How Long It Takes To Get A Social Security Disability Hearing Is Getting Shorter

It looks like Social Security is making progress in how long it takes at the Social Security Disability Hearing level. I recently added the national ranking report as of February 2011 to my Social Security Disability website. There were several things that really stood out and quite frankly shocked me. Not only have the national averages in days for how long it takes from the time you request a hearing until you get a decision gone down, but they went down very significantly. What really amazed me was how much Atlanta and Atlanta North had improved their hearing wait times and rankings. In the national ranking report from May of 2008 the average wait time was 900 days in Atlanta North and 973 days in Atlanta downtown. These were the two worst-ranked hearing offices in terms of how long it took to get a hearing decision. They were ranked 141 and 142 from a total of 142 hearing offices. This meant claimants in Atlanta were waiting almost 3 years from the time they requested their hearing until they got a decision. This was clearly embarrassing for the hearing offices in Atlanta, and for the Social Security Administration. To their credit, they did something about it, and it is quite amazing at what they were able to accomplish. In the national ranking report from November 2009 Atlanta downtown's average waiting period went down to 468 days and North Atlanta went down to 475 days. North Atlanta was then ranked 98 out of 143 and Atlanta downtown was ranked 92 out of 143. The national ranking report from February 2011 showed an even more remarkable improvement. The average wait time at hearing in Atlanta downtown is now down to 302 days with Atlanta North down to 278 days. This means in just four years claimants in Atlanta now have one third the average wait time to get a decision at hearing then claimants did in Atlanta in May of 2008. Atlanta North is now ranked 16th in the 157 present hearing offices and Atlanta downtown is ranked 30th. There was clearly a focus on hearing offices that were ranking extremely poorly, but in the process it also brought down the national average overall. In the May 2008 national report, the national average from the time one requested a hearing until they got a decision was 523 days. In the November 2009 national report, the national average was 446 days. Presently, in the February 2011 national report, the processing time is down to 365 days. So how did they do it? Over the last several years SSA's budget allowed them to open 15 new hearing offices and about five of these were new National Hearing Centers that held video hearings in places with the biggest backlog of cases. The Social Security Administration also hired many new ALJ's and support staffs. There is also very few if any paper files left and the Social Security Administration is now essentially fully electronic. Is the overall wait time for disabled individuals to get through the Social Security disability and SSI process still too long? I think most of us would answer that it surely is, but you have to give the Social Security Administration, the individual hearing offices, and most of all its employees credit for taking great strides in the right direction. For many people with claims for SSDI or SSI these statistics are of little comfort to their financial hardships and probably the most difficult times of their lives, but it is important for people to know that a strong effort is being made to reduce the time they have to wait as much as possible. I will be watching the national ranking report closely to see if the trend continues despite the economy, increasing number of claims, and budget cuts. To see the full ranking reports I am referring to in this post visit my page on the Ultimate Social Security Disability Guide called "how long does it take".

Appeal Denied SSDI Claim at Application or Reconsideration

In almost all situations, if you want to win your Social Security disability claim you should request a hearing if you are denied at application in states that don't have reconsideration or if denied at reconsideration in states that do have it. This may seem obvious, but I have seen so many people come to me who did not appeal their denial at application or reconsideration in time and instead filed a new application either right after the denial or months or years later. This is a big mistake in most cases for several reasons. One reason, is that in an SSDI claim you can be paid benefits one year prior to your application and in SSI cases you can get paid benefits from the date of your application. Therefore, if you do not appeal you may be losing back due benefits that you would have been entitled to had you appealed instead of filing a new application. If you made this mistake, you may want to seek the help of a Social Security Disability lawyer, since depending on when you filed your new application it is often possible to reopen the prior claim and preserve the past due benefits that would be owed to you under the old claim. Another reason you should request a hearing, is that your chances of winning at the hearing stage is in most cases is better than your chance of winning on a new application. This was confirmed by a report done by the office of the Inspector General (OIG) for the Social Security Administration (SSA). They found that certain medical conditions were approved at significantly higher rates at the hearing level then at application or reconsideration. The medical conditions that stood out the most were diabetes mellitus, back conditions, osteoarthrosis and similar disorders, and medical conditions of muscle, ligament and fascia. One of the reasons appears to be that more claimants were represented at the hearing level then at application or reconsideration. The OIG report mentions other conclusions as well such as the claimant's age impacted disability determinations at application, reconsideration and hearing levels. Cases were approved at hearing based on a different medical condition then the medical condition that the application and reconsideration decisions were based on. They also found that hearing offices and administrative law judges had significantly different allowance rates with wide variations. The OIG based on this report plans to further investigate the causes of these differences. In my opinion, the fact that more people were represented at hearing is probably the biggest reason for the higher allowance rates at hearing then at application reconsideration. To see the full report by OIG for SSA you can find it at http://www.ssa.gov/oig/ADOBEPDF/A-07-09-19083.pdf
I also want to note that just because the percentage of cases that win at hearing are higher than at application this does not mean that all cases are denied at application which is a widely held belief on the Internet. In fact, I believe if more people were represented at application this gap in approval rates between application and hearing would shrink significantly saving the claimant and Social Security a great deal of time and reduce overall processing times of claims in general.

Social Security Disability and the Holidays

It has been my experience that Social Security Disability and SSI claims decisions appear to slow down during the holidays. I believe this is because many employees of Social Security and Administrative Law Judges (ALJ) like everyone else this time of year have many things to do during this season. I have no statistics to back up my claim that there are less SSDI and SSI hearings scheduled or decisions made, but I noticed it in my practice over the years. I also believe there is a slow down because many people take vacation time at this time of the year and take sick or vacation days to do some shopping. It makes sense, since if you consider how hectic this time of year is for you, it is no different for the people who work for SSA or the ALJs at the Social Security hearing offices. To see how long it takes to get a Social Security Disability decision visit my page on the topic which shows you the average wait time at the hearing level for each state and SSDI hearing office. This is not something I see as a huge problem, but if you do not get a decision around this time and you are at the time frame were you would think you might don't be too surprised if your decision or hearing date comes after the holiday season. I am only telling you this so you can be aware, so you can mentally prepare yourself for the possibility that your case could be slowed down a little. Just to be clear, it may not be the case and only a local thing I have noticed in the offices I deal with on the most frequent basis, but it also does make sense that there would be at least a little slow down in the processing of SSD and SSI claims at this time of the year. I hope that none of your cases are delayed by the holidays and that you get a favorable decision before the holidays, so you can enjoy them a little more without having to worry about you Social Security disability claim. Not much you can do about any possible slow down except do everything on your end to make sure Social Security has all the information they need to find you disabled. Take this time to research my free Social Security disability information at my website.

Is there any way to get a favorable decision at the hearing level without a hearing?

The short answer is yes. However, the one method I am about to explain is underutilized or not used at all by many lawyers and representatives and sometimes over used. It is called a requests for a fully favorable on the record decision also frequently called OTRs. This method of getting a favorable determination is not a good choice for all claims. When a lawyer decides to ask for a fully favorable on the record decision before a hearing they should only do so when they feel they have an extremely good case with the evidence they have. The lawyer then writes a brief detailing why his client is disabled under the rules and how a fully favorable decision is supported by the evidence in the file. As I said earlier, there are some lawyers and representatives who never do this. On the other end of the spectrum, there are lawyers and representatives who do this on every case or close to it. Briefs for OTR's are most successful when they are used sparingly for only cases they feel are strong enough that they can win by this method. The reason I say this is because if the lawyer is known by the employees at the hearing offices to only send requests for fully favorable on the record decisions when it is appropriate, then the lawyer's brief is more likely to be read quicker and given more credence since the lawyer will have a good track record with that office. Most people at the hearing stage probably feel their case is strong enough for an OTR. However, this decision should be left up to the lawyer who is very familiar with the types of claims that are likely to get a favorable result using this method. The hearing offices like to approve extremely good cases before a hearing because it decreases the average wait time for a hearing at that office because there is one less hearing to schedule. However, the hearing offices do not like to receive requests for OTR's if it is not an extremely good case because it can actually slow down the offices workflow by requiring their attorneys to do extra reading without any benefit to the hearing office. A successful OTR can decrease and individuals wait for decision in some cases from years to months. There is nothing wrong with asking your lawyer or representatives if your case is strong enough at the moment to request an OTR but you should respect your attorneys decision not to do this if he feels your case is not ready and not likely to result in a favorable decision without a hearing. Keep in mind, most cases at the hearing level should not request an OTR. In fact, most cases that win at the hearing level will still have to go through the hearing process. In many cases, your testimony at the Social Security hearing can play a big part in you being found disabled. So if your lawyer decides not to do an OTR in your case, do not look at it as if this means you have a bad case, it just means your case might need more development or your testimony at a hearing is crucial to the case. Lastly, I want to mention that even if a request for an on the record fully favorable decision is denied you will still have an opportunity to have a hearing and a decision will be made after that hearing.

