[Federal Register: August 10, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 154)]
[Notices]
[Page 45890-45891]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr10au06-138]
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SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION
Modifications to the Disability Determination Procedures;
Extension of Testing of Some Disability Redesign Features
AGENCY: Social Security Administration (SSA).
ACTION: Notice of the extension of tests involving modifications to the
disability determination procedures.
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SUMMARY: We are announcing the extension of tests involving
modifications to our disability determination procedures that we are
conducting under the authority of current rules codified at 20 CFR
404.906 and 416.1406. These rules provide authority to test several
modifications to the disability determination procedures that we
normally follow in adjudicating claims for disability insurance
benefits under title II of the Social Security Act (the Act) and for
supplemental security income payments based on disability under title
XVI of the Act. We have decided to extend testing of the two redesign
features of the disability prototype for up to 3 years in the following
disability determination services (DDSs): New York, Pennsylvania,
Alabama, Michigan, Louisiana, Missouri, Colorado, California (Los
Angeles North and West Branches), and Alaska. We are not extending
testing of these features in the New Hampshire DDS due to the
publication of the final rule changes to 20 CFR 404.1527(f)(1) and 20
CFR 405.201 that take effect August 1, 2006. These rule changes are
initially only in effect in the Boston Region.
DATES: We are extending our selection of cases to be included in these
tests from September 30, 2006 until no later than September 30, 2009.
If we decide to continue selection of cases for these tests beyond this
date, we will publish another notice in the Federal Register.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Phil Landis, Office of Disability
Determinations, Social Security Administration, 6401 Security
Boulevard, Baltimore, Maryland 21235-6401, 410-965-5388.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Current regulations at 20 CFR 404.906 and
416.1406 authorize us to test, individually, or in any combination,
different modifications to the disability determination procedures. We
have conducted several tests under the authority of these rules,
including a prototype that incorporates a number of modifications to
the disability determination procedures that the DDSs use. The
prototype included three redesign features, and we previously extended
the tests of two of those features: the use of a single decisionmaker,
in which a disability examiner may make the initial disability
determination in most cases without requiring the signature of a
medical consultant; and elimination of the reconsideration level of
review. We are extending the testing of the two redesign features of
the disability prototype.
We also have conducted another test involving the use of a single
decisionmaker who may make the initial disability determination in most
cases without requiring the signature of a medical consultant. We are
extending the period during which we will select cases to be included
in this test of the single decisionmaker feature in the following DDSs:
West Virginia, Florida, Kentucky, North Carolina, Kansas, Nevada, Guam,
and Washington. We are not extending this test in the Maine and Vermont
DDSs due to the publication of the final rule change to 20 CFR
404.1527(f)(1). The rule change goes into effect on August 1, 2006 in
the Boston Region only.
Extension of Testing of Some Disability Redesign Features
On August 30, 1999, we published in the Federal Register a notice
announcing a prototype that would test a new disability claims process
in 10 States, also called the prototype process (64 FR 47218). On
December 23, 1999, we published a notice in the Federal Register (65 FR
72134) extending the period during which we would select cases to be
included in a separate test of the single decisionmaker feature. In
these notices, we stated that selection of cases was expected to be
concluded on or about December 31, 2001. We also stated that, if we
decided to continue the tests beyond that date, we would publish
another notice in the Federal Register. We subsequently published
notices in the Federal Register extending selection of cases for these
tests. Most recently, on September 26, 2005, we published a notice
extending selection of cases for the tests until no later than
September 30, 2006 (70 FR 56204). We also stated that, if we decided to
continue selection of cases for these tests beyond that date, we would
publish another notice in the Federal Register. We have decided to
extend selection of cases for two features of the prototype process
(single decisionmaker and elimination of the reconsideration step), and
the separate test of single decisionmaker beyond September 30, 2006. We
expect that our selection of cases for these tests will end on or
before September 30, 2009.
[[Page 45891]]
This extension also applies to the locations in the State of New
York that we added to the prototype test in a notice published in the
Federal Register on December 26, 2000 (65 FR 81553).
Dated: August 3, 2006.
Linda S. McMahon,
Deputy Commissioner for Operations.
[FR Doc. E6-13102 Filed 8-9-06; 8:45 am]
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