Social Security: Reporting and Processing of Death Information Should Be Improved
HRD-92-88
Published: Sep 04, 1992. Publicly Released: Sep 04, 1992.
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Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Social Security Administration's (SSA) process for obtaining information on deceased beneficiaries and terminating benefits payments, focusing on: (1) how long family members, states, and others take to report deaths to SSA; (2) the amount of time SSA takes to terminate payments once a death is reported; (3) whether delays in reporting and processing inhibit SSA from recovering erroneous payments made to deceased beneficiaries; and (4) opportunities to improve the timeliness of death information reported to SSA.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Social Security Administration | To improve the timeliness and accuracy of SSA collection of death information, the Commissioner of Social Security should require field offices to adhere to established procedures for verifying beneficiary deaths reported by states and HCFA. |
Closed – Implemented
The October 22, 1992, memorandum requires SSA field offices to adhere to established procedures.
|
| Social Security Administration | To improve the timeliness and accuracy of SSA collection of death information, the Commissioner of Social Security should formally promulgate procedures to record all deaths for non-social-security beneficiaries in the database of death information shared with other federal agencies and annotate the records to show that such reports are unverified. |
Closed – Implemented
On January 20, 1995, SSA disseminated instructions to all field offices to record death information for both beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries.
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Topics
BeneficiariesComputer matchingErroneous paymentsstate relationsInteragency relationsReporting requirementsSocial security benefitsVital recordsMedicareDeceased persons