The SSA has put a plan together detailing what operations will continue and what tasks will not be undertaken in the event of a government shutdown. The SSA has released its Shutdown 2013 Potocol (link opens a 5-page PDF).
Take a look. Charts on page 3 show what activities the Field Offices and DDS offices
As of this past weekend, the status of a representative's claims at the Appeals Council is available through SSA's online Appointed Representative Services. Just go to the Electronic Records Express (ERE) homepage, select "Get Status Reports" and then select "Get Appeals Council Status Report." As with the Hearing Office Status Report, you can choose between
I have written before about the backlog at the Maine Disability Determination Services, particularly at Reconsideration, since initial claims are given priority. Now, some Reconsideration claims are being routed to the Vermont DDS to help ease the work load.
These claims, if denied again at Reconsideration and appealed, will have hearings in Maine. But the
The status of a representative's claims at the Appeals Council will be added to SSA's online Appointed Representative Services in August. Deputy Commissioner Glenn Sklar made that announcement at the Spring NOSSCR Conference.
This is welcome news. One of the frustrating aspects of dealing with the Appeals Council is that there is not a good
I will be attending the Spring conference for the National Organization of Social Security Claimants' Representatives (NOSSCR) being held this week in Washington, D.C.
There is almost always something noteworthy to share from the conference, and I will have a blog post or two about it soon.
I look forward to seeing friends and colleagues
As promised, the SSA has updated its online services for representatives to include the name of the administrative law judge (ALJ) assigned to claims at the hearing level.
Just log in to your online services account, go to Electronic Records Express (ERE) Home, and select "Get Hearing office Status Report." Both the "quick view" version
The "secret ALJ" policy implemented in late 2011 has come to an end. For the past year and a half or so, the particular administrative law judge (ALJ) assigned to your disability case was not disclosed prior to the day of the hearing. It was a terrible policy, and now the policy has changed.
Ask
I am always intrigued by the differing DDS allowance rates among the several states. Take a look at the SSA's table showing 2012 allowance rates by nation, region and state (link opens 3-page PDF).
Is your state above or below the national average? And has the rate changed since last year? Check out the 2011
Each month I highlight articles of note regarding Social Security disability. This month brought several stories in the mainstream press regarding the Social Security disability program. Links to three of them are below: