This article highlights the plight of disability claimants waiting months, sometimes years, for a final decision in their claims and discusses the reforms Commissioner Barnhart is implementing to reduce the time it takes to make correct decisions.
The article focuses on the new eDib reforms:
Each application requires documentation–including work histories and medical records–that can stretch to hundreds of pages. Currently, when a new agency reviews a file, all the paperwork has to be sent over.Using electronic files would allow instantaneous document transmission and make it far easier to track documents, Barnhart said.
But it is an enormous task to overhaul the record-keeping of an agency with more than 2 million disability applicants a year. Social Security Administration officials say the new electronic system will cost about $890 million to install over the next decade, although they also contend it will save $1.3 billion during that time.
Advocates for people with disabilities applaud Barnhart for attempting reform, though few are willing to heartily endorse the plan, particularly because the SSA still is trying to hammer out the details.
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