Nearly every Social Security disability hearing includes testimony of a vocational expert (VE) and many include the testimony of a medical expert (ME). Testimony from these individuals is important in deciding whether a claimant is disabled and entitled to disability benefits, and now Social Security doesn’t want the burden of making these witnesses testify in person, they can just phone it in.
Social Security published new regulations to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for approval that would allow both VEs and MEs to appear by either video teleconferencing (VTC) or by phone.
A VE testifies at disability hearings to determine if a claimant can do his or her past work or other types of work. A ME provides both factual and expert opinion testimony based on knowledge of Social Security’s rules to analyze the medical evidence in a disability case. Below is Social Security’s summary of the proposal as submitted to the OMB:
“We propose to revise 20 CFR parts 404 and 416 to establish a preference for the manner in which parties and expert witnesses appear at a hearing, including by video teleconference (VTC) or by telephone. We also propose to require non-parties, including medical and vocational experts, to appear by telephone or VTC, unless circumstances in the case warrant a different manner of appearance. We would specify that although the adjudicator may identify facts that may impact an individual’s manner of appearance, it is ultimately the Agency’s responsibility to schedule the hearing and determine the manner in which individuals will appear.”
These are not finalized rules yet. When new rules are proposed and published, Social Security must allow and consider comments on the changes before adopting the final regulations. If approved, the proposed regulations will be published in the Federal Register.
