Recommendation 4: The RRB will institute programmatic
changes that will trigger internal investigations
into high numbers of particular ailment claims.

The Board will direct the Director of Programs

to assign this task to the Director of Assessment

and Training, who will coordinate her efforts with
the disability division and any other unit she

deems necessary. Her task will be, on an ongoing
basis, to collect data and analyze information that
identifies the diagnoses of each pending and future
Long Island case to ascertain if there are any unusual
patterns. The Director of Assessment and Training will
also be charged with analyzing relevant data collected
from the increased number of CDRs that will be
conducted for those Long Island employees who have
already been awarded an occupational disability,

as described in our plan for Recommendation 2.

The focus of these analyses will be on those cases
where the main diagnosis is degenerative arthritis
but will also look for unusual patterns involving
other diagnoses as well.


Recommendation 3: The RRB will outline how it will
institute greater oversight controls over the Long
Island regional RRB office and its employees.

The Board will direct the Director of Programs to

assign the district manager of the Newark office, who

is the Network Manager over the Westbury office, to
conduct on-site quarterly office reviews. Additional,
the Network Manager will also conduct scheduled
biweekly telephone meetings with the Westbury district
manager and her staff to ensure that office is operating
efficiently.


Recommendation 5: The RRB will institute more
stringent review of management employees accessing
the occupational disability program.

The Board will direct the Director of Programs to
assign this task to the Director of Assessment and
Training, who will coordinate her efforts with the
disability division and any other unit she deems
necessary. Her task will be, on a continuing basis,
to identify those Long Island employees receiving an
occupational disability annuity who retired from the
Long Island as non-bargaining managers, collect data
and analyze this information to ascertain if there
are any unusual patterns in this area. This ongoing
effort will also apply to those individuals with pending
applications as well as those who file in the future.


THIS FORM IS TO BE USED FORM NO. G-21 (9-83) TRANSCRIPT NO.

ONLY BY THE SECRETARY STATES OF AMERICA SPECIAL

TO THE BOARD OR AS UNITED AMERI PAGE i rg PAGES

OTHERWISE SPECIFICALLY RAILROAD RETIREMENT BOARD 6

DIRECTED BY THE BOARD. DATE TRANSCRIPT RELEASED
TRANSCRIPT OF BOARD ORDERS. October 21, 2008

ICERTIFY THAT THE FOLLOWING IS A TRUE AND CORRECT TRANSCRIPT

OF BOARD ORDER(S) NUMBERED 08-63 .

ISSUED BY THEBOARDON__ October 20, 2008

ap TO THE BOARD

“B.O. 08-63
IMPLEMENTATION PLAN FOR LONG ISLAND EMPLOYEES

On October 10, 2008, the three Board Members met

with Sen, Schumer, Cong. Bishop and staff from other
members of the New York Congressional Delegation.

The Board Members agreed to consider several
recommendations concerning occupational disability
claims. The Board has adopted and will implement five
recommendations. These five recommendations relate
solely to the Long Island Rail Road and its employees
who file for an occupational disability annuity or who
are currently receiving an occupational disability
annuity.

To increase oversight of new occupational disability
applications, the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) will
establish a sub-unit within the initial section of the
disability division, This sub-unit will consist of two
GS-11 disability examiners who will be responsible for
adjudicating all new Long Island occupational disability
applications. Centralizing this function will allow the
examiners to more easily detect any unusual patterns that
may occur and will facilitate data gathering that will be
essential after the recommendations are implemented.

The Director of Programs will conduct a cost analysis

to cover the implementation of these recommendations.

Moreover, she will be directed to submit to the Board
a monthly status report on the implementation of these
recommendations.

A description of the implementation plan for each
recommendation follows.



Recommendation 1: The RRB will develop and
implement a program to conduct independent
medical review of present and future
occupational disability applications. The
independent medical evaluators must be
RRB-approved physicians, not specifically
labor or management affiliates, who are
familiar with railroad injuries.

The RRB currently has a nationwide contract
with OTC that provides consultative
examinations (CE) when requested by the RRB.

The OTC physicians are all either Board-eligible
or Board-certified and are well-versed in the
necessary protocols required in the occupational
disability program. These physicians have no
affiliation with either rail labor or rail
industry.

CEs will be ordered in present and future Long
Island occupational disability cases when it is
clear that the applicant is not totally and
permanently disabled, does not suffer from a
terminal illness or does not suffer from cancer.
The usual procedures will be followed when
ordering a CE in these Long Island cases.


Recommendation 2: The RRB will develop and implement
a program to re-evaluate dubious disability claims.
This program should create a mechanism that will
allow for more regular and frequent re-evaluations of
disability annuitants.

The RRB currently has a program in place to review
cases awarded an occupational disability that is
codified in the RRB’s regulations. The post section
of the disability division, which consists of the
more experienced disability claims examiners,
currently conducts a continuing disability

review (CDR) on employees receiving an occupational
disability annuity who are totally and permanently
disabled for all work, The post section will expand
its review of occupational disability cases for
Long Island retirees and begin reviewing those

Long Island cases where the employee is
occupationally disabled and not totally and
permanently disabled. The disability staff

will follow procedures already in place

when conducting these reviews.