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Open Recommendations (25 total)

Social Security Administration: Remote Service Delivery Increased during COVID-19, but More Could Be Done to Assist Vulnerable Populations

GAO-23-104650
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4 Open Recommendations
1 Priority
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Social Security Administration
Priority Rec.
The Commissioner of SSA should develop a plan—with clear steps, goals, metrics, and timelines—for enabling claimants to apply for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits online. (Recommendation 2)
Open
SSA agreed with this recommendation. In May 2023, SSA reported that its multi-year SSI Simplification Initiative, which includes the SSI Online project, aims to simplify and reduce delays in the SSI application process. Agency officials expect the Initiative to improve on-line service for claimants and employees, and produce a simple, secure on-line gateway to capture data; verify and determine eligibility; and notify claimants as their applications are being processed. As of April 2024, SSA continues to work on this recommendation. We will monitor the agency's progress on these efforts.
Social Security Administration The Commissioner of SSA should evaluate the feasibility of making online Spanish applications available again for those SSA benefit programs with existing online applications. (Recommendation 3)
Open
SSA agreed with this recommendation. In May 2023, SSA reported that it is considering reintroducing the Spanish iClaim application as part of a broader information technology modernization effort. To inform its decision, they plan to evaluate usage data, level of effort required to translate and host the application, and feedback from advocates. As of April 2024, SSA continues to work on this recommendation. We await further progress on these efforts.
Social Security Administration The Commissioner of SSA should implement a coordinated process for assessing lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic that includes documentation and dissemination, implementation of corrective action, and incorporation into future contingency planning. (Recommendation 4)
Open
SSA agreed with this recommendation. In May 2023, SSA said it would identify lessons learned for inclusion in its contingency planning documents. As of April 2024, SSA continues to work on this recommendation. We await further progress and documentation of these efforts.
Social Security Administration The Commissioner of SSA should develop an agency-wide plan for managing anticipated increases in SSA's disability workloads. (Recommendation 5)
Open
SSA agreed with this recommendation. In May 2023, SSA reported that in its FY 2024 President's budget, they requested resources to address increased initial disability claim receipts and the growing backlog based on actuarial receipt projections for initial disability applications in its field offices, Workload Support Units, State Disability Determination Services (DDS), and increased disability actions at subsequent levels of appeal. They factored into their budgetary resource estimate the expected increases in the disability workloads. They plan to increase agency and DDS processing capacity to address the growing disability workload. In addition, they are working on a comprehensive initial disability claims backlog reduction plan that will include activities in process, as well as plans for business process changes, information technology investments, and hiring. As of April 2024, SSA continues to work on this recommendation. We await the completion of these efforts.

Social Security Benefits: SSA Needs to Improve Oversight of Organizations that Manage Money for Vulnerable Beneficiaries

GAO-19-688
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Social Security Administration The Commissioner of the Social Security Administration should ensure that (a) the agency's policies and guidance are specific enough so field office staff know how to apply complex suitability criteria for assessing payee suitability, such as by providing a minimum set of specific questions; and (b) additional regional guidance that is made available to staff is centrally reviewed for compliance and completeness. (Recommendation 1)
Open
SSA agreed with this recommendation. Since April 2020 and most recently in September 2022, the agency reported that it is reviewing its representative payee suitability policy to identify areas that need improvement, which may include system enhancements and changes to forms. They anticipate their efforts to implement the recommendation will commence after implementing the Strengthening Protection for Social Security Beneficiaries Act of 2018, and continue until FY2024. We will consider closing this recommendation when SSA has provided documentation of changes made as a result of its review.

Social Security Benefits: SSA Needs to Improve Oversight of Organizations that Manage Money for Vulnerable Beneficiaries

