It is true that most people who continue to pursue a Social Security disability claim face the probability of going to a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) because they have been previously medically denied on their claim, but some claimants get approved while waiting for that hearing.
Social Security always holds the ability to medically approve a claimant for disability while a hearing is pending. The most common way this happens is through on-the-record (OTR) decisions. The OTR process involves the screening of active Social Security disability claims by ALJs and Senior Attorney Advisors (SAA).
When a favorable OTR decision is made, usually existing evidence on a claimant supports a fully favorable decision without a need for a hearing before an ALJ. This a valuable tool for not only the claimant, but also the Social Security Administration. By having SAAs issue fully favorable decisions this conserves the resources of ALJs for more complex cases that may be better suited for in-person hearings.
The SAA program remains a fairly new program to Social Security since being implemented in 2007, but now the program is at risk as it is set to expire in August of 2013. The program was originally slated for extinction in August of 2010, but the program was twice extended. Unfortunately Social Security has not indicated as of yet that the program would be extended again.
If the program does indeed go away by the end of August 2013 it will not only be bad news for over-worked ALJs, who will be faced with an increasing hearing load, but also bad news for Social Security disability claimants, who will face possibly even longer wait times for hearings. The national average wait time for a hearing before an ALJ is 12 to 15 months.
For more information about the Senior Attorney Advisor program click here.
