Social Security

Published October 24, 2011

Executive Summary

For over seventy-five years, Social Security has provided hundreds of millions of Americans with a financial safety net. Whether it is after the loss of a loved one, at the onset of disability, or during the transition from work to retirement, we touch the lives of virtually all Americans. Throughout our history, we have strived to deliver compassionate and prompt service to each person who calls, writes, uses our website, or visits our offices.

As required by Executive Order 13571, “Streamlining Service Delivery and Improving Customer Service,” our customer service plan outlines our strategy to improve service delivery quality, speed, and efficiency. The plan also highlights our signature initiative, video hearings, which use video technology to minimize costs and expand customer access to our hearings process.

Signature Initiative: Video Hearings

Overview: We will improve customer service in our hearings process by expanding access to video hearings. This service will reduce the need for customers to travel to our offices for a hearing before an administrative law judge (ALJ) and provide the ALJs more time to hear cases.

Timing:

• In fiscal year (FY) 2012, an 8 percent increase in the number of video hearings over the number that we completed in FY 2011.
• In FY 2013, a 10 percent increase in video hearings over the number that we completed in FY 2012.

Service 1: More Efficient Service Channels

Overview: Each year, we provide service to millions of Americans. In support of the Old Age and Survivors’ Insurance (OASI), Disability Insurance (DI), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Medicare, and other programs, we answer questions and take benefit applications through various service channels.

Key Customer Groups: Applicants for program benefits; members of the public who have questions about our programs; program beneficiaries.

Challenges: Designing user-friendly Internet and phone services for some of our more-complex programs.

Featured Actions: We will focus on enhancing the quality of our Internet services, including additional Spanish applications, as well as improving our telephone and walk-in services.

Service 2: Faster and More Accurate Disability Decisions

Overview: Our disability programs generate our most challenging and resource-intensive workloads. For the past several years, we have worked diligently to address lengthy waits for hearing decisions and to improve service for people filing initial disability claims. Our Quick Disability Determination (QDD) and Compassionate Allowance (CAL) initiatives use technology to improve the speed of decisions and reduce the number of cases resulting in hearings. In addition, we partnered with the Department of Defense (DoD) to automate the identification of military service casualty cases. We flag these cases and follow expedited handling procedures to serve these wounded warriors more quickly.

Key Customer Groups: Members of the public applying for benefits under our disability programs.

Challenges: A complex application process, complex program rules.

Featured Actions: We will simplify our online applications for disability benefits; enhance our QDD and CAL initiatives; expand video hearings, our signature initiative; and continue to improve our service to wounded warriors through ongoing interagency collaboration.

Service 3: Enhanced Services for People Receiving Benefits

Overview: We maintain an ongoing relationship with our customers who receive benefits. Each year, we complete over 100 million actions to keep beneficiaries’ records current. We provide personalized access to individuals’ benefit information and earnings history.

Key Customer Groups: People who are eligible for or receive program benefits or Medicare coverage.

Challenges: Ensuring privacy and security with robust authentication; providing a common online user experience that is flexible enough to meet the varying needs of our broad customer base.

Featured Actions: We plan to test and, if successful, begin rolling out a more-robust authentication process to provide enhanced security for Internet access to personalized information.

Signature Initiative: Video Hearings

Overview

We use video-teleconferencing (video) technology in our hearing process to increase efficiency and improve customer service by:

• Allowing us to balance workloads across the country. For example, with video, ALJs in our National Hearing Centers are able to hear cases from the most-backlogged offices around the country, thereby reducing wait times where there is the greatest need.
• Reducing the need for our ALJs and other hearing office staff to travel between offices and to remote sites to hold hearings. This technology saves travel costs and frees up more time for our ALJs to hear and decide cases.
• Reducing the need for claimants to travel long distances to SSA hearing offices. In some parts of the country, SSA hearing offices can be hundreds of miles away from where a claimant lives. By providing remote video hearing sites in field offices and other locations, we have been able to reduce claimant travel.
• Expanding the use of third-party video for hearing participation. Our Representative Video Project (RVP) allows attorneys and non-attorney representatives to install and use their own video equipment to attend hearings with their clients from their own offices. We are working to expand representatives’ participation in this project more broadly.

Impact and Benefits

For our signature initiative, we will:

• Where possible, co-locate video hearing services in our field offices, to assist serving claimants in remote areas. This will reduce ALJ and claimant travel time and travel costs, which will free up time for ALJs to hold more hearings and help balance workloads across the country; and
• For RVP participants, provide the most cost-effective and widely-available option for claimants and their representatives to connect to video hearings from the representative’s office.

Key Milestones and Timeline

We expect to achieve the following milestones:

• In fiscal year (FY) 2012, an 8 percent increase in the number of video hearings over the number that we completed in FY 2011.
• In FY 2013, a 10 percent increase in video hearings over the number that we completed in FY 2012.

