We have talked at nauseam about wait times for Social Security disability hearings before an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ), which nationwide is averaging 15 months or longer, but a little-used procedure Social Security uses for some cases that are awaiting a hearing is slated to go through some changes.
For several years Social Security has used Attorney Advisors (AA) to review certain cases that are pending at the hearing level in order to make a favorable medical decision and bypass the hearing before an ALJ. This is an underutilized tool Social Security has used for cases and should do more of, but Social Security has previously not indicated what cases qualify for AA review, but things have changed.
Social Security recently announced that is was employing new instructions for its AAs and highlighted a certain criteria AAs should look for. The following is the new criteria AAs are supposed to use in determining whether cases should be reviewed:
- If new and material evidence is submitted;
- There is some indication that additional evidence may be available to make a new determination;
- There is some change in laws and regulations; or
- There is an error in the record or another indication that a fully favorable decision may be warranted.
This all sounds well and good, but the new instructions leave a lot open to interpretation. For instance, in most disability cases there are indications that additional evidence is available to make a new determination because cases that are waiting for a hearing before an ALJ because of the long hearing wait times. And, who knows what Social Security is referring to about the instruction related to a change in law and regulations.
Regardless of how these new instructions are used, it would be a welcome announcement if Social Security indicated it would utilize more AAs to make decisions on cases to reduce hearing wait times.
