Compassionate Allowance List Grows by 38

Compassionate Allowances are a way of quickly identifying diseases and other medical conditions that clearly qualify for Social Security and Supplemental Security Income disability benefits. It allows the agency to electronically target and make speedy decisions for the most obviously disabled individuals.

This is the first expansion since the original list of 50 conditions - 25 rare diseases and 25 cancers - was announced in October 2008. The new conditions range from adult brain disorders to rare diseases that primarily affect children.

New Compassionate Allowance Conditions

1. Alstrom Syndrome
2. Amegakaryocytic Thrombocytopenia
3. Ataxia Spinocerebellar
4. Ataxia Telangiectasia
5. Batten Disease
6. Bilateral Retinoblastoma
7. Cri du Chat Syndrome
8. Degos Disease
9. Early-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease
10. Edwards Syndrome
11. Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva
12. Fukuyama Congenital Muscular Dystrophy
13. Glutaric Acidemia Type II
14. Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), Familial Type
15. Hurler Syndrome, Type IH
16. Hunter Syndrome, Type II
17. Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis
18. Junctional Epidermolysis Bullosa, Lethal Type
19. Late Infantile Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinoses
20. Leigh’s Disease
21. Maple Syrup Urine Disease
22. Merosin Deficient Congenital Muscular Dystrophy
23. Mixed Dementia
24. Mucosal Malignant Melanoma
25. Neonatal Adrenoleukodystrophy
26. Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinoses, Infantile Type
27. Niemann-Pick Type C
28. Patau Syndrome
29. Primary Progressive Aphasia
30. Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy
31. Sanfilippo Syndrome
32. Subacute Sclerosis Panencephalitis
33. Tay Sachs Disease
34. Thanatophoric Dysplasia, Type 1
35. Ullrich Congenital Muscular Dystrophy
36. Walker Warburg Syndrome
37. Wolman Disease
38. Zellweger Syndrome

Any questions may be directed to: rsi5@srt.com

Compassionate Allowance

The Social Security Administration recognizes that it has an obligation to provide benefits quickly to applicants whose medical conditions are so serious that their conditions obviously meet disability standards.

Compassionate allowances are a way of quickly identifying diseases and other medical conditions that invariably qualify under the Listing of Impairments based on minimal objective medical information. Compassionate allowances allow Social Security to quickly target the most obviously disabled individuals for allowances based on objective medical information that we can obtain quickly.

The initial list of Compassionate Allowance conditions was developed as a result of information received at public outreach hearings, public comment on an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, comments received from the Social Security and Disability Determination Service communities, and the counsel of medical and scientific experts. Social Security also considered which conditions are most likely to meet our current definition of disability.

Please see the following link for a list of the 50 conditions that were selected for rollout of the Compassionate Allowances initiative. Social Security has indicated that the list will expand over time. HERE

Any questions may be directed to: rsi5@srt.com

Cutting Back the Backlog

When it comes to reaching Social Security’s goal of eliminating the disability backlog, 2008 included many challenges and even more impressive accomplishments. The economic downturn has produced a surge in disability claims and hearings. If new applications had not risen during the course of the year to unanticipated levels, there would have been a reduction in pending cases for the first time since 2001. As it was, Social Security received almost 26,000 more hearings requests than budgeted for, but due to productivity increases, we were able to process over 16,000 more hearings than projected and hold the increase in pending hearings down to 14,000 cases.

In fiscal year 2008, we moved quickly to add new staff, use new technologies, and improve our business processes. For example, we hired nearly 200 new administrative law judges as well as staff to support them. We also opened a National Hearing Center, which, through videoconferencing, hears and decides claims from those hearing offices with the highest backlogs. We introduced new electronic technologies and new processes to identify and expedite certain disability cases that are highly likely to be allowed. Through these efforts, we were able to virtually eliminate the aged case backlog (135,000 cases) that had been waiting over 900 days for a hearing decision.

These and other initiatives will continue to improve the quality of our disability claim review process and, providing that Congress gives us adequate, sustained, and timely funding, will allow us to reduce the number of pending cases. Although many challenges lie ahead, Social Security has responded to increased demands on our service and made impressive strides towards eliminating the disability backlog.

Any questions may be directed to: rsi5@srt.com

Social Security to be First Government Agency to Use Nationwide Health Information Network

The Social Security Administration announced today that it will be the first government agency to utilize the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN). Beginning in early 2009, Social Security will receive medical records for some disability applicants electronically through the NHIN gateway.

“Social Security is proud to be a leader in the use of health information technology,” said Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security. “This safe and secure method for receiving electronic medical records will allow us to improve our service to the public by cutting days, if not weeks, off the time it takes to make a disability decision.”

Through the NHIN, Social Security will have instantaneous access to medical records. This will significantly shorten the time it takes to make a disability decision and make the process more efficient. Social Security uses individual medical records when making a decision for more than 2.6 million people who apply for disability each year. To make those decisions, Social Security relies on doctors, hospitals, and others in the healthcare field to provide medical records in a timely fashion. The NHIN will help ensure records are received timely by making it easier and less labor-intensive for medical professionals to submit records.

Social Security is working with MedVirginia, the North Carolina Healthcare Information and Communications Alliance, and Kaiser Permanente to implement the NHIN. In early 2009, the first real-world use of the system will begin between Social Security and MedVirginia.

The NHIN is an initiative of the Department of Health and Human Services and is supported by multiple government agencies and private sector entities. Please go to www.hhs.gov/healthit/healthnetwork/background/ for more information.

Any questions may be directed to: rsi5@srt.com