Are Social Security Disability Hearing Backlogs Being Reduced?

As of March 2009 Social Security has had a drop in the number of disability hearings pending for three straight months. However, the number of applicants requesting a hearing has increased this year. The probable culprit is the lagging economy and baby boomer generation. This year the number of hearing requests is up 10% compared to last year. More bad news, there is also an increase in cases at the lower levels compared to last year by about the same 10%. The majority of these cases at the lower level will begin to reach the hearing stage soon. This will cause increased pressure and backlog at the Social Security hearing offices. Now back to some good news. There is 90 more administrative law judges then there was last year. It has also been reported that the ALJ's have increased their production of hearing decisions. There has also been an increase in hearing decisions decided by attorney advisers before they are assigned to a judge. Unfortunately, I have more bad news to report. Although SSA statistics are showing that more hearings are being held, there appears to be a slowdown between the time of the hearing until the claimant gets the decision. One cause of this problem appears to be that there is a decrease in the number of decision writers compared to last year. The result of all this when factored together appears to be keeping the processing times about the same as they were a year ago at the hearing stage. From the time you request a hearing until you get a decision it still averages around 500 days. So although SSA should be commended on its efforts to reduce the backlog it appears the increase in cases is thwarting its efforts to do so. At least, the backlog does not appear to be getting any worse. This is of little comfort to those who have to wait for a hearing. This information was obtained from the NOSSCR Forum dated April 2009 and from SSA's official statistics.

Efforts to Reduce Social Security Disability Hearing Wait Times

Anyone with a Social Security disability claim and the lawyers that help them all know that it takes way too long to get a hearing. The good news, is that as part of the stimulus package the Social Security Administration will be receiving additional funds to open new hearing offices and hire additional employees including administrative law judges. The increase funding should also help with SSDI and SSI claims at the lower levels as well. SSA also plans to hire a substantial amount of new employees to handle the application reconsideration levels as well. Social Security is expected to hire at least 7000 new employees by September of 2009. The most significant backlog is still at the hearing level and this appears to be where the emphasis is being placed. There is plans to open 13 new hearing offices. The Social Security Administration has already opened two new National Hearing Centers, one in Falls Church, Virginia and the other in Albuquerque, New Mexico. These NHC will handle cases by video hearing for the most backlogged ODAR offices. There is also plans to open two new NHC's one in Chicago, Illinois and one in Baltimore, Maryland. The 13 new hearing offices are to be opened in Phoenix Arizona, St. Petersburg Florida, Tallahassee Florida, Atlanta South Georgia, Danville or Portage Indiana, Topeka Kansas, Livonia Michigan, Mount Pleasant Michigan, Fayetteville North Carolina, Akron Ohio, Toledo Ohio, Auburn Washington, and Madison Wisconsin. Although this is good news, because on paper it looks like this should certainly help those waiting for Social Security disability hearings, but it is still difficult to tell how big an impact it will have given the sharp increase in disability hearing requests, as a result of the baby boom generation and the failing economy. Hopefully, the opening of these new offices and the other initiatives taken by the Social Security Administration will have a significant impact on reducing the wait times for disabled claimants waiting for a hearing. If you want to see how long it takes to get a hearing and then a decision in your particular state visit my website. For more information on Social Security disability hearings and what happens at that those hearings you can find this information on my website as well.

Slow Summer Months at Social Security

The summer months tend to be a little slow as far as SSDI and SSI hearings go. This is probably because many SSA employees and ALJs take their vacation time during this period. It usually picks up quite a bit as soon as fall rolls around. In fact I usually find the fall months schedule the most hearings. So if your hearing has not been scheduled yet and you are close to the end of your waiting period for your area hopefully your hearing will be scheduled in the fall months. The long wait times are the hardest part of applying for disability so try and be as patient as you can and if you have been waiting longer than 15 months or so for a hearing make sure to check up on your case.