Supporting Statement--0710

Supporting Statement for Parts 404 and 405,

Administrative Review Process for Adjudicating Initial Disability Claims

OMB No. 0960-0710

1. Justification

1. The Social Security Act (the Act) provides that individuals may apply for a period of disability, disability insurance benefits and or supplemental security income based on disability or blindness. Section 702(a)(5) of the Act permits us to make rules and regulations necessary or appropriate to carry out the functions of SSA. The collection of information at each step of the administrative process is necessary to adjudicate claims fairly and efficiently. The rules that allow SSA to collect information to establish (1) the claimant’s right to administrative review, (2) the severity of the claimant’s alleged impairments and (3) the level of performance by the State Disability Determination Services (DDSs) are located in Parts 404 and 405 of the Code of Federal Regulations. The rules do not significantly alter these activities, but they do affect the manner in which some of the information is collected.

2. SSA collects this information to establish (1) the claimant’s right to administrative review, (2) the severity of the claimant’s alleged impairments and (3) the level of performance by the State Disability Determination Services (DDSs). SSA then uses the information collected by these regulations to determine entitlement and/or eligibility to disability insurance benefits and/or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and to enable appeals of these determinations. SSA informs the public of the reporting requirements for these regulations through various letters and notices. The respondents are applicants for Title II disability insurance benefits or SSI.

The following regulations pertain to pre-hearing and post-hearing conferences:

• 20 CFR 404.961, 405.330 and 405.366 stipulate that an individual may request a pre-hearing or post-hearing conference.

The following regulations pertain to presenting evidence at a hearing, and the issuing of subpoenas:

• 20 CFR 404.950 and 405.332 explain the individual’s right to present evidence at a hearing, including the subpoena process.

The following regulations pertain to written and oral arguments in addition to pre-hearing statements:

• 20 CFR 404.949 stipulates that an individual (or designated representative) may appear before an administrative law judge to present an oral or written statement of a case.

• 20 CFR 405.334 stipulates that an individual (or designated representative) may, at any time before the hearing begins, submit a pre-hearing statement with an explanation of the alleged disability.

The following regulations pertain to dismissals of request for hearing for an administrative law judge, and the notice of dismissal:

• 20 CFR 404.957(a) and 405.380(a) explain the conditions under which an administrative law judge may dismiss a request for hearing.

• 20 CFR 405.381 outlines the due process procedures of the notice of dismissal; and

• 20 CFR 405.382 outlines the conditions under which an administrative law judge may vacate a dismissal of a request for hearing.

The following regulations pertain to administrative procedures before the Decision Review Board (DRB), including claims dismissed by an administrative law judge:

• 20 CFR 405.425(b) stipulates that the DRB may limit the issues it considers under review, and it outlines the procedures an individual must follow in submitting a written statement to the DRB.

The following regulations pertain to the extension of time for filing an action in a Federal district court:

• 20 CFR 404.982 and 405.505; 20 CFR 404.987 and 405.601(b); and 404.988 and 405.601(b) outline the conditions under which a final decision or determination may be reopened.

3. SSA has developed Internet and Intranet systems to process much of the information required by these regulation citations. We premise these regulation citations on extensive availability of the electronic disability system, Electronic Records Express (OMB Control No. 0960-0753), which provides for enhanced data and evidence collection through electronic means. An increasing number of advocates and medical sources will transmit medical and non-medical records to us electronically. There are no technical or legal obstacles that prevent burden reduction.

4. The nature of the information requested and the manner in which it is collected precludes duplication. There are no other forms used by SSA that collect data similar to that collected here.

5. The collection of medical information involves several types of medical providers, including physicians, psychologists, hospitals, clinics and schools. These medical providers may or may not be a part of a small business/entity. The same is true of non-medical information provided by legal advocates. The information collected is only that which we need to make a disability determination, so, in this way, we have minimized the burden on small businesses/entities to the maximum extent possible. The Federal government pays for many costs associated with developing the claimant’s record. Others who provide information may charge fees to perform this service for profit, not as a public service.

6. If SSA did not conduct the information collection requirements of these regulations, we would not be able to adjudicate claims for disability as provided by the Social Security Act. In addition, we would not be able to monitor and improve service to the public. Since we only collect information required to make disability determinations and monitor performance, it cannot be collected less frequently than provided herein. Generally, an applicant/ claimant provides the information only once, while filing his or her initial disability claim or when his/her claim is reviewed under the continuing disability review procedure.

7. There are no special circumstances that would cause this information collection to be conducted in a manner that is not consistent with 5 CFR 1320.5.

8. The 60-day advance Federal Register Notice published on January 8, 2009, at 74 FR 844, and SSA has received no public comments. The second Notice published on March 19, 2009 at 74 FR 11804. There have been no outside consultations with members of the public.

9. SSA provides remuneration to respondents in accordance with the law. Otherwise, SSA provides no gifts to respondents.

10. The information provided is protected and held confidential in accordance with 42 U.S.C. 1306, 20 CFR 401 and 402, 5 U.S.C. 552 (Freedom of Information Act), 5 U.S.C. 552a (Privacy Act of 1974) and OMB Circular No. A-130.

11. One may consider some of the information required sensitive. The Privacy Act laws protect this information and only necessary SSA personnel and security-cleared contractors will see it.

12. The following chart shows the Annual Burden for these regulation citations:

Section Number	Number of Respondents	Frequency of Response	Average Burden Per Response	Estimated Annual Burden
404.961	11,725	1	20 minutes	3,908 hours
405.330	396	1	20 minutes	132 hours
405.366	99	1	20 minutes	33 hours
404.950 (d) & 405.332	1,040	1	20 minutes	347 hours
404.949	2,868	1	1 hour	2,868 hours
405.334	20	1	1 hour	20 hours
404.957(a)	20,395	1	10 minutes	3,399 hours
405.380(a)	646	1	10 minutes	108 hours
405.381 & 405.382	37	1	30 minutes	19 hours
405.425(b)	200	1	1 hour	200 hours
404.982 & 405.505	1,317	1	30 minutes	659 hours
404.987 & 404.988	10,610	1	30 minutes	5,305 hours
405.601(b)	52	1	30 minutes	26 hours
Totals	49,405			17,024 hours

The total burden reflects as burden hours, and SSA calculated no separate cost burden.

13. There is no known cost burden to the claimants. SSA funds the DDSs in order to carry out the disability program.

14. SSA has no employees for whom their only or main duty is collecting and processing the information.  Any time spent by an administrative law judge or support staff in collecting or processing the information related to these regulations would be a very small part of their total daily work activities.  We do not have any way of reliably and accurately estimating the amount of time employees spend collecting or processing the information.

15. This package contains new information collections that will increase the public reporting burden. The vast majority of the burden hours are from part 404 of the regulations and many of those regulations were not included in the 2006 clearance package. Also, in 2006, many of these initiatives were new, and we had to estimate much of the public burden. With this clearance package, we were able to provide better estimates based on real data.

16. SSA will not publish the results of the information collected.

17. SSA is not requesting an exemption to publishing the OMB expiration date.

18. SSA is not requesting an exception to the certification requirements at

5 CFR 1320.9 and related provisions at 5 CER 1320.8(b) (3).

2. Collections employing statistical methods

SSA does not use statistical methods for this information collection.

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