National Hearing Centers and Their Impact on the Disability Back Log – Part 2

Last week we explored the role National Hearing Centers play as far as attaining SSA’s goal of reducing the back log of cases waiting to be heard in front of an ALJ. The decision to open the National Hearing Centers in Falls Church, VA, Albuquerque, NM, Chicago, IL, Baltimore, MD and St. Louis, MO was helpful in many ways. However, it has also created several challenges SSA must overcome.

The first challenge is the availability of VTC equipment and locations. Most ODARs must devote the space they have to accommodate in-person hearings, leaving less space to devote to video hearings. SSA had opened several temporary remote sites back when the National Hearing Centers were being established, but these are being done away with as they are replaced with more permanent sites in the ODARs.

A solution that has been successful so far in the Chicago region is use of Claimant-Only Video (COV) sites.  This is a room large enough to hold only the video equipment, the claimant, the claimant’s representative, the hearing monitor, and any experts. The Representative Video Project was also created in an effort to accommodate VTC hearings by setting up remote sites in disability representatives’ offices.

Scheduling conflicts present another challenge to NHCs. Even though they can use medical and vocational experts from any region, NHCs prefer to use experts that are located in the same area as the claimant. This creates a potential for scheduling conflicts, as the local ODARs use these same experts for their hearings.

This is also an issue when it comes to scheduling representatives, as most representatives have many clients who live in many different areas. NHC schedulers try to relieve these problems by scheduling the hearings months in advance, so both experts and representatives can plan accordingly.

VTC hearings have been declined by claimants and representatives for many reasons, such as due to the fact that the claimant is Spanish-speaking. Spanish interpreters used during a VTC hearing can cause miscommunication and misunderstanding of very important facts, which leads to the prevention of due process for the claimant. However, because a VTC hearing can be declined up until the day of the hearing, it creates more work for SSA, as the file must be transferred back to the local ODAR with all the proper paperwork filed.

Now that these challenges have been identified, the OIG recommends that SSA:

1.       Monitor video capacity and, as resources permit, consider increasing the number of video locations, which may include permanent remote sites, COVs, and RVP locations.

2.       Ensure steps are taken to prevent claimants from choosing the ALJ hearing their case, such as removing the ALJ’s name from all hearing notices and reminding schedulers not to reveal the name of the ALJ when asked by a claimant’s representative.

3.       Consider modifying the regulations to prevent claimants from declining VTC hearings close to the day of the hearing.

SSA has agreed to these recommendations, so it will be interesting to see what steps will be taken next in the effort to continue to decrease the hearing back log.

Source: Office of the Inspector General Audit Report, April 2012

Written by Anna Westfall and edited by Attorney Andrew November

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