Social Security

Selective Face-to-Face Interviews With Disability Claimants Could Reduce Appeals Gao ID: HRD-89-22 April 20, 1989

In response to a congressional request, GAO provided information on certain aspects of the Social Security Administration's (SSA) appeals process, including: (1) the reasons for administrative law judges' (ALJ) high reversal rates for state disability determination services' (DDS) decisions; and (2) suggestions for improving the SSA appeal process.

GAO reviewed state DDS decisions for 1986, and found that: (1) ALJ reversed over 60 percent of DDS denials of benefits; (2) ALJ questioned benefit claimants extensively during hearings and determined that their functional capacity was more limited than DDS had determined; (3) most claimants appealed DDS decisions, and were often represented by attorneys on a contingency-fee basis; (4) ALJ generally requested medical advisers' and vocational experts' opinions and often sent claimants to independent physicians for medical examination; (5) ALJ usually reversed DDS determinations in cases involving older claimants; and (6) ALJ less frequently reversed determinations in cases where state DDS conducted personal interviews with claimants at the reconsideration stage of the appeal procedure.

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