Social Security Administration

Major Changes in SSA's Business Processes Are Imperative Gao ID: T-AIMD-94-106 April 14, 1994

The Social Security Administration's (SSA) current disability determination process is extremely stressed, burdened with increasing workloads and enormous backlogs. SSA has turned to automation to improve operations, but these efforts have had only a minimal impact because they focused on automating existing processes that are inefficient. SSA's April 1994 proposal for redesigning the disability process is a credible proposal that would make the basic changes needed to realistically cope with disability determination workloads. The proposal, which combines top management leadership with the necessary staff and money, documents the existing disability determination problems and recommends a solution to dramatically change the process. As with any major reform, however, many implementation issues still need to be addressed, including new staffing and training demands, developing necessary automation requirements, and confronting the entrenched cultural barriers to changes.



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