Service #1: More Efficient Service Channels

1. Increase Feedback from Customers

• Explore new survey tools and approaches to provide more timely and detailed customer feedback on our Internet service. (FY 2012)
• Evaluate new approaches for collecting real-time customer feedback from field and hearing office visitors. (FY 2012)

2. Adopt Best Practices for Improving Customer Experience

• Increase the availability of Spanish online services by deploying Spanish versions of iClaim, our online claims application, and i1020, our online application for the Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Low Income Subsidy. (Q1, FY 2012)
• Continue to improve the customer experience in our online applications by incorporating user feedback during the development of future releases of applications (Ongoing)
• Improve our online Frequently-Asked Questions (FAQ) by using customer feedback to revise existing FAQs and identify the need for new FAQs. (Ongoing)
• Expand our plain language activities. (Ongoing)

3. Set, Communicate, and Use Customer Service Metrics and Standards

• Continue to use customer service metrics across all of our service channels. For specific metrics, see our Annual Performance Plan (APP), available online at: http://www.socialsecurity.gov/budget/. (Ongoing)
• Communicate these metrics internally and to the public in our APP and Performance and Accountability Report (PAR). (Ongoing)
• Evaluate customer service metrics to share with the public on Data.gov. (FY 2012)
• Use new field-office telecommunications infrastructure to provide callers with an estimated time they can expect to wait to speak to a representative. (FY 2013)

4. Streamline Agency Processes to Reduce Costs and Accelerate Delivery

• Increase the percentage of retirement claims filed online in FY 2012 by improving the iClaim user experience. (Q1, FY 2012)
• Continue to enhance our telephone services by improving call routing and implementing new technology that will help us keep pace with or exceed industry standards. (FY 2012)
• Implement the Visitor Intake Process application to improve how we manage appointments and walk-in traffic. This new application will add functionality to improve service to customers with vision and hearing impairments and those with limited or no English proficiency. The application will also standardize the user experience for users of our self check-in kiosks. (Q3, FY 2012)

Service #2: Faster and More Accurate Disability Decisions

1. Increase Feedback from Customers

• Work with advocacy groups and medical experts to identify additional conditions that we can include as Compassionate Allowances. (FY 2012)
• Evaluate options to increase feedback from the public by assessing customer satisfaction with our in-office and video hearings. (FY 2012)

2. Adopt Best Practices for Improving Customer Experience

• Simplify the disability application process for people with conditions identified as potential Compassionate Allowances. The online disability application recognizes conditions that qualify for Compassionate Allowances and streamlines the application by omitting information that is not needed for the decision. (Q4, FY 2011- completed)
• Improve the customer experience for online disability applicants by connecting two currently independent pieces of the online application process. Currently, users must separately complete the benefit application and the supplemental disability report. If they forget to complete both, it can delay the application process and require us to recontact them for additional information. By connecting the documents required in the application process, we will make the online application a seamless experience for the person applying for disability to complete all necessary information. (Implementation begins Q4, FY 2012)
• Continue to comply with the requirements of section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 by developing and using standard user-interface elements. (Ongoing)

3. Set, Communicate, and Use Customer Service Metrics and Standards

• Use our customer service standard of an average of 270 days for hearing decisions to guide management of resources and National Hearing Center support for our hearing offices. (Ongoing)
• Continue to use customer service metrics for our disability claims and appeals services. For specific metrics, see our APP, available online at: http://www.socialsecurity.gov/budget/. (Ongoing)
• Communicate these metrics internally and to the public in our APP and PAR. (Ongoing)

4. Streamline Agency Processes to Reduce Costs and Accelerate Delivery

• Expand use of video technology to facilitate scheduling of hearings before ALJs – our signature initiative. (Ongoing)
• Expedite disability claims processing for MSCC cases, and pilot a direct exchange of health records between a centralized DoD electronic health data repository and our State disability determination services via our current Electronic Records Express website. (Pilot begins Q1, FY 2012)
• Plan for future exchange for electronic health records between SSA, DoD, and VA, using the Nationwide Health Information Network. (Ongoing)

Service #3: Enhanced Services for People Receiving Benefits

1. Increase Feedback from Customers

• Collect customer feedback to measure customer satisfaction and identify opportunities for improvements. (Ongoing)
• Explore new survey tools and approaches to provide more timely, and more detailed customer feedback. (FY 2012)

2. Adopt Best Practices for Improving Customer Experience

• Test and, if successful, then begin to deploy a new authentication process that will increase security and reduce the amount of time it takes most users to establish credentials to securely access our online services. (Q2, FY 2012 and ongoing)
• Begin the consolidation of our existing eServices into a portal that will simplify customer access. (FY 2012 and ongoing)

3. Set, Communicate, and Use Customer Service Metrics and Standards

• Establish and use customer service standards, including customer success rates, to manage the testing and deployment of our new authentication process. (Q2, FY 2012 and ongoing)
• Continue to use customer service metrics for all our service channels. For specific metrics, see our APP, available online at: http://www.socialsecurity.gov/budget/. (Ongoing)
• Communicate these metrics internally and to the public in our APP and PAR. (Ongoing)

4. Streamline Agency Processes to Reduce Costs and Accelerate Delivery

• Begin testing streamlined and secure access to our online services. In some cases, eliminate delays associated with postal mail. (Q2, FY 2012 and ongoing)
• Allow customers who call our field offices nationwide to transfer directly to our national 800-number. Once transferred, field office callers will be able to quickly and easily use automated services for transactions or speak to an agent. (FY 2012)