Disability benefits get faster approval

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Disability benefits get faster approval

http://www.galesburg.com/news/x546808664

The Social Security Administration will implement its new quick

disability determination process in Illinois's disability

determination services Monday. Under QDD, a predictive model

analyzes specific elements of data within the electronic claims file

to identify claims where there is a high potential that the claimant

is disabled and where evidence of the person's allegations can be

quickly and easily obtained.

The Social Security Administration currently receives more than

94,000 new disability cases each year in Illinois. In New England,

where the QDD process was tested, about 3 percent of all new cases

were identified as QDD cases. These cases were processed in an

average of 11 days. Since the model does not yet incorporate as many

diseases as it can, Commissioner Astrue has committed to

expanding the number of cases that can be identified as a QDD case

while maintaining the same level of accuracy.

" The length of time many people wait for a disability decision is

unacceptable, " said Astrue. " I am committed to a process that is as

fair and speedy as possible. While there is no single magic bullet,

with better systems, better business processes and better ways of

fast-tracking targeted cases, we can greatly improve the service we

provide to the citizens of Illinois. "

On the Net:

www.socialsecurity.gov/disability