National 800 Number -- Claims Status

National 800 Number Claims Status

Business Process Description

Current Agency Methods:

The Internet Claims Status function of the Internet Social Security Benefit Application (ISBA) currently gives claimants the ability to check the status of their Social Security claim online. Individuals who do not have access to the Internet or who do not wish to use the Internet must call the National 800 Number to speak with an agent, or contact a Field Office to find out the status of their claim.

Proposed Process:

Provide citizens who call the National 800 Number Network the ability to use speech recognition technology to request status of Title II claims. Callers will use Knowledge-Based Authentication to obtain status information.

After the caller hears the initial telephone prompt “please tell me briefly the reason for your call,” if callers say “I want status of my claim,” (or similar response) they will be read the Paperwork Reduction Act Statement and OMB Control Number (see attached), then prompted to enter their SSN, Date of Birth, and an 8 digit confirmation number. (The confirmation number is generated as part of SSA’s ISBA process, as well as when Title II applicants file a claim in the Field Office (Currently, Field Offices provide Confirmation Numbers via the Modernized Claims System (MCS) when claimants indicate that they want to use the Internet to obtain claims status.)

Based upon the SSN and Confirmation Number provided, SSA systems will determine the type of claim(s) the caller filed. Subsequently, the automated telephone system will provide callers the option to choose which claim they wish to obtain status. For instance, the caller may have applied for one or multiple types of benefits (for example Retirement Insurance Benefit (RIB)/Disability Insurance Benefit or RIB/Spouse of a Retired Worker Benefit). If the caller applied for multiple claims, the automated system will allow the caller to select which claim he/she would like to obtain status.

Once callers select the claim(s) they are calling about, an automated voice will advise them of the status of their claim. The automated responses are limited to one or some combination of the following six possibilities:

• We cannot process your request at this time,

• We are waiting for your original documents,

• We have not made a decision on your application,

• We have made a decision on your claim,

• We are reviewing the medical portion of your claim, or

• We are currently processing your claim.

The caller’s SSN and Date of Birth will be authenticated and access will be granted via the claimant’s own SSN and Confirmation Number. Callers who fail the authentication process will be unable to proceed via automation and will be offered the option to speak with an agent.

The Knowledge Based Authentication data elements for this application are SSN and Date of Birth with the following tolerances:

• The Month of the Date of Birth will include an exact match.

• The Day of the Date of Birth will include a tolerance of +/- 1 day.

• The Year of the Date of Birth will include a tolerance of +/- 1 year.

Only one tolerance will be applied per telephone call.

Access to actual claims status data requires an exact match of the claimant’s own SSN and Confirmation Number.

Callers who do not have an 8-digit numeric Confirmation Number will be unable to proceed via the automation process. They will be advised that the telephone claims status service is only available for individuals who have applied for Social Security benefits online, or filed in a Field Office and have a Confirmation Number.

If the beneficiary has blocked all automated telephone and Internet access to his or her personal information using the existing Password Services application, the beneficiary will be unable to access this telephone application. Only an SSA Field Office representative will be able to remove the block.

All callers who are unable to proceed via telephone automation will be offered the option to speak with an agent.

The following revised PRA Statement will be inserted at the beginning of the Automated Telephone call before information is requested from the respondents:

Paperwork Reduction Act Statement - This information collection meets the requirements of 44 U.S.C. § 3507, as amended by section 2 of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.  You do not need to answer these questions unless we display the valid Office of Management and Budget control number 0960-XXXX.  We estimate that it will take about 1 minute to read the instructions, gather the facts, and answer the questions.