**GAO-10-667T**                      Published: Apr 27, 2010. Publicly Released: Apr 27, 2010.                  

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## Highlights

For years, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has been challenged to manage its large disability claims workload. Difficulties in making timely and accurate decisions have contributed to backlogs accumulating at different levels of the claims process. These backlogs have occurred most often at the hearings level, the level at which initial claims that were denied are appealed and await a hearing before an administrative law judge. Claimants often experienced long waits for a decision on their claim because of this backlog. In May 2007, SSA released a plan designed to eliminate its hearings-level backlog. GAO was subsequently asked by Congress to evaluate this plan and issued a report in September 2009 (GAO-09-398). This testimony discusses SSA's backlog reduction plan and the challenges the agency faces in managing its overall claims workload. It draws primarily from GAO's September 2009 report as well as from SSA's Fiscal Year 2009 Performance and Accountability Report, its Annual Performance Plan for Fiscal Year 2011 and Revised Final Performance Plan for Fiscal Year 2010, its fiscal year 2011 budget request documents, and recent reports issued by SSA's Office of the Inspector General (OIG).

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## Topics

Worker and Family Assistance

Administrative law judgesAid for the disabledAppealsClaims processingClaims settlementDisabilitiesDisability benefitsDisability insuranceEligibility criteriaEligibility determinationsEmployees with disabilitiesEmployment of the disabledFederal social security programsMonitoringPerformance measuresPeople with disabilitiesQuality assuranceQuality improvementSocial security numberStrategic planningCost estimates