As the number of claimants for Social Security Disability Benefits continues to grow, leading to the swelling of a backlog of unprocessed claims, the Social Security Administration (SSA) is scrambling to find ways to make their programs run more efficiently. An article from The Washington Post explored some of the technologies being used and the effects they could have on the program.
Most experts tend to agree that the SSA’s archaic paper-based processing system is out of date. The agency is currently working to implement an electronic processing system, but there are other pieces of technology that could help operations within the agency run more smoothly.
Not only is the agency using new technology to track and distribute claims that have had decisions made, they are also using new equipment and software to rate the performance of new employees, create more uniform training methods, and ensure policies and procedures are followed in all aspects of the claims process.
The system utilizes an ePAD and so far, more than 10,000 employees of the agency have been declared as proficient in its use.
These advancements, and more employees using them, have led to a significant decrease to the number of backlogged disability claims. At least 40,000 claims have been identified and advanced by the system.
The Social Security Disability Lawyers with Newlin Disability applaud the efforts being made to decrease backlogged claims for benefits and hope the new technology continues to prove beneficial.
