ways of simplifying Social Security programs (SSA 1996e). During the 1990s the Clinton Administration launched an effort to reengineer government under the auspices of the National Partnership for Reinventing Government, also known as the National Performance Review. 7 A CDR is a review of a beneficiary's current medical condition to see if it is still disabling. Still, the offices were overflowing with staff and claimants. Use of state agencies to make the disability determination was continued in the 1956 legislation. Callers who wished to apply by phone were referred directly to specialized claims-taking employees (Disman 2006). ———. For these cases, field offices still filled out a paper form SSA-101 and sent it to the PSC for keying into the system (Casey 1977, 13). SSA mailed 2.5 million subsidy applications to these individuals between June and August 2006. Routing changes allowed calls to be sent to the next available agent anywhere in the nation, and improved forecasting tools helped the agency better meet increasing demands for service. Available at http://www.socialsecurity.gov/pressoffice/pr/online-retirement-estimator-pr.htm. SSA created its National 800 Number Network by integrating the existing 34 local sites with three new teleservice centers in Birmingham, Honolulu, and San Juan. SSA has also streamlined the hearing process by reinstituting the Attorney Adjudicator program, which authorizes its most experienced attorneys, when appropriate, to decide on the record in favor of claimants without a hearing. By 1986, SSA had acquired 360 disk drive units with 780 billion characters of storage capacity to house all of SSA's master files and most intermediate files. SSA also mentioned LIS in other outgoing notices. Available at http://www.socialsecurity.gov/legislation/testimony_052307.htm. Once processed, SSA sent the wage report information to IRS on a flow basis. In 2008, SSA also added "scheduled voice callback" to the National 800 Number Network, allowing a caller to leave his or her phone number, hang up, and receive an agency callback within a specified time when the network was less busy. Each page contained 100 SSNs in numerical order. In December 2008, SSA launched the new version of its online Internet claims process, called iClaim. By early 1986, 20 pilot field offices (2 in each region) and SSA's 8 claims processing centers were handling claims via the new system. Social Security's first recipient of monthly benefits, Ida May Fuller, is shown here receiving her first-ever benefit increase in October 1950. ———. SSA's administrative budget also increased. Available at http://www.socialsecurity.gov/history/simermeyer.html. Many automated services offered an interactive speech format, enabling callers to provide more information to SSA. OASIS News: Ten years ago—January 1950. However, by July 1936, the regional representatives were given full supervisory authority over all the offices in their regions (Davis 1950, 125–126). ———. The workload in the first quarter of 1955 was equal to the workload for a full year in 1946 (SSA 1955c). Such programs had previously been administered by the states with some federal funding. At one point, the claims in Washington were "piled on top of file cabinets 3 feet deep." 2005. The surveys went on through the spring, summer, and fall of 1942, and the information was submitted to the War Production Board (Olcott 1981, 14–15; SSA 1975b). Medicare prescription drug benefit: Review and oversight (May 8). BL applicants from Appalachia frequently filed for OASDI benefits as well. SSA has been blessed with a workforce that believes in the agency's mission and sincerely cares about program beneficiaries. Some PSCs took on part of the OASI workloads from selected field offices. On January 2, 1976, P.L. SSA internal document. The agency's large-scale production computers were so antiquated that not a single model was still marketed by the manufacturers. The manager of a local Bureau field office reviewed the claims forms and substantiating evidence (such as proof of age if the date of birth differed from that in Board records), affixed a transmittal form, and then forwarded the claims by way of the regional office to the Director of BOAI. Retirements were predicted to peak from 2007 through 2009, causing 4.6 percent staff losses each year. ———. ———. Because a provision in the 1950 amendments brought about a more liberal benefit computation effective July 1, 1952, many claimants waited until then to file for benefits. Federal Security Agency. The plan's goals were to reduce processing times, increase productivity, and provide better overall service to the public (Apfel 2000). ———. Senate Hearing No. In November 1975, SSA began developing a unified Program Operations Manual System (POMS) to replace over 240 separate manuals and handbooks. Claims volumes increased dramatically. By the end of 1941, a total of 372,300 benefits totaling about $6.8 million in monthly payments were in force (Pogge 1952, 6–7). Baltimore, MD: SSA, Office of Advanced Systems. ———. 1938. Social Security hearings backlog down for first time in decade; productivity and processing times also improve. Once again, the agency temporarily shifted employees to offices where the workloads were the heaviest (SSA 1960a, 34). Social Security: Status and evaluation of agency management improvement initiatives. Based on the leads collected by volunteers, SSA had by the end of 1973 contacted 107,000 individuals, of whom 42,000 filed claims for benefits. A GAO report noted that between 1977 and 1993, SSA had implemented over 400 legislative changes to its programs, resulting in "nearly unmanageable" program operational instructions exceeding 40,000 pages (GAO 1993, 13). Applications were resent to 800,000 of them, and 400,000 of them requested assistance and were referred to the agency. All of the state records were flawed in some way, and some state recordkeeping systems were extremely lax. Interviews by Larry DeWitt. BDP also entered employer-identifying information onto punched cards and associated it with employee information. Altmeyer, Arthur J. ———. Available at http://www.socialsecurity.gov/history/orals/HLieberman.html. The Social Security Administration is headquartered in Woodlawn, Maryland, just to the west of Baltimore. Although a few compromises were made, the Board generally held fast against hiring those deemed unqualified (McKinley and Frase 1970). Given the poor condition of many of SSA's earliest locations, fires were an ever-present threat. The personnel office received 20 applications for every person hired. Backups, and some active files, were still maintained on 250,000 reels of tape (SSA 1986, 22). On March 31, 1995, in a ceremony at its Baltimore Headquarters, SSA once again became an independent agency. 1980a. Starting in November 1942, payment went to civilians injured while engaged in civil defense work, such as Civil Air Patrol or the Aircraft Warning Service, or during enemy actions such as the Pearl Harbor attack (Olcott 1981, 14–15). 109-733. However, SSA lacked the bargaining power to induce the states to do so on its terms, and so accepted the state terms. By then, SSA's partners had held over 40,000 Medicare outreach events (SSA 2005b). BDI staff had to develop a substantial body of policies and procedures to implement the nonmedical provisions of the law and to ensure those provisions were reflected in published regulations. In addition, following these hearings, SSA published its disability medical listings6 for the first time (SSA 2001b). 1955a. Available at http://www.socialsecurity.gov/pressoffice/pr/qdd-process-pr.htm. SSA planned to set the new SSI computer system up in 10 stages (SSA 1973b, 6). The solution won’t be easy or simple. The Bureau of District Office Operations set up an emergency control center with 26 teletypists to take field office requests for payment status information when the telecommunications system was down. The enrollment deadline for those aged 65 or older was March 31, 1966. At midyear, the Informational Service prepared the publicity campaign to encourage employers and workers to complete the application forms, but they did not plan to distribute the material until after the November 3 election. 1994a. GAO-07-858T. SSA developed not only an online application, but also a scannable paper application. Each field office established "itinerant stations" (today called contact stations) in remote communities whose residents could not travel to the field office without difficulty. Today, the National 800 Number Network receives over 82 million calls and handles 67 million transactions a year through agents and automated services. SSA also initiated "simultaneous development" of disability claims in field offices and state agencies (SSA 1970). Employers still reported their earnings to IRS via Form 941, Employer's Quarterly Report of Taxable Wages. In September 1976, BDI used over 17,000 hours overtime weekly (McKenna 1976). 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