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Carolyn W. ColvinActing Commissioner
Social Security Administration (SSA)
Mission
Overview
Few government agencies reach as many people as we do. The programs we administer provide a financial safety net for millions of Americans. We run one of the Nation’s largest entitlement programs - the Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program. We also administer the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program, which provides financial support to aged, blind, or disabled adults and children with limited income and resources. In FY 2011, we paid over 60 million people a total of about $770 billion in Social Security benefits and SSI payments.
For more information on all of our programs and benefits, please visit our Understanding the Benefits web page at www.ssa.gov/pubs/10024.html
Our current organization is composed of over 80,000 Federal and State employees. We deliver services through a nationwide network of 1,500 offices that includes regional offices, field offices (including Social Security card centers), teleservice centers, processing centers, hearing offices (including satellite offices and national hearing centers), the Appeals Council, and our headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland. We also have a presence in several United States embassies around the globe.
Our field offices and Social Security card centers are the primary points of contact for in-person interaction with the public. Our teleservice centers primarily handle telephone calls to our National 800 Number. Employees in our processing centers primarily handle Social Security retirement, survivors, and disability payments but also perform a wide range of other functions, which include answering telephone calls to our National 800 Number. We depend on State employees in 54 State and territorial disability determination services to make disability determinations. The administrative law judges in our hearing offices and the Appeals Council make decisions on appeals of denied Social Security and SSI claims. The vast majority of our employees serve the public directly or provide support to employees who do. A chart illustrating our organizational structure and the function of each component is available on our website at www.socialsecurity.gov/org.
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Strategic Goals & Objectives
Agencies establish a variety of organizational goals to drive progress toward key outcomes for the American people. Long-term strategic goals articulate clear statements of what the agency wants to achieve to advance its mission and address relevant national problems, needs, challenges and opportunities. Strategic objectives define the outcome or management impact the agency is trying to achieve, and also include the agency's role. Each strategic objective is tracked through a suite of performance goals, indicators and other evidence. Click here for more information on stakeholder engagement during goal development.
Strategic Goal:
Deliver Innovative, Quality Services
Statement: No Data Available
Strategic Objectives
Statement:No Data Available
Description:
We know that the public is accustomed to self-service options, including those offered through automated phones and the Internet. We also know that our customers increasingly use, and even prefer, our online services. In addition, based on the American Customer Satisfaction Index, our online applications have ranked in the top five in government for many years. Three of our websites – iClaims, Retirement Estimator, and Help with Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Costs – either matched or outperformed commercial sites, including perennial leader Amazon. In FY 2007, approximately 10 percent of our customers filing for retirement filed online. In FY 2013, more than 49 percent of retirement applicants and 45 percent of disability applicants filed online. In response to the rising demand and usage, we will increase the number and types of self-service choices we offer.
The foundation for increasing our online services is the my Social Security portal we established in 2012 and enhanced in early 2013. Through this portal, people who register can view their Social Security Statement, get a benefit verification letter, start or change their direct deposit, and change their address – all online.
We are enhancing my Social Security to allow customers to file a claim for retirement or disability benefits, request a replacement Social Security card, and access many other services. We will also expand the portal to include online notice delivery and offer the choice to opt out of paper notices. The enhanced capability will allow us to communicate with customers on the status of their claims or appeals and advise them of any documents we may need from them.
To accommodate increases in mobile technology use, we will accelerate our development of applications using responsive design (i.e., applications will automatically adjust to work on any electronic device). We will be able to deliver service seamlessly and conveniently to smartphones, tablets and laptops alike.
As of September 2013, 6.2 million people had created accounts under my Social Security. Our goal is to significantly increase the number of registrants each year. We are developing an aggressive, multi-faceted marketing and promotional strategy to attract customers to our online service offerings. This effort will support yet another of our major initiatives – to significantly increase use of our online services.
Strategies:
- Expand personal services available under my Social Security to include high-volume workloads, such as Social Security number replacement cards;
- Move our online applications under a single customer account registration;
- Accelerate development of additional online products;
- Expand the availability of online applications using responsive design and the use of self-help personal computers available in our offices or community locations;
- Provide direct access to information and notices for individuals and designated third parties;
- Offer electronic delivery of notices and an option to opt out of paper notices; and
- Increase the public’s use of self-service options by aggressively promoting and marketing our online applications and services.
Statement:No Data Available
Description:
Many of our customers seek services from and interact with other government agencies and community organizations. We are committed to reducing the burden people face when dealing with multiple organizations to get the services they need. To improve our ability to serve the American public, we must continue our strong relationships with other government agencies and community organizations. We can learn from other agencies and organizations with similar programs, share data as permitted, and develop processes and procedures that are less cumbersome and more focused on the customer. Partnering with other agencies and organizations improves the customer experience and supports the Administration’s “one-government” approach.
As part of a broader initiative to support one-stop online access to multiple government services, we will collaborate with other government agencies and community organizations to install Social Security Express kiosks (i.e., self-service computer stations offering access to our online services) at their respective facilities. This collaboration will benefit both the customer and our agency as we anticipate cost savings from expanding our online self-service options.
We will work to increase our collaboration with the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs on the Wounded Warriors Initiative. In this effort, we focus on improving the transfer of medical information, expediting the disability claims process, and facilitating payments to wounded service members, veterans, and their families. Electronic sharing of medical information is a key feature of this initiative.
Strategies:
- Pending result of the pilot, implement Social Security Express to provide service using self-service kiosks in community locations;
- Provide Social Security services through other government agencies, community-based organizations, tribal governments, and private organizations that serve our customers;
- Increase collaboration with the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs to improve processes for veterans and service members; and
- Improve information sharing among other government agencies for records, data, and other information.
Statement:No Data Available
Description:
No matter how customers contact us, we must strive to provide them with the correct information in the most professional manner at the first point of contact. We serve customers best and improve our own efficiency by avoiding the need to transfer customers to another contact. We will assist our staff in applying some of the more complex policies in our programs by further improving our decision support systems. In addition, by offering customers the option of speaking to a Social Security representative in real time during their online encounter with us (i.e., “click-to-talk”), we will enhance the customer experience for those who prefer to apply for benefits online. We also will implement screen sharing and instant messaging as additional customer support options.
To further educate and engage the public, and support completion of their business at the first point of contact, we will streamline our online disability application. We also will increase our inventory of informational videos for our website and YouTube, and produce more webinars. These initiatives will help to increase customers’ understanding of our programs, as well as inform them of our policies and requirements up front and enhance their experience with us.
Strategies:
- Implement online support options, including click to talk, screen sharing, and instant messaging;
- Integrate our online applications, such as the streamlined online disability application; and
- Increase the use of video service.
Statement:No Data Available
Description:
As more people are able to take advantage of our online options, fewer people will need to visit an office. As a result, we will not need to maintain the current number of Social Security offices. We will streamline our field office structure, as well as our administrative office structure, to reduce costs and make the best use of our employees’ time and skills. As we realign our offices, we will remain mindful of the need to ensure we can offer personal assistance when customers require face-to-face assistance. Strategic use of our physical space ensures that we will be able to continue to uphold our mission of providing a world-class customer service experience.
Strategies:
- Design space, maintain offices, and reassess the structure of internal facilities to optimize resources and maximize opportunities for improved service delivery; and
- Explore solutions that optimize the operational efficiencies of offices, including co-locations.
