SSA Disability Redesign: Focus Needed on Initiatives Most Crucial to Reducing Costs and Time
HEHS-97-20
Published: Dec 20, 1996. Publicly Released: Dec 20, 1996.
Skip to Highlights
Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO evaluated the Social Security Administration's (SSA) efforts and progress in redesigning the disability determination claims process to reduce administrative costs and the time a claimant waits for a decision, focusing on: (1) SSA's vision and progress for redesigning the disability claims process; (2) issues related to the scope and complexity of the redesign; and (3) SSA's efforts to maintain stakeholder support.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Social Security Administration | To increase the likelihood that its reengineering project will succeed, given the major delays that SSA has experienced and the risk of further decline in stakeholder support, the Commissioner of Social Security should concentrate on accomplishing rapid results through initiatives of smaller, more manageable scope. This effort should include selecting those initiatives most crucial to producing significant, measurable reductions in claims-processing time and administrative costs, including those initiatives intended to achieve process unification, establishment of new decision-making positions, and enhancement of information systems support. |
Closed – Implemented
In February 1997, SSA issued an updated implementation plan for its disability process redesign. The agency identified a reduced number of initiatives upon which it plans to focus its resources and energies. The agency expects these initiatives to have the greatest impact on achieving its goals.
|
| Social Security Administration | To increase the likelihood that its reengineering project will succeed, given the major delays that SSA has experienced and the risk of further decline in stakeholder support, the Commissioner of Social Security should concentrate on accomplishing rapid results through initiatives of smaller, more manageable scope. This effort should include combining those initiatives into an integrated process, testing that process at a few sites, and evaluating the results, before proceeding with full-scale implementation. |
Closed – Not Implemented
This recommendation has been superceded by more current recommendations made in HEHS-99-25 regarding SSA's approach to testing changes to its disability claims process.
|
Full Report
Office of Public Affairs
Topics
Administrative costsClaims processingCost controlDisability benefitsEligibility determinationsFederal agency reorganizationFederal social security programsPersonnel managementSocial security benefitsStaff utilizationSupplemental security income