[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 46 (Friday, March 7, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12495-12496]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-4531]
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SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION
[Docket No. SSA-2008-0009]
Modifications to the Disability Determination Procedures;
Reinstatement of ``Prototype'' and ``Single Decisionmaker'' Tests in
States in the Boston Region
AGENCY: Social Security Administration (SSA).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: Effective March 23, 2008, we are reinstating New Hampshire as
a ``prototype'' State in the disability redesign tests we are
conducting under the authority of our regulations. We are also
reinstating Maine and Vermont as States that use ``single
decisionmakers'' under the same authority. These three States stopped
participating in the disability redesign tests on August 1, 2006, when
they began to participate in the Disability Service Improvement (DSI)
initiative that we have been testing in our Boston region since that
date. On January 15, 2008, we published a final rule in the Federal
Register suspending the Federal Reviewing Official review level of the
DSI process. The final rule will be effective on March 23, 2008.
Therefore, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont will resume their
participation in the disability redesign tests on the effective date of
the final rule.
DATES: On March 23, 2008, New Hampshire will resume its participation
as a prototype State, and Maine and Vermont will resume their
participation as single decisionmaker States. Selection of cases for
the current tests is scheduled to end no later than September 30, 2009.
(71 FR 45890). We will use the same date for Maine, New Hampshire, and
Vermont. If we decide to continue selection of cases for these tests
beyond this date in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and the other States
that are participating in the tests, we will publish another notice in
the Federal Register.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michele Schaefer, Office of Disability
Programs, Social Security Administration, 6401 Security Boulevard,
Baltimore, MD 21235-6401, 410-594-0083, for information about this
notice. For information on eligibility or filing for benefits, call our
national toll-free number, 1-800-772-1213 or TTY 1-800-325-0778, or
visit our Internet site, Social Security Online, at http://www.socialsecurity.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Our current rules at Sec. Sec. 404.906 and
416.1406 authorize us to test, individually or in any combination,
different
[[Page 12496]]
modifications to our disability determination procedures. We have
conducted several tests under the authority of these rules. One of
these tests is a ``prototype'' that incorporates two modifications to
the disability determination procedures that we use:
A single decisionmaker (SDM), in which disability
examiners in the State agencies that make disability determinations for
us may make the initial disability determination in most cases without
requiring the signature of a medical or psychological consultant, and
Elimination of the reconsideration level of the
administrative review process.
Another test uses SDMs, but keeps the reconsideration level.
Until August 1, 2006, there were 10 States participating in the
prototype test: Alabama, Alaska, California (Los Angeles North and West
Branches), Colorado, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, New
York, and Pennsylvania. Another 10 State agencies participated in the
SDM-only test: Florida, Guam, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Nevada, North
Carolina, Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia. On August 1, 2006,
Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, which are States in our Boston
region, stopped participating in their respective tests because they
were among the first States to implement the DSI process.\1\ The tests
in the other States have continued.
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\1\ The other States in the Boston region are Connecticut,
Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.
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On January 15, 2008, we published a final rule entitled,
``Suspension of New Claims to the Federal Reviewing Official Review
Level'' (73 FR 2411).\2\ The Federal Reviewing Official review level
was part of the DSI process and replaced the reconsideration level of
our administrative review process for cases we adjudicated in the
Boston region under the DSI process. As the title of the final rule
states, we will be suspending the Federal Reviewing Official process.
This means that we will be going back to the same processes we were
following before August 1, 2006, whether that process was
reconsideration under Sec. Sec. 404.907 and 416.1407 or the testing
procedures under Sec. Sec. 404.906 and 416.1406. Therefore, as of the
effective date of the final rule suspending the FedRO process:
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\2\ In the notice we published on January 15, 2008, we stated
that the effective date of the final rule would be March 15, 2008.
However, on February 27, 2008, we published a correction notice in
the Federal Register providing that the effective date would be
March 23, 2008 (73 FR 10381).
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New Hampshire will become a prototype State again,
The first level of appeal in all the other States in the
Boston region will be reconsideration by the State agency, and
Maine and Vermont will use SDMs.
Since the rule suspending the use of the Federal Reviewing Official
will be effective on March 23, 2008, that is also the date on which we
will make the changes described here in Maine, New Hampshire, and
Vermont.
In a Federal Register notice we published on August 10, 2006, we
explained that the selection of cases for the current tests is
scheduled to end no later than September 30, 2009 (71 FR 45890). We
also explained that we may decide to extend the tests, and that, if we
do, we will publish another notice in the Federal Register. We are not
extending the scheduled ending dates of these tests now, and will use
the same date for Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont that we use for the
other States participating in the tests. Therefore, our selection of
cases in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont will end on or before
September 30, 2009, unless we publish another notice in the Federal
Register extending the tests.
Dated: March 3, 2008.
Linda S. McMahon,
Deputy Commissioner for Operations.
[FR Doc. E8-4531 Filed 3-6-08; 8:45 am]
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