Priority Goals
Statement:
In FY 2014, customers processed over 70.7 million transactions online. In FYs 2014 and 2015, we will increase the number of online transactions by 10 percent over each respective prior fiscal year. This equates to 77.8 million online transactions in FY 2015.
Description:
Online services are vital to good public service. The Internet provides the public with the ability to conduct Social Security business at their convenience and at their own pace, without the need to travel to a field office or wait to meet with one of our representatives. In addition to being convenient, increased use of online services benefits the public and SSA by reducing the average time our employees spend processing claims, freeing them to handle workloads that are more complicated.
Over the last few years, we implemented several new, secure and easy-to-use online services, which allow us to handle the surge of benefit applications better. Our goal is to continue increasing the variety of online services we offer, including the ability to apply for a range of benefits, access information instantly, and update records. We are committed to making our online services secure and easy to use. In FY 2013, customers submitted more than 2.5 million retirement and disability applications online, an 80 percent increase over FY 2009, when customers submitted 1.4 million claims online.
Developing online services for a population with a variety of experiences and comfort levels with technology presents a unique challenge. We solicit stakeholder input using a variety of methods prior to developing our services. Usability testing, focus groups, and advocacy discussions are common tools we use to engage our external stakeholders. We also consult with our employees when developing online services. Once we implement new online services, we continue to engage the public by soliciting their feedback using the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). Federal and private sectors use ACSI surveys to measure public satisfaction with various website features. In addition to the ACSI feedback, we also use internal survey mechanisms to improve our online services. These tools provide us with standard, statistical measurements of public satisfaction, and we use this information to guide decision-making for future improvements.
Strategic Goal:
Strengthen the Integrity of Our Programs
Statement: No Data Available
Strategic Objectives
Statement:No Data Available
Description:
We devote significant resources to making certain our earnings records are accurate and we credit the correct amount to the right person.
In FY 2013, we posted more than 251 million earnings reports to workers’ records. Although in calendar year 2013, employers electronically filed about 87 percent of Forms W-2, we still receive approximately 30 million items on paper Forms W-2. To improve earning records accuracy, we will work with the employer community to significantly reduce paper wage reports, moving toward an all-electronic earnings record process. We also will increase efforts to encourage the public to verify their earnings information on their Social Security Statement.
A multi-year earnings redesign initiative is underway to modernize our earnings reporting system to increase efficiency and accuracy. In addition, we are collaborating with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to enhance the earnings data exchanges to improve the wage reporting process with IRS.
Strategies:
- Modernize our earnings system;
- Encourage electronic wage reporting; and
- Encourage the public to review their Social Security Statement for earnings accuracy.
Statement:No Data Available
Description:
Safeguarding the confidentiality and integrity of our customers’ personal information has always been and will continue to be a top priority for us. With the growing threat of identity theft in an increasingly electronic world, we are taking steps to enhance protection of our beneficiaries’ records.
If we are to achieve our goal to move more customers to our online services, it is critical they have confidence their personal information is well protected – we must ensure that our online services remain secure. To that end, we are boosting authentication requirements for our online services, including enhanced security measures in the my Social Security portal. These enhancements require users to authenticate their identity with specific information not readily available to others. We will continue to seek additional ways to make our online services more secure.
Strategies:
- Ensure strong authentication technologies and appropriate access to information and services;
- Ensure online services have appropriate security features; and
- Partner with other Federal agencies, such as the IRS, to aggressively combat identity theft to prevent unauthorized transactions.
Statement:No Data Available
Description:
We must protect the programs we manage from waste, fraud, and abuse. Ensuring proper payment to eligible beneficiaries is critical to that objective. Ensuring proper payments means not only preventing overpayments, but also, just as importantly, preventing underpayments.
We work hard to ensure that all beneficiaries receive the correct amount. Our payment accuracy rate for retirement and survivors benefits is greater than 99 percent. However, our DI and SSI programs are more error prone due to the complexity of the laws for both programs and the variability of SSI payments from month to month based on a recipient’s changes in income, resources, and living arrangements. We rely on recipients to self-report this information, and their failure to report timely is a significant reason for the difficulty in our SSI payment accuracy rate.
We have identified several strategies to increase payment accuracy in our DI and SSI programs and will work diligently to realize improvements in these areas:
- We will collaborate with other Federal and State agencies that serve similar populations, so we can benefit from shared ideas and best practices in ensuring proper payment. Among the potential solutions is better use of data exchanges to produce a more efficient and accurate process for receiving payment-affecting information. For example, we exchange data with the Department of Defense to verify entitlement to Special Veterans’ Benefits. In addition, the IRS shares Form 1099 information to help us verify SSI eligibility and payment amounts.
- We also will increase our partnerships with financial institutions to build on the success of our Access to Financial Institutions (AFI) initiative to identify financial resources that can affect SSI eligibility and often go unreported. AFI allows us to check SSI recipient bank records to ensure that recipients remain eligible for benefits. Over the next decade, this initiative will save American taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.
- Even after we approve a person for benefits, we periodically review many of their cases to ensure that they continue to meet the eligibility requirements under each program. For example, we complete SSI redeterminations, which are periodic reviews of non-medical factors of SSI eligibility, such as income and resources. On average SSI non-medical redeterminations produce about $5 of net program savings per dollar spent, with savings from overpayments partly offset from the cost for underpayments.
- For many years, we have used predictive models (i.e., computer-based screening tools) and data analytics tools to improve the integrity of our programs. With data from other agencies and other sources in the private sector, we will explore additional uses of predictive models, data analytics, and automation tools to provide cost-effective means to increase payment accuracy.
- Our representative payee program historically has been vulnerable to fraud. Based on recommendations from oversight organizations, we have strengthened our policy, selection criteria, and review process. We are developing a long-term strategic approach to improving the program. Current efforts include using a predictive model that identifies cases with a higher probability of potential misuse and piloting a process for conducting criminal background checks on payee applicants during our selection process. We are also working with other agencies with similar programs to determine the potential for collaboration on payee activities.
Strategies:
- Collaborate with other Federal agencies, such as the Department of Veterans Affairs and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services within the Department of Health and Human Services, to find innovative ways to prevent and reduce improper payments;
- Increase efforts to recover overpayments;
- Enhance predictive models and automation tools to help identify error-prone aspects of benefit eligibility;
- Expand use of data analytics to reduce fraud and payment errors; and
- Streamline the Representative Payee Program to better identify potential misuse of benefits.
Priority Goal: Reduce the improper payment rate made under the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program.
Statement:
Reduce the improper payment rate made under the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program. By September 30, 2015*, we will reduce the improper payment rate made under the SSI program to no more than 6.2% of all payments made under the SSI program (i.e. overpayments and underpayments).
*Because of the difficulties in evaluating payment accuracy, there is a 7-month lag in obtaining end–of-year data. We will not have FY 2014 data available until April 2015. FY 2015 data will be available in April 2016.
Description:
SSI is a means-tested program designed to provide a monthly payment to aged, blind, or disabled people with limited income and resources. Adults, as well as children, can receive payments based on disability or blindness.
SSI payments are calculated using a statutory definition where payment levels for beneficiaries can change from month-to–month, which may result in an improper payment. Two factors used to determine an individual's monthly benefit are income and living arrangements. Income can be in cash or in-kind, and is usually anything that a person receives that can be used to obtain food or shelter. Cash income includes wages, Social Security and other pensions, and unemployment compensation. In-kind income is food and shelter or something someone can use to obtain those items.
