SSA's Disability Programs: Improvements Could Increase the Usefulness of Electronic Data for Program Oversight
Highlights
In 2003, we added the federal government's disability programs to our high-risk list in part because of difficulties agencies faced in managing these programs and the expected growth in the rolls as baby boomers reach their disability-prone years. The Social Security Administration (SSA) manages the federal government's two largest disability programs, the Disability Insurance (DI) program and the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program, which together paid out $91 billion in federal benefits to 11.4 million individuals with disabilities in 2003. To help address management difficulties and prepare for expected growth in the rolls, SSA must have reliable administrative data from its disability decision-making process to adequately understand the population it serves and the possible effect of proposed program changes on this population. However, in a prior study, we identified potential problems with the reliability of SSA's electronic administrative data. This report examines (1) the extent to which SSA collects useful and reliable electronic administrative data in order to effectively manage its DI and SSI programs and (2) whether ongoing and planned changes to SSA's computer systems and internal controls will address any weaknesses that we identified.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Social Security Administration | To improve the value of SSA's electronic administrative data for managing its disability programs, the Commissioner of Social Security should develop a comprehensive strategic plan to ensure the reliability and usefulness of the data the agency collects. In doing so, the agency should establish a cost-effective internal control strategy for ensuring the reliability of data in the electronic disability records that would include both front-end controls on data entry and a tracking and feedback system for back-end verification of the electronic records. |
Closed – Implemented
SSA's Strategic Plan explains that the 54 unique case processing systems currently used by the Disability Determination Services (DDS) is being replaced with a common case processing system. One of the goals of the business process modeling currently taking place is to identify SSA's future data needs. The resulting system will minimize repeated data inputs that lead to erroneous data, and make extensive use of health information technology to capture detailed information about beneficiaries' medical histories that is not available today. In addition, SSA is fully engaged in the development of the Health Information Technology (HIT) initiative, led by Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), in collaboration with other agencies, health care providers, and insurers. The initiative will create uniform diagnostic codes, medical report formats, and other data fields for standardized electronic storage of medical records. This will allow SSA to identify disabling conditions quickly and automatically, and to search its vast database of medical records to track trends in disability cases and design more objective methods to identify disabling conditions.
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| Social Security Administration | To improve the value of SSA's electronic administrative data for managing its disability programs, the Commissioner of Social Security should develop a comprehensive strategic plan to ensure the reliability and usefulness of the data the agency collects. In doing so, the agency should take steps to review the usefulness of the types of information collected and consider whether additional types of information could improve program oversight. This effort could include a survey of users of electronic disability data. |
Closed – Implemented
SSA's Strategic Plan explains that the 54 unique case processing systems currently used by the Disability Determination Services (DDS) will soon be replaced with a common case processing system. One of the goals of the business process modeling currently taking place is to identify SSA's future data needs. The resulting system will minimize repeated data inputs that lead to erroneous data, and make extensive use of health information technology to capture detailed information about beneficiaries' medical histories that is not available today. In addition, SSA is fully engaged in the development of the Health Information Technology (HIT) initiative, led by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), is expected to revolutionize the health care industry. SSA is collaborating with other agencies, health care providers, and insurers to create uniform diagnostic codes, medical report formats, and other data fields for standardized electronic storage of medical records. This will allow SSA to identify disabling conditions quickly and automatically, and to search its vast database of medical records to track trends in disability cases and design more objective methods to identify disabling conditions.
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