GAO-19-688
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2 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Social Security Administration The Commissioner of the Social Security Administration should create safeguards in the Electronic Representative Payee System (eRPS) to ensure that field office staff fully document all required information, such as the rationale for their decision, before approving an application. (Recommendation 2)
Open
SSA agreed with this recommendation and identified actions to address it. Specifically, SSA reported that, as part of implementing the Strengthening Protections for Social Security Beneficiaries Act of 2018, planned changes to eRPS will improve documentation of selection decisions. In August 2021 and February 2022, the agency reported that it is evaluating eRPS's functionality to determine if it can support the documentation of representative payee selection decisions. In September 2022 and December 2023, the agency reported it had no resources available for the effort. SSA said that it could implement additional safeguards in eRPS if resources are available after the agency has implemented all legally-required system changes. We will close this recommendation when SSA provides documentation that eRPS includes safeguards to ensure all required information has been entered prior to approving organizational representative payee applications.
Social Security Administration The Commissioner of the Social Security Administration should require field offices to contact payees about missing or problematic annual accounting forms within a specific time frame. (Recommendation 6)
Open
SSA agreed with this recommendation. In April 2020, the agency had reported that it was evaluating the representative payee accounting process for opportunities to implement processing timeframes and system enhancements to address problematic accounting issues. In subsequent years, SSA continued to report that it was looking for ways to address missing or problematic accounting forms in a specific timeframe, but that changes have been delayed. In July 2023, SSA reported it is not currently planning to set any requirement for the timely resolution of accounting form issues. The agency indicated that it will continue to consider creating bi-annual reports to identify non-responders, as well as potential policy revisions, but did not provide timeframes for implementation. To close this recommendation, SSA should provide documentation that it has implemented these efforts.

Social Security Disability: Additional Measures and Evaluation Needed to Enhance Accuracy and Consistency of Hearings Decisions

GAO-18-37
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Social Security Administration The Commissioner of SSA should develop a set of public performance measures, to include accuracy and consistency, as well as timeliness, of administrative law judges' (ALJ) disability decisions. SSA could consider whether existing quality review or monitoring efforts could provide suitable data for such measures. (Recommendation 1)
Open
SSA agreed with this recommendation and stated that the agency would address it as part of a comprehensive assessment and refinement of its oversight roles and processes. As of October 2023, SSA officials reported that the agency has expectations, measures, and processes in place to ensure administrative law judges comply with policy and adjudicate a sufficient number of cases in a quality and timely manner. Further, officials noted that they continuously evaluate whether there are other metrics and methodologies that can help them manage administrative law judges' performance. However, the agency has decided not to make those performance expectations and measures available to the public and did not provide additional information on the types of measures that are in place. By not sharing performance information on the accuracy and consistency of hearings-level decisions, SSA may not be providing the public with adequate information on progress toward its objective to improve the quality, consistency, and timeliness of disability decisions.

Information Management: Agencies Need to Streamline Electronic Services

GAO-23-105562
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Social Security Administration The Commissioner of the Social Security Administration should establish a reasonable time frame for when the agency will post access and consent forms on the agency's privacy program website. (Recommendation 12)
Open
As of March 2024, the Social Security Administration expects to post an electronic consent form that complies with the Creating Advanced Streamlined Electronic Services for Constituents ACT of 2019 and Office of Management and Budget memorandum M-21-04 to their website by September 30, 2023. Lastly, SSA anticipates posting a compliant access form to their website in fiscal year 2025.

Social Security Disability: Process Needed to Review Productivity Expectations for Administrative Law Judges

GAO-21-341
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Social Security Administration The Commissioner of SSA should develop and implement a process for periodically reviewing the annual productivity expectation, and the supporting expectations as needed, and document those processes so that the bases of the expectations are clear and can be communicated to judges. This process should be informed by reviewing ALJ productivity data, considering any recent changes in policies and procedures, seeking input from ALJs and relevant stakeholders, and assessing the impact of any changes on the backlog of requests for hearings. (Recommendation 1)
Open
As of January 2024, SSA officials essentially disagreed with the premise of our recommendation, and did not have plans to implement actions that directly address it. According to officials, the annual productivity expectation for ALJs of 500-700 dispositions per year is reasonable, as is the supporting expectation for ALJs to be available for 50 hearings per month. SSA officials noted that most ALJs have not met the annual expectation in the last several years, as the workload has been too low for the agency to schedule enough hearings for them, and, accordingly, ALJs are not held accountable for meeting it. However, SSA officials stated that the 500-700 disposition goal could be relevant in the future if appeals and hearings workload increased. SSA officials maintained that, while the expectation was not originally based on formal analysis, it was reasonable and did not need to be reassessed. Moreover, SSA officials said that while the ALJ union provides them with input on workload concerns, expectations, and productivity, SSA has no obligation to discuss expectations or seek feedback regarding expectations with employees. As stated in our report, high performing organizations regularly reassess their performance management systems, and the active involvement of employees is a key practice that agencies should consider. Accordingly, we continue to believe that SSA should take actions to implement this recommendation. Specifically, SSA should document the analytical basis for its annual dispositions expectation, establish and document a process for periodically reviewing it, and communicate this information to ALJs and stakeholders.
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