Individuals' SSI benefit amounts also may change if they move in to a different “living arrangement”—whether a person lives alone or with others, or resides in a medical facility or other institution. For instance, when an individual moves into a nursing home, the person’s monthly payment may be reduced to as little as $30 per month. If the person moves from his or her own household into the household of another person, and that person provides food or shelter, the payment also may be reduced.
An individual’s resources also affect eligibility for the SSI program. An individual is not eligible for benefits if his or her countable resources exceed $2,000, and couples are not eligible if their countable resources exceed $3,000. In general, SSA counts as resources items individuals can convert to cash and use for their support and maintenance, such as bank accounts, stocks, and bonds.
The design of the SSI program requires that SSA adjust benefit payments to account for these factors. SSA explains to SSI recipients that they must report these changes to us when they occur. Absent their timely reporting, it is difficult to obtain information about these changes in a prompt fashion, resulting in some erroneous payments. Additionally, even if individuals report in a timely manner, SSA is required to first provide written notification of how the change affects their benefit amounts and provide due process protections. This process delays adjusting payments to the correct amount. Furthermore, SSA generally makes SSI payments on the first day of the month for eligibility in that month. Even if the payment is correct when paid, any changes that may occur during the month can affect the payment due, which can result in an overpayment or underpayment. Thus, the program requirements themselves sometimes cause erroneous payments.
SSA’s SSI improper payment accuracy reflects the complex nature of the SSI program. SSA is working on improving administration of the SSI program, focusing on how technology can make the agency more efficient. SSA is currently offering telephone wage reporting and a smart-phone application for reporting wages and is expanding our use of those technologies. SSA is also working on expanded use of Lexis-Nexis to verify real property, and numerous other projects designed to improve our service and ensure the integrity of our payments.
Priority Goals
Statement:
Reduce the improper payment rate made under the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program. By September 30, 2015*, we will reduce the improper payment rate made under the SSI program to no more than 6.2% of all payments made under the SSI program (i.e. overpayments and underpayments).
*Because of the difficulties in evaluating payment accuracy, there is a 7-month lag in obtaining end–of-year data. We will not have FY 2014 data available until April 2015. FY 2015 data will be available in April 2016.
Description:
SSI is a means-tested program designed to provide a monthly payment to aged, blind, or disabled people with limited income and resources. Adults, as well as children, can receive payments based on disability or blindness.
SSI payments are calculated using a statutory definition where payment levels for beneficiaries can change from month-to–month, which may result in an improper payment. Two factors used to determine an individual's monthly benefit are income and living arrangements. Income can be in cash or in-kind, and is usually anything that a person receives that can be used to obtain food or shelter. Cash income includes wages, Social Security and other pensions, and unemployment compensation. In-kind income is food and shelter or something someone can use to obtain those items.
Individuals' SSI benefit amounts also may change if they move in to a different “living arrangement”—whether a person lives alone or with others, or resides in a medical facility or other institution. For instance, when an individual moves into a nursing home, the person’s monthly payment may be reduced to as little as $30 per month. If the person moves from his or her own household into the household of another person, and that person provides food or shelter, the payment also may be reduced.
An individual’s resources also affect eligibility for the SSI program. An individual is not eligible for benefits if his or her countable resources exceed $2,000, and couples are not eligible if their countable resources exceed $3,000. In general, SSA counts as resources items individuals can convert to cash and use for their support and maintenance, such as bank accounts, stocks, and bonds.
The design of the SSI program requires that SSA adjust benefit payments to account for these factors. SSA explains to SSI recipients that they must report these changes to us when they occur. Absent their timely reporting, it is difficult to obtain information about these changes in a prompt fashion, resulting in some erroneous payments. Additionally, even if individuals report in a timely manner, SSA is required to first provide written notification of how the change affects their benefit amounts and provide due process protections. This process delays adjusting payments to the correct amount. Furthermore, SSA generally makes SSI payments on the first day of the month for eligibility in that month. Even if the payment is correct when paid, any changes that may occur during the month can affect the payment due, which can result in an overpayment or underpayment. Thus, the program requirements themselves sometimes cause erroneous payments.
SSA’s SSI improper payment accuracy reflects the complex nature of the SSI program. SSA is working on improving administration of the SSI program, focusing on how technology can make the agency more efficient. SSA is currently offering telephone wage reporting and a smart-phone application for reporting wages and is expanding our use of those technologies. SSA is also working on expanded use of Lexis-Nexis to verify real property, and numerous other projects designed to improve our service and ensure the integrity of our payments.
Strategic Goal:
Serve the Public through a Stronger, More Responsive Disability Program
Statement: No Data Available
Strategic Objectives
Statement:No Data Available
Description:
Our employees and State partners in the DDSs are committed to balancing the need to make high-quality, accurate, and consistent decisions with the objective of decreasing the time claimants must wait for decisions at all levels.
We are using a new analytical tool that provides many of our ALJs and support staff with MI on their work relative to the rest of their office, their region, and the Nation. The information we gain from this analysis will help us to improve the way we review and decide disability cases, making our process simpler and more efficient.
We will continue our partnerships with other agencies to further modernize key aspects of our disability process. These include our partnership with the National Academy of Science’s Institute of Medicine to revise our disability guidelines to reflect the most up-to-date medical knowledge; our collaboration with the Department of Labor to update our occupational information; and our partnership with the research community, for example the Disability Research Consortium, to refine our policy development.
We will also expand the use of technology to improve quality and consistency. A few years ago, we implemented the electronic Claims Analysis Tool (eCAT) which assists disability examiners in documenting initial decisions to ensure compliance with agency policy. We plan to expand eCAT to process CDRs. Based on the success of eCAT, we used a similar approach to build a tool we can use at the appeals level. We will eventually extend eCAT to our field offices, resulting in our agency having one tool to assist in ensuring proper documentation and compliance with agency policy throughout the entire disability process.
Expanding the use of video hearings – one of our key initiatives – will help increase efficiency and improve customer service. Specifically, it will enable us to balance workloads across the country, reduce the need for (and the costs of) our ALJs and other hearing office staff to travel between offices and to remote sites to hold hearings, and reduce the need for claimants to travel long distances to hearing offices. We also are working to expand video hearing participation more broadly to allow more attorneys and non-attorney representatives to install and use their own video equipment to attend hearings from their own offices.
Strategies:
- Expand use of MI to identify training needs and areas for improvement;
- Broaden use of case analysis tools;
- Expand use of predictive modeling;
- Simplify policies;
- Collaborate with the Bureau of Labor Statistics to collect updated occupational information; and
- Formalize our pre-decisional quality review processes to increase national uniformity.
Priority Goal: Expand the use of video hearings. We will deliver a world-class customer experience by expanding the use of video technology to hold hearings.
Statement:
Increase video hearings. By September 30, 2015, increase the percentage of hearings we hold by video from 26 percent in FY 2013 to 30 percent.
Description:
Social Security pays disability benefits to people who cannot work because they have a medical condition expected to last at least one year or result in death. When we receive a claim for disability benefits, we consider all the information concerning a case before we make an eligibility decision. When we make a decision, we send a letter explaining our decision. If you do not agree with our decision, you can appeal, asking us to look at your case again. The reconsideration is the first level of our appeals process and involves a complete review of the claim by someone who did not take part in the original decision. If you disagree with the reconsideration decision, you may ask for a hearing. An Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) who had no part in the original decision or the reconsideration of the case conducts a hearing. Though the vast majority of hearings held are disability related, ALJs also hold hearings for non-disability related issues such as retirement.
