Social Security

SSA Could Save Millions by Targeting Reviews of State Disability Decisions Gao ID: HRD-90-28 March 5, 1990

GAO reviewed the Social Security Administration's (SSA) effectiveness in evaluating state disability determination services' (DDS) disability determinations.

GAO found that: (1) in 1988, SSA reviews saved an estimated $69 million in disability payments but only corrected about 10.5 percent of erroneous DDS allowances; (2) SSA did not have enough medical personnel to evaluate all the cases that it selected for review; (3) SSA could have saved an additional $32 million in benefits if it had targeted its 1988 reviews to the most error-prone cases; (4) targeting review samples would be more time-consuming, would require medical staff increases and would have increased 1988 review costs by an estimated $21.1 million; (5) SSA saved only $1.09 for each dollar that it spent on benefits continuance reviews in 1988; and (6) applying 1988 estimates, SSA could have saved about $120 million in benefits if it had combined sample targeting measures with a shift in funding from continuance reviews to initial reviews.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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