We hold hearings either in-person at one of our 169 hearings offices or by using video teleconferencing equipment at many more locations. Those locations include:
- Other hearing offices;
- Permanent remote sites, which are leased spaces, usually in government buildings, in parts of the country some distance from hearing offices with large geographical service areas;
- Claimant-only video sites, which are typically located in Social Security field offices some distance from hearing offices with large geographical service areas;and
- Our National Hearing Centers (NHC), which are special hearing offices located around the country where we hold only video hearings.
As part of our Representative Video Project, claimants may also attend a hearing at their representative’s office if that representative owns and uses video equipment approved by Social Security.
A video hearing allows hearing participants to see and hear each other through large color television screens or desktop video units. The ALJ remains in the hearing office. The ALJ can see and speak with all hearing participants and vice versa through Social Security’s secure network. As with in-person hearings, we only record audio at video hearings.
The greatest benefit of video is that it allows us to assist offices that have more work than they can complete. Being able to move work from an office that has a significant backlog to one that does not helps us provide effective service to all claimants. The economic downturn did not affect all of our hearing offices equally. Due to regional differences in the economy, some hearing offices saw their workloads soar while others did not. Rather than only build new offices in our hardest-hit areas, and hiring and moving staff at great expense, Social Security’s response was to leverage our developing video hearing technology. Because of video, we can electronically move the work to an ALJ ready to hear and decide the case.
Though we had been using video on a very limited basis since FY 2005, our breakthrough came with the introduction of the NHCs, which hold only video hearings and can therefore provide relief to any hearing office throughout the country. Beginning in FY 2008, we began opening this new kind of office.
We also accelerated the placement of video units in hearing offices. Between FY 2008 and FY 2013, we placed 1,032 video units in the hearing operation, with more than 960 of those going to traditional hearing offices. This aggressive expansion allowed hearing offices to provide assistance to one another and to hold hearings in far-flung permanent remote sites within a hearing office’s own service area. In this way, offices in California and Florida can assist offices in the Midwest and vice-versa, depending on the changing needs of our offices. In FY 2013, traditional hearing offices held approximately 23 percent of all hearings by video.
We have incrementally increased the percentage of hearings we hold by video from 20 percent in FY 2010 and FY 2011, to 23 percent in FY 2012 and now to 26 percent (179,308 hearings) in FY 2013. Much of this growth came from increasing our video footprint, achieved by equipping more and more of our hearing offices and remote hearing sites with video equipment each successive year. We are aiming to hold 28 percent of hearings by video in FY 2014 and 30 percent in FY 2015.
Though we are nearing the saturation point for video equipment placement, we believe further video hearing expansion is possible, and that we can still greatly improve customer service. We can hold more video hearings by improving the quality, marketing, and deployment of video units and by publishing a final regulation that puts time limits on a claimant’s right to decline a video hearing.
Further expansion of video hearings positions Social Security for maximum flexibility in responding to changing customer needs. Video lets us electronically move work rather than build “brick and mortar” offices whose useful lifespan may be limited.
Statement:No Data Available
Description:
We remain committed to providing the best service to the public by exploring new technologies and using modern tools to improve efficiencies throughout our disability program. We are improving the claims process, making it easier for the public to file disability applications and enabling us to process applications more efficiently.
When fully implemented, our State DDS and Federal disability case processing sites will use a common system (i.e., DCPS). DCPS will replace all the disparate applications currently in use at the State DDSs and Federal sites, many of which are rigid, outdated, and resource intensive. The new system will incorporate additional functionality, such as decision support tools, improved quality checks, improved MI, and compatibility with industry standards for electronic medical records.
Expanded use of health IT offers yet another opportunity to realize efficiencies in the disability process. Among other positive effects, health IT will enable us to quickly recognize if a treating healthcare provider is also one of our health IT partners. If a provider is a health IT partner, our systems communicate directly with the provider’s systems to request medical records, confirm the claimant or beneficiary has provided an authorization for release of information form, and return the provider’s records to us. Health IT has the potential to increase our efficiency and lower the claimant’s wait time for a decision by giving us medical evidence within minutes rather than days or weeks.
Strategies:
- Enhance our ability to share workloads among our offices to maximize resources;
- Increase process automation; and
- Expand the use of health IT.
Enhance Employment Support Programs and Create New Opportunities for Returning Beneficiaries to Work
Statement:No Data Available
Description:
We are exploring ways to improve our employment support programs to help people with disabilities remain in the workforce or return to work as quickly as possible. Currently, the complexity of our rules and beneficiaries’ fears of incurring an overpayment because of earnings can discourage their attempts to work. Working with Congress, we will seek to simplify work incentive policies and look for ways to minimize improper payments because of earnings. We will strengthen our employment support programs, including the Ticket to Work program, by applying the results of prior research and using information we capture in our systems to more effectively focus our efforts. We also will provide help for beneficiaries who want to work through the Work Incentive Planning and Assistance program. We are committed to the idea that we must focus our employment support efforts on ensuring that people who use those supports work at their maximum capacity, reaching a level of self-sufficient earnings whenever possible.
We will encourage young people who receive SSI to reduce their dependency on disability benefits as they turn 18. Recent research we funded, the Youth Transition Demonstration, has found that policy changes and improved employment services to young adults who receive SSI can sharply improve their employment outcomes. We will build on the early results of our Youth Transition Demonstration as we work with the Departments of Education, Labor, and Health and Human Services to coordinate additional efforts to promote self-sufficiency among child SSI recipients and their families.
Strategies:
- Partner with the Departments of Education, Labor, and Health and Human Services to implement Promoting Readiness of Minors on SSI;
- Simplify work incentive policies and improve programs such as Ticket to Work and the Vocational Rehabilitation Cost Reimbursement program; and
- Develop return-to-work demonstration proposals.
Priority Goals
Statement:
Increase video hearings. By September 30, 2015, increase the percentage of hearings we hold by video from 26 percent in FY 2013 to 30 percent.
Description:
Social Security pays disability benefits to people who cannot work because they have a medical condition expected to last at least one year or result in death. When we receive a claim for disability benefits, we consider all the information concerning a case before we make an eligibility decision. When we make a decision, we send a letter explaining our decision. If you do not agree with our decision, you can appeal, asking us to look at your case again. The reconsideration is the first level of our appeals process and involves a complete review of the claim by someone who did not take part in the original decision. If you disagree with the reconsideration decision, you may ask for a hearing. An Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) who had no part in the original decision or the reconsideration of the case conducts a hearing. Though the vast majority of hearings held are disability related, ALJs also hold hearings for non-disability related issues such as retirement.
We hold hearings either in-person at one of our 169 hearings offices or by using video teleconferencing equipment at many more locations. Those locations include:
- Other hearing offices;
- Permanent remote sites, which are leased spaces, usually in government buildings, in parts of the country some distance from hearing offices with large geographical service areas;
- Claimant-only video sites, which are typically located in Social Security field offices some distance from hearing offices with large geographical service areas;and
- Our National Hearing Centers (NHC), which are special hearing offices located around the country where we hold only video hearings.
As part of our Representative Video Project, claimants may also attend a hearing at their representative’s office if that representative owns and uses video equipment approved by Social Security.
A video hearing allows hearing participants to see and hear each other through large color television screens or desktop video units. The ALJ remains in the hearing office. The ALJ can see and speak with all hearing participants and vice versa through Social Security’s secure network. As with in-person hearings, we only record audio at video hearings.
The greatest benefit of video is that it allows us to assist offices that have more work than they can complete. Being able to move work from an office that has a significant backlog to one that does not helps us provide effective service to all claimants. The economic downturn did not affect all of our hearing offices equally. Due to regional differences in the economy, some hearing offices saw their workloads soar while others did not. Rather than only build new offices in our hardest-hit areas, and hiring and moving staff at great expense, Social Security’s response was to leverage our developing video hearing technology. Because of video, we can electronically move the work to an ALJ ready to hear and decide the case.
Though we had been using video on a very limited basis since FY 2005, our breakthrough came with the introduction of the NHCs, which hold only video hearings and can therefore provide relief to any hearing office throughout the country. Beginning in FY 2008, we began opening this new kind of office.
We also accelerated the placement of video units in hearing offices. Between FY 2008 and FY 2013, we placed 1,032 video units in the hearing operation, with more than 960 of those going to traditional hearing offices. This aggressive expansion allowed hearing offices to provide assistance to one another and to hold hearings in far-flung permanent remote sites within a hearing office’s own service area. In this way, offices in California and Florida can assist offices in the Midwest and vice-versa, depending on the changing needs of our offices. In FY 2013, traditional hearing offices held approximately 23 percent of all hearings by video.
We have incrementally increased the percentage of hearings we hold by video from 20 percent in FY 2010 and FY 2011, to 23 percent in FY 2012 and now to 26 percent (179,308 hearings) in FY 2013. Much of this growth came from increasing our video footprint, achieved by equipping more and more of our hearing offices and remote hearing sites with video equipment each successive year. We are aiming to hold 28 percent of hearings by video in FY 2014 and 30 percent in FY 2015.
Though we are nearing the saturation point for video equipment placement, we believe further video hearing expansion is possible, and that we can still greatly improve customer service. We can hold more video hearings by improving the quality, marketing, and deployment of video units and by publishing a final regulation that puts time limits on a claimant’s right to decline a video hearing.
Further expansion of video hearings positions Social Security for maximum flexibility in responding to changing customer needs. Video lets us electronically move work rather than build “brick and mortar” offices whose useful lifespan may be limited.
Strategic Goal:
Build a Model Workforce to Deliver Quality Service
Statement: No Data Available
Strategic Objectives
Statement:No Data Available
Description:
Over the past few years, we have consistently ranked among the top 10 Best Places to Work among large agencies in the Federal Government. Our employees believe strongly in our mission and in the work that we do for the American people. However, for continued success, we must be able to continue to attract top talent. We must also ensure that we continue to employ a diverse workforce that will be able to engage effectively with people of all ages, education levels, cultural backgrounds, and language preferences. To remain an employer of choice for current and future generations, we will use modernized recruitment strategies, such as social networking tools and virtual job fairs, and human resources programs and flexibilities. In this way, we can compete for a diverse pool of top talent.
Strategies:
- Compete for top talent through modernized recruitment strategies given changing generational expectations;
- Build a strong, diverse applicant pool through the use of various hiring flexibilities and programs, including Office of Personnel Management’s Pathways programs and volunteer internships;
- Market and expand use of hiring authorities for veterans and individuals with disabilities; and
- Ensure recruitment and selection processes focus on talent needs and core competencies for mission critical positions.
Statement:No Data Available
Description:
Changing business processes require our employees to increasingly demonstrate flexibility and resilience. We must assist our employees by providing timely training and development opportunities, as well as appropriate tools and resources. We must find ways for employees to develop more flexible career paths. To enhance performance, we must ensure that we hold employees accountable for their actions and provide them timely and effective supervisory feedback.
We must also ensure we have programs in place to strengthen our management and leadership ranks. Supporting our managers through training, as well as with tools and resources (e.g., guidelines, procedures, best practices, desk guides, automated systems) is important in ensuring effective leadership in the face of ever-increasing change and complexity.
Training and employee development will be critical to improving the competency and agility of our workforce and are key initiatives for the agency. We cannot afford during difficult budget times to sacrifice training and development – if we cut back in these areas, our service delivery will decline in the future. Increasing online services will also draw less complex work away from the field offices, so we must commit to offering highly trained staff to address the more difficult questions that will come into our field offices.
Strategies:
- Ensure effective use of the agency’s performance management systems to manage employee performance;
- Improve supervisory competencies and develop talent for future leadership opportunities;
- Create knowledge management tools and processes to ensure the capture of institutional knowledge (e.g., effective use of reemployed retirees);
- Reduce skill gaps in targeted mission critical occupations to support talent development of employees; and
- Offer ongoing access to training and development resources to support continual learning.
Statement:No Data Available
Description:
We will provide an environment where our employees feel empowered, safe, included, and engaged in the shared direction of the agency. We are flattening the organization (i.e., decreasing the middle layers of management) to allow front-line employees more opportunities to provide input into leadership decisions. We will also improve agency-wide communications and foster better collaboration between management and labor representatives.
As we make changes over the next few years, we must ensure that we continue to promote and support employees’ well-being and motivation. We will find ways to keep morale high by offering workplace flexibilities such as expanded use of telework. We will also encourage changes that support employee creativity, work-life balance, and family-friendly policies to foster employee engagement at all levels of the organization.
Strategies:
- Promote work-life balance and employee well-being through workplace flexibilities;
- Ensure access to employee services (e.g., financial literacy, career development, work-life resources) regardless of geographic location;
- Provide employees and managers with support to navigate complex personnel matters (e.g., employee conduct, performance, reasonable accommodations);
- Promote safety of employees through ongoing safety training and emergency preparedness activities;
- Engage labor organizations to promote collaboration and transparency; and
- Develop practices that facilitate open communication and understanding in order to enhance employee engagement and appreciation of our diversity.
Enhance Planning and Alignment of Human Resources to Address Current and Future Public Service Needs
Statement:No Data Available
Description:
To support ongoing workforce planning and data-driven decisions on workforce management, we must develop the internal capability to analyze trends and identify workforce-related actions and programs that correlate with and improve agency performance. We will use available MI to conduct comprehensive workforce analyses and forecast future workforce composition. We will assess current and future skill gaps. We will use this information to explore ways to re-shape our workforce to meet the service delivery needs of the American public now and into the future.
Strategies:
- Use workforce restructuring and reshaping programs (e.g., Voluntary Early Retirement Authority) to adjust and align the workforce with agency needs;
- Use human resources MI and data analytics to conduct effective workforce planning and forecasting that assists leaders in making data-driven decisions;
- Conduct data-driven performance reviews to assess, monitor, and track alignment of human capital programs with service delivery needs; and
- Utilize effective management principles to optimize organizational structures and workforce composition as we automate processes and expand self-service.
Strategic Goal:
Ensure Reliable, Secure, and Efficient IT Services
Statement: No Data Available
Strategic Objectives
Statement:No Data Available
Description:
Technology is essential to managing Social Security programs. If our systems are not functioning optimally, the productivity of our workforce immediately declines, resulting in diminished service. We must maintain strong IT performance despite rising IT demands, increasing cybersecurity risks, and constant changes in technology.
To meet our service delivery challenges, we rely upon a large and complex technology infrastructure that includes two data centers, extensive national databases, hundreds of software applications, large supporting computing platforms, and thousands of networked computers, printers, telephones, and other devices (e.g., smart phones). Change to our IT infrastructure is constant. We strive to ensure responsive, reliable performance to our customers and employees in the presence of this constant change.
Our two data centers, the National Computer Center (NCC) and the Second Support Center, maintain the demographic, wage, and benefit information that enables prompt and accurate benefit payments. The NCC has been in continuous operation as a data center since it opened in 1980. Congress approved our requested funding to build a new data center, the National Support Center (NSC), and extensive planning is underway for the move to this new facility. We will transition all operations from the existing NCC to the new NSC in FY 2015 and FY 2016. The NSC will provide increased capacity and improved operational reliability and efficiency.
Strategies:
- Successfully transition to the NSC; and
- Maintain responsive, reliable system performance.
Statement:No Data Available
Description:
Our IT is evolving to incorporate stable, modern technologies that align with our business needs. We support and employ technologies championed by the Federal Chief Information Officer (CIO) Council and other Federal directives. Examples of these technologies include the Administration’s Digital Government Strategy, shared services, modular development, and cloud computing architecture.
As we carry out our investment management processes to determine how to use our limited IT resources, we strive for a balanced strategy of investing in new and improving existing business applications and infrastructure as funding permits. We incrementally modernize our applications based on business needs, technical advancement, and risk management. We will pursue the use of newer, more adaptable technologies, while maintaining the systems that support our mission.
We will improve and expand our telephone services by offering to transfer customers calling field offices to our National 800 Number Network. This network’s sophisticated software allows us to optimize the routing of our National 800 Number Network calls to reduce our customer wait time. We made this possible by the FY 2013 conversion of our National 800 Number Network to the Citizen Access Routing Enterprise through 2020 (CARE 2020) solution. The Care 2020 software will provide us with information to better optimize service and identify our customers’ needs in order to provide a world-class customer experience.
Strategies:
- Refresh IT planning activities to effectively prioritize and manage IT investments;
- Employ technology to extend service, mitigate risk, and reduce cost; and
- Assess application portfolios, focusing on cost, business value, and technology sustainability.
Statement:No Data Available
Description:
Technology transforms how we conduct business. As the Federal Digital Government Strategy notes, advances in computer technology, the increase of high-speed networks, and mobile innovation have introduced new products and reshaped existing service options. Growing customer expectations drive us to consider an expanding number of service delivery options.
We will actively participate in the Federal CIO Council, leverage the expertise of industry IT experts and technical consultants, remain attentive to emerging technologies, and benchmark with other public and private organizations that innovate through technology. We will harness appropriate innovations to create effective and efficient service delivery options, maximizing the return on our IT investments.
Our business and technical staffs will work together to develop new, more flexible and efficient ways to perform our work, focusing on areas where reengineering is most needed. We will develop and maintain effective IT solutions for our customers and our employees.
Strategies
- Deliver accurate, convenient, and flexible agency systems and services in a cost- conscious manner;
- Explore the use of emerging technologies to improve service and increase efficiency; and
- Engage and benchmark private and public IT communities to ensure the timely identification of important new technologies and best practices.
Statement:No Data Available
Description:
We maintain a comprehensive, agency-wide information security program of controls that protect our information and communications assets. We review policies and processes regularly, taking appropriate corrective action to prevent misuse and unauthorized access to assets and sensitive data, including personally identifiable information. Given the highly sensitive nature of the personal information within our systems, data integrity and security, as well as the protection of individual privacy, must be our main IT service focus. New services and delivery options expose us to new threats. We must be vigilant and strengthen our cybersecurity intelligence and protections.
Strategies:
- Maintain information security preparedness;
- Continually adjust security processes and procedures to reflect changes in technology, the sensitivity of our data and systems, and awareness of actual and potential internal and external threats;
- Perform risk-based systems reviews to enhance continuous-monitoring and data-loss-prevention strategies; and
- Enhance our audit trail, integrity review, and fraud-prevention processes.
Expand All
FY16-17 Agency Priority Goals
An Agency Priority Goal is a near-term result or achievement that agency leadership wants to accomplish within approximately 24 months that relies predominantly on agency implementation as opposed to budget or legislative accomplishments. Click below to see this agency's FY16-17 Priority Goals.
Agency Priority Goal:
Improve customer service and convenience by increasing online transactions
Statement:
Improve customer service and convenience by increasing the volume of online transactions by 25 million each year. An increase of 25 million represents a 35 percent increase over FY 2014 volume (most recent full year data). This increase will result in a total of 112 million online transactions in FY 2016 and 137 million in FY 2017.
Description:
As the number of customers signing up for my Social Security and using eServices grows, and as the public's service expectations evolve, we have an opportunity and responsibility to offer the public a broader range of services via the Internet. We will prioritize our work efforts to ensure that our customers can access essential Social Security services whenever they want; wherever they want.
We will improve options for online customers by providing additional online services and improving existing services. These services allow our agency to provide essential information and services around the clock to those members of the public who prefer to conduct business online, allowing our frontline employees to spend more time with customers who need more personal assistance. This will provide an overall higher quality of service to our customers and moves us closer to our goal of a superior customer experience.
We are committed to providing secure and easy to use online services. In FY 2014, customers conducted almost 71 million transactions online, a 42.5 percent increase over FY 2010, when customers conducted almost 13.5 million transactions online. Developing online services for a population with a variety of experiences and comfort levels with technology presents a unique challenge. We solicit input using a variety of methods prior to developing our services. Usability testing, focus groups, and advocacy discussions are common tools we use to engage our external stakeholders. We also consult with our employees when developing online services. Once we implement new online services, we continue to engage the public by soliciting their feedback using online customer satisfaction surveys that are applied across the Federal and private sectors to measure public satisfaction with various website features. In addition to online feedback, we also use internal survey mechanisms to improve our online services. These tools provide us with standard, statistical measurements of public satisafction, and we use this information to guide decision-making for future improvements.
Important influencing factors for this goal are information security and ease of use. Executive Order (EO) 13681, Improving the Security of Consumer Financial Transactions, has established requirements that will increase security but may have an adverse impact on ease of use. As of July 2, 2015, OMB had not published guidance for the EO, but implementation of a second factor, regardless of the guidance, will require additional steps in both the registration process and for each login. The additional complexity might reduce usage
Agency Priority Goal:
Statement:
Improve the integrity of the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program by ensuring that 95 percent of our payments are free of overpayment.
Description:
The Social Security Administration manages the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program. SSI is a needs-based program that provides a monthly benefit to people who have low income and few resources, and who are age 65 or older, blind, or disabled. Adults and children (i.e. an individual under the age of 18 or an individual under age 22 who regularly attends a qualifying school and is not married nor head of a home) can receive benefits based on disability or blindness.
The SSI program is complex, in part, because we determine an individual's eligibility on a monthly basis. An individual must meet all factors of eligibility each month to receive SSI benefits. Factors of eligibility include, but are not limited to, having low income and few resources.
A person is not eligible for benefits if his or her countable resources are worth more than $2,000. Married persons who live in the same household are not eligible if their countable resources are worth more than $3,000. In general, we count as resources items that individuals can change to cash and use for their support and maintenance, such as property, stocks, U.S. savings bonds, and money in bank accounts. Generally, we do not count as resources such items as the home in which a person lives, one vehicle for transportation, burial plots for an individual or the immediate family, household goods, and personal property.
If a person is eligible for SSI, we calculate the payment based on a legal definition of income and living situation (arrangement). Income can be in-kind or cash. In-kind income is not cash, but is food, shelter, or an item that a person can use to get one of these items (e.g. a third party pays for the person's food or shelter). Some types of cash income include wages, net earnings from self-employment, Social Security benefits, pensions, and unemployment compensation.
In addition, an individual's eligibility for SSI and payment amount may change if he or she moves into a different living arrangement - whether a person lives alone, lives with others, or lives in a medical facility or other institution. When a change occurs, we decide whether the individual is eligible for SSI. If eligible for SSI, we calculate the payment. For example, when a person moves into a nursing home and is eligible for SSI, we may reduce the person's payment to $30 per month. Also, when an individual moves from his or her own home into the home of another person and the person gives food or shelter to the individual, we decide whether the change affects the individual's eligibility for SSI. If eligible for SSI, we may lower the individual's payment because the individual is receiving in-kind income.
In general, we calculate an eligible person's payment based upon income received two months (e.g. January) before the month of payment (e.g. March). Since an individual's circumstances may change from month to month, paying the correct amount at the right time is problematic. Therefore, we are working to increase our ability to pay benefits correctly by making the program simpler and using more data and technology. While our main goal is to prevent paying individuals more SSI payments than they are due (overpayments), we are also committed to avoid paying people less money than they are due (underpayments).
We must decide eligibility monthly and calculate payment monthly based upon several factors, such as income and living arrangements. Mostly, we depend on an individual to report changes that may affect eligibility or payment. Without a person's timely reporting, we have difficulty getting information about changes and correcting benefits quickly if necessary, which causes us to release some improper payments. Additionally, if an individual reports changes timely (i.e. no later than 10 days after the end of the month in which the change occurred), the agency must give written notice of how the change affects his or her benefit before we make any changes. The written notice must give the person the right to appeal our decision. The notice and appeal process delay our ability to correct payments timely.
Generally, we pay SSI on the first day of the month. We decide eligibility about the third week of a month (e.g. February) for the next month (March). If a person is eligible for SSI, we calculate payment based upon income the person received two months (e.g. January) before the month of payment (e.g. March). Since we use information that we have before the first day of the month to decide eligibility and payment for the month, any changes that may occur during the month can affect the benefit due, which can result in an overpayment or underpayment. Therefore, the program's rules for deciding eligibility and payment may cause us to issue benefits incorrectly.
Agency Priority Goal:
Statement:
By the end of fiscal year (FY) 2017, we will improve customer service in the hearings process by reducing the wait time for a hearing decision. In FY 2016, we will decide 99% of cases that begin the fiscal year at 430 days old or older (our 252,000 oldest cases). 25% decided by Q1 50% decided by Q2 75% decided by Q3 99% decided by Q4 In FY 2017, we will decide 99% of cases that begin the fiscal year at 365 days old or older.
Description:
More than one million people are waiting for a hearing decision from an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) on their requests for disability benefits. Many of those cases are pending because the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR) does not currently have the resources in place to complete them in a timely manner. Pending requests for hearings have risen for three consecutive years due to recession-related filings and our inability to hire sufficient ALJs. Resolving this public service crisis is one of the Social Security Administration's highest priorities.
Although we constantly explore process efficiencies to improve our capacity and performance, only ALJs can hear and decide cases. We expect that with increased ALJ and support staff hiring in ODAR, we will begin reducing the pending requests for hearings before the end of calendar year 2016. Our first priority area in reducing the pending is focusing on completing our oldest pending cases first and we must do so without sacrificing the quality of our hearing decisions.
Historically our Aged Case Initiatives have proved highly effective in reducing our pending and eliminating our oldest cases first. Clearing our aged cases is vitally important to the Agency, to the Acting Commissioner, and most importantly, to the American people. It is both a business imperative and a moral imperative to serve these members of the public who have waited the longest by providing timely, quality disability hearing decisions.
Agency Priority Goal:
Statement:
Increase customer satisfaction with our services by: 1. For the eight agency services included in the ForeSee eGovernment Satisfaction Index, ensuring that our customers continue to rate our internet services above the excellent threshold (over 80 points) on average, with a FY 2016 average of at least 84.5 and a FY 2017 average of at least 85. 2. Ensuring that our customers rate our office and telephone services as Excellent, Very Good, or Good (E/VG/G), with a FY 2016 target of 80%, and a FY 2017 target of 80%.
Description:
Customer relationships with Social Security span a lifetime and are supported by access to accurate, real-time, and secure information and services. Our vision is that enabled by technology and our employees, our customers have real-time access and customer engagement when and where they need us. Customer choice of where and how they receive service is important. Wage earners, retirees, survivors, and individuals with disabilities and their loved ones come to our agency seeking immediate assistance, care, and help. Other customers, including employers, businesses, non-profits, advocates, oversight groups and other stakeholders, also require our attention and support.
We have a long history of exemplary customer service with high customer satisfaction ratings. In surveys and anecdotally through social media and other forums, many of our customers have praised the service we provide. Our goal is to achieve even greater success in customer service and satisfaction through innovative online self-service options.
The strategies and milestones in this plan are designed to ensure our customers are highly satisfied, and that we solicit and incorporate feedback from our customers to improve customer satisfaction.
Expand All
FY14-15 Agency Priority Goals
An Agency Priority Goal is a near-term result or achievement that agency leadership wants to accomplish within approximately 24 months that relies predominantly on agency implementation as opposed to budget or legislative accomplishments. Click below to see this agency's FY14-15 Priority Goals.
Agency Priority Goal:
Statement:
In FY 2014, customers processed over 70.7 million transactions online. In FYs 2014 and 2015, we will increase the number of online transactions by 10 percent over each respective prior fiscal year. This equates to 77.8 million online transactions in FY 2015.
Description:
Online services are vital to good public service. The Internet provides the public with the ability to conduct Social Security business at their convenience and at their own pace, without the need to travel to a field office or wait to meet with one of our representatives. In addition to being convenient, increased use of online services benefits the public and SSA by reducing the average time our employees spend processing claims, freeing them to handle workloads that are more complicated.
Over the last few years, we implemented several new, secure and easy-to-use online services, which allow us to handle the surge of benefit applications better. Our goal is to continue increasing the variety of online services we offer, including the ability to apply for a range of benefits, access information instantly, and update records. We are committed to making our online services secure and easy to use. In FY 2013, customers submitted more than 2.5 million retirement and disability applications online, an 80 percent increase over FY 2009, when customers submitted 1.4 million claims online.
Developing online services for a population with a variety of experiences and comfort levels with technology presents a unique challenge. We solicit stakeholder input using a variety of methods prior to developing our services. Usability testing, focus groups, and advocacy discussions are common tools we use to engage our external stakeholders. We also consult with our employees when developing online services. Once we implement new online services, we continue to engage the public by soliciting their feedback using the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). Federal and private sectors use ACSI surveys to measure public satisfaction with various website features. In addition to the ACSI feedback, we also use internal survey mechanisms to improve our online services. These tools provide us with standard, statistical measurements of public satisfaction, and we use this information to guide decision-making for future improvements.
Agency Priority Goal:
Reduce the improper payment rate made under the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program.
Statement:
Reduce the improper payment rate made under the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program. By September 30, 2015*, we will reduce the improper payment rate made under the SSI program to no more than 6.2% of all payments made under the SSI program (i.e. overpayments and underpayments).
*Because of the difficulties in evaluating payment accuracy, there is a 7-month lag in obtaining end–of-year data. We will not have FY 2014 data available until April 2015. FY 2015 data will be available in April 2016.
Description:
SSI is a means-tested program designed to provide a monthly payment to aged, blind, or disabled people with limited income and resources. Adults, as well as children, can receive payments based on disability or blindness.
SSI payments are calculated using a statutory definition where payment levels for beneficiaries can change from month-to–month, which may result in an improper payment. Two factors used to determine an individual's monthly benefit are income and living arrangements. Income can be in cash or in-kind, and is usually anything that a person receives that can be used to obtain food or shelter. Cash income includes wages, Social Security and other pensions, and unemployment compensation. In-kind income is food and shelter or something someone can use to obtain those items.
Individuals' SSI benefit amounts also may change if they move in to a different “living arrangement”—whether a person lives alone or with others, or resides in a medical facility or other institution. For instance, when an individual moves into a nursing home, the person’s monthly payment may be reduced to as little as $30 per month. If the person moves from his or her own household into the household of another person, and that person provides food or shelter, the payment also may be reduced.
An individual’s resources also affect eligibility for the SSI program. An individual is not eligible for benefits if his or her countable resources exceed $2,000, and couples are not eligible if their countable resources exceed $3,000. In general, SSA counts as resources items individuals can convert to cash and use for their support and maintenance, such as bank accounts, stocks, and bonds.
The design of the SSI program requires that SSA adjust benefit payments to account for these factors. SSA explains to SSI recipients that they must report these changes to us when they occur. Absent their timely reporting, it is difficult to obtain information about these changes in a prompt fashion, resulting in some erroneous payments. Additionally, even if individuals report in a timely manner, SSA is required to first provide written notification of how the change affects their benefit amounts and provide due process protections. This process delays adjusting payments to the correct amount. Furthermore, SSA generally makes SSI payments on the first day of the month for eligibility in that month. Even if the payment is correct when paid, any changes that may occur during the month can affect the payment due, which can result in an overpayment or underpayment. Thus, the program requirements themselves sometimes cause erroneous payments.
SSA’s SSI improper payment accuracy reflects the complex nature of the SSI program. SSA is working on improving administration of the SSI program, focusing on how technology can make the agency more efficient. SSA is currently offering telephone wage reporting and a smart-phone application for reporting wages and is expanding our use of those technologies. SSA is also working on expanded use of Lexis-Nexis to verify real property, and numerous other projects designed to improve our service and ensure the integrity of our payments.
Agency Priority Goal:
Statement:
Increase video hearings. By September 30, 2015, increase the percentage of hearings we hold by video from 26 percent in FY 2013 to 30 percent.
Description:
Social Security pays disability benefits to people who cannot work because they have a medical condition expected to last at least one year or result in death. When we receive a claim for disability benefits, we consider all the information concerning a case before we make an eligibility decision. When we make a decision, we send a letter explaining our decision. If you do not agree with our decision, you can appeal, asking us to look at your case again. The reconsideration is the first level of our appeals process and involves a complete review of the claim by someone who did not take part in the original decision. If you disagree with the reconsideration decision, you may ask for a hearing. An Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) who had no part in the original decision or the reconsideration of the case conducts a hearing. Though the vast majority of hearings held are disability related, ALJs also hold hearings for non-disability related issues such as retirement.
We hold hearings either in-person at one of our 169 hearings offices or by using video teleconferencing equipment at many more locations. Those locations include:
- Other hearing offices;
- Permanent remote sites, which are leased spaces, usually in government buildings, in parts of the country some distance from hearing offices with large geographical service areas;
- Claimant-only video sites, which are typically located in Social Security field offices some distance from hearing offices with large geographical service areas;and
- Our National Hearing Centers (NHC), which are special hearing offices located around the country where we hold only video hearings.
As part of our Representative Video Project, claimants may also attend a hearing at their representative’s office if that representative owns and uses video equipment approved by Social Security.
A video hearing allows hearing participants to see and hear each other through large color television screens or desktop video units. The ALJ remains in the hearing office. The ALJ can see and speak with all hearing participants and vice versa through Social Security’s secure network. As with in-person hearings, we only record audio at video hearings.
The greatest benefit of video is that it allows us to assist offices that have more work than they can complete. Being able to move work from an office that has a significant backlog to one that does not helps us provide effective service to all claimants. The economic downturn did not affect all of our hearing offices equally. Due to regional differences in the economy, some hearing offices saw their workloads soar while others did not. Rather than only build new offices in our hardest-hit areas, and hiring and moving staff at great expense, Social Security’s response was to leverage our developing video hearing technology. Because of video, we can electronically move the work to an ALJ ready to hear and decide the case.
Though we had been using video on a very limited basis since FY 2005, our breakthrough came with the introduction of the NHCs, which hold only video hearings and can therefore provide relief to any hearing office throughout the country. Beginning in FY 2008, we began opening this new kind of office.
We also accelerated the placement of video units in hearing offices. Between FY 2008 and FY 2013, we placed 1,032 video units in the hearing operation, with more than 960 of those going to traditional hearing offices. This aggressive expansion allowed hearing offices to provide assistance to one another and to hold hearings in far-flung permanent remote sites within a hearing office’s own service area. In this way, offices in California and Florida can assist offices in the Midwest and vice-versa, depending on the changing needs of our offices. In FY 2013, traditional hearing offices held approximately 23 percent of all hearings by video.
We have incrementally increased the percentage of hearings we hold by video from 20 percent in FY 2010 and FY 2011, to 23 percent in FY 2012 and now to 26 percent (179,308 hearings) in FY 2013. Much of this growth came from increasing our video footprint, achieved by equipping more and more of our hearing offices and remote hearing sites with video equipment each successive year. We are aiming to hold 28 percent of hearings by video in FY 2014 and 30 percent in FY 2015.
Though we are nearing the saturation point for video equipment placement, we believe further video hearing expansion is possible, and that we can still greatly improve customer service. We can hold more video hearings by improving the quality, marketing, and deployment of video units and by publishing a final regulation that puts time limits on a claimant’s right to decline a video hearing.
Further expansion of video hearings positions Social Security for maximum flexibility in responding to changing customer needs. Video lets us electronically move work rather than build “brick and mortar” offices whose useful lifespan may be limited.
Agency Priority Goal:
Statement:
Increase the number of my Social Security accounts. In Fiscal Years 2014 and 2015, increase the number of customers who sign up for my Social Security by 15 percent over each respective prior fiscal year.
Description:
Based on the most recent economic assumptions, we believe the demand for Social Security services will continue to remain at high levels. While operating in an environment of constrained resources, delivering high quality services that provide customers with the information and level of service they expect is an important aspect of our service delivery strategy. The Internet provides the public with the ability to conduct Social Security business at their convenience and at their own pace, without the need to travel to a field office or wait to meet with one of our representatives. In addition to being convenient, increased use of online services benefits the public and SSA by reducing the average time our employees spend processing claims, freeing them to handle workloads that are more complicated.
To facilitate these efforts, we recently implemented a new platform called my Social Security. After completing the secure registration process either online or by visiting one of our field offices, customers can obtain an online version of their Social Security Statement, which provides workers a convenient way to verify the accuracy of earnings posted to their Social Security records and to receive benefit estimates based on those earnings. Individuals who receive benefits can perform additional functions, such as checking their Social Security benefits, obtaining a benefit verification letter, and changing their address or direct deposit information. These services demonstrate our commitment to providing the American people with a secure, user-friendly way to conduct business with